Issue 16 - Volume 136 by Vermont Cynic

THEVERMONTCYNIC THE Issue 16 - Volume 136 | January 20, 2020 | vtcynic.com

Women In Politics

UVM alumna earns her position in Vermont government at 23 STEPHAN TOLJAN/The Vermont Cynic

Top: Vermont State Representative Lucy Rogers sips tea and talks at the kitchen table in her parents’ home in Waterville, Vermont, Nov. 10. Rogers represents Lamoille-3. Tulley Hescock thescock@uvm.edu

The winding driveway up Rogers Road seems to be heading straight for a dead end until you see the “Lucy Rogers 2018” campaign sign sticking out of the snow. Inside her family’s white farmhouse, Lucy Rogers ‘18 sipped tea she brought back from her trip to China. Her dog laid by their wood stove while her father was outside chopping wood. Inside her nestled Vermont home, she described her journey to the Vermont Legislature. “It’s strange to me when I am questioned over and over again on why I decided to run,” Rogers said. “The same reasons everyone else did. I care about my community. I am invested in my community, and I am a leader in my community.” Rogers is a new name in Vermont politics as a representative in the statehouse. Rogers graduated from UVM in 2018

and now has a year of experience with Vermont government at 23 years old. After graduating from Lamoille High School, Rogers attended Harvard University for her ﬁrst year of college. She transferred to UVM in 2015 to study biology on the Green and Gold Scholarship, a scholarship given to the highest-performing students from Vermont high schools. In the spring of her senior year, Rogers decided to run for the Vermont House of Representatives for her home district. A state representative is a mix between local and state leadership, Rogers said. Rogers is the only representative of her district, Lamoille-3. Rogers focused her campaign on what she could do for the people in her community, rather than how she could beneﬁt, she said. “I have 4,000 constituents and know most of them by name and face but can make a change that affects the state,

and in turn, affects the country and affects the world,” Rogers said. During the last session, Rogers was one of three women under the age of 25 in the Vermont Legislature. According to a study done by the Center for American Women in Politics, 28.9% of U.S. state legislators were women in 2019, higher than any other year. In 2018, Vermont scored second in having the most female legislators in the country, as women held 39.4% of the seats in the legislator. “I am by no means a trailblazer as a young woman in politics, but I am one of the ﬁrst young women in politics who isn’t doing it alone, which is really exciting,” Rogers said. Friends and professors from her time at UVM have supported Rogers’ journey to become one of the few young women in Vermont politics. Associate professor of geography Cheryl Morse advised Rogers on her senior thesis. “She’s determined, and she is a ﬁnisher, so she completes what she starts,” Morse said. “She also has a baked-in care for people.” Morse said she saw these attributes shine during Rogers’ 2018 campaign, as she ran and won against Republican candidate Zachary Mayo. “She is undaunted, and she is fearless,” Morse said. Sophomore Bella Weston, a political science major, grew up in Burlington and hopes to

STEPHAN TOLJAN/The Vermont Cynic

Left: Rogers’ dog looks towards the mountains that are visible from the front yard. Right: Rogers stands in her family’s greenhouse. The greenhouse is attached to their house with a door connecting the two. make a difference in politics in the future. However, for herself and other young female students looking to be part of the legislature, she is concerned for the lack of female representation. “There are not as many role models for us to look to, and I think Vermont politics is a lot of old white men,” Weston said. “It would be great to see more young women in politics.” Rogers encourages other young people interested in

politics to get involved in their communities at a local level, she said. Not all college seniors decide to run for state representative and end up winning. However, Rogers has the potential to inﬂuence the demographic of those who join politics in Vermont. This is part one of a three-part feature series on young female legislators in Vermont.

NEWS

Students and alumni race for city council Lilly Page

WARDS POLLING PLACES

lpage@uvm.edu

As the Burlington City Council race heats up, the majority of the candidates running to represent the wards that make up UVM share a deep connection with the University. Four out of the ﬁve candidates for the two wards that make up UVM are former or current students. Some of the top priorities of the ﬁve candidates are climate change and affordable housing, issues that directly impact UVM students. The two wards, or voting districts, which split UVM’s campus are Ward 1, consisting of Central and Trinity campuses, and Ward 8, which includes Athletic and Redstone campuses.

