THEVERMONTCYNIC THE ISSUE 25 - VOLUME 138 | APRIL 3, 2022 | VTCYNIC.COM
Student causes flood, displaces two floors in UHN Isabelle Tanner Cynic News Reporter
Flooding from a pipe caused by student damage displaced 40-50 students on the second floor of Tower 2 in University Heights South March 27, said Kevin Hytten, interim director of Residential Life. UHS students awoke to fire alarms going off at 3 a.m. and over an inch of water covering their floors, first-year Dania Mael said. UVM Police Services and ResLife staff responded to the scene as students evacuated, Mael said. A student in UHS jumped and hit a ceiling tile which held a recessed sprinkler head. The sprinkler pushed up and cracked the pipe in half releasing the full force of the entire sprinkler system onto the floor, Hytten said. UVM Police Services and the Burlington Fire Department responded to the alarms triggered by the broken sprinkler within minutes. They began investigation into what triggered the alarms and, with help from a student who had recorded a video, discovered the cracked pipe, Bilodeau said. UVM will not be paying for damages, as the person who is responsible for the damages is liable to pay, Hytten said. Students’ insurance should pay for any damages sustained and the perpetrator’s insurance company will be paying back the other company for the damages, Hytten said. UVM Police Services cannot release the name of the perpetrator due to FERPA laws and the Center for Student Conduct will deal with all consequences, UVM Police Chief Timothy Bilodeau said. Bilodeau said police considered this incident an emergency and they followed the UVM Emergency Operations Plan. For about two hours, while first responders assessed
ERIC SCHARF/The Vermont Cynic
A water cleanup truck outside of University Heights South March 30. the scene, the students did not receive notice about any damage, Mael said. “We were sitting there and were like, ‘Okay, our whole life is gone, we don’t know what the deal is,’” Mael said. “They weren’t telling us anything.” Around 5 a.m., ResLife staff falsely told students they could not go back into their rooms for the rest of the semester and that they should try to find alternative housing, Mael said. “Honestly though, whoever done this really fucked some of y’all over because you’re moving for the rest of the semester,” said a University official filmed in a video Mael took during the incident. “We don’t have space out here, like, deadass.” Hytten initially denied a ResLife employee would yell false statements to residents, he said. However, upon receiving the video the Cynic obtained, Hytten stated in an April 3 email that he would follow up with his team to review protocols for these types of incidents. “[ResLife was] not like, ‘Stay
calm and you’ll be fine, let’s just do this.’ It was yelling not fully true facts at us quickly and then leaving us,” Mael said. UVM Police Services then also told students they could not enter their rooms. Mael said they felt devastated thinking of all the damages and the cost they may incur due to the water damage. “The policeman was like, ‘[I] hope you have renter’s insurance because we’re not paying for any of your personal damages,’ and there’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages,” Mael said. All unprofessional comments made by police officers who responded at the scene were inappropriate, Bilodeau said. Bilodeau will check Mael’s claims about UVM Police Services’ treatment of students with his staff and he expects all staff to operate in a manner that is respectful of the people who they aim to help, he said. The flood displaced sophomore UHS resident
Ian Aulbach from his room, who then slept on a couch in Redstone Hall the night the incident occured. His first floor room had a half inch of water on the floor that poured down from his ceiling, he said. Aulbach said he believes UVM did their best when it came to responding to the crisis. He only wished UVM found a place for students to sleep on the night of the flooding. “I’m still trying to recover from the two hours of sleep I got over the weekend,” Aulbach said. “But I’ve been able to keep up with my classes. Whenever I have questions, ResLife has answered them for me. They’ve been communicating with us through the whole process.” Hytten said ResLife promptly secured temporary accommodations for all impacted students and believes students can return to their dorms on Wednesday, April 6. Students have since been relocated to the DoubleTree hotel in South Burlington where they will stay until
ResLife clears their rooms to be habitable again, Hytten said. Annabelle South, a firstyear resident of UHS, said she wished police and ResLife handled the incident with a more professional attitude. UVM has been keeping students living at the DoubleTree updated on the status of their rooms and belongings through email, Hytten said. Despite their displacement, students are making the best of their stay at the DoubleTree, South said. Students are holding small pool parties and watching movies together in their spare time. The best way to receive information from ResLife is through email and the main telephone line, at (802) 6563434, Hytten said.
