2016 vol 133 issue 14

INSIDE

BURLINGTON, VT

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VOL. 133

SKATEBOARDING

KEITH SMITH

J.K. ROWLING

Skater explains why he doesn’t think the 2020 Olympics should feature his hobby

UVM counselor focuses work on helping men to combat sexual assault

Latest Rowling flick “Fantastic Beasts” lives up to expectations

Page 6 B-SIDE

Page 8 life

page 7 Arts

ISSUE 14

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 7, 2 0 1 6

Mental help spikes UVM mental health services see increase in traffic as finals approach

By Erika Lewy Staff Writer

KIRA BELLIS

The increase in students requesting mental health services at UVM — particularly during finals —may actually be a very good sign, several university officials said.

As the stigma around getting support for mental health issues dissipates, students are more likely to seek help, said Jon Porter, director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing.

The number of students requesting mental health services has increased over the past few decades, he said.

“Visits to [Counseling and Psychiatry Services] have increased steadily over the past decade, now to over 14,000 visits per year,” Porter said. “I think all of us who have been working with college students in the past few decades have seen an increase in demand for mental health services. It’s not just at UVM. It’s part of a national trend.”

The cause of increased demand is two-fold, CAPS Director Todd Weinman said.

“Demand for campus mental health services has increased significantly over the past ten years,” Weinman said.

“Students are coming to col-

lege more willing to access services, as well as reporting more stress than previous cohorts.”

The types of issues that students come in to discuss are more complex and challenging than when he began working at the University in 1997, Porter said.

In previous decades, students came in seeking help with homesickness and relationship troubles, he said. Today, more students come in for help managing anxiety and depression.

While more students come in to discuss academic stress, the increased demand for mental health services may actually be a good sign, Porter said.

Today, the stigma around getting help is less than it once was, he said.

“I know our major priority has been to make getting help okay,” he said. “Really, we’re happy that these needs and issues are coming to us, that students are willing to talk about it.”

There is an uptick in demand for services around midterms and finals due to academic stress, he said.

“If there is an uptick near finals, it is not always necessarily due to mental health concerns,” said Annie Stevens, vice provost of Student Affairs, “as much as it is a normal increase in stress that can often be prevented or managed with advanced planning, healthy behaviors, and time management.”

Students schedule more appointments with CAPS at the end of the semester, when they have to deal with stress related to finals and finishing their courses for the term, Weinman said.

HEALTH continued on pg. 3

Struggle to sublet hinder studying abroad

by Amanda Woodward cynic correspondent

For some students, the ability to sublet may be just as important a factor as rent and location are while searching for off-campus leases for next year.

Students struggle to find subletters to take over their off-campus leases while they facebook.com/ thevermontcynic

study abroad, and it’s causing emotional and financial stress, junior Kara Shamsi said.

Shamsi said she was fortunate to find a subletter last minute, but not everyone finds themselves in the same situation.

“I know for a lot of people, if they don’t find a subletter

@vermontcynic

they can’t afford [the lease],” she said.. “It would have been a huge financial burden if I had to pay for that and going abroad.”

If students are unable to find someone to sublet their apartment, the cost of covering rent can stop them from studying abroad, Shamsi said.

According to South Burinstagram.com/ vermontcynic

lington real estate research firm Allen & Brooks, the average cost of a two-bedroom unit in Burlington ranges from $1,200 to $1,500 a month, and for a three-bedroom, $1,500 to $2,400.

Burlington becomes a sanctuary By colin bushweller Staff Writer

The City Council approved the decision to make Burlington a sanctuary city Nov. 8, contrary to President-elect Donald Trump’s federal immigration plan proposals.

The council passed the motion 10-2. Councilmen Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4 and Dave Hartnett, I-North District, voted against the resolution.

Sanctuary city status limits the city’s involvement with national immigration authorities, according an Economist article published Nov. 22.

The city aims to protect its undocumented immigrant population by limiting municipal involvement with federal immigration authorities, the article states.

“Sanctuary cities are good,” first-year Alex von Stange said.

“People seeking aid is beneficial for all of society, and banning them doesn’t solve the problem, but rather masks it.”

Sophomore Sara Werth disagrees with the status.

“Why should we take in all of the immigrants?” Werth said. “It would increase the city’s taxes, because we would have to start funding programs, like job-searching and English language learning.”

President-elect Donald Trump stated he plans to drop all federal funding for cities with sanctuary policies in a Nov. speech.

Kelleyanne Conway, Trump’s senior advisor stated in an interview with PBS NewsHour that sanctuary cities do not honor national immigration laws.

As a result of sanctuary cities, Conway stated, some immigrants without citizen status are allowed to stay in the country after they have committed crimes.

Sanctuary cities do not have to be legally recognized as long as they embody the ideals of one in practice.

In these cities it is prohibited for police or municipal employees to inquire about one’s immigration status, allowing immigrants without legal status to find sanctuary, the website states.

HOUSING continued on pg. 2

CITY continued on pg. 2

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General meetings: Wednesdays at 7:30pm Waterman 413

2

NEWS

HOUSING continued from A1

CITY continued from A1

245 Loomis St. is pictured. With small vacancy rates and rents ranging from $1,200 to $1,500 a month, many students are having trouble covering their rent when they travel abroad.

EILEEN O’CONNOR/The Vermont Cynic

For students unable to sublet their apartment, this can mean spending about $4,000 over six months to cover their lease while they study abroad, according to the firm’s research.

Thirty-seven percent of UVM undergraduates study abroad each year, according to the Office of International Education website.

Heather Scott, chair of SGA’s Committee on Legislative and Community Affairs, which acts as a liaison between UVM and the community, said resources are available to students looking to understand the subletting process.

The committee works with the city of Burlington and the office of student and community Relations to help solve housing issues and foster better relationships, Scott said.

As a student, she said this is a growing issue.

“Just being on Facebook, it’s easy to see how much of an issue it is,” Scott said. “We have such a small vacancy rate that it’s kind of scary to have this issue.”

Emily Howe, office manager at the office of student and community relations, talks about the struggles facing students looking to sublet their apartments to study abroad.

When students sign a lease they are responsible for the entire 12-month period, Howe

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said.

The office provides resources for students who want to move off campus.

“It’s a big stressor because there is a lot of money involved,” Howe said. “I’ve been working here a year and a half now, and I’ve definitely seen an uptick in the number of folks looking for sublets.”

Students have difficulty planning far enough in advance to coordinate with other students who might study abroad, and end up signing leases without a sublet in place, she said.

Students who study abroad have financial obligations both to UVM and the institution hosting the exchange, according to the Office of International Education.

Students can also expect their financial aid package to be recalculated based on the costs of their program, according to Student Financial Services’ website.

Financial aid is based on the standard cost of enrolling at UVM for a semester; any additional costs for studying abroad are not taken into consideration, the website states.

For now, many students use Facebook, Craigslist, and other social media platforms to connect with those looking for housing.

The Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit immigration research organization, provides an interactive map of all U.S. sanctuary cities on its website.