Jillian Scannell, Ward 1

Scannell, who is also president of SGA and a senior, said that she decided to get involved in government due to her passion for the environment and public service. Even though she is the youngest candidate for the position, Scannell said she doesn’t think her lack of being in a public office role should deter anyone. “Sometimes experience is not the only thing you need,” she said. “A lot of the work I do as [SGA] president is valuable and just as important as some of the work that the other candidates are doing.” If elected, Scannell would balance the position with that of being president of SGA and a senior in college. It is a challenge that Scannell is willing to take on. “I think I’ve been able to find a pretty good balance between student government and being a senior, so I figured, why not?” she said. “The work I’m doing in my classes is really relevant both to my work on SGA as well as the city council race.” Scannell said that climate change is one of her top priorities, as well as affordable housing. “Housing in Ward 1 is a city issue as well as a University issue,” she said. “I feel like with my work as student body president and having built those connections and relationships, I could help facilitate that productive conversation between the city and the University in regards to housing.”

Sharon Bushor, Ward 1

Scannell’s opponent for the Ward 1 seat is Sharon Bushor ‘68, who has held the position for over 30 years and is a UVM alumna. Bushor is an Independent, but has had the Progressive Party’s backing for the last 30 years. Fellow candidate Zoraya Hightower took their backing for the ward this year. Bushor said she’s aware of

Illustration by KATE VANNI STEPHAN TOLJAN/The Vermont Cynic

(Top to Bottom) Senior Jillian Scannell, Jane Stromberg ‘19, Adam Roof ‘11, Zoraya Hightower and Sharon Bushor ‘68 are the candidates for Wards 1 and 8, the wards which make up UVM. The map is a graphic representation of the wards. Scannell and the relationship she has with UVM but has some goals to get voters. “What I need to do is show that I can also understand your [student] issues and needs, and ﬁnd a way that I can hear more directly from you,” she said. Bushor sees the value of students’ opinions, especially in a time when the older generation is making a lot of decisions in elected positions around the country, she said. Bushor said a policy she is passionate about is working to eliminate fossil fuels from being used in Burlington and replacing those fuels with reusable or electric energy. “It’s deﬁnitely one that I really care about,” she said. “I see that as something that could be a big contribution to where we are with our climate and our dependence on fossil fuels.”

Zoraya Hightower, Ward 1

Zoraya Hightower, who did not respond to the Cynic’s re-

quest for an interview, earned the Progressive Party nomination in January. One of her main priorities is affordable and inclusionary housing. “All Americans have the right to affordable quality housing that is near their jobs and schools,” her website states.

Jane Stromberg, Ward 8

Jane Stromberg ‘19, credits her time at UVM with helping her form a view of the outside world. “I realized how intertwined everything is,” she said. “Having that basic understanding of how the politics in our country work from the national to local level translated into the things I care about outside of class.” Stromberg graduated with a degree in environmental science, so addressing the climate crisis is one of her top priorities, she said. “I believe Burlington has the potential to be a front-runner

on climate and affordability,” she said. “The climate emergency is time-sensitive and extremely scary.” Another one of her top priorities is affordable housing, Stromberg said. “I know that UVM is making a ton of proﬁt off of housing alone, and I think that needs to be addressed in a way that’s sustainable for everyone,” she said. “There should be rent control, absolutely, and landlord licensing.”

Adam Roof, Ward 8

Adam Roof ‘11, is running to keep his seat on city council. He contributes his political awakening to being at UVM during the 2008 election and seeing what former President Barack Obama created. “Watching Obama create a movement around so much hope and change, I gravitated towards it,” he said. “I never envisioned myself getting involved in an elected ofﬁce.”

Roof, who usually runs under the Independent Party because of the hostile clashes between the Progressive and Democratic Parties, is running as a Democrat for the city council election. “People that know me aren’t going to worry about the letters at the local level,” he said. “I want to be part of building a Democratic Party that is aligned with my progressive values.”

HOW TO VOTE

UVM students can vote in the upcoming election. Students can register to vote using Turbovote, with their dorm address, or register on site at their polling place. Ward 1 includes: CCRH, Converse Hall, Trinity campus. Ward 8 includes: Athletic campus (L&L, University Heights, Marsh/Austin/Tupper), Harris Millis, Redstone, Redstone Lofts. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m on Election day, March 3.

