2015 vol 132 issue 13

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OPINION

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ISSUE 13

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 5

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Students examine their white privilege

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by Bryan O’keefe bokeefe@uvm.edu

UVM BEING SUED FOR EQUAL PAY

by Kelsey neubauer keneubau@uvm.edu

UVM is being sued by a former employee on the grounds that she was paid less than her male counterparts based on her gender, according to documents obtained by the Cynic from the Vermont Superior Court.

A civil lawsuit was filed Dec. 12, 2014 against the University on behalf of former UVM employee Cynthia Ruescher alleging they had violated equal pay law, according to the lawsuit.

UVM employed Ruescher as an IT professional in Enterprise Technology Services in February 2001, according to University officials.

She was let go April 8, 2015 due to a University-wide budget cut, according to her letter of termination.

UVM strongly denies the allegations of unfair pay, University communications Director Enrique Corredera said in a Nov. 30 email.

Ruescher and her attorney have not responded to the Cynic’s requests for comment.

UVM has an “internal process” to deal with discrimination, Corderra stated in the email.

“We work hard to ensure that our employment and compensation practices are fair and equitable, and we are confident we will prevail in court,” he stated in the email.

The case will be ready for trial by April 1, 2016, according to the lawsuit.

UVM hired Ruescher in 2001, Corredera stated in the email.

There were disparities in pay, title and training opportu-

nities, according to the lawsuit.

Opportunities were offered to Ruescher’s male counterparts but not to her, the lawsuit stated.

UVM asserts that a project position, which included training, was offered to all employees in the department, according to the University’s Feb. 25 answer to the lawsuit’s initial complaint.

Ruescher claims she was denied this opportunity, according to the lawsuit.

Ruescher claims that there was “illegal retaliation” when she asked UVM why there was a difference between her pay and her counterpart’s pay in 2012, the lawsuit stated.

UVM denies these claims in their answer, which states that her complaint did not go through UVM’s “grievance procedure.”

Situations in which a person is being discriminated against for their sex is “expressly excluded” from UVM’s grievance process, according to UVM’s employment grievance policy.

Ruescher claims in the lawsuit that she filed requests for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations twice in 2013, according to the lawsuit.

The EEOC is “responsible for enforcing federal laws” that make it illegal to discriminate in the workplace, according to their website.

An EEOC investigator was sent to UVM to look into this claim in June 2014, according to the lawsuit.

Stay with the Cynic for continued coverage of the lawsuit at vtcynic.com.

THE STORY ACCORDING TO THE LAWSUIT

Feburary 2001: Ruescher begins employment at UVM.

March 29, 2013: UVM writes a letter to EEOC.

June 2014: EEOC sends investigater to UVM.

Feb. 25, 2015: UVM answers Ruescher’s claims.

2013 Feb. 10, 2013: Ruescher files EEOC investigation claims.

2015 Oct-Nov 2013: Ruescher files second EEOC investigation claims

Dec. 12, 2014: Ruescher files complaint.

April 8, 2015: Ruescher is let go from her position.

The ALANA Student Center organized an “Examining White Privilege Retreat,” which received backlash from conservative news outlets.

In his article “Blame the White Guy 2015,” Todd Starnes expressed confusion and disagreement with the outing.

“As we all know – the only way to build a stronger and inclusive university campus is to shame the white children into acknowledging they are personally responsible for every imaginable evil that has befallen the world,” Starnes wrote.

ALANA stands for African, Latino(a), Asian and Native American.

The retreat took place at the Common Ground Family Center in Starksboro, Vermont from Nov. 13 to Nov. 15, according to the ALANA Student Center’s website.

The Common Ground Family Center is a nonprofit recreation center, according to its website.

University communications released a statement about the retreat Nov. 20.

“This retreat was an example of the varied programs available at many universities to assist students in their quest for better understanding of culture and history in order to become responsible global leaders,” according to the statement.

Students who attended the retreat said it was informative and inspirational.

“The retreat was amazing,” junior Noelle Pilger said. “We developed dialogue and conversational skills around racism, modeled how to appropriately respond to racist actions.”

Pilger disagreed with Starnes’ criticism.

“I think we’re all pretty shocked to read how one-sided and uniformed a media source can be,” she said. “Never have I ever seen how dangerous a biased report is, but I think it’s an important lesson for all of us to stay informed and check your sources.”

Pilger said she appreciates the support the retreat has received from students and believes UVM staff members have responded appropriately.

SEE PRIVILEGE PAGE 2

2

THE VERMONT CYNIC

NEWS

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2015 NOV.12 to NOV.17

Students stand up for Syrians

CRIMELog

by Jill vaglica jvaglica@uvm.edu

by john riedel jpriedel@uvm.edu

UVM students joined residents in Montpelier to rally in support of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s announcement that Vermont will continue to accept Syrian refugees.

There were two rallies that took place Nov. 20 and Nov. 21.

The event was organized by Vermont residents, including Johann Kulsic and UVM senior Caroline DeCunzo.

Shumlin has shown recent support for accepting Syrian refugees.

“Given the calls from some governors to pause refugee resettlements, my message is that Vermont will continue to welcome those fleeing war and violence with compassion, hospitality and open arms,” he stated in a Nov. 24 Facebook post.

40 people came to the rally on Friday, and 150 people attended the rally on Saturday, according to a Nov. 22 email from DeCunzo.