According to the map, the Northeast and Pacific Northwest have more sanctuary cities per region, but many other cities exist in states across the country.

This map does not yet include Burlington.

Mayor Miro Weinberger stated that it was important to reassure our community that the national election will not change Burlington’s fundamental goal to be inclusive and welcoming to all.

“What I want Burlingtonians to know, and what I particularly want the immigrants living in this community to know, is that they are living in the same Burlington today that they were living in before the national election,” Weinberger said. “Strengthening respect and trust is how we get the best public safety outcomes.”

Additionally, Weinberger said Burlington’s practices, in years past, has been consistent with cities that classify themselves as sanctuary cities.

“Now,” Weinberger said, “given the uncertainty in the community after the national election, it’s time for us to for-

malize our practices into policy.”

The city’s longstanding practices are in line with federal law, despite possible new changes to policy, Weinberger said.

“The City believes its longstanding practices are consistent with current federal law,” he said. “If this is challenged, the only federal grant currently in question would be the Justice Assistance Grant for $40,000.”

The grant is the only federal

“

What I particularly want the immigrants living in this community to know, is that they are living in the same Burlington today that they were living in before the national election.

MIRO WEINBERGER MAYOR OF BURLINGTON

one with a specific provision regarding immigration.

Pablo Bose, a UVM geography professor, said Burlington’s decision to become a sanctuary city is predominantly a symbolic gesture rooted in its commitment to being a diverse and welcoming community.

“As people grapple with the uncertainty of the world around them at the macro scale, I think it’s important to focus on the

ways that we build and define our communities at the micro level,” Bose said.

He conducts research in the areas of refugee resettlement in non-traditional destinations, migration, and environmental displacement.

Bose has experience working in cities with a sanctuary status, he said.

“This is part of a broader effort to push back against the divisive and hateful rhetoric that characterized much of the election,” Bose said.

Due to the incoming federal administration’s plans to cut resources and grants to sanctuary cities, it’s not entirely clear what if any actual impacts that this will have on Burlington, he said.

“We are moving into a period of uncertainty with regard to what the federal-state-municipal relationships might be; here may yet be impacts we don’t know about, but at this point there’s not a lot to go on,” Bose said.

UVM students have mixed emotions about the sanctuary status.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Bose said, “In a time when our nation looks to turn away people of different diversities, it is great to find a sanctuary where people won’t be discarded, based on their individuality.”

Faculty assesses student performance

By Craig Pelsor cpelsor@uvm.edu

The Faculty Senate has begun implementing a new form of student assessment focused on helping faculty better design their curriculum.

The UVM Assessment Initiative launched last year is ready to be put into use by faculty and staff to collect data on how students here are performing, and determine academic areas that need improvement.

This data will be used to make changes to education requirements and academic programs.

It is intended to become a standardized means of assessing student performance.

The initiative is slated to run through 2019 in anticipation of an accreditation review of the University by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

vtcynic.com

According to a presentation made at the Faculty Senate meeting Nov. 28, the goal of this initiative is to have informative, sustainable assessment plans in place for all programs by the end of fall 2017.

This project is being headed

by Brian Reed, associate provost for Teaching and Learning and Jennifer Dickinson, provost’s faculty fellow for assessment.

“The whole thing is based on the idea that an assessment tells you what you need to work on to do what you do even better,” Reed said.

He also spoke of the creation of a database of learning initiatives and goals throughout the university, which are going to be used in the assessment of student outcomes.

Each department created a template of student learning outcome expected to be reached by the time a student graduates, which can be measured and as-

sessed.

“What the assessment coordinator would be doing,” Reed said, “[is] every other year we’re going to do capstone seminars and get faculty together and score these, and every year we’re going to do a rubric.”

Not everything will be done at once, Reed said. “It’ll be a different set of outcomes we will measure,” he said. “[We] may also do surveys of seniors asking how well this objective or that was met.”

Reed said he hopes that the departments and programs will have a solid plan in place by the end of 2017.

“The curriculum is going to be composed of a series of courses that hopefully are going to lead to a set of outcomes for our graduates,” he said. “It’s all about education quality, and there’s always room for improvement.”

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3

NEWS HEALTH continued from A1 The University’s success in helping students be mentally healthy has to do with the community’s willingness to help one another, Porter said.

The success can also be linked to the laid-back climate of the UVM community, Senior Emi Eakin said.

“UVM is a human place where people actually care about each other,” Porter said.

“We have a balance here that’s healthier in terms of academic stress compared to other institutions ... People look out for each other.”

The Center for Health and Wellbeing has formalized the UVM culture of looking out for each other with Concern And/or Risk Event forms. With CARE forms, anyone can anonymously report their concern of the mental health of UVM community members, Porter said.

“There has been a significant increase in community members identifying students at risk through the Dean of Students CARE form,” Weinman said, “and in making referrals to CAPS and other campus resources.”

In online CARE forms, concerned faculty or students can identify students who need help, according to the Dean of Students website. Completed forms, which ask for the subject’s unhealthy behaviors and symptoms of mental issues, elicit a response team of CAPS counselors and university staff, Porter said.

Other campus-based programs, like the suicide prevention and bystander intervention training offered by Campus Connect and Step-Up have helped the University identify and direct resources to at-risk students, he said.

It also helps that UVM has a more laidback environment, Eakin said. Eakin, a biological science major who transferred from Boston University her junior year, said UVM has more realistic academic demands of the student body.

“At BU, people rested their entire social and academic existence on finals, grades and GPA,” Eakin said. “It was just too unrealistic to succeed.”

UVM feels healthier because people are able to put their academic failures and successes into perspective, she said. At BU, the streets were full of students with loaded backpacks walking home from studying at 3 a.m., Eakin said.

“At UVM, when I walk home from the library, things are pretty much deserted by 11 at night,” she said. “Here, realistic expectations naturally lead to less stress. If teachers give you reasonable goals, a reasonable amount of work, it’s a lot easier to be satisfied with how you’re doing.”

Still, some UVM students feel stress to perform well academically.

“Stress is undoubtedly very high during finals week,” senior Alex Lockhart said, “I think

Have you accessed mental health services and supports on campus?

55% YES

have you experienced a mental health crisis while in college?

27% no

40% no 73% yes

5% other INFORMATION COURTESY OF NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS’ 2012 NATIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS SPEAK STUDY

overall the University does a good job in bringing awareness to the importance of mental health.”

Lockhart said she appreciates the various services UVM provides to cope with stress.

“I know the free meditation and yoga classes have really helped me in previous years, so cheers to the Living Well center,” she said.

The University needs to expand staff in order to keep up with the increase in demand for appointments, Porter said.

In order to keep waiting times down, the University is considering adding two counselors to the CAPS team, Stevens said.

Student requests for support have “put a strain on resources at colleges all over the country,” Weinman said. “We are looking at creative ways to help as many students as we can with current resources, while also trying to expand resources so that we can meet the level of demand.”

In addition to supporting students who are experiencing mental health problems, the Center for Health and Wellbeing aims to equip students with the tools they need to manage their stress in a healthy manner, Porter said.