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Black mold confirmed in Coolidge room Audrie Caruso Cynic News Reporter
Two students were relocated on March 16 after reporting mold in their Coolidge Hall dorm room, said Kevin Hytten, interim director of Residential Life. Students suspect the mold may be toxic due to a sickness going around Coolidge which students dubbed the “Coolidge Cough,” said sophomore Shae Crowley, a resident of Coolidge. The symptoms resemble black mold poisoning, she said. Crowley’s symptoms in particular include a consistent cough that increasingly worsens, shortness of breath, popcorning of the lungs, weight loss and loss of appetite, she said. One student also had a rib crack from coughing due to an illness developed while living in Coolidge, Crowley said. Some of these symptoms, such as a consistent cough and shortness of breath, are consistent with mold exposure, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Other factors contribute to the health of students, primarily poor hygiene, Hytten said. The hygienic issues may be related to wet clothes lying on the floor and moldy food products in the trash, he said. Six rooms in Coolidge reported detection of mold, Hytten said. However, ResLife only obtained evidence to substantiate mold found in one
Coolidge Hall on South Prospect Street April 1. of the rooms and dealt with it quickly. A malfunctioning valve in the heating system caused excess moisture in the room and facilitated mold growth. There are mold spores everywhere, Hytten said. Though Hytten said he has no knowledge of mold being in the other rooms where students reported it. On March 14, the Monday after spring break, a student on the second floor of Coolidge notified junior Sierra Dube,
the RA on the floor of the substantiated claim, that black mold was all over the wall in their room, Dube said. The Physical Plant Department’s Training and Compliance Office sanitized and disinfected the wall on the same day of inspection, according to a March 28 email from Hytten. The plant-based product used to clean the mold should not allow for regrowth, although there might be light stains, stated Henry Moreno, associate
TANNER LOY/The Vermont Cynic director of facilities operations, in a March 15 email to the two students living in the impacted room. While Hytten said the University has addressed the problem, some stains appear as though they may still have mold remaining in the crevices, Dube said. With the mold cleared up, the students were allowed to return to their room, the email stated. Per request, they relocated instead and new
residents took their place in Coolidge. “That room that those students vacated is already occupied again by another pair of students,” Hytten said. When senior Keisha Bedor was an RA in Coolidge on the second floor during the 202021 school year, she was aware of the mold. “Some of my residents at the end of the hall had issues with mold,” she said. “The RAs talk about it all the time, how much we want it to just be torn down.” All the snow melting causes a lot of moisture in the air which increases the chance of mold growing, Bedor said. As snow melts, this causes the air to be damper which allows mold to grow, according to a March 20, 2015 CBC news article. “I was coming down with another illness right as this was happening,” said sophomore Peri Ferdinand, a resident in Coolidge. “I asked a maintenance man to come check my room and he walked in and just did a visual scan.” The maintenance person looked behind both Ferdinand’s bed as well as her roommate’s and told them they were in the clear, she said. Ferdinand asked the maintenance person if she should be worried about her respiratory illness and they said no, it was just a cough.
SGA unanimously votes in support of Staff Union Shannon Turner Cynic News Reporter
SGA unanimously passed a resolution in support of UVM Staff United’s push for livable wages at their March 29 meeting. UVMSU consists of professional, office, specialized and technical staff members who began negotiating with the UVM administration in October, their website stated. The Union is pushing for livable wages for all, diversity with accountability, maintaining professional benefits and a healthy work-life balance. Some specific bargaining priorities include diversity in hiring and retention provisions, base salaries at or above the livable wage, improvements in paid maternity leave and healthcare, and flexibility in scheduling, their website stated. To help convince SGA to vote in favor of the resolution, Annie Valentine, education and training manager at the Center for Health and Wellbeing and UVM Staff United bargaining team member, came and spoke to the Senators at their March 29 senate meeting. “We deserve fair, livable equitable wages, so we can live
in Chittenden County, take care of our families and come to work and help take care of you as well,” Valentine said during her speech to SGA. It is heart-wrenching to know there are people working at UVM who are not making $20 an hour, Valentine said. “It just confuses me. Why wouldn’t they get paid enough?” said Senator Taylor MacHarrie, a junior. Senator Maddie Henson, a senior and chair of the committee on student action and well-being, decided to work with Valentine to create this resolution so that UVMSU could have SGA’s full support, Henson said. “This University would not operate without staff,” Henson said. “We need to support them as much as they support us, in as much capacity as we can.” The resolution itself signifies SGA’s support of UVMSU’s ongoing bargaining for their main priorities in addition to defining some of the bigger issues the staff has, such as the lack of both a yearly pay increase and maternity leave. Now, with the resolution passed, Henson plans to send it to the Graduate Student Senate, as a substantial number
of UVMSU members work in UVM graduate programs. Henson is confident the resolution will pass because members in GSS are looking forward to receiving it, she said. Valentine hopes this resolution helps with bargaining at UVMSU’s next meeting with the administration April 1, she said. The Union looks to build momentum with the resolution so the administration could meet their demands by May, before discussion slows due to students leaving for the summer. If administration doesn’t grant UVMSU’s demands by the following April 8 meeting, then UVMSU will consider organizing a rally on April 15 on campus, similar to their March 17 rally, Valentine said. UVMSU is also sharing a petition on social media to gain student body support and traction for their cause. As of April 3, the petition has 1,410 signatures. “We just want to be seen and treated with dignity because we support you all every single day in so many different ways,” Valentine said. The negotiations between administration and UVMSU are conducted in private, so
MARY MCLELLAN/The Vermont Cynic Annie Valentine speaking during the SGA meeting March 29. the administration will not publicly comment on them, but continues to work in good faith with the Union, according to a March 18 email from
UVM Spokesperson Enrique Corredera.