“Attendees of the rallies demonstrated that Vermonters won’t tolerate racism, xenophobia or Islamophobia, that Vermonters do not equate Syrian refugees with terror and that refugees are welcome in the state of Vermont,” she stated in the email.

“I am proud that Governor Shumlin is not succumbing to the virulent racism like so many other governors in this country,” DeCunzo stated in the email.

Kulsic said he decided to organize the rally two days before it happened to show support for accepting more Syrian refugees in Vermont.

“I’ve been just watching with utter disappointment as people twist this issue into one of us versus them in terms of other downtrodden folks,” he said.

NOV. 12 8:11 P.M. Someone found a bag of white powder at Sichel Hall and turned it over to UVM police services. It turned out to be a bag of sea salt.

NOV. 13 3:57 A.M. A drunk student in Jeanne Mance Hall had to go to the emergency room with a .176 blood alcohol content.

11:40 P.M. Hall staff in Living/Learning called police services to report the smell of marijuana, but police did not find anyone smoking.

Students and residents rally in support of Syrian refugees in Montpelier Nov. 21. The protest was in response to politicians across the U.S. criticizing the Refugee Resettlement Program. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH NIKAZMERAD

The event was organized by residents and they received supplies such as megaphones and signs from the Vermont Worker’s Center, International Socialist Organization and United Electric, Kulsic said.

“

stop it when we see it being actively verbal and approach the folks performing it and try to reach out to them with understanding and love.”

There will be more events like this in the future, Kulsic said.

If folks don’t speak up and show that they care about things then nothing is going to change.

JOHANN KULSIC RALLY ORGANIZER

“It was a people’s protest,” he said. “There were a good number of UVM students who assisted by showing up.”

“Our hope is to spread the message that we won’t tolerate bigotry,” Kulsic said. “We will

“It needs to be done. If folks don’t speak up and show that they care about things then nothing is going to change,” he said.

Shona Sladyk, a program

support specialist for the College of Medicine, attended the rally, according to a Nov. 30 email.

“I believe that Vermont should be willing to accept refugees in their time of need – especially considering the living conditions many find themselves in with winter coming on,” she stated in the email.

Vermont should accept Syrian refugees, Sladyk stated in the email.

“People need to realize that just because a terrorist happens to be a Muslim, this does not mean that all Muslims must be tarred with the same brush,” she stated. “Not everyone is capable of working or surviving in today’s society and we need to help the lesser of us.”

Sladyk also described her experience at the rally as positive, according to the email.

NOV. 14 Police took a marijuana bowl from a student smoking outside of Hamilton Hall, after hall staff called police.

NOV. 15 2:12 A.M. Police took a bong from a student in Wright Hall. A hall staff member had noticed the student with the bong in the hallway.

3:50 A.M. A male entered a hall room in Wright Hall and urinated on a student’s belongings. The individual has not been located.

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The retreat was designed to help students “conceptualize and articulate whiteness from a personal and systematic lens” as well as “build a community of dialogue and support in taking action against racism,” according to the event’s website.

One of the exercises was designed to help students acknowledge individual acts of racism and recognize that not every white person has been given the same lessons regarding race, according to the retreat outline and agenda.

This exercise would potentially be “the first time we’re really asking [the students] to admit to having acted [or]thought in racist ways,” according to the outline.

Starnes was not convinced

by the goals of the retreat, and expressed confusion regarding the idea of whiteness.

“I’m also having a difficult time understanding what it means to self-identify as white,” he wrote. “Is that someone who belongs to a country club, cuts the crust off his bread and doesn’t have any discernible rhythm?”

Online media aggregate The Inquisitr also reported on the ALANA retreat. Over 1,000 people shared Tara West’s Inquistr article via Facebook.

“Some commenting on the retreat note that it is just another way to make white people feel as though they are racist even when they aren’t,” West wrote.

CORRECTIONS We are committed to accuracy in all of our work. If for some reason there is an error, please email us at corrections@ vtcynic.com.

THE VERMONT CYNIC

NEWS

3

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2 , 2015

UVM puts on climate summit by kelsey neubauer keneubau@uvm.edu

NOV. 19

SGA Updates by alexandra shannon amshanno@uvm.edu

High school students from all over Vermont came to UVM for the second annual Vermont Youth Climate Summit in the Davis Center Nov. 20.

The summit’s goal was to increase climate awareness and education and to aid students in action and implementation, sophomore Gina Fiorile, who presented at the event said.

Fiorile has discussed climate at the White House twice and is attending the Global Climate Summit in Paris, which started Nov. 30 and ends Dec. 11.

“I am speaking about our involvement with the White House, and what the Global Climate Summit is going to be like,” she said.

The day began with a session in which students learned about climate science and included a video message from Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Gov. Peter Shumlin attended lunch with the students and spoke about the importance of having a commitment to climate change beyond their immediate situations.

Shumlin asked students to think about what they can do for their school.

“Not only what you could do for your school and for your community now, but how can you harness your commitment to climate and turn it into green, clean future for you,”

International Education at UVM Kim Howard, the director of the Office of International Education, and Assistant Director of International Student Services Emma Shift discussed the presence of international students at UVM.

Sophomore Gina Fiorile is the youth delegate to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Paris Climate Conference. COLE WANGSNESS/The Vermont Cynic Shumlin said.

Vermont illustrates how a true dedication to climate can work, Shumlin said.

of professor Jon D. Erickson’s ecological economics course, she said.

Sophomore Roxie Daims

“

We knew we were doing somehing important and that we were going to have an impact, so the experience was really gratifying.