At the end of the semester, Living Well expands its offering of year-round yoga, meditation

and mindful eating classes to include special De-stress Central programming.

From Dec. 12-16, during the final exam period, students can get massages, eat free snacks, take yoga classes and make crafts at the Davis Center office.

“It’s almost always possible for us to help students get through what they’re going through if they’re able to access the available resources,” Porter said.

If you’re concerned about the mental health of a member of the UVM community, you can anonymously fill out a CARE form or contact the dean of students office directly.

OPINION

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S TA F F E D I T O R I A L

Mental health: UVM’s crowning jewel O ur education goes far beyond what we learn in the classroom.

Though the ultimate goal of an undergrad is to earn a degree, there is so much more to gain from a college experience than enhanced knowledge, especially at UVM. College is about the trials and tribulations of learning to overcome personal struggles.

It’s about figuring out the best way to tackle a packed workload and an argument with a friend.

Most importantly, it’s about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, physically and mentally, in an environment that often breeds high levels of stress.

One is allowed to admit they are not doing ok; having an honest relationship with one’s mental state shows strength, not weakness.

We are lucky to live in a

fully expected to have existential crises and, luckily, UVM is well-equipped to help those under the pressures of discovering themselves.

We commend the University for taking its students’ mental wellbeing into account with everything it does, especially at the end of each semester.

SYDNEY LISS-ABRAHAM

community which understands and emphasizes the importance of mental health; being able to have an open and honest conversation about the realities of this is the best way to reduce the stigma around the topic.

At the same time, there is

still room for improvement beyond our campus. As students of a University which makes mental health a primary concern, it is our obligation to carry our comprehensive understanding of the issue with us everywhere we go.

Self-care is not selfish, it is timeless: is a skill we will use for the rest of our lives.

College is a wonderfully overwhelming time flooded with new experiences about the surrounding world. Students are

Staff editorials officially reflect the views of the Vermont Cynic. Signed opinion pieces and columns do not necessarily do so.

The Cynic accepts letters in response to anything you see printed as well as any issues of interest in the community.

Please limit letters to 350 words. The Cynic reserves the right to edit letters for length and grammar. Please send letters to opinion@vtcynic.com.

Meditation will help ease stress and anxiety Alexander collingsworth ACOLLING@UVM.EDU

C

hances are you dear Cynic readers are just about Trumped out, and would rather not read another thing about Trump and his latest shenanigans.

Instead, I want to talk to about the benefits of meditation. I think we could all use some help staying sane in these trying times, especially with exams coming up.

I recently started meditating everyday for 10 minutes using an app called Headspace. I would highly encourage you to get the app and try meditating once or twice. I guarantee it will improve your mood, your outlook on life and reduce stress.

I think in the world we live in we’re always poised to spring onto the next thing, whether it’s a funny video or a presidential scandal. It’s easy to lose yourself in the tidal wave of information absorbed each day.

Besides that, our society drinks a whole lot. It’s pretty easy to develop a drinking problem, do things when you’re drunk that you very much regret or become a different person altogether after a few shots.

I think meditation can help with some of these things. Maybe you have a bit of the ol’ social anxiety and tend to drink a bit too much to compensate. I think meditation can definitely ease that anxiety.

Try to remember what you had for dinner yesterday. How about the day before? Or the day before that? I think, in college especially, the days tend to blend together.

You remember the beginning of the semester and the end. Meditation can help keep

you grounded in the present and be more mindful of what’s going on in your life.

As I’ve written about before, it’s pretty easy for me to spend most of the day cycling through Netflix and Facebook. I feel pretty darn shitty after a day of jumping around like this and getting nothing done. Various and studies have shown concentrating on one thing makes you feel good.

Try Headspace for 10 minutes. You may find you repeatedly reach out for your phone to check a text message or perhaps open up tinder. As Lily Spechler wrote about in her article on attention spans, we are collectively losing the ability to concentrate on any one thing.

I think part of Trump’s success was his ability to constantly entertain and distract us, even if we hated his guts. Maybe especially if we hated his guts.

After a session with Headspace you are asked to examine how you feel. Even after just 10 minutes of sitting still and concentrating on your breathing, you will be 10 times better. Not to oversell it.

Meditation is not about clearing your mind so much as finding calm: becoming at ease with the coming and going of your thoughts.

As the creator of Headspace said, the mind is like the sky. In its calm state it’s nice and blue.

That’s its natural state. But storms can brew and drive in ugly black clouds.

This is perfectly normal. The trick is to observe these clouds made of negative thoughts and let them pass by.

You are what you think.

For example, last Friday I was supremely hungover. I hadn’t slept a wink, and I was untethered from reality. I was pretty much observing myself in the third person. I should have gotten awards and medals for mak-

ALYSSA HANDELMAN

ing it to class.

At first the mantra going through my head was, “ I’m dying. I’m dead. Holy fuck. I’m not ok.” Of course, this thinking didn’t make me feel any better.

But then I tried to think positive, telling myself “You’re ok. You’re ok. You’re not dying,” and I actually began to feel better.

Meditation is about learning to not “inhabit” your thoughts

and let them take over, as Dan Harris, author of Ten Percent Happier put it in a 2015 interview with NPR. Harris, now an anchor for ABC news, once had a panic attack on air. In Ten Percent Happier he talks about how he approached meditation with a lot of skepticism, but it ended up helping him a lot.

So, when you are really stressed out next week, and then

your roommate leaves a pile of dishes, and you’re about to go on a full-blown rampage, take a deep breath and a take a step back and try to just watch the anger. Detach yourself from it and just watch it pass by.

Alexander Collingsworth is a senior English and history double major. He has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2016.

OPINION

5

Santa invests in “clean coal” this Christmas Lily Spechler LSPECHLE@UVM.EDU

I

t’s that time of year again: Christmas cheer is in the air. However, it seems we’ve got some bad, bad hombres in this country and as a result we all might be getting coal in our stockings. Thankfully, though, this coal is … clean?

There are two myths I would like to debunk: since we’re living in the information age and all. First off, Santa is not real.

Sorry, that was harsh, but its about time the truth comes out.

Second, there is no such thing as clean coal.

According to National Geographic Magazine, coal was the largest contributor to the record amount of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere in 2012. Carbon dioxide, of course, is said to contribute to global climate change.

Clean coal is marginally less filthy coal. “Clean coal” is a band-aid, the crappy kind that doesn’t even really stick on in the shower. It is a very, very short term cover-up to a much larger problem that will only continue to grow if we do not address it.

I asked U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders vie e-mail what he thought about the idea of clean coal. Daniel McClean, a spokesman for Senator Sanders responded with this statement via e-mail: “At a time when we should

be aggressively transitioning away from fossil fuels toward sustainable energy, it does not make sense to waste millions of dollars on unproven technologies to try to keep coal alive.”

Are you starting to feel the Bern?

There are a few “clean coal” emerging technologies, such as “coal washing”, which removes some of the unwanted materials such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides before the coal is burned and carbon and other pollutants get released into the air as flue gas; Carbon is still being emitted during this process.