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UVM predicts increase in dorm triples Halsey McLaen Assistant News Editor
Approximately 25% of oncampus UVM students live in triples, a percentage likely to increase in future years, said Kevin Hytten, interim director of Residential Life. In fall 2019, the University had 469 triple rooms housing up to 1,407 students, Hytten stated in an April 1 email. Fall 2021 had 433 triple rooms for 1,299 students. ResLife expects fall 2022 to have similar numbers to fall 2019. “We had a large first year class, we’re going to have a large first year class again,” Hytten said. “We have a lot of people on campus and can only house an appropriate number. [...] The reality of our housing inventory is we will have triples.” ResLife did not use triples in fall 2020 because of the pandemic-related lower numbers of students on campus, the email stated. “By and large, there is no significant difference between students who are in triple rooms or double rooms,” Hytten said. “They are academically achieving in the same sort of ways. Their experiences are typically the same.” However, students should not have to experience living in a triple, said first-year Lillie Tyroler, who lives in a forced triple in Davis Hall. All triple rooms on campus are double occupancy rooms housing three people, according to the 2021-2022 ResLife Contract. Students often refer to a room designed to house two people that was converted to house three people as a forced triple, Hytten said. “Just because you can technically fit a third person, doesn’t mean that you should,”
Tyroler said. The triple is cramped and does not offer Tyroler a lot of personal space or time, she said. “I just never go into my room,” Tyroler said. “I feel like I never have a space that’s my own. [...] It’s just a place where I put my stuff and sleep in.” Tyroler did not expect to live in a triple and didn’t know it was an option until she found out her housing details before moving in, she said. The ResLife website features virtual room tours displaying a total of 15 double rooms from 11 residence halls and two triple rooms from Mason Hall and UHeights North. “Here in Residential Life, we try very intentionally to not talk about forced triples,” Hytten said. “That is language I think students and parents have started to adopt.” ResLife staff recently reassessed every room on campus to identify locations for potential triples, Hytten said. The requirements for an effective triple rely on a fixture count, which is the ratio of students to bathroom facilities, Hytten said. “We recognize some of our rooms are the size they are and have three people in them, and some of them are the size they are and have two people,” Hytten said. “We’ve identified one room as a triple and one room as a double, and we sell it as such.” A private triple is a double occupancy room for three people with a shared full bath,. It costs $8,058 for one year, the contract states. These are located in UHeights North and South. A suite triple is a double occupancy room for three people with four to seven people sharing one to two full baths. It costs $7,664 for the
A triple dorm in Davis Hall on Redstone campus. year, according to the contract. These are located in University Heights North and South as well as the Trinity Campus Back Five. A traditional triple is a double occupancy room for three people with a common hallway bath. It costs $6,934 for the year and is located in all halls except UHeights North and South, Living/Learning, Central Campus Residence Hall and the Trinity Campus Back Five. Sophomore Jack Pitblado chose to live in a triple in Ready Hall this year because of its financial benefits. “We save a good amount of money living in that living arrangement, [which] is preferable to paying to live in a single or something,” Pitblado said.
SOPHIA BALUNEK/The Vermont Cynic
Still, Pitblado wishes triple rooms were larger than double rooms to accommodate the extra person they house, he said. “It’s not fun to have the same size room as the people living next door [in a double] and they have more walkable space,” Pitblado said. However, Pitblado likes having two roommates since they are his friends and enjoys living with them, he said. “I would say I’ve had a good experience living at UVM, but living in a forced triple has definitely been annoying at times,” Pitblado said. First-year Kiely Hills, who also lives in a forced triple in Davis Hall, thinks her living situation is unfortunate but overall positive. “It can have negative
aspects,” Hills said. “But I don’t know if I would change it if I could go back.” When Hills learned she would be living in a triple, she expected the room to be larger than a double and felt disappointed when it was not, she said. However, Hills is close with her roommates and enjoys living with them, she said. “It’s a really fun dynamic to have three people, if you take away the [lack of] space,” Hill said. In the future, ResLife wants to implement incentives for more returning students to opt into living in triples, Hytten said.