NEWS

ichoi@uvm.edu

UVM, the flagship public university of Vermont, has one of the highest in-state tuition rates among U.S. state universities. Across the board, Vermont public colleges and universities, including UVM, have the highest tuition rates of state colleges in the country, according to the College Board’s 2019-20 Annual Survey of Colleges. But over the last five years, 44% of in-state students have had their tuition covered in full. For the 2019-20 school year, tuition costs $16,392 for in-state students, while it costs $41,280 for out-of-state students. With the average cost of room and board and meal plans, along with the comprehensive fee, in-state students pay $31,748, and out-of state students pay $56,636. The biggest reason for the University’s price is its lack of state funding, said Marie Johnson, director of Student Financial Services at UVM. “Being a small rural state, we don’t have big business to help fuel tax revenue,” she said. Forty-four percent of instate students received free tuition for the 2018-19 school year, according to SFS. Of the 44%, 12% are dependents, children of UVM staff or faculty. A student whose parent has worked at UVM for at least one year can get a four-year degree at UVM without paying tuition, said Richard Cate, vice president of finance and University treasurer. This includes any faculty member, from professors

WHAT ’S

IS W E E K

Zoe Stern zstern@uvm.edu

SGA CHANGES ELECTION RULES

MARY MCLELLAN/The Vermont Cynic

STEPHAN TOLJAN/The Vermont Cynic

An employee of the Student Financial Services office sits behind their desk, Jan. 15. The office is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m Monday through Friday. to custodial staff. The remaining 34% are based on need or merit, he said. Higher education is undervalued in Vermont, said Philip Baruth, English professor and chair of the Vermont State Senate Committee on Education. “Vermonters in general, and certainly people in the legislature, often have a certain skepticism when it comes to higher education,” he said. “They’re more likely to want to put money into job creation, and that’s a battle that I fight every day in the statehouse.” The high cost of tuition for students is also a relevant issue in the statehouse, Baruth said. “Vermont is not a wealthy state,” he said. “I often hang my

head in shame at how little we support higher education.” UVM gets much less than many other state universities, Cate said. “About 6% of UVM’s budget is from the state, but in many states it’s 25-40%,” he said. “Seventy percent of our budget is just from tuition.” However, UVM is still able to give aid to students and keep the University afloat, Cate said. “We have enough to continue to give financial aid,” he said. “There’s not a lot of extra money around, but we make it work.” Approximately the same percentage of in-state students have received free tuition over the past five years, Cate said.

The total amount of aid the University depends on the yearly price of tuition, Cate said. “The University gives back $160 million a year in assistance or financial aid to students,” he said. “As tuition goes up, that number goes up too.” With next year’s tuition freeze, the University will still give out the same amount of financial aid, Cate said. “It probably will not rise because it shouldn’t need to,” he said. “It never goes down if it goes anywhere.” In order to make in-state students more aware of the scholarships and grants available, SFS connects with students all over the state, Johnson said.

“Dangerous” intersection goes unchanged Maryann Makosiej mmakosie@uvm.edu

A month after initial data findings to improve the University Heights-Main Street intersection were announced, no formal budget or timeline has been publicly announced. At the Dec. 12, 2019 meeting hosted by the City of Burlington Department of Public Works, possible solutions to the intersection were presented to an audience of only five students. Possible solutions include having times for all pedestrians to be able to cross, extending the green light for cars headed north and creating a greater incentive to use the Davis Center tunnel. According to DPW, the intersection received a “failing” grade for the amount of time it took for drivers to complete a right turn from University Heights to Main Street, according to the presentation. From 2012-16, there have been 65 reported crashes at the intersection with an average economic loss of over $22,000 per crash, according to the Ver-

SGA

Irene Choi

PPENIN HA est. 2019 G

44% of VTers go to UVM for free

THIS WEEK IN SGA

LUKAS DRAUGELIS/The Vermont Cynic

Two pedestrians cross the street at the University Heights-Main Street intersection, Jan. 14. The Burlington Department of Public Works survey is available until Jan. 31 at https://www.burlingtonvt. gov/dpw/transportation/projects/U-Heights. mont Agency of Transportation. The meeting was advertised both on social media and to specific SGA and graduate student senators through flyers, said Laura Wheelock, senior public works engineer. The city has jurisdiction over the intersection and is responsible for any construction that may occur. The city will pay a maximum of $37,169.22

to the independent consulting firm to collect data and provide recommendations, according to Wheelock. The intersection was deemed a high-crash location by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and it has been an area of concern for students, city officials and University administrators since the 1960s. Recent efforts have includ-

ed using Local Motion stencils and chalk to provide pedestrian safety messaging around the intersection and providing free lights for bikes, according to the same email. A survey is available until Jan. 31 to input feedback and ideas for improving the intersection on the Burlington Department of Public Works website.