However, according to Kathleen Hartnett-White, this really shouldn’t be an issue.

Harnett-White is the director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment at the Texas Public Policy foundation, and the potential future leader of the Environmental Protection Agency according to our President-elect. To say the least, she has a very creative spin on the whole “climate change” thing.

“Carbon dioxide has no adverse impact in the air we breath at all,” Hartnett-White said.

“It’s a harmless trace gas that is actually an essential nutrient for plants.”

Interesting, considering that the EPA currently states on its website that excess carbon dioxide, which is released from the burning of fossil fuels, makes up for 81% of greenhouse gases that are contributing to climate change.

Perhaps Harnett-White

hasn’t done her research yet.

Perhaps she should start by visiting the EPA’s website, where the current government consensus opinion on the impact of carbon emissions on the environment is stated and backed by scientific evidence. But that’s okay, she has plenty of time to brush up on the topic before she assumes her position.

Carbon capture and sequestration is another technology that claims “clean coal”. Proponents of CCS posit that carbon could be separated and captured during the burning process and stored in the earth instead of being released into the atmosphere.

To be fair, there is potential here, scientists have just begun to scratch the surface with this technology. However, according to Slate magazine, commercial CCS systems cost tens of billions of dollars, and won’t be practical for decades.

Furthermore, there is not enough research available currently to determine what the effects of pumping multitudes of carbon into the earth will be, but seismologists are skeptical, according to ThinkProgress, a progressive site.

Carbon is not even the only issue with coal. According to an article in Time Magazine, while the industry has “improved filters on coal plants” it still lives behind a growing toxic waste problem with pollutants like mercury and Sulfur dioxide.

But not to worry! At least Steve Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for chief

KIRA BELLIS

strategist, will serve as the voice of reason. Oh, wait…

According to E&E news, an online media company that covers environmental and energy policy markets, Bannon said “… environmentalists are ‘greentards’ and ‘totally fu**ing wrong on climate change’”. (“Greentards?” Really?)

Or perhaps we can turn to Reince Priebus, incoming White House chief of staff. Priebus, help us please!

Nope. Priebus told Fox News that climate change denial would be Trump’s “default po-

sition”. At least now we’ll have a really huge wall to bang our heads on. Gracias, señor Trump.

Anyway, for all you “greentards” drafting your Christmas holiday wish lists this year, please consider including “sanity” or perhaps “justice” somewhere very near the top.

Happy holidays to all, and sorry about the whole Santa thing.

Lily Spechler is a senior natural resources major. She has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2016.

SATIRE: FLATLANDER D1 REQUIREMENT

UVM diversity training tackles Midwestern mentality Michael Swain MSWAIN@UVM.EDU

O

n Sunday, the University held its first annual diversity training specifically focused on white, midwestern American cultural differences by bringing a team of 10 professional traveling lecturers.

Training took place in the Davis Center Grand Maple Ballroom, Billings Library and several smaller focus groups scattered across campus.

“We realized with our previous accounts of diversity we were leaving out large swathes of unrepresented groups,” UVM diversity officer Martha Guthrie said.

“This innovative new program is meant to correct that.”

Professionals were brought to Burlington from cities like Canton, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, most of whom worked odd jobs after being laid off from low-tech manufacturing.

Though they all sprung from different backgrounds, each found a renewed sense of dignity when they began touring liberal arts college campuses up and down the east coast.

GENEVIEVE WINN

Such is the story of Tim Dunn, fire-extinguisher repairman from Dayton, Ohio. “I never saw an ocean until I talked with some folks down in Boston,” Dunn said. “This experience has been as mind-opening for me as I hope it is for the students we get to spend time with.”

The training activity ranged from discussion of calling midwesterners “flatlanders” as mi-

cro-aggression, or “everyday slights that target persons based upon their marginalized group,” according to the Psychology Today webpage, to intense discussions about differences in political beliefs and family values.

According to the UVM event webpage, “Activities were designed to break down cultural barriers between people from the Midwest and Eastern Unit-

ed States because diversity and learning are inseparable here at UVM.” Students were amazed.

“I didn’t realize life could ever be difficult for a white person,” said junior Alex Johnson, who attended the training session.

Others felt enlightened.

“I’m excited to continue these cultural exchanges in

years to come,” first-year Kristina Clark said. “I feel like my college experience has been enriched.”

The University hopes to strengthen this initiative with the new semester abroad programs to Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, according to Guthrie.

At the end of the training session, students were given a chance to ask any questions they wanted without fear of judgement.

“I’ve gotten some strange questions,” Dunn said. “Someone once asked me if I’d ever been caught cow-tipping. Another student wanted to know whether I’d ever been to a urban center.”

Guthrie said they’re even considering a University-wide diversity requirement including new courses REL 078 Evangelical Christianity and ENVS 133 Sustainable Corn Farming.

The reaches of this initiative don’t stop there, however. “We plan to increase our representation of Great Plains students by 10 percent in the next five years,” University President Tim Sweeney said. “It’s all part of the link between diversity and academic excellence.”

Michael Swain is a senior economics and English double major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2016.

BSIDE

6

The Anti-Sport: Skateboarding belongs on the streets, not in a stadium Max mccurdy MMCCURDY@UVM.EDU

S

kateboarding is set to be in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

I’m confused. The Olympics are for usually for sports, and skateboarding can’t be a sport.

Seeing skateboarding in the Olympics is akin to McDonald’s offering dry cleaning. Skateboarding can’t be a sport; sports have clear objectives and points.

In a basketball game, everyone knows what they should be doing: trying their darndest to get the ball in the net. When they do, they don’t wonder what happens next, they know they will get points for it.

Skateboarding is nothing like that.

Skateboards don’t come with instructions. Some people choose to use a skateboard purely as transportation. Some

Skateboarders hang out at the local skate parks in Burlington, Montauk (NY), and Chelsea Piers (NY). MAX MCCURDY/The Vermont Cynic

people decide to ride huge boards exclusively down steep hills.

Some people aim only to flip their board in complex ways. Some people strive to hop down huge sets of stairs. The only wrong way to approach skateboarding is to not approach it.

There are no points in skateboarding.

When I landed my first ollie, there wasn’t a scoreboard flashing numbers at me.

There’s no way to score skateboarding. Some people can naturally do things without trying, while it might take someone else years to learn. That one guy at the skatepark that’s struggling to kickflip may turn around and do something twice as hard.

Sports encourage competition. Competition encourages animosity and hostility amongst competitors. Every time a team celebrates scoring a goal, there’s another team that hates them for doing it.

Skateboarding is the opposite: it encourages camaraderie and friendship.

When I see someone do some trick I’ve always wanted to do, I can’t be mad at them; I can only be excited for them.

Calling skateboarding a sport is like calling a grilled cheese a burger. Or calling high heels tennis shoes. Or calling nine hours of sleep a nap. While they may share some minor similarities, the connection is not quite there.

I propose a new word, something to signify an activity that requires physical exertion and developed skills, but does not contain an inherent goal or point system.