Nursing professor wins award for autism research Ella Ruehsen News Editor
Registered Nurse Laura Foran Lewis, Ph.d., won the 2022 Best of The Journal of Obstetric, Gynecological & Neonatal Nursing award, according to a March 29 UVM press release. Lewis earned the honor for an article co-written with recent College of Nursing and Health Sciences graduates Hannah Schirling, Emma Beaudoin, Hannah Scheibner and Alexa Cestrone, titled “Exploring the Birth Stories of Women on the Autism Spectrum,” according to the press release. “Professional nurses care for a full spectrum of pregnant individuals,” said Nursing Department Chair Rosemary Dale, Ed.d., APRN. “The more we are able to highlight the similarities and the unique needs of groups, then we are
able to tailor our care and maximize inclusivity.” Lewis’ research contributes important evidence to inclusive health care practices, Dale said. Lewis is an expert in Autism Spectrum Disorder and qualitative research methods, according to the UVM website. She teaches chronic and palliative care, professional issues in nursing, and research. Lewis and her then-students researched birth stories of autistic women to learn how they make sense of their childbirth experience, the press release stated. Study participants by and large experienced poor communication, untreated pain and sensory overload during childbirth, according to the press release. “Study participants expressed feelings that their concerns were minimized, their wishes were ignored, and
they were left out of critical communication and education during the birth process,” the press release stated. Participants also highlighted the difficulties of their autistic traits, such as sensory sensitivities, being imbalanced in the birth environment, leading to impaired communication abilities, the press release stated. Lewis’ study challenges previous conclusions from research documenting delayed bonding between autistic mothers and their babies, Lewis said. “In the past, we’ve just assumed that these early parenting outcomes are directly related to autism, but our study sheds new light on the severe trauma many of these women face during childbirth that may lead to detachment and postpartum depression,” Lewis said.
Image source: UVM website The study concluded nurses can aid in the birth experiences of autistic women through provision of thorough and nonjudgemental education about the process, trusting women’s reports of pain and anxiety and making environmental adjustments to minimize sensory overload, according to
the press release. Lewis will attend the 2022 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses Convention in June to receive her award, according to the press release.
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EXECUTIVE Editor-in-Chief Kate Vanni editorinchief@vtcynic.com Managing Editor Greta Rohrer newsroom@vtcynic.com
OPERATIONS Operations Manager Emma Chute operations@vtcynic.com
4 UVM-Odanak, Old Colonial Business “Today, UVM again seems to desire the manipulation of historical facts to hide its legacy and culpability of destruction against Original Peoples here.” - Charles Megeso
EDITORS Copy Chief Dalton Doyle copy@vtcynic.com
Tribal VT Citizen
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ADVISING Andy Elrick cynic@uvm.edu
Letter to the Editor Charles Megeso Tribal VT Citizen
The facts of our existence appear placed far from the viewer and are in support of racial colonialism once again by institutions. In 2009, Abenakis residing in N’dakina/Vermont had come together. For years we asked for assistance, inclusion and recognition by Odanak. We were finally accepted by the Vermont state government that year. A voice in the wilderness at that time, Chief Homer St. Francis, brought our collective legacies to the forefront as a public mandate after years of racial inequities hurled upon us. Many Vermont Abenakis hid because of continued eugenics until recent times. As we moved towards recognition, we took our arguments away from the public media, devoutly political, and worked directly with Vermont legislative committees and chairs. Through our peoples, records and watershed geographic areas, we achieved state recognition. We worked with collaboration and assurances with the greater community. These are facts. Our heritage as a culture is intact but we still lack communities for living openly as Abenaki. Who is Abenaki remained. In our communities and Vermont’s communities, a comprehensive process emerged. Under state statute law, the government affirmed the process of tribes, allowing us to define our own citizens by definition: cultural, traditional and familial relations. This goes against the U.S. Interior Department model, Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is designed to breed Native People out of existence like pedigreed animals. Not by Tribal Roles. Culturally and traditionally, we never lived
under outside quotas or definitions from others. These are manipulations that exist today. During the State recognition process, [Dr. James] Petersen [‘79], an international anthropologist, testified and submitted a report outlining Abenaki existence in today’s Vermont. He did this in person with the knowledge of how governments and institutions manipulate outcomes within his studied field. Today, UVM again seems to desire the manipulation of historical facts to hide its legacy and culpability of destruction against Original Peoples here. As the institution allows symposiums to argue against Abenaki existence that is already established, UVM strives further to downplay the historic roles of its own history to eliminate Original Peoples. We were driven underground by Ira, Ebenezer and Ethan Allen. Their conduct and writings show as such acts by the Council of Safety to remove Abenakis and to sell land titles. Even after Ira Allen became indebted to purchasing UVM’s first presidential position, he conspired with Governor Thomas Chittenden to take the land title of the Phillips Grant in Northeastern Vermont away from Original Peoples. Perhaps in higher regard, he may be guilty of sedition for his dreams of “New Colombia.” Later was Dr. Perkins’ Eugenics Program. As administering director, he administered Vermont’s healthcare law sterilizing Original Peoples and other minorities deemed “different” than Northern European. He used being Vermont’s healthcare state officer to try and completely eradicate Original Peoples. In memory, even Vermont’s State Supreme Court entertained a legal brief introduced by the State Attorney’s Office formulated against Original Peoples. “By the weight of history:” The Chief