SGA spent almost two hours of its weekly meeting debating changes to its election process. The meeting started at 7 p.m. and did not end until nearly 10:15 p.m. During its weekly meeting, Tuesday Jan. 14, the Elections Committee via senior Nick Bouffard introduced an update to language changes to SGA’s current rules and regulations. The idea to get rid of petitions was introduced first by the Director of Student Life Daphne Wells, who is also the adviser for SGA. Her main reasoning was lowering the barriers to entry for elections and not being able to verify all the signatures, Bouffard said in the meeting. After two hours of debate, SGA passed a resolution that lowered the required amount of signatures for a first-year running from 100 to 30. For midterm and spring elections, the amount of signatures candidates need decreased from 150 to 50. For president and vice president elections the required signatures dropped from 500 to 250. Also passed in the resolution was a list of places and methods students running for election are not allowed to use. Campaigning in residential halls, residential dining halls and sending mass emails through Blackboard is not allowed. Candidates can only campaign in places of worship and identity centers with expressed permission due to the importance of the locations, Bouffard said. “We want to respect [identity center’s] space but we also want to represent them accurately and the only way we can do that is actually engage with them,” Bouffard said. To make this matter more pressing, SGA will face midterm elections in the coming weeks. According to SGA’s website, midterm elections will be held in early January to fill vacant senator spots. A limit of $50 per candidate is placed on all campaign efforts for this election. More information is available at https://www.uvm.edu/ sga/sga-elections.

OPINION

SGA is scared to talk to you

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1 Issue 6 - Vol. 6

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EXECUTIVE Editor-in-Chief Bridget Higdon editorinchief@vtcynic.com Managing Editor Alek Fleury newsroom@vtcynic.com

OPERATIONS Operations Manager Tim Mealey operations@vtcynic.com Distribution Manager Dariel Echanis

EDITORS Copy Chief Liv Marshall copy@vtcynic.com Culture Sarah Robinson cynicculture@gmail.com Features Greta Rohrer cynicfeatures@gmail.com News / Sports Sawyer Loftus news@vtcynic.com sports@vtcynic.com

Staff Editorial

ear SGA senators, If you are afraid to talk to another student you don’t know, you should not be on SGA. In their ﬁrst meeting back this semester, SGA debated for almost two hours over changes to their election process. One of those changes included a debate over the requirement for senators to have a 150-signature petition to get on the ballot for the election. The point of this staff editorial is not to take a side on this debate. There are pros and cons to the petitions. However, some of the arguments brought up at the meeting were deeply troubling and give good insight into how some SGA senators view their job and how they feel about representing their peers. Most of it can be summed up in a quote from Senator Aidan May, a sophomore, who talked about not getting rid of the petitions but lowering the amount of signatures: “I think 150 is pretty burdensome,” he said. “And I think it kind of went beyond asking the people you might be

Social Media Sam Litra socialcyniceditor@gmail.com Illustrations Noah Zhou illustrations@vtcynic.com Layout Kate Vanni layout@vtcynic.com Photo Stephan Toljan photo@vtcynic.com Assistant Editors Henry Mitchell (Opinion), Meilena Sanchez (Layout), Dalton Doyle (Copy), Allie O’Connor (Culture), Zoe Stern (News), Bailey Samber (Photo) Copy Editors Will Keeton, Ehola Mercer, Caroline Jagger Page Designers George Weed, Stephanie Hodel, Alyssa Greaney, Mac Mansﬁeld-Paris

ADVISING Faculty Adviser Chris Evans crevans@uvm.edu

comfortable asking. “Maybe going down to 50? I think [students] would be a lot more comfortable going up to people that they would generally know and asking for a signature as opposed to really going up to an absolute stranger, which I think is totally different.” Granted this quote does not represent the views of all SGA senators. Some senators and president Jillian Scannell, a senior, argued against this kind

ZHOU

of rhetoric. But it’s wrong that there are senators who would rather pass a piece of paper around in their friend group, than have a meaningful conversation with another student about what students actually want. Say what you want about the previous guidelines and about how 150 signatures is a lot, but at least it got senators talking to students on campus who they wouldn’t normally take the time to get to know.