ROXIE DAIMS SOPHOMORE

The day also included workshops on energy conservation and renewable energy, Fiorile said.

A large portion of the event was planned by the students

said she enjoyed planning the event.

“We knew we were doing something important and that we were going to have an impact, so the experience was re-

ALANA handles reports of bias

by Michelle Phillips mphilli15@uvm.edu

If students experience racial bias or discrimination there are a number of ways to seek help on campus.

The African, Latino, Asian and Native American Student Center is one outlet that offers emotional support to students.

“I would have no idea where to go. I guess I would try to confront the problem myself,” firstyear Kim Henry said.

The center is a safe place for students to talk about their frustrations with bias they experience, ALANA Director Beverly Colston said.

It can be a place where they go to simply work through emotions and vent or it can help address the issue head on, she said.

First-year Tyler Tu expressed confusion over the need for a bias response program.

“I don’t think it would be that big a deal that people would need that,” he said.

The most common form of bias experienced by students are microaggressions, which are “racism-tinged insults,” Colston said.

“One example that I’ve experienced is when someone hears me talking and then they see what I look like and they say ‘You speak so well,’ implying that because I look the way I do I sound atypical,” she said.

“It’s an underlying implica-

ally gratifying,” Daims said.

Her group presented on food systems. They also taught 72 students about farm-toschool programs and community gardens, she said.

This event was a great learning experience for UVM students as well as high schoolers, she said.

“They say you learn the best when you are teaching someone else,” Daims said. “This event has allowed me to grasp the full entirety of what I have been studying.”

Students were able to create their own solutions to climate change based on what they had learned that day, Fiorile said.

calkire@uvm.edu

KAT WAKS/The Vermont Cynic

tion that normally people who look like me don’t speak a certain way,” she said.

Students who have reported bias range in ethnicity, Colston said.

When students experience microaggressions, the power dynamic of the relationship between the aggressor and the victim has a big influence on a student’s willingness to formally report the incident, she said.

“If it’s a teacher or a coach, students are sometimes more hesitant to address it, they say, ‘Oh, I’m going to have to take more classes with them I don’t want backlash,’” Colston said.

“Sometimes if it’s another student, someone they don’t need to necessarily be friends

with forever, then they are more willing,” she said.

Bias incidents can also be reported to the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, according to the AAEO’s website.

If students want to further address their concerns they can file a report with the Bias Response Team.

The Bias Response Team is a program of the Division of Student Affairs, according to the program’s website.

It responds to reports of bias and helps people who report incidents resolve their case, according to the program’s website.

Students Request Course Evaluation Senior James Morton and junior Claire Quigley requested that data from course evaluations be made available for students to see.

Students would benefit from being able to see other students’ opinions about classes, Quigley said.

Students should have access to the data because they are paying for the classes and the data exists, Morton and Quigley said.

UVM professor studies light therapy treatments

by Caroline Alkire

The ALANA Student Center at Blundell House on Redstone is pictured here. The center acts as a resource for African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American and biracial/multiracial students.

They spoke about programs the Office of International Education runs to help students adjust to life in the U.S. They hold events throughout the semester like hiking trips, driver’s license workshops, international student orientation and individual meetings with students.

A UVM professor is researching how to make winter more bearable for those affected by seasonal affective disorder.

SAD is diagnosable clinical depression following a seasonal pattern, Professor of Psychological Science, Kelly Rohan said.

The same symptoms as depression are present, such as feeling sad, losing interest in things, fatigue and changes in weight and sleep patterns, Rohan said. However, it is triggered by fewer hours of daylight in the winter months.

About 4-6 percent of people have SAD, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In her study, Rohan tested the effectiveness of light therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy.

Light therapy entails sitting in front of a medical device that produces light at the same intensity of sunrise for 30 minutes daily, while cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of talk therapy which focuses on learning new ways to think when the patient notices sinking mood or stress, Rohan said.

“CBT is focused on trying to get people to be proactive when they are depressed, to do things

differently to cope with mood instead of withdrawing and isolating, as these behaviors breed depression and can make things worse,” Rohan said.

She wanted to focus on the chance of relapse occurring rather than short-term results, she said.

“I’m not interested in getting the best results at six weeks, I’m asking what we need to do to offset risk of reccurrence,” she said.

Rohan found CBT was a more effective long-term approach and lessened the severity of depression.

“Both the treatments worked initially, but then when we follow people into new winter seasons, two winters later, there is a very clear split,” she said. “A little less than half of people in light therapy had a recurrence, but only a quarter did with CBT. The symptoms were also less severe after CBT.” “I was not particularly surprised at the results,” said Jonah Meyerhoff, a graduate student who worked with Rohan on the study.

“Within the field of cognitive behavioral therapists and researchers, it’s known that CBT can offer longer term benefits than many other forms of treatment,” Meyerhoff said.

4

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 THE VERMONT CYNIC

Using the written word for change Hannah Kearns CYNIC@UVM.EDU

D

ear readers,

My name is Hannah Kearns and I am the newly-elected editor-in-chief of the award-winning Vermont Cynic. I am incredibly proud and humbled to be given the opportunity to lead this publication.

As the leader of this organization, I am tasked with setting a vision for the paper, much like a captain sets a course before setting sail.

The vision that I have for the Cynic is centered on using it a tool to create social change, provide a voice for every corner of our University and inform the student body about the issues that are most important to them.