Justice’s statements were solely based on European settlement, racial biased history. The Chief Justice ruled in court while denying expert testimony and evidence. He had no history degree or anthropology degree. He was an electrical engineer and had a law degree. All was overturned by the Vermont State Legislature. After testimonies with evidence from anthropologists, history experts and the testimony of Vermont’s Original Peoples there is a statute for tribal recognition today. In 2009, Odanak leaders testified in committees of the Vermont Legislature. Today, as then, they shift to the avenue of public appeal to continue a non-factual narrative to stop any cultural, traditional or territorial gains by Vermont Abenakis that they desire for business interests such as high stakes gaming and other enterprises. Their agents, then and now, desire and explore this for their own interests. Politically, such statements against Abenaki Original Peoples in Vermont only favor themselves in tribal politics and election standing in Canada. One member of the current symposium, a new anthropologist, had participated with the Missisquoi tribe. He was a member that furthered his education using his status for his own gain of institutional prestige and advancement. The United Nations Indigenous Permanent Forum outlines the protocol of “Indian” existence within the Indigenous Rights Constitution. Specifically, it stands against the attacks against Original Peoples such as continuing through UVM’s history department narrative. Individuals, “non-natives” such as Darryl Leroux and others have testified to state, provincial and federal governments using their own manipulations of origin to sell savings
to the governments in the form of financial settlements as they are becoming contractors for a greater community government. There is compliance and complicity in rights denial for all Original Peoples’ existence. This is a civil holocaust that offers gain through sold books and higher education positions, and prestige. UVM is following colonial histories by once again pitting Original Peoples against one another for the University’s and for the greater community’s gain. This is the face of today’s supremist racism. Tribal authority is recognised in Vermont, elsewhere and internationally. The gain by individuals and institutions over accepted and recognized peoples within this attack is colonial racism. This symposium is not of public discourse, but is the continued narrative of lack of inclusion that designs only hatred and continuing systemic racism. This is another organized effort against Vermont’s Original Peoples’ minority rights. UVM, as a land grant institution, has a responsibility to work with and positively enable its recognised citizens. Regardless of its earlier history, today it is a major educational institution and is publicly respected. It can use its influence to promote better relations between all of us in the greater communities— together. We respect our tribal relations with Odanak and desire a future of cooperation, mutual works and understanding.
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 factcheck and edit letters for length and grammar. Please send letters to opinion@vtcynic.com.
OPINION
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Lift the meal plan requirement, UVM Mary Kueser Opinion Columnist
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pay thousands of dollars for a meal plan I know I don’t need. Unfortunately, I don’t have a choice. UVM requires all on-campus students to purchase a meal plan, according to the 2021-22 ResLife Housing and Meal Plan Contract. The least expensive plans cost $2,284 per semester, according to the ResLife website. I know my eating habits and preferences better than anyone, and I know I could enjoy my food more and save money if UVM did not require oncampus students to purchase meal plans. Per semester, the unlimited access plan offers unlimited meal swipes and 150 points, the retail points plan offers 1,450 points and 25 meal swipes and the flex plan offers 160 meal swipes and 900 points, according to the 2021-22 ResLife Housing and Meal Plan Contract. If I splurged on groceries weekly with $100, I would spend $1,500 for one semester of groceries. Even more likely, if I spent $75 each week, my semesterly
MARTHA HRDY
total would amount to $1,125, saving $1,159 compared to the cheapest meal plan. Saving this amount could help me pay off my student loans or buy a plane ticket home for winter break. I could buy groceries now and eat the way I want to, but then I would be wasting thousands of dollars on my meal plan. While I don’t have a stove or
oven in my room, I can prepare easy and healthy meals. My building also has a kitchen, so I could make meals requiring more than a microwave if I wanted to. With simple ingredients, I can make cinnamon apple oatmeal, sandwiches or soups right in my dorm room. Lifting the meal plan requirement would better prepare students for life
outside of the dorms. Purchasing and preparing their own food allows students to practice budgeting as well as learning essential life skills. Access to meal plans for oncampus students is essential, but mandating the purchase of meal plans limits students’ opportunities to eat how they want to, what they want to and when they want to. UVM should remove the
meal plan requirement and give on-campus students control over their food situation to help create a happier and healthier campus experience.
Mary Kueser is a sophomore public communication major. She has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2020.