How meaningful those conversations are is up in the air, but if 150 signatures lead to even a few conversations about what a senator actually wants to do for the student body, then we say they are worth it. A very revealing moment occurred when Senator David Gringeri, a senior, shared his thoughts on postponing the vote to change the election process. “Maybe like seperate break out sessions, maybe talking to some students about what they would like to see in the election that they vote in,” Gringeri said. However, this point never got addressed further. We would like to have a say in the election we vote in. SGA is just scared to ask us. Staff editorials ofﬁcially reﬂect the views of the editorial board, which includes the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor and Opinion Editor. 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.

We must force change upon Sodexo Zoë Kennedy

Opinion Mills Sparkman opinion@vtcynic.com Podcasts David Cabrera vtcynicpodcasts@gmail.com

NOAH

zkennedy@uvm.edu

COL

E FE

odexo is a name wellknown on campus, but less known are names like Bronzefield, Addiewell or Melaleuca. These are some of the prisons that Sodexo operates. Sodexo as a multinational corporation is harming the international community through involvement in human rights abuse in the private prison industry. Sodexo has worked with UVM for over 60 years, according to a November 2015 Cynic article. One of their branches is Sodexo Justice Services. Many of the prisons operated by Sodexo have systemic issues that result in human rights abuses for inmates and prison workers alike. The most notorious is Her Majesty’s Prison Bronzefield, the largest women’s prison in the United Kingdom and Europe. In 2016, a woman named Natasha Chin was found unresponsive in her cell at Bronzefield after vomiting for nine hours without medical attention, according to a December 2018 Independent article. In the trial that followed, the jury stated Chin’s death was caused by systemic failures that resulted in a lack of basic care

and that her death was contributed to by neglect. Chin’s death is part of a pattern. Since her death, three more inmates have been found dead in their cells, according to an October 2018 BBC article. Last October, a pregnant inmate went into labor in her cell. She received no medical attention and was found hours later. The baby died, according to the article. The prison was criticized by the prison guards’ union, lawyers and inmates’ families for being poorly run and awash

with drugs. In May 2017, Legal Aid, the government commission for legal council in Australia, warned its lawyers against visiting their clients. Sodexo has been pressured by student activists to change their actions regarding private prisons before. In 2001, they had to sell their 20% stake in the Corrections Corporation of America, now CoreCivic, one of the world’s largest private prison corporations. This was after student pro-

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tests from 50 of the 500 college campuses serviced by Sodexo at the time, according to a January 2001 Prison Legal News article. The UVM community has the power to force change upon Sodexo again. We must come together to denounce human rights abuses and to denounce Sodexo. Zoë Kennedy is a sophomore environmental studies major. She has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2020.

CULTURE

5 Illustration by KATE VANNI

JENNY KOPPANG/The Vermont Cynic

A drying chair stands in a room with a mannequin head in Campus Hair Salon, Jan. 15. The salon is located at 94 Colchester Ave, across from the UVM Medical Center.

JENNY KOPPANG/The Vermont Cynic

A chair for waxing stands in one of the rooms in the salon. The salon offers both haircuts and waxes. Emma Adams eadams5@uvm.edu

Two decades ago, Radika and Bidur Dahal were living together in a Nepalese refugee camp. Today, the husband and wife team are now established Vermonters and owners of the newly opened Campus Hair Salon. The salon is located at 94 Colchester Ave., just across the street from UVM’s Fleming Museum and medical center. Radika and Bidur were born in Bhutan, but were forced to migrate to Nepal due to political corruption in the monarchy. “We had to leave suddenly,” Bidur said. “We were stateless refugees. We could go outside to study, but it was not legal to work. We had to be in the boundary of the refugee camp.” The Dahals said that community and education have

always been important to them and that they lived happily in the refugee camp despite facing adversity. “The camp was peaceful,” Radika said. “I don’t feel like I was in a refugee camp. People were friendly and loved each other. It was different. Then we went out of Nepal without violence.” Through the U.S. International Office of Migration, they were legally resettled and immigrated to the U.S in 2011. They became U.S. citizens in 2017. “We always scratched,” Radika said. “We came to the U.S. empty-handed and started from zero. But we have a lot of positive vibes and hope.” After resettling, Radika completed a cosmetology course through Aveda O’Brien’s Institute in Willoughston, Vermont, in 2017. CHS opened in mid-November 2019.