Our staff works diligently every week, without a journalism program as a guide. We are tasked with engaging and informing the student body about the issues on campus.

Recently, the ALANA Center hosted a “White Privilege Re-

treat” Nov. 13-15.

The event was designed to help students “conceptualize and articulate whiteness from a personal and systematic lens” as well as “build a community of dialogue and support in taking action against racism.”

This retreat, organized specifically for white-identifying students, is not the most effective way that this University can attempt to have a discussion about privilege.

The vision that I have for the Cynic is centered on using it as a tool to create social change, a tool to provide a voice for every corner of our university, and a tool to inform the student body about the issues that are most impactful to them.

A more effective opportunity would have included students who are not white-identifying, in order to gain a more complete

Illustration by ALYSSA HANDELMAN

perspective.

This is a step in the right direction. In this vein, we will strive to provide complete, equal-handed coverage on all issues of race and diversity on campus.

We have been given the unique opportunity to document important happenings at our University, and the pages of newsprint that hit the stands each week are essentially a time

capsule for generations to come.

The Cynic’s priority will be to use our publication as a tool for positive social change, and we will make a constant effort to use the power of words to make a difference in our community.

Hannah Kearns is a junior public communications major. She is the current editor-in-chief of the Cynic and has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2013.

Sincerely,

Pointless talk on Syrian refugee crisis Joey Brown JBROWN33@UVM. EDU

A

strange thing occurs in American politics when, in the aftermath of a mass shooting, the identity of the gunman, or gunmen, seems to play a significant role in our collective response.

An example: A gunman — generally, we should suppose, a white male — walks into a school and murders a dozen or so children with a firearm. Before the bodies are cold, one is subjected to a slew of “We need to do something,” “Something needs to be done,” and, perhaps the most polemical utterance of them all, “The NRA is actively sponsoring, and benefiting from, mass shootings.”

The last statement aside — I am not sure it’s fit for our common discourse — surely we can do something to stop mass shootings.

Our legions of celebrities who generally posit these somethings, though, are never so exacting in their explanation of what that “something” is.

Still, the assertion remains on the table: there is something to be done about mass shootings.

Our enthusiasm for stopping a different kind of shooting, however, wanes when we are presented with a violence that is more ideologically motivated.

Back in November, at the University of California, Merced, a student named Faisal Mohammad went on a stabbing spree.

The student had a photo of an ISIS flag among his belongings, and a manifesto which outlined his desire to behead his classmates, and so it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that he was motivated by a radical strain of Islam.

Still, the assertion remains on the table: there is something to be done about mass shootings. Our enthusiasm for stopping a different kind of shooting, however, wanes when we are presented with a violence that is more ideologically motivated.

The school thought, or wanted to think, otherwise: their teach-in, entitled “Don’t Turn Our Tragedy Into Hate,” blamed Faisal’s “masculinity,” and rhetorically wondered why campus police — who justly shot and killed Faisal — were armed.

During the Paris terrorist attacks, nobody seemed to suggest that we do “something,” either,

and ultimately and deliberately avoided the salient questions at hand.

If you looked to your Facebook, you were probably deluged with a series of mushy statements like “We are Parisian Tonight,” “Pray for Paris,” and, somewhat characteristically of these types of shootings, “This is not Islam — this is senseless violence.”

I didn’t know that “Allahu Akbar” was Arabic for “we’re nihilists.” To paraphrase The Dude, it’s all so exhausting.

But it’s worse than exhausting—it’s infuriating. The lack of serious discourse surrounding the immense problem of radical Islam is especially poignant when it comes from John Oliver, who pathetically railed against ISIS on his show in November.

“First, as of now, we know this attack was carried out by gigantic fucking arseholes, unconscionable flaming arseholes, possibly working with other fucking arseholes, definitely working in service of an ideology of pure arseholery. Second, and this goes almost without saying, fuck these arseholes.

Fuck them, if I may say, sideways. And third, it is important to remember, nothing about what these arseholes are trying to do is going to work.”

He continues: “France is going to endure, and I’ll tell you why. If you’re in a culture war with France, good fucking luck. Go ahead, bring your bankrupt ideology.

They’ll bring Jean-Paul Sartre, Edith Piaf, fine wine, Gauloise cigarettes, Camus, camembert, madeleines, macarons, Marcel Proust and the fucking croquembouche.”

It’s all well and good in its empty inspiration, but, somewhat obviously, it substitutes real commentary for profanity, which is, ironically, all Oliver can employ in an attempt not to offend.

be had there in order to decide that “something” that we have to do.

Barack Obama has falsely accused the Republicans of being afraid of widows and children due to their opposition to importing the refugees — which, one must remark, is both sexist and ageist — but if it were only women and children in question, no doubt the Republicans would play ball.

All of this leaves the United States in an uncomfortable situation. When confronted with the prospect of importing thousands of refugees from the Islamist political hotbed of Syria, we have a choice to make.

And secondly, Oliver mistakes the Paris attacks for a bake sale competition, and I am not, in the first place, so sure that the Muslim world is without decent pastries.

He hits the nail on the head, sure, because it doesn’t take a genius to label terrorists as bad guys. A middle schooler could have made the same pronouncement, with, I am sure, just as much an attempt for the edgy with gratuitous profanity.

All of this leaves the United States in an uncomfortable situation. When confronted with the prospect of importing thousands of refugees from the Islamist political hotbed of Syria, we have a choice to make.