UVM has a problem with performative activism Sam Nylen Opinion Columnist
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tudents, like myself, would consider themselves activists who advocate, protest and work to dismantle the status quo. The intent behind performative activism stems from the desire to increase social capital rather than one’s devotion to the cause, according to Boston Medical Center. Unfortunately, I think the increase in the amount of performative activism coincides with the rise of social media. I see performative activism on Instagram through reposts of the mainstream discussion. People hit repost to prove their “wokeness.” While students may support the cause, this sort of surface-level activism, such as reposting popular posts, doesn’t have direction or any intent to change with personal involvement. Distinguishing between performative and legitimate activism can be difficult, considering many activists
also repost stories or articles pertaining to important issues. A big indicator in noticing a performance in activism depends on whether or not the person continues to advocate for issues when it’s not trendy. On UVM’s Instagram account, many students used the platform to express their anger with the University in comments concerning the school’s problem with sexual assault. The infamous congratulatory men’s basketball post received over 280 comments in 30 minutes, before the University turned off their comments and soon deleted the post entirely, according to a Feb. 21 Cynic article. Students then went elsewhere to comment. There are 196 comments on an Instagram post for an exhibit recognizing Black voices at UVM, most of which are about the sexual assault scandal, according to a Feb. 14 @universityofvermont Instagram post. The comments are performative, as they take away from the achievement of the Black community at UVM. These students did not consider how their “activist”
This exemplifies the comments were harming importance of research into another social cause: racial causes and campaigns before justice. supporting them. A more appropriate post to The people who posted with comment their thoughts under @plantatreeco’s sticker did would be the Jan. 31 post not consider the effects of their introducing Elliot Ruggles as performative actions. Instead UVM’s first sexual violence and they should have researched prevention coordinator. the account before contributing Performative activism does to its efforts. not stop with comments. There Performative activism is an overall issue of lack of abandons individual action critical thinking in posts on towards the issue. When social media. individuals neglect to In November 2021, the understand the issue and goals Instagram account their actions are supporting, @plantatreeco attempted to the movement becomes hollow, start a campaign that would with no substance. plant a tree for every post shared of people’s pets. WENZDAE WENDLING The account used the Instagram sticker feature that allows users to add their own posts on their stories under the same caption. People added over 4.2 million photos with the sticker, and the organization deleted the post/story 10 minutes later. The account admitted they lacked the capacity to follow their claim through, according to a Nov. 9, 2021 Newsweek article.
It is vital to understand an issue and personally commit to the research behind it before reposting something on Instagram. Please, stop with the performative activism. It doesn’t help the cause, it decreases the efficiency of the movement itself and it does not dismantle any status quo.
Sam Nylen is a junior
economics and political science major. He has been writing for the Cynic since spring 2022.
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Girl Gains supports lifters
Dominic Minadeo Culture Staff Writer
A newly founded club, Girl Gains, is promoting female weightlifting and ending the stigma of a male-dominated weightroom, said Girl Gains President Sarah Gremelsbacker, a sophomore. The club gained official recognition on March 15 and now has 135 members and an Instagram following of over 500 people, Gremelsbacker said. Girl Gains is a national organization that aims to increase women’s presence in the weightroom and has chapters at universities across the country, Gremelsbacker said. “They’re growing really fast now,” Gremelsbacker said. “They’re making chapters at all different schools and universities, which is really, really cool. We’re just kind of becoming one really big community, which is awesome.” The UVM chapter got its start after Gremelsbacker attended an informational Zoom session. Despite the name, the club is not limited to just women, said Girl Gains Vice President Sasha Danilov, a sophomore. “We want to be a space for all identities that just need some help getting comfortable in the gym,” they said. They want to make sure
ELAINA SEPEDE/The Vermont Cynic Director of Marketing Liv Roscoe, a first-year, co-event coordinator Shayna Minsk, a first-year, covice president Ally Wheeler, a sophomore, secretary Abby Shea, a first-year and president Sarah Gremelsbacker, a sophomore, in the Patrick Gym March 30. women, nonbinary and transgender people feel comfortable inside a gym, Gremelsbacker said. “We want this stigma of a male dominated weightroom to completely disappear,” she said. “So many people are like, ‘Sarah, take me to the gym. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m scared to go by myself.’” Danilov started lifting because of Gremelsbacker, and it helped them lose their fear of
the gym, they said. “When I had someone who could teach me and thoroughly tell me what I’m doing, it was really reassuring,” Danilov said. “I think once I had that knowledge, now I could go by myself.” The club aims to erase the stigma associated with gyms through a buddy pairing system, said sophomore Ally Wheeler, Girl Gains vice president and social media manager.
“We paired different group members who have the same habits in the gym, the same workouts they like to do, or the same times, which is really fun,” Wheeler said. New members can fill out a Google Form that asks questions about their weightlifting experience, how often they lift and their goals, so they can match up with someone that has similar ideas about lifting, Gremelsbacker said.
CULTURE
The club meets monthly and hosts events, such as a stretching and foam rolling session with exercise science professor Kathryn Vreeland before spring break, Gremelsbacker said. The club wants to rent out the UVM weightroom, Gremelsbacker said. “Our main goal is to be able to get weightroom space and teach people how to lift, but it’s a tricky situation because the weightroom is always so packed,” she said. The club is working with the club sports director and the head of campus recreation to get weightroom space afterhours Wednesday evenings, she said. Girl Gains focuses on weightlifting, but does not limit to this excercise. The club hopes to collaborate with the running and powerlifting club, Gremelsbacker said. The Girl Gains Instagram page @girlgainsuvm has links to a member interest form and their GroupMe, Gremelsbacker said.