Her services at CHS include haircuts for men, women and kids, facials, waxes and hairbraiding. Bidur handles the paperwork and business. “I felt like I could do something for myself and for my family, so that made me start this business,” Radika said. “I wanted to be my own boss.” Bidur said they are proud to belong to UVM’s community and that the people of Burlington have been supportive and motivating. “We are happy because of the community around us and the things we have been able to do,” Bidur said. “We can serve the busy people here, start the business and grow from there. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.” Campus Hair Salon is unique because of its proximity to the University. Radika and Bidur said students don’t have to

JENNY KOPPANG/The Vermont Cynic

Owner and stylist Radika Dahal gestures to styling products on the wall of her salon. drive to their hair appointments and struggle to find parking, as they can walk or bike instead. “People can save money and time,” Bidur said. “Saving gas also means saving the environment. We have that in mind. We feel this community will really understand that.” Radika said that people are usually surprised at her competitive prices. A 30-minute haircut with a CATcard is $18. Without an ID, a haircut is $20, a deep conditioning treatment is $15

and a kid’s haircut is $13. Bidur said that they are looking forward to growing the business, hiring more people and possibly making Campus Hair Salon a South Asian aesthetic and beauty center. “We want to make [the salon] a place to learn and a hub for cultural exchanges,” Bidur said. Campus Hair Salon offers a variety of styling services and products. Walk in or visit their website, campushairsalon.com, to schedule an appointment.

CULTURE

Student YouTubers post lives online Marjorie McWilliams mmcwilli @uvm.edu

Jenna Marbles, Shane Dawson and Miranda Sings are just a few of the names that dominate the YouTube world, but UVM also has some rising stars. While some YouTube influencers make a full-time job out of creating content, some students balance the craft with a busy academic schedule. Sophomore Hannah Parker was initially inspired to capture the UVM experience for prospective students deciding between schools, she said. “Before coming to UVM, I hoped to see dorm tours and other college related stuff and found scarce information, so I knew I wanted to have UVM be a part of my channel,” she said. In sharing her UVM experience online, she also has acquired skills, like video editing, along the way. “I have also learned a lot regarding social media as a whole, and the creator side of YouTube and how to use it,” Parker said. Junior Harrison Davis uses YouTube as a creative outlet, featuring videos like “Blindfolded Pumpkin Carving,” in which Davis and a friend sketched faces onto pumpkins with a Sharpie while blindfolded. “Something about knowing I’m making a video makes me feel like I have a reason to do things I want to do but normally wouldn’t,” he said. Davis said he enjoys the fact that making videos enhances his relationships by giving him and his friends something to

MARY MCLELLAN/The Vermont Cynic

Harrison Davis films a video for his YouTube channel, Jan. 15. Davis shared his recent trip to Jamaica on his channel. look back on. Like Davis, other UVM students with YouTube channels also create content for others’ enjoyment. Junior Chelsea Castignola cares about making valuable content on YouTube. “Sure, I could tell all my friends about my favorite products, or my time at school, but who’s to say that they’re the only ones who want that information?” she said. While Castignola remembers feeling nervous to begin posting videos, she now finds it

rewarding. “In college, I became much more confident in myself and saw it as an opportunity to potentially help others, share my thoughts and opinions and it offered me a creative outlet,” Castignola said. Davis used his platform to donate to a cause that is meaningful to him. For every subscriber he had by Dec. 31, 2019, he donated $1 to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, making his total $103. “Especially during the hol-

iday season, I was thinking about all the people who might be having a harder holiday, and I wanted to give back,” he said. Davis has experienced the satisfaction of positive feedback from viewers. “I am a very small YouTuber, but I’ve had people I’ve never met reach out to me and tell me they enjoy what I am doing, and it means a lot,” Davis said. Parker said almost all of the feedback she receives is positive, which motivates her to continue producing videos, she

said. “I have seen comments of people who have said that some of my college videos are really helpful, which makes me feel really great,” she said. However, Parker finds the silver lining to the negative comments too. “I have gotten like, two hate comments before, and I honestly kinda loved it,” she said. “It hurt a little, but I thought that it was a funny thing that enough people watch to say negative things.”