And there is good debate to

But it’s not, and while the vetting process for the refugees may root out those affiliated with terrorist groups, it cannot root out radical ideas that may be carried by military-aged men.

It’s unlikely the debate will actually progress anywhere meaningful, if all Republican opposition is automatically denounced as bigoted or racist, a tactic which hasn’t lost its savor for Democrats.

And they can do that all they like, but antagonizing the opposition isn’t the best gamut to get that “something” done.

Joey Brown is a senior political science major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2012.

THE VERMONT CYNIC

OPINION

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2015

5

POINT COUNTER-POINT

IS BERNIE OFF HIS ROCKER ON SECURITY? He is blaming climate change for ISIS Kate Lipman KATE.LIPMAN@UVM. EDU

S

en. Bernie Sanders, UVM’s beloved candidate, has claimed repeatedly that climate change is “the biggest national security threat facing the United States.”

He has gone so far as to say that ISIS is a “symptom” of climate change.

President Barack Obama followed his lead, declaring that his attendance of the climate summit in Paris this week will be a “powerful rebuke to the terrorists.”

I am sure when the leaders of ISIS heard this they fell out of their chairs laughing, while many concerned citizens of the United States and other countries cringed with horror.

What has this country come to, that after a terrorist attack on an ally, the president openly says that a climate conference, of all things, will rebuke terrorists? Ridiculous.

As if going to a climate conference is our best tool against terrorists who are more interested in waging a global jihad.

I think if the President had said something along the lines of “global leaders will still meet all in one place because we will not cower in fear before this threat” it would have gone over much better with the public, because that statement would show strength and perhaps even have created support for the climate conference on both sides of the political spectrum.

However, this claim that the content of the conference will rebuke the

terrorists, as supposed to simply the meeting of world leaders without fear of attack, is unrealistic.

There is not a war against Mother Nature. Climate change has not created ISIS. Armed killers following a radical Islamic ideology are the problem.

Sanders said that if we do not stop climate change, we are going to see groups like ISIS spring up everywhere.

He claims “they’re going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops. And [we’re] going to see all kinds of international conflict.”

ISIS is not killing (more often than not publicly beheading) Syrian soldiers and civilians, Lebanese soldiers and civilians, Kurdish soldiers, Americans (for example journalist James Foley).

They are not killing Israelis (for example journalist Steven Sotloff, the British (for example David Haines who was working with a humanitarian relief group), Afghani civilians, the French (for example hiker Hervé Gourdel), Iraqis (for example reporter Raad al-Azzawi who was murdered along with his entire family), the Japanese (for example Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto) and Ethiopians because they want some water.

They are killing innocent people with no mercy, remorse or conscience because they believe those who do not agree with their religious ideology should be removed from the earth.

That is called radicalism and it is not caused by climate change.

Kate Lipman is a junior Russian and Eastern European studies major.

She has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2014.

We shouldn’t misinterpret Sanders’ words Gaetano Martello

GMARTELL@UVM. EDU

D

uring the course of U.S. presidential elections, it is to be expected that statements will be distorted for the sole purpose of discrediting a candidate that one does not approve of.

As Americans, we have grown accustomed to the media blasting soundbites out of context and flipping it so that it satisfies their agenda.

Most recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ statement that climate change is related to the growth of terrorism is being misconstrued to paint him as irrational and deluded.

Thus, I think it is in order to give a fair look at what Sanders said and see if there’s any weight to it at all, rather than just simply dismiss it as the words of a madman.

To quote Sanders directly, “...climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism.

If we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you’re gonna see countries all over the world — this is what the CIA says — they’re going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops, and you’re going to see all kinds of international conflict.”

The views of my counterpart, who passionately argued that a group like ISIS should never be understood within context, are the type of views that have arbitrarily brought us into wars in the past.

However, if we have a fully contextualized understanding of how groups like ISIS came about, perhaps even understanding how climate change could’ve had a role in that, knowing

that it in no way justifies their actions, might be a step forward in creating peace in that environment.

Admittedly, Sanders’ words were a bit overstated. The primary mistake he made was using the word “directly” while describing the correlation between climate change and terrorism.

A lack of clear articulation, however, should not be used to smear Sanders and dismissively reject his claim.

I think the most rational interpretation of Sanders’ statement is that the problems caused by climate change in impoverished regions (such as minimal amounts of water or crops), many of which are already lacking in necessary resources, combined with radical religious principles and made even worse by intense geopolitical circumstances, can result in groups that act out aggressively and violently.

In less extreme cases, this happens in the United States with street gangs that rose originally from poverty and resulted in violence. It isn’t very difficult to believe given the various examples we have.

If we are to call someone out for an outrageous statement, let us at least understand the context in which that person is speaking.

The world is made worse by people who take statements at face-value without comprehending the substance of the statements themselves. If we speak from our cognitive biases alone, we run the risk of only understanding the world through one viewpoint.

People should be open to different viewpoints and ready to counter them with evidence and logic, not authoritatively toss away an argument because someone stubbornly only accepts one viewpoint.

Gaetano Martello is a sophomore political science major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2014.

6

LIFE

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 2015 THE VERMONT CYNIC

STUDY ABROAD

‘Thanksgiving’ spent across the pond Hunter Colvin HUNTER.COLVIN@ UVM.EDU

A

s we all know, Thanksgiving is a very American holiday. And Canadian. And Liberian. And Dutch.

And actually quite a few more countries. My point being, it is not celebrated in England.