How about “hobby?”

Skateboarding is a hobby. I’m all for making an Olympics of hobbies, but I’d like to keep skateboarding out of the current hyper-jockish, athlete-childhood-extinguishing Olympic culture.

ARTS

7

Rap trio makes triumphant return adam mitrani AMITRANI@UVM.EDU

E

very ‘90s-loving hipster’s favorite rap group is back.

After an 18-year hiatus, A Tribe Called Quest returns to the mainstream with their sixth and supposedly final album, “We got it from Here…

Thank You 4 Your Service.”

Following the death of group emcee Phife Dawg in March, the album, which has been in the works for over a year prior to its release, serves as a fitting farewell from one of the most influential acts of hip-hop’s golden age.

It’s not easy to take a break as long as they have and come back without losing a step or two, but somehow Tribe manages to return just as good, if not better, than before.

Everything about the album, from its colorful and cartoony artwork to its funky, jazzy, genre-bending beats to its wideranged, yet honest subject matter, is wholly true to what fans of all ages have come to know and love.

“We got it from Here…

Thank You 4 Your Service” is notable for its long list of features,

including verses from long time collaborators Consequence and Busta Rhymes, as well as firsttime collaborations with equally legendary artists Jack White, Andre 3000, Elton John, Kanye West, Talib Kweli and contributions from rising stars Kendrick Lamar and Anderson Paak.

Released just three days after Donald Trump’s election, “We got it from Here” is poignantly political with tracks like “We the People…,” “The Space Program,” “Whateva Will Be,” “Conrad Tokyo” and “The Killing Season.”

However, the album’s outro, “The Donald,” is surprisingly not political and its title is a tribute to the late Phife Dawg, who also went by the nickname Don Juice. This is one of two songs dedicated to the deceased emcee, the other being “Lost Somebody.” Phife Dawg died in March.

While much of the album tackles serious subject matter, like race, politics and the trials and tribulations of the music industry, it does have its fun moments, like the Q-Tip and Andre 3000 duet “Kids…” and the Busta Rhymes-assisted “Dis Generation,” which samples Musical Youth’s hit “Pass the Dutchie.”

On this track, Q-Tip mentions Kendrick Lamar, Earl

By Zheng pan cynic correspondent

ELISE MITCHELL

Sweatshirt, J. Cole and Joey Bada$$ as “gatekeepers of flow,” keeping the old school hip-hop spirit alive.

“We got it from Here …

Thank You 4 Your Service” is surprisingly on par with everything else released by Tribe. It

serves as a perfect finale for a legendary group, leaving fans with a rare sense of satisfaction.

Adam Mitrani is a sophomore film and television studies and English major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2015.

New J.K. Rowling film has same old magic Bridget Higdon BRIDGET.HIGDON@UVM.EDU

N

ew Yorkers bustled and Model Ts chugged down the cobblestone streets of Manhattan in the fantasy film that turns the clock back to 1926 New York City.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling’s debut screenplay “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” hit theaters Nov. 18. The film is another of this

PHOTO COURTESTY OF COMINGSOON.NET

year’s expansions on the wizarding world. The film was preceded by a London-based play back in July.

Rowling is not the only Harry Potter legacy in the film’s production. The film is directed

by David Yates, the man behind the last four films in the wizarding franchise.

The movie opens on the British magizoologist Newt Scamander played by Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne. He has arrived in New York City with a suitcase full of magical creatures.

New exhibit explores lake waters

When some of the creatures escape and run wild around the city, Newt needs the help of his new American friends Tina (Katherine Waterson), Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Dan Folger) to find them.

Viewers who have not been part of the wizarding world since “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be reminded of the wonder and capability of magic when Tina and Queenie procure a warm and delicious apple strudel out of thin air and when Newt’s suitcase expands into his workshop and beyond.

Right away, the film introduces to the differences between the British and American wizarding worlds to viewers.

Ilvermorny is North America’s school for witches and wizards, and instead of “muggles,” non-magical folks are referred to as “No-Majs.” The head of the Magical Congress of the United States of America is a woman, fittingly referred to as “Madame President.”

Like in other Harry Potter stories, Rowling provides balanced doses of humor and seriousness.

Jacob is a “No-Maj” wantto-be-baker who gets wrapped up in Newt’s perilous escapades.

He acts as the film’s quirky comic relief.

Jacob’s bumbling, stumbling, confused persona is a perfect contrast in some of the film’s darker, spookier moments. He voices the opinion of almost everyone when he says, “I want to be a wizard.”

Although the film is perfect

for all ages, its political undertones might only be recognized by some viewers. Rowling’s script points out many issues the world struggles with today: humanity’s relationship with the environment, the importance of celebrating our differences and the need to encourage acceptance.

Newt’s fantastic beasts, rescued from all corners of the world, are adequately whimsical and wild, imaginative and intimidating.

Although Redmayne’s portrayal of the awkward, yet charming Newt is superb – from his facial expressions to his gestures – Newt himself comes across a bit under-developed and static. His character does not sufficiently grow or change throughout the film, but maybe that’s what the next four “Fantastic Beasts” sequels are for.

“I don’t think I’m dreaming,” Jacob said during a particularly magical scene of the film, “I ain’t got the brains to make this up.”

Although Jacob might not have the brains, Rowling certainly does. The Harry Potter series is the most widely read collection of stories behind the Bible. And in “Fantastic Beasts,” despite leaving the “Boy Who Lived” behind, she still knows how to make dreams and imagination come to life with the stroke of her pen and the flick of a wand.

Bridget Higdon is a first-year English major. She has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2016.

Nearly 50 jars filled with materials from Lake Champlain were displayed on the wall of an art studio.

Community members gathered at Burlington City Arts gallery for the opening “Of Land & Local: Watershed” opening and engaged in conversation about water issues in Vermont are on display through Jan. 14.

“Not every small city has a resource like Burlington City Arts as a unique department of the city and the art supporting community,” Mayor Miro Weinberger said.

Weinberger said the arts engage the community in many ways.

“Watershed is one of the fascinating concept which binds us to the whole Champlain valley,” he said. “The art community can do what no other medium can, in terms of opening our minds and giving us opportunity to think in a better way.”

The event drew UVM student Fiona Gao, an environmental science major, to the gallery on Church Street, Gao said.

“I’m pretty interested in the environmental issue that is happening in Vermont,” she said, “and I am planning to go to the Shelburne farm exhibition next weekend.”

Vermont is under pressure from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the level of phosphorus in Lake Champlain because phosphorus had become the biggest challenge according to the state of lake report by Lake Champlain Basin Program.

This issue was first brought up by Middlebury college student Alexander Abarbanel-Grossman, who studied and examined the transformation of Burlington’s waterfront, according to gallery’s website.

In February, the state told residents of North Bennington, Vermont they should not drink water from private wells until the levels of toxic acid were tested by EPA, the website states.