New streaming service broadcasts college musicians Anya Kauffman aakauffm@uvm.edu

A team of developers are preparing to change the way college students digest music. Quadio, a new music streaming service based in NYC, is already gaining followers though it hasn’t been released yet. The service will circulate college music to other college campuses around the nation, including UVM. Quadio is currently collaborating with UVM local music groups such as Juicebox, Princess Nostalgia, Batter and Big Sip, who plan to upload music to the site. Ula Klein ‘18 works in artist relations for Quadio. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Klein was involved in the music scene when she was a student at UVM. She did her own solo work and was in a band shortly after she graduated. “The end goal [of Quadio] is to connect artists who are in college from all over the country to the music that’s being made both in their local areas and beyond,” Klein said. The initial round of artist

beta for Quadio was released Jan. 14. The nationwide launch of the website will be in February. It will be available as an app in the future, Klein said. Quadio was founded in October 2018 by 2015 Cornell University alumnus Marcus Welch. The startup has since grown significantly, Klein said. The company currently has about 40-50 employees, almost all under the age of 30, Klein said. A crucial factor for Quadio is their implementation of “campus representatives.” Quadio already has over 200 campus representatives across the country. There are two campus reps at UVM: junior Max Byrd and first-year Jeff Brenner. Byrd helps to organize BadArt, a small but well-known music and art collective that hosts shows around Burlington. Klein reached out to Byrd on Instagram. As a rep, Byrd promotes Quadio around UVM. BadArt and Quadio are set to have a co-sponsored show on Valentine’s Day at local DIY venue Scooter House, Byrd said. “We want to help [students]

Photo Illustration by BAILEY SAMBER/The Vermont Cynic

Quadio is set to launch in February. One must have an .edu email address to use the site’s services. build a community around their music scenes,” Klein said. Klein, along with Cornell 2019 alumna Ophie Mazza were a part of Quadio’s initial “Road Warrior” team. For three months, they toured the country to promote the startup at different campuses and get an understanding of each school’s music scene.

“We want to change two things,” Mazza said. “We want to change how music is being discovered, and we want to change how it’s being made.” Quadio will also allow musicians to list the bands they’re a part of and to post what kinds of musicians they would like to collaborate with, Byrd said. Klein said it is exciting to be

at the forefront of a company’s start. “The energy [at Quadio] is really young and passionate,” Klein said. “And everyone is either a musician or loves music in just this really intimate way. We practice what we preach, which is such a cool thing to be a part of.”

CULTURE

Winter Week of Welcome Just because UVM students are going back to class, doesn’t mean they can’t still have a good time. The Winter Week of Welcome begins Jan. 17. Fireplace Feels with the Sam Atallah Quartet, Winter Self-Care with Living Well and WinterFest all promise different experiences to help students get back into the flow of life at UVM. Jean MacBride JMacBrid@uvm.edu

Tuesday

January

Fireplace Feels with the Sam Atallah Quartet The Davis Center’s Burak Lounge will have free warm drinks for students wanting to listen to UVMgrown jazz music. The concert will take place at 3:00 p.m. Jan. 21. The Jazz quartet is led by senior Sam Atallah, who has played with local musicians and bands in the area such as Juicebox and Kat Wright. The Sam Atallah Quartet will perform jazz standards, popular songs that are often performed by jazz musicians and enjoyed by listeners. The event is organized by UVM Program Board, a student-led group that brings events to campus, according to the department of Student Life’s website

Winter Self-Care with Living Well Living Well is offering a Yoga and Mindfulness for Compassion class and self-care activities Jan. 22 at the Living Well Studio in the Davis Center. The Yoga and Mindfulness for Compassion class will run from 12:10-12:50 p.m., while the self-care activities will be available from 1-2 p.m. The class will be led by UVM Mindfulness Program Coordinator Lindsay Foreman who has been practicing since 1998, according to UVM’s center for health and wellbeing website. The self-care activities include free coffee, tea and opportunities to do crafts. Living Well will also provide Seasonal Affective Disorder lights for people to use. Half a million Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. The disorder usually starts appearing in early adulthood, according to a 2016 Cleveland Clinic article.

Wednesday

January

Saturday

January

WinterFest UVM Program Board is hosting WinterFest from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 25 in the Davis Center. WinterFest will be the last event of the Winter Week of Welcome and will include giveaways and free food. Fraternity and Sorority Life will also be hosting their 12th annual chili cook-off at 8 p.m. to see which fraternity or sorority can make the best chili. Spectators will be able to eat some of the chili and see who wins ﬁrst place.