Although, according to the Telegraph, the Brits are starting to celebrate American Thanksgiving more and more.

That being said, they don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving.

Not in the “get a week off school and spend most of your time on the couch eating and answering the same four questions from relatives” way: “Well, I think I want to go into publishing when I graduate. Yes, I do realize that I will probably need to go to grad school. Sure, history isn’t as practical as a business degree, but I really like it. No, I don’t know what I’m doing this summer for work.”

One thing that the Brits do, and do very well I might add, is celebrate Christmas. And by Christmas, I mean in-your-face Christmas music playing since the second the clock struck midnight Nov. 1, decorations, carol singers and shopping galore.

The British especially like Christmas markets. For anyone who is not familiar with these,

A traditional German sausage tent called a Holzkohleschwendgrill is pictured here. The tent is part of the British tradition of Christmas markets, selling German food, beer and crafts. HUNTER COLVIN/The Vermont Cynic Christmas markets are a German tradition that the British have adopted. They set up giant markets that sell traditional German food and beer and have vendors who sell handmade crafts and presents.

It’s perfect for finding fairly cheap but cute and unique Christmas presents for all the people that you promised gifts

from England to. Also there’s beer and sausages, which is an even better reason for going to one.

And it’s not like I’m completely devoid of the Thanksgiving experience.

For reasons that are beyond me, I volunteered to cook a full Thanksgiving meal for my flatmates. I’m surprised I didn’t

UVM club creates change

by EMILEE CONROE econroe@uvm.edu

UVM has 200 SGA-recognized clubs on campus, with over 80 percent of students involved in at least one of them, according to the University’s website.

One of these is the Golden Key Society. The club engages in monthly meeting service activities throughout the year.

These have included making bookmarks for The Vermont Children’s Hospital, participating in canned food drives and making blankets for the homeless shelter downtown, according to the organization’s website.

Golden Key National Honor Society was founded in 1977, and has since inducted over 12 million undergraduate and graduate students worldwide, according to the website.

Little known to most people at UVM, the University’s chapter was founded in 1993, and currently has more than 180 members, according to professor Kathleen Liang, who has advised the chapter for the past two years.

“GK is an honor society where you have to be invited to join, and you’re accepted from the top 10 percent of your class,” said graduate student Dilan Kiley, UVM’s chapter president.

“We provide community service opportunities for UVM

to serve the greater Burlington area,” Kiley said. “We’re always looking to coordinate with other organizations on campus to combine service events, and we want to expand this in the future.”

“

It’s more personal than I ever expected [it would be].”

ALYSSA JEFFER SENIOR

The society also has exclusive rights to sell flowers at UVM’s graduation in May every year, Liang said.

“It’s been a tradition for over 20 years. The total earnings go into the UVM chapter development fund for supporting activities, events, etc.,” she said.

“It’s more personal than I expected [it would be],” senior Alyssa Jeffer said. “It’s just a small group of people who get together to help the community.”

“I want this chapter to continue to grow, evolve and have people start helping each other by spreading the good word [about Golden Key],” Liang said, quoting the chapter’s motto as “low-key, high impact.”

“I see a lot more opportunities for us to do our outreach service,” she said.

Golden Key is also partnered with Liang’s Dollar Enterprise class, the largest experiential learning class on campus, providing donations to help with materials as needed, Liang said.

The Dollar Enterprise class is a CDAE service learning course dedicated to having students become active change agents partnered with local charities. They receive feedback from their collaborators, engage in entrepreneurial activities and impact community organizations, Liang said.

“I’m very honored to connect GK to Dollar Enterprise so we can work parallel to charities that need resources and create a much larger impact and collaborative effort,” she said.

Future projects for the society include working with local animal shelters, the Ronald McDonald House and the UVM Gleaning Crew, a new club dedicated to helping salvage produce from local farms to feed Vermonters in need, according to the club’s Facebook page.

“We want to promote Golden Key more on campus so that when people get the invitation to join they already know what the club is,” Kiley said.

He hopes to see membership continue to grow, he said.

“We’re always looking for needs we can try to fill in the Burlington community,” Kiley said. “Every year we’ve done better and better.”

burn down my lovely little flat.

Preparing the meal actually went surprisingly well.

And other than burning the edges of the marshmallows on the sweet potato and apple casserole and slightly undercooking the carrots, everything came out beautifully.

That is until I went to put my pear and almond galette in

the oven.

Not even halfway through the cooking time, the smell of burning puff pastry floated from the oven and I pulled out a blackened dessert.

We managed to salvage it by cutting off the burned bits, but it was a real blow to my cooking prowess. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Students get down and dirty on Redstone’s pines

by Megan Fahey mfahey@uvm.edu

Students met on the Redstone Green to begin phase one of the Redstone Pines Restoration Project Nov. 15.

“All of the trees in Redstone Pines, for the most part, are invasive Norway Maples,” senior James Biddle said. “They are classified as invasive because they outcompete native vegetation and also have toxins in their roots that kill surrounding vegetation.”

Students used saws and specialized equipment to cut down and remove invasive trees such as the Norway maple, Biddle said.

Vermont Students Towards Environmental Protection and UVM Trees organized the event in hopes to combat the invasive species that currently threaten the forest, according to the website.

Biddle is a forestry major, the UVM Tree Campus coordinator, VSTEP club signer and the leader of the event.

The restoration project came about after the decision was made to make UVM a “Tree Campus,” Biddle said.