Students perform and direct shows at Fringe Fest Miranda Degreenia Culture Staff Writer
As the chandeliers in Ira Allen Chapel dimmed, colorful lights lit the stage for an evening of performances by the University Players. The University Players, a student-run theater club, began preparing in January for its fourth annual Fringe Fest on April 2 in Ira Allen Chapel, said senior Ellie Guyon, coordinator of Fringe Fest and University Players public relations manager. Fringe Fest gives students an opportunity to write, direct, produce and perform in a series of 10-25 minute one-act plays, Guyon said. “You can get these kinds of segue experiences and figure out different roles,” Guyon said. “It’s a really good learning process for everyone and there’s a lot of guidance.” Drawing from the traditional Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UVM Fringe Fest fosters a supportive environment in which students can explore various genres, styles and aspects of theater, Guyon said. The original Edinburgh Festival Fringe first occurred at the Edinburgh International
Festival in 1947 after eight theater groups staged their shows regardless of not being on the official program, according to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website. The spontaneity of the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe sparked a beloved annual tradition of experimental theater performed to celebrate and enrich European cultural life. “We try not to approach the piece in any specific rigid way,” Guyon said. “We work on our bodies and our physicality and our connection to each other.” Fringe Fest casts met to rehearse three times a week for an hour and a half to two hours, said Director Emma Brazinski, a first-year. Productions with the University layers involve working were collaboratively, Brazinski said. “No matter what position you are in — an actor, director or crew member — everyone is very supportive of each other,” Brazinski said. Directors who participate in Fringe Fest choose and cast student-written plays, Brazinski said. “[Casting] is a difficult process, because you have to
evaluate people in different ways and really determine who would best embody your characters,” Brazinski said. The University Players’ Fringe Fest allowed sophomore Jordan Barbour to enjoy theater and the arts in a like-minded community, she said. “Everybody who’s doing this just really wants to have a good time,” Barbour said. “If you like theater, this is the place to be.” The students held Fringe Fest unmasked for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barbour said. “It’s been a struggle to act with masks because you can’t always see people’s expressions,” Barbour said. The transition back to prepandemic operations has posed its challenges, but the University Players have remained strong, Barbour said. “COVID has really hurt a lot of participation,” Barbour said. “Luckily, the theater community is a strong one.” First-year and first-time theatergoer Ava Lublin enjoyed the professionalism and talent demonstrated by the University Players, she said. “I was really blown away,” Lublin said. “It was a great first
MAC MANSFIELD PARISI/ The Vermont Cynic
Members of the University Players preform for Fringe Fest April 2. live theater experience.” First-year Emily Ninestein enjoyed the style of Fringe Fest, she said. “This was the first time I’ve been to a performance that was several small acts,” Ninestein said. “The collation of multiple types of plays split with different writers was really awesome.” When the last show came to its end, cast members and
directors assembled on stage to celebrate each other and commended the tech crew working behind the scenes. Hand-in-hand, actors and directors took a final bow. To join the listserv and get involved with the University Players, email uplayers@uvm. edu.
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CULTURE Max Gerlach Culture Staff Writer
After three preliminary rounds, an eclectic group of four bands battled it out for the opportunity to open this year’s SpringFest. The Battle of the Bands is an annual event hosted by the UVM Program Board to determine the opener for UVM’s SpringFest on April 23, according to the UPB website. The final round of the competition took place on Friday, April 1 in the Grand Maple Ballroom. The bands competing were Assorted Fruit, All Night Boogie Band, the Rose McCann Band and McAuley Kart. The winner will be announced early this week, said UPB Concert Committee member Joe Scungio. The exact date of the announcement is yet to be released.
ASSORTED FRUIT Assorted Fruit is a genrebending, indie punk rock band that played their first official show as a group in the Battle of the Bands preliminary round, said Travis William ‘20, guitarist, vocalist and saxophonist. The band’s other members include keyboardist and trumpeter Matthew Miller, bassist and UVM Ph.d. student Ken Shepherd and drummer Patrick Messenger ‘21. The group met in 2020 and spent most of 2021 practicing in the Old North End, Miller said. The band performed music that ranged from nostalgic, doo-wop inspired rock and roll to fiery punk. “Even though [Battle of the Bands] is a competition, people are just coming together to watch a show,” William said.
ALL NIGHT BOOGIE BAND All Night Boogie Band formed in summer 2021, when Brendan Casey, University of Connecticut 2021 graduate and UVM senior Jessica Leone met senior keyboardist Van Garrison. The blues-inspired band also includes sophomore bassist Bruno John and senior drummer Zach Santos. The rhythm section kept the groove as Casey played guitar solos and Leone added vocals. “We’re up against a lot of really incredible bands,” Leone said. Winning the competition would mean that the UVM student body appreciates All Night Boogie Band’s unique blues sound, she said.