Jean MacBride is a senior English major. She has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2018. Illustrations by STEPHANIE HODEL AND MEILENA SANCHEZ

SPORTS

Playoffs on the horizon for No. 4 UVM Aryanna Ramsaran aramsara@uvm.edu

With the end of regular season basketball in sight, both UVM men’s and women’s teams are No. 4 in the America East Conference. Both teams played their first game of the spring semester against Binghamton University Jan. 15 and won. The women’s team won 65-62 while the men’s team won 72-53. “I think we just came off of a really gutsy win,” women’s head coach Alisa Kresge said. “We really fought hard, and that’s an area of improvement.” The women’s team only has 12 games left in their regular season before playoffs. “I’m really happy to see the progress of where we’re at, and there’s always room for improvement,” Kresge said. The team currently consists of six first-years, two sophomores, two juniors and one senior, according to UVM athletics. “It’s positive and they’re getting a ton of experience at a young age, but there’s those learning curves that we got to make sure that we drill that home with them because they are so new,” Kresege said. Of the remaining 12 games, half of them will be played at home. The Catamounts will play their last regular season game at home against the University of Massachusetts Lowell Feb. 29, according to UVM athletics. The three teams are currently ranked above the women’s team are Stony Brook University, UMass Lowell and University of Maine, according the to America East Conference web-

Image Source: UVM ATHLETICS

Sophomore guard Sarah Wells celebrates after scoring during a game against Binghamton University, Jan. 15. The team’s next game is against University of Maine, Jan. 22. site. They will face Maine and UMass Lowell twice and Stony Brook once before their regular season is over, according to UVM athletics. “We want to first make playoffs and then it would be great to get that first game at home, so if we can be in the top four, that’s really big for our program,” Kresge said. “It’s been a long time, 10 plus years.” While the men’s team is also No. 4, they finished their previous three seasons ranked first, according to the America East Conference website. “I think it’s been good for us,” men’s head coach John

Becker said. “Obviously you don’t want to lose any conference games, but I think maybe that woke us up a little bit. I think our guys have responded so far, and we’re playing with much more of a sense of urgency.” The three teams currently ranked above the men’s team are University of Hartford, University at Albany and Stony Brook, according to the America East Conference website. In their first game against Stony Brook, UVM lost 81-77. Senior forward Anthony Lamb had seven rebounds and five assists and junior guard Stef Smith scored 28 points, accord-

ing to UVM athletics. “Playing at Stony Brook again, that’s going to be really exciting because we lost to them already,” Lamb said. The team has 13 regular season games left in their season. They will get the chance to play Hartford and Albany twice and Stony Brook once, according to UVM athletics. “As we approach playoffs, it always gets a little more serious,” Lamb said. “People are a little more locked in, but the biggest thing is always stayed relaxed and staying confident as we go into playoffs.” The higher seed of each game gets to host the game,

according to the America East Conference website. “Obviously we’ve been the first seed for the last three years and hosting all the games, and that’s the ultimate goal, to win the regular season championship so that we can host all the playoff games,” Becker said. “If we can do that, we give ourselves a great chance.” The men will play their final season game against Albany March 3 at home, according to UVM athletics. The women’s playoffs begin March 4. Men’s playoffs will follow March 7.

Men’s Hockey loses at VT night Hayley Rosen hrosen@uvm.edu

Many college students wear face paint to sporting events, but on Jan. 16, UVM students wore flannel to their men’s hockey game. The night was deemed “Vermont Night,” and students were prompted to wear flannel by the UVM athletic department. Additionally, UVM “ear-flap” hats were given out to the first 500 students in attendance. The UVM men’s hockey players also donned green and yellow plaid jerseys in honor of Vermont Night. First-year McKenna Brinkman is a Vermont resident. In response to “Vermont Night” she said she felt indifferent about “Vermont Night’s” portrayal of a typical Vermonter. “I honestly think it is pretty accurate, at least in the rural areas. I think it fostered a sense of community and it seemed that everyone had fun with it,” said Brinkman. Although the spirits were

LUKAS DRAUGELIS/ The Vermont Cynic

Simon Boyko slides into the University of Massachusetts Amherst goal during a game, Jan. 17. UVM lost the game 3-0. high in Patrick Gym, that did not translate to the level of play on the ice, as UVM went on to lose 4-0 against University of Massachusetts Amherst. UMass Amherst outshot UVM 35-25, a demonstration of Vermont’s struggle to produce offensive chances in the game. In a second matchup against UMass Amherst, Jan. 19, Vermont lost once more with a score of 3-1.

The Vermont goal came from senior forward Matt Alvaro, with assists credited to junior defenseman Christian Evers and first-year forward Simon Boyko. UVM men’s hockey now is 3-15-3 overall and 0-11-1 in conference play. The men’s hockey team has upcoming games at Merrimack College Jan. 24 and Jan. 25.