A Tree Campus is officiated by the Arbor Day Foundation once the University meets all of the five standards “to establish and sustain healthy community

forests,” according to their website.

The fifth standard is a “service learning project,” such as the Redstone Pines Restoration, according to the website.

21 people participated in the effort, including a UVM forestry professor, according to VSTEP. “I feel like the project was a success in getting different types of people from the UVM community involved in a project, because not all those who participated were ‘tree huggers’ or necessarily members of the forestry club,” sophomore Katherine Kennedy said.

“

We are here to set the reset button...”

JAMES BIDDLE PROJECT COORDINATOR

The second phase of the project will resume in the spring, during the growing season, when VSTEP and UVM Trees will repopulate the Redstone pines by planting native Vermont tree species, Biddle said.

“We are not in the interest of removing trees permanently, we are here to hit the reset button and grow trees that reflect better the surrounding area in which we live,” he said.

THE VERMONT CYNIC

LIFE

7

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2015

CHRIS' CRITIQUE

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN THORNTON

Hip Burlington Café satisfies any diet by christopher leow cleow@uvm.edu

N

ew Moon Café is full of rustic and modern vibes, lots of rugged hardwood and simple decor.

The ambiance is much more modern than say, Muddy Waters, but that’s okay with me.

New Moon offers soups, salads, sandwiches, desserts and an assortment of café drinks.

They proudly display the very colorful and vibrant items for their salads and sandwiches behind glass, so customers can observe the freshness.

New Moon is a favorite among vegans and vegetarians, and for good reason: they offer a full vegan menu with the option of customizing any component.

New Moon definitely knows about superfoods, nutrient-rich foods like broccoli or salmon, and showcases them on the menu.

If you ever wanted to try a vegan macro bowl, an assortment of grains, proteins like tempeh or quinoa, vegetables and fermented foods, this is the place to do it.

There is plenty of meat and cheese options for omnivores as well.

The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and are used to

picky eaters.

Similarly, for someone who can’t eat dairy like myself, it’s a nice treat to have a variety of dairy-free options.

Some healthconscious places can get a little stingy when it comes to portions, but not here.

I got a small Mediterranean salad and a large coconut macaroon.

This was one of the best salads I have had in my life.

For a small salad, the portion was very reasonable.

Some health-conscious places can get a little stingy when it comes to portions, but not here.

Salty olives played with fresh tomatoes, chickpeas, creamy hummus and crunchy onions to create a variety of textures and flavors, all on a bed of fresh spinach.

The only dressing available was olive oil, seemingly to not overpower the other vibrant flavors on the plate.

It was clear that a lot of thought went into their signature salads and it isn’t your typical bland vegan fare.

At first, I thought hummus in a salad was strange, but it was surprisingly good and made the salad filling.

The macaroon had a deceivingly hard outside that gave way to fluffy, light coconut goodness.

For those looking for a warm study place this winter, there is a fireplace with cushy couches, and the light is bright enough to work by but dim enough to keep the ambiance at the same time.

New Moon is an excellent option for a place to study with a cup of coffee in hand or for delicious yet healthy food.

Christopher Leow is a junior medical laboratory science major.

He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2015.

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8

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 THE VERMONT CYNIC

Rap artist’s new album fuses many music styles Sandi omanovic SOMANOVI@UVM. EDU

"Shadow of a Doubt"

E

very real gangster has that moment where they have to decide whether or not to leave their old life and Gangster Gibbs has made his choice.

Freddie Gibbs’s new album exemplifies that there cannot be a “Shadow of a Doubt” that Gibbs is one of rap’s elite because compared to that life, destroying a few rappers is nothing.

Gibbs admits that “nowadays, I never write ‘em [by gangbanging], just recite ‘em [by rapping].”

“Narcos” is a song that peeks into the past of the millionaire rapper that used to sleep in his grandmother’s basement, dreaming of cocaine.

I was at the Middle East, a Boston venue, when Gibbs announced at the end of his show that he was going to be a father and since his recent album, “Pinata,” his daughter is going to be his driving force out of the game.

In “Freddie Gordy,” he juxtaposes the darker side of his oxycontin and lean addiction with his desire to be a better father.

“I hope my daughter never lives this type of lifestyle, creeping under street lights as a night child. My uncle still can’t put the liquor or the pipe down,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs has hinted at his addictions on his recent EP, “Pronto,” but never so bluntly.

“Y’all said I’m too cool, but I’m broken up undercover, hide my feeling through my drug habits and I base my raps off my interactions with drug addicts and drug dealers,” he admits in “White Range.”

After hearing the album, songs like “Fuckin’ Up the Count,” the single of the album, add chills to it’s grim reality.

We’ve heard Gibbs use sound bites before, but this track has a darker tone.

The music video features Gibbs schooling a young kid on the game; the kid gets robbed at gunpoint and Gibbs finds the robber. He has him tied his trunk and presents him to the kid to kill him.

This album feels like a declaration to rappers and to his old life, that he’s coming in shooting into this rap game.

Sandi Omanovic is a senior English major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2014.

Singer Nate Ruess of fun. and The Format performs at Higher Ground Nov. 19. Ruess is currently on tour for his solo debut album, “Grand Romantic.” DAYNA WYCKOFF/The Vermont Cynic

Pop artist performs bland set emily daroga

Nate Ruess

EDAROGA@UVM.EDU

A

room filled with highheeled preteens and dads set the tone for Thursday night’s show at Higher Ground.