BCA had been prepared for this exhibition for almost a year. The purpose of the exhibition is to bring up concerns regarding the water issue and human health, said Ashley Jimenez, gallery manager and assistant curator at BCA. “Water issue is such a relevant topic right now and especially being the five-year anniversary of tropical storm Irene,” Jimenez said, “We had been doing this exhibition about environment for the past four years.

All the exhibiting artists are from Vermont and had been keeping touch with the studio, Jimenez said.

LIFE

8

A conversation with counselor Keith Smith

By Amanda Woodward Cynic correspondent

Keith Smith, a UVM psychiatric counselor, sat in a chair in his Jacobs House office, surrounded by psychology textbooks and house plants.

Smith serves as the the Men’s Outreach Coordinator and a counselor at UVM. Alongside these duties, he advises the 1 in 4 sexual assault peer education group, which teaches men how to intervene in cases of sexual assault and how to support those who have been assaulted.

Smith also co-facilitates Project Discovery, the suspension alternative course that aims to increase gender role awareness.

He was living in New York when he decided it was time to turn his passion for counseling into a career, Smith said.

Upon completion of his degree, he began working with men accused of sexual misconduct in the Burlington community who were in need of emotional support during the judicial process, Smith said.

“It offered an opportunity to provide some education around some of the attitudes, beliefs and cultural dynamics that contribute to men being violent,” he said.

When a position opened up at CAPS, the role of men’s outreach coordinator was born.

Men face different barriers in mental health than women, and therefore require different approaches and resources, Smith said.

Men typically don’t show the same signs of depression as women, often acting out or appearing careless rather than closed off, he said.

“

Traditionally in our culture, we think of men as rapists ... [1 in 4] seeks to draw men in and get them to be part of the solution.

KEITH SMITH CAPS PSYCHIATRIST

The position initially received a lot of pushback from the community because of the attitude toward men and their privilege in relation to violence and sexual assault, Smith said.

“There was a lot anger in the culture, and there still is, at men in these issues,” he said.

Strong allies, primarily old-

er women who understood the need to offer services to men, ultimately helped bring resources to campus through this position, Smith said.

Ten years after the position was created, he continues to pursue his mission to change the narrative of men and violence, Smith said.

“Traditionally in our culture, we think of men as rapists,” he said. “[1 in 4] seeks to draw men in and get them to be part of the solution.”

Project Discovery, a course taken as an alternative to suspension due to misconduct, is co-facilitated by Smith.

The semester-long program seeks to increase participants’ awareness of their gender role in society, masculinity, substance abuse and violence prevention, according to the Center for Wellbeing’s website.

Tyler Gordon, a UVM sophomore and graduate of Project Discovery, said Smith and the course helped change his worldview.

“I went in with no idea about my masculinity or why I had been making those decisions,” Gordon said. “When we worked through it all, I totally had a different perspective on everything.”

Similar to Smith’s position at UVM, the course has been

PHOTO COURTESY OF UVM

met with conflict.

David Waller, a senior and former president of 1 in 4, said he sees the pros and cons of such a program, but has a very low tolerance for offenders.

The key is to focus on pre-

vention, and the presentations given by Smith and 1 in 4 helps to educate others, Waller said.

9

LIFE

Public opinions influenced by increase in fake news By izzy siedman Staff Writer

Raise your hand if you’ve ever scrolled past an factually incorrect article or a misleading post from a friend on Facebook and thought nothing of it.

The prevalence of “fake news” and how often it is taken as fact, reveals the influence social media has on informing and grouping the populous.

As we’ve made the transition from print news to largely virtual information, it’s become increasingly easy for false stories to slide into the view of the masses. “[We live] in an age where there’s so much active misinformation, and it’s packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television,” President Obama said at a news conference in Berlin earlier this

month.

Fake news is “designed to be shared on Facebook and social media platforms whose algorithms prioritize stories with high engagement; the amount of people clicking, reading and sharing,” Emanuella Grinberg of CNN said.

Fake news has had real world implications as well.

After an article surfaced claiming the existence of a pedophile ring at a Washington pizzeria run by Hillary Clinton and the chairman of her campaign, John Podesta, an armed man entered the restaurant and fired his weapon, according to a Dec. 5 New York Times article.

The article, published by known false news sites such as The New Nationalist and The Vigilant Citizen, was proven to be baseless, but still led to “#PizzaGate” spreading on Twitter.

“I won’t stop tweeting about

#PizzaGate until I know for a fact that there aren’t children in danger being covered up by the U.S. government,” Twitter user @TradSierraHotel tweeted Nov. 20.

Whether or not a report is true does not determine how popular it becomes, which allows organizations and individuals to use deception to further their own agendas.

From the earliest print, to the latest online journal, news sources have never succeeded in being completely unbiased. “Every news site picks and chooses facts that support their own narrative,” first-year David Gabel said.

This election cycle has seen a multitude of politically-aimed phony news stories. With statements, statistics, accusations and rumors flying around the web, it has become difficult to keep track of the truth.

Communities form around these fake articles because “people want, more or less, information that confirms their worldview; we trust information that seems to support what we believe,” Randall Harp, UVM professor of philosophy, said.

Among others, the “altright” movement has gained momentum through false journalism, social media and web communities.

According to an analysis of Facebook activity, “of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were overtly pro-Donald Trump or anti-Hillary Clinton” said BuzzFeed Founding Editor Craig Silverman.

“Most talking points the ‘altright’ has are based on some form of misinformation,” firstyear Adam Slamin said.

Facebook and Twitter have

WHAT COULD $1.6 MILLION DO FOR UVM?

This year

administrators at UVM paid a Philly branding firm nearly

$1.6 million to pen slogans for UVM.

What could $1.6 million have funded instead? n Salaries for professors to stop the “brain drain” as experienced faculty retire and are not replaced. $1.6 million would fund one year’s salary for 25 new professors.

We are United Academics, the union of faculty at the University of Vermont.

We want UVM to invest in education, not branding.

And we’d like your help!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

That firm came up with slogans like “Genuine Ingenuity” and “Doing All Things with Purpose.”

Snap a selfie with your suggestion for how $1.6 million could contribute to education at UVM and send it to info@unitedacademics.org.

Or share your idea with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ VermontUnitedAcademics/ We’ll deliver the best of your 1.6 million-dollar ideas to the UVM trustees—with a message to...

KEE PU VM

n Tuition scholarships for students. $1.6 million would fund four-year tuition scholarships for 26 in-state or 10 out-of-state students. n Repaired and upgraded classrooms. $1.6 million would purchase 23,000 new chairs to replace classroom chairs broken beyond repair.

responded to trolling and abusive language by pledging to crack down on fake news and suspend illicit accounts, according to a New York Times article

by Gardiner Harris Nov 17.

“I think they’re triggered by this narrative that social media helped elect Trump and they think that they have to do something about it,” said Richard Spencer, prominent ‘alt-right’ leader and one of many whose Twitter account was banned, in a video by the National Policy Institution.

The maintenance of open communications for people of all opinions is the true solution to the prevalence of fact free journalism.

“To solve the issue of fake news, you need a metric for reliability,” Harp said. “The responsibility lands primarily on the consumer.”