ROSE MCCANN BAND Rose McCann Band is a bluesy-jazz rock duo formed in early spring 2020 by seniors Ben Collins and Emma Downie. At the show, Downie donned a hat befitting a ‘60s rockstar. The band’s set featured Downie’s soul-inspired vocals alongside Collins’ guitar solos. “We went into [Battle of the Bands] saying ‘Alright, we’ll just have some fun,” Collins
TOP: McAuley Kart singer Kaia Jefferson, a sophomore, sings during her set April 1. RIGHT: Assorted Fruit plays during their set April 1. MIDDLE LEFT: The Rose McCann Band performs in the Grand Maple Ballroom April 1. BOTTOM LEFT: All Night Boogie Band members performing in the Battle of the Bands April 1.
said. “Then we made it through and now we’re in it to win it.” With the creation of the Rose McCann Band came a tightknit community of local UVM musicians who collaborate on projects, Downie said. For example, drummer and senior Zach Santos plays in both All Night Boogie Band and Rose McCann Band. “We record and write our music as a duo and then have
performances with our fellow bandmates,” Downie said. These collaborators include guitarist Will Sturcke ‘21, keyboardist and junior Christian Linberg, tenor saxophonist and senior Fiona Love, and trumpeter and senior Nick Bowman.
MCAULEY KART McAuley Kart represented the youngest of the competing
bands, hailing from the Back Five on UVM’s Trinity campus. The band had a number of vocal fans from Trinity campus at the show, said lead vocalist and sophomore Kaia Jefferson. The band formed in fall 2021 through sporadic jam sessions on the Back Five green and a mutual love for midwest emo, said sophomore guitarist Caleb Litster. The group is composed of
ERIC SCHARF/The Vermont Cynic
five sophomores: Jefferson, Litster, guitarist Dmitri Angell, bassist Zach Abood-Bieber and drummer Hunter Postemski. “All of us are just excited to have whatever opportunities we can get to perform,” Jefferson said, “We fucking love performing.”
SPORTS
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Climbing wins divisional championship Matthew Rosenberg Sports Editor
After six taxing hours of competition, the UVM climbing team emerged victorious at the Northeast Divisional championships and will send six climbers to the national championships April 21-24. Vermont won the event with 302 points, 80 more than second-place Dartmouth College. Eleven schools competed at the event in Everett, Massachusetts on March 26, according to USA Climbing. “I feel like it’s such a testament to how close our team is and how hard we’ve been working,” sophomore Peri Brooks-Randall said. “It was so nice to be able to see all of us finally do the thing that we’ve been trying to do all year.” Sophomores Chloe Pay, Emma Wetsel, and BrooksRandall, junior Evan Trombley, and seniors Caroline Martin and Michael Daly qualified for the national championships after placing in the top 13 at the divisional championships. The event will be held in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. “I’m really, really excited,” Wetsel said. “I think it’ll be great to send six people to Nationals. That’s a really huge deal, but also, it’s so important to have UVM represented on a
national level.” Climbing competitions consist of two disciplines: bouldering, in which climbers scale shorter walls without a harness, and lead climbing, in which competitors climb a taller wall while connected to a rope with a harness, according to USA Climbing. Competition in each discipline lasts three hours, and climbers can make multiple attempts to improve their scores. The top three climbers on each team earn points for their school in the team competition, Brooks-Randall said. Brooks-Randall, Pay and Wetsel qualified for nationals in both disciplines. Daly and Martin will compete in lead climbing and Trombley will compete in bouldering. “It was super rewarding,” Pay said. “Every single person on the team has worked so hard for the past couple of months, so it was nice to see that kind of reflected in our performance.” The team consists of 25 climbers, including four peer coaches: Brooks-Randall, Wetsel, Daly and junior Kidron Kollin. The coaches make an effort to ensure everyone is included, Wetsel said. “I think that in general, the climbing team is very good at making sure everyone feels like they have an equal role on
TYLER NACHILLY/The Vermont Cynic Sophomore Peri Brooks-Randall scales a climbing wall at Vermont’s MetroRock March 29. approved budget, the club the team and an equal voice,” climbing program, Kollin said. supplemental “I feel like this is a good recieved Wetsel said. “Even though there’s four coaches, we still starting point for us to put our funding once they qualified have a lot of opportunities name out there that, yeah, we’re for nationals, junior and team for other people to take on pretty good climbers,” Kollin manager Daniel Carper said. “I think [nationals will] be said. leadership positions.” Wetsel said she hopes really fun,” Brooks-Randall The closeness of the team played a big role in their success competing in nationals and the said. “We get to go on this at divisionals, Brooks-Randall growth of climbing worldwide little trip with some of our best will increase awareness of the friends. [We get to] hopefully try said. our best and climb hard and be “Everyone was cheering so sport on campus. “The main thing I would with some of the best collegiate loud,” Brooks-Randall said. “It was nice to be on the wall and like to see in the future is athletes in the country.” Qualification for bouldering hear everyone screaming your increased funding through the school or even just awareness will take place April 21 and name.” Going to nationals and of our program,” Wetsel said. April 22 for lead climbing. competing alongside the best “Because we’re doing a lot of Semi-finals for both events are teams in the country gives UVM really, really amazing things. April 23 and finals are April 24, a great opportunity to gain But we’re doing a lot of it alone.” according to USA Climbing. Outside of their SGAnational recognition as a strong
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