’S

UCATION! D E S IN D N FU

SPORTS

10

JACK'S JOURNEY WITH UVM HOCKEY: BELFAST OR BUST

Clashing history converges on a rink by jack estrin senior staff writer Eighteen years after The Good Friday Agreement ended over 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland, the men’s hockey team won the Friendship Four tournament in Belfast Nov. 26.

The Good Friday Agreement, also known as The Belfast Agreement, aimed to set up a power-sharing government between the two major political parties in Northern Ireland, according to BBC. These two major groups were the nationalists, who were predominantly Catholic, and the unionists, who were predominantly Protestant.

In a period now known as “The Troubles,” the Protestants and Catholics clashed in Northern Ireland for over three decades.

Since 1921, Ireland has been split between Northern Ireland and the southern, Republic of Ireland, according to BBC. Unlike the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

This split was created by the Government of Ireland Act, which divided the six predominantly Protestant counties into Northern Ireland while the

Belfast, Northern Ireland. JACK ESTRIN/The Vermont Nectars Ad_cynic_SB-Thursdays.pdf 1 12/2/2016 2:47:17 PM Cynic

26 remaining predominantly Catholic counties became the “south,” according to BBC. The city of Belfast in Northern Ireland was the site of much of this violence and division, and during “The Troubles,” it would have been almost unthinkable for the city to host a peaceful hockey tournament.

In fact during the trip, in the Belfast city center, the hockey team stayed just blocks away from The Europa Hotel, “Europe’s most bombed hotel,” according to belfasthistory.net.

Between the years of 1970 and 1994, the hotel was bombed 33 times by the Irish Republican Army.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army was a paramilitary group whose goal was to have a united Irish republic and rid Ireland from the British, according to Britannica.

However, in the second annual Friendship Four, hockey fans and youth groups of all religious affiliations packed the SSE Arena in Belfast to watch four Division 1 hockey programs compete in the second annual “Belpot.”

The men’s hockey team traveled to Belfast for the entire week, using the time to engage with the community and visit many of the sites they had learned about during their se-

mester-long class on the conflict taught by Pablo Bose, UVM associate professor of geography.

In the tournament, the Catamounts competed with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Quinnipiac University and St. Lawrence University.

In UVM’s semi-final game, they defeated UMass Amherst 4-2, setting the stage for the Friendship Four championship game against Quinnipiac.

In the championship game, the Catamounts defeated Quinnipiac 5-1, who was ranked No. 3 in the country at the time.

The Cats were led by firstyear goalie Stefanos Lekkas, who posted a career high of 40 saves in the Nov. 26 championship game.

After the Cats’ championship win, Lekkas was named the John Elliot Solicitors Player of the Tournament.

With the win, Lekkas improved his personal record to 8-1-2, according to UVM athletics. For the season, Lekkas leads the Hockey East with a 1.72 goals against average.

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11

SPORTS

Defense leads Cats to victory

By LOCRIA COURTRIGHT STAFF WRITER

Soccer stars stay close off the field

By Locria Courtright & SAVANNAH NESBITT STAFF WRITERS

Two UVM soccer stars ended their collegiate careers following Vermont’s 2-1 defeat at the University of Virginia Nov. 20.

Senior forwards Brian Wright and Bernard Yeboah have been one of the deadliest partnerships in Vermont history.

Wright made a name for himself during his time at UVM. He has left his mark not only on Vermont’s record books, but those of America East as well.

During his time as a Catamount, Wright had a number of achievements, including leading the team’s scoring number all four years, according to UVM athletics.

This past season, he led the America East conference in both assists and points. Wright was chosen as the 2013 America East Rookie of the Year.

He was also named to the all-conference team each year that he’s played in a Catamount jersey. Last year, Wright was named to the NSCAA all-east region first team.

As far as UVM records go, the name Brian Wright can be found at the top of many lists.

He is ranked second in both career goals and assists, with 39 goals and 25 assists.

Wright broke records during his senior season. In addition to his 14 goals, Wright also provided 12 assists, the most in a season in UVM history, and finished the season on 40 points, also a new record, according to UVM athletics.

He played a key role last season as Vermont won the America East Championship, scoring 10 goals and providing seven assists.

“Winning the America East Championship in 2015 has been the highlight of my career, and we as a team had a great year,” Wright said.

Wright was named the America East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player during the championship run in 2015.

“We aren’t far from our goal and can really accomplish what we would like to do. We just need to play well and believe in ourselves,” he said prior to Vermont’s NCAA tournament games.

Wright would go on to score

a hat trick in Vermont’s 4-1 win over Rider University Nov. 17 before providing an assist in their 2-1 loss to Virginia, the last contribution of his collegiate career.

Despite this final disappointment, Wright is prepared for what lies ahead, he said.

“My plans are for sure to still pursue soccer after I leave here,” Wright said. “I’m trying to graduate early after this semester to be able to chase my dream of playing professionally, whether it be here in America or overseas.”

He will be leaving UVM with a degree in public communications, but for now, Wright said he’s hoping he won’t need to use it.

“I’d like to play soccer professionally for as long as possible and then to get into coaching afterward,” he said.

A recent NBC Sports article referred to Wright as a Major League Soccer prospect, and his most recent awards show that is a popular opinion.

Wright earned an Honorable Mention selection by the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

He was also named one of the 15 finalists for the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, based on votes from NCAA Division I coaches.

The finalists of the award will be announced Dec. 14 and the winners will be announced Jan. 6. *** The Robin to Wright’s Batman, Bernard Yeboah, was more than just a sidekick during his four-year career at UVM. Yeboah, who was born in Brescia, Italy, moved to Worces-

ter, Massachusetts at a young age. He joined Worcester Academy, a boarding school, after scoring 22 goals in 18 games in high school, according to UVM athletics.

At Worcester, Yeboah posted another 38 goals in 42 games, enough to get him noticed by Jesse Cormier, UVM men’s soccer head coach, who recruited the forward.

The four years at UVM have helped him feel a sense of be-

“

We live together, we share the same major and even enjoy doing the same things ... so it is only natural that it translates well on the field.

BERNARD YEBOAH SENIOR FORWARD

longing after moving so much at a young age, Yeboah said.

“The people I have met here have helped Burlington feel like home to me the last four years, and I am grateful for that,” Yeboah said.

Yeboah made an instant impact at UVM, posting two goals and two assists in 17 games during his first year. This earned him a spot on the America East All-Rookie Team. His second season, Yeboah posted a similar record of two goals and two assists in 18 games.

He broke out in his junior year. Paired with Wright as the striker partnership, Yeboah scored five goals, tied for second on the team, and assisted one.

One of the goals he scored

was the overtime winner in the America East semifinals against the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Yeboah’s impact skyrocketed during his final year at UVM. He scored 11 goals and assisted four more, including a late equalizer in the America East quarterfinals against Binghamton University.

His partnership and chemistry with Wright made the Catamount offense very difficult to stop.

Yeboah said his off-field friendship with Wright was the key to on-field success.

“We live together, we share the same major and even enjoy doing the same things,” he said, “so it is only natural that it translates well on the field.”

Three memories stand out for Yeboah from his time at UVM. “The first one is the first day of classes; it was hectic,” he said.

“The second one was when we won the [2015] America East Championship at Virtue Field and the last one was recently when we beat Rider in the NCAA tournament first round.”

Now that his collegiate career is over, Yeboah’s goal is to go professional.

“I will pursue professional soccer after college,” he said.

“All I hope is that it works out, because it is what I love to do.”

As Yeboah departs the men’s soccer program, he said he feels that the program is headed in the right direction and is optimistic about the future.

“The program is in great shape,” Yeboah said. “I am positive that next year the team will achieve greater things than the team this year.”

Senior forwards Brian Wright (7) and Bernard Yeboah (10) face off against the University of Hartford Oct. 15. PHIL CARRUTHERS/The Vermont Cynic

Despite a dismal five points in the second quarter, women’s basketball was able to regroup and get the win on Wednesday night.

They defeated the Holy Cross Crusaders 63-52 at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts ran out to a lead in the first quarter behind five first quarter points by sophomore forward Candice Wright.

The team‘s defense suffocated the Crusaders in the first quarter, limiting them to 28.6 percent from the field compared to the Cats’ 50 percent.

At the end of one quarter, Vermont led 18-13.

However, in the second quarter, Vermont shot a mere 15.4 percent from the field, making just two field goals of 13 attempted during the quarter.

However, the defense was able to limit the damage caused by the lack of offense, but the Crusaders still took their lone lead of the game entering the half up 24-23.

The Cats went on a 12-1 run just after halftime, led largely by their three-point shooting.

Graduate student guard Kallie Banker made two triples, and redshirt junior guard Kristina White also drained a three as the Cats turned the halftime deficit into a 10-point lead.

The fourth quarter saw a bit of a scare, as after a three by sophomore forward Lauren Handy to stretch the lead to sixteen, the visiting Crusaders went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to seven.

However, the Catamounts were able to recover, led largely by 16 free throw attempts as Holy Cross picked up many fouls, and saw their leading scorer of the night, Lauren Manis (13 points), foul out.

The Cats also managed to limit the Crusaders’ leading scorer, Infiniti Thomas-Waheed, to just six points on two of 12 shooting.

Wright earned her first career double-double, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Sydney Smith led the Cats with 15 points and also added eight rebounds and three steals.

“I’m really proud of our group,” head coach Chris Day said. “We won the rebounding battle [39-37] ... just really super proud of this group.”

Day described his players’ technique as the key that led the team to victory.

“Kylie Butler came in, dribbled around, kick, bang, three for Sydney [Smith]; that really got us going,” he said. “Then we hit another three, and then we got them out of it, and once we got them out of it I just thought they would have trouble guarding us.”

The Catamounts return home Dec. 8, when they host the Brown University Bears.

12

SPORTS

Fantasy football: what to watch By nick sullivan STAFF WRITER

WHO I LIKE

WHO I DON'T LIKE

QB, Andy Dalton (CIN) – After snapping a four-game losing streak, Dalton was finally able to give a solid performance at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. Although, down AJ Green and Gio Bernard, Dalton is a strong start against the pitiful Cleveland Browns.

QB, Derek Carr (OAK) – Kansas City’s defense has been red hot lately, and they’re ready for Oakland on Thursday. Carr is still nursing a finger injury, and since he’s operating strictly out of shotgun, the Kansas City Chiefs will look to put a lot of pressure on Carr outside of the pocket using Khalil Mack.

RB, Jordan Howard (CHI) – Howard had a heck of a day against a porous San Francisco defense after racking up three scores and 117 rushing yards.

Depending on his workload, he should be able to produce similar numbers against the Lions who he torched back in Week four.

RB, Carlos Hyde (SF) – It seems that regardless of who’s at quarterback for the 49ers, they’re still not going to make a difference. Colin Kaepernick’s inability to run a team offensively greatly hurts Hyde’s fantasy value. It definitely doesn’t help that they’re facing one of the best run defenses in the league this week either.

WR, Golden Tate (DET) – With Marvin Jones sidelined due to a knee injury, Golden Tate was able to take full advantage of his absence by hauling in eight out of his 10 targets for 145 yards and a score. If Jones misses one more time, Tate should continue to excel.

TE, Travis Kelce (KC) – It wasn’t until after today’s performance that I saw Travis Kelce is on a three-game 100+ receiving yards’ streak. Granted, he hasn’t found the end zone since week eight. He’ll look to maintain his role as Smith’s trustworthy target this Thursday against the Tampa Bay Raiders.

RB, Devontae Booker (DEN) – I’m finding Denver’s running back situation really puzzling these days. Since losing CJ Anderson, the Broncos run game has been anything but the same. With the emergence of Kapri Gibbs sharing some touches, this could greatly hurt Booker’s fantasy stock.

WR, Breshad Perriman (BAL) – Don’t be fooled by Perriman’s two-score performance today. It doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s only been targeted four times in two weeks, and faces a dangerous New England Patriots secondary Monday night.

MY WAIVER WIRE PICKUPS RB, Mike Gillislee (BUF) – It’s really time to start considering taking Gillislee seriously as a week-to-week starter depending on the matchup.

Regardless of McCoy’s dominating presence in Buffalo’s backfield, Gillislee is still able to be a valuable fantasy points vulture. Available in 75 percent of leagues, keep an eye on him against the Pittsburgh Steelers this week.

WR, Brandon LaFell (CIN) – In light of AJ Green’s hamstring injury, LaFell was able to emerge as one of Dalton’s best vertical threats against the Eagles Sunday. Available in 83 percent of leagues, consider flexing him because of an enticing matchup against the Browns this weekend.

WR, Tedd Ginn Jr. (CAR) – What was seen as a desperate flex last week, is now a considerable WR2. Available in 88 percent of leagues, Ginn’s ability to beat coverage on the ground, and separate himself with his speed is what makes him such a great fantasy commodity. He poses boom-or-bust qualities with chances of high return every weekend.

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LAST WEEK

L 50-68 W

Men’s Basketball at South Carolina

Track and Field vs Hartford

Columbia, SC Dec. 1

W

3-2

1st HOME Dec. 3

L

53-59

Women’s Hockey at Northeastern

Women’s Basktball at Temple

Boston, MA Dec. 4

Philadelphia, PA Dec. 4

THIS WEEK Women’s Basketball vs Brown

Men’s Hockey vs Boston University

HOME Dec. 8 11:30 a.m.

HOME Dec. 9 and 10 7:05 p.m.

Men’s Basketball vs Northeastern

Track and Field at Jay Carisella

HOME Dec. 10 1 p.m.

Boston, MA Dec. 10 3 p.m.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:

First-year Stefanos Lekkas was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month for the second consecutive month.

This is his sixth league award of the season.

RECORDS Men’s Basketball 6-3 Men’s Hockey 9-3-2 Women’s Basketball 3-5

Women’s Hockey 6-6-4 Women’s Swimming and Diving 5-0