Even though he’s an acclaimed pop musician, Nate Ruess is just another uncreative pop star who has too big of an ego for the music he makes and the show he puts on.

It was hard to keep from laughing hysterically during the entire show.

As the concert went on, I realized that not only did every song sound the same, but each also had a mashup of the same cliché catch phrase, “we are all shining stars,” in the chorus.

To add to the ridiculousness of Ruess’ show, the opening act, Surfer Blood, was only slightly better, providing a lame poprock intro to the comedy that was Nate Ruess.

The only redeeming quality was the high energy level Ruess

carried on stage.

Despite the uncreative music and lyrics, he is a capable dancer and clearly more of a performer than a lyricist or musician.

Even so, with multiple high jumps and overly passionate belts while singing, the stage was so dynamic with movement that it appeared too forced.

The dancing didn’t deter from what was really just a pompous man with inauthentic lyrics.

There wasn’t even a light show to make things somewhat interesting.

During Surfer Blood’s set,

there were even some technical difficulties that were made obvious by the group, who stopped playing several times complaining of sound malfunctions.

Perhaps if you were below the age of 15 it might have been something you’d enjoy, but if you don’t meet that requirement, don’t worry.

You didn’t miss anything worth paying for.

Emily Daroga is a sophomore environmental science major. She has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2015.

THE VERMONT CYNIC

ARTS

9

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2015

Colorado-based DJ Corey Baker, known as Kill Paris, plays a set at Higher Ground Nov. 20. Paris recently changed his name to Chill Harris out of respect for the victims of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. SANDI OMANOVIC/The Vermont Cynic

Festival vibes come to Higher Ground Rafael santos

Kill Paris

RASANTOS@UVM.EDU

T

here is no greater feeling than starting off your Thanksgiving break with a rocking concert.

Friday night, Higher Ground was filled with lots of bass, trippy lighting and a party atmosphere for the crowd to enjoy, thanks to producer Kill Paris.

Kill Paris made sure the crowd was having a great Friday night by playing his most popular songs. People were dancing everywhere I looked.

There was not a single disappointed fan in sight.

The concert itself had a festival-like feel to it. There were people with crazy light finger

gloves, and I saw a duo wearing Master Chief helmets from “Halo.” There were glow sticks being tossed all over the place, both in the audience and toward the stage.

There were “rave girls” all over the place, too. It never ceases to amaze me how much neon a someone can have in one outfit.

With the odor of marijuana in the air to accompany the ridiculously dressed crowd, it

truly felt like being at a music festival.

It was amazing to see the crowd having so much fun.

There was even a light-up balloon bouncing around the venue. When the balloon made it to the stage, Kill Paris got in on the fun and punted it back to the crowd.

There was not a single moment to pause and just listen to the music because Kill Paris was strictly playing tunes that forced you to dance. It was like

a nonstop dance marathon.

Eventually, toward the end of the concert, Kill Paris played one relaxing song. The crowd became a single entity, with everybody swaying left to right and groups of friends hugging each other to cap off a phenomenal set.

Rafael Santos is a senior English major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2015.

The ‘Toys Take Over’ yet again

BY Adam mitrani

T

amitrani@uvm.edu

he UVM theatre troupe is preparing to take the stage this holiday season in the newest rendition of the popular play “Toys Take Over Christmas.”

“Toys Take Over Christmas” is an annual holiday show that has been performed by UVM for the past 23 years. This year the play will run Dec. 5-6 at the Royall Tyler Theatre.

The play, originally written

by Patricia Clapp, takes place in a toy shop around Christmas time. The story revolves around a toymaker and the magical toys that she creates.

The toys realize that the toymaker treats them very poorly, so they revolt and take over the shop. In the end, Santa Claus saves the day.

Each year the show is directed by a different senior in the theater department. This year, the director is Jared Hall.

Hall said his prior experience as an actor in the show helped him in directing it.

“I was in it my freshman year as one of the toys in the toy shop,” he said. “If you’re going to direct it, it helps to have worked on it, because then you know the [ins] and outs.”

Since the play has been running for 23 years,“at this point they have a stocked set and all the costumes are the same, everything very routine,” he said.

Hall was given a significant amount of freedom as the

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Cast members of “Toys Take Over Christmas” rehearse Nov. 30.

The production will run Dec. 5-6 at the Royall Tyler Theatre. DAYNA

WYCKOFF/The Vermont Cynic

show’s director, he said.

While the costumes and set are always the same, the play is still different every year, Hall said.

“Because we’ve done this for so long, we’ve been able to adapt it each year,” Hall said. “So, the first thing I did when I found out I was doing it was rewrite the script.”

While he cannot change the

six or seven main characters, he does have liberty with the “background toys,” he said.

“I can add certain toys and change the lines around a little bit,” Hall said. “[I] give everyone bigger parts, distribute the lines how I want.”

The show contains 20 actors in total and runs a little over an hour in length. Tickets are $15.

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10

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 THE VERMONT CYNIC

UVM soccer falls 1-0 to end year

By Eribert volaj eribert.volaj@uvm.edu

The UVM men’s soccer season came to a close Nov. 18, when the team was defeated by Boston College 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

For the first time in eight years, the team won the America East Championship and moved on to the national playoffs.

Even though they could not top Boston College, the Catamounts finished the year 11-7-3 and were 6-2-2 at home.

After a slow start that saw them lose three out of their first four games, head coach Jesse Cormier and his players began to win.

The Catamounts won against University of Hartford, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and University of New Hampshire during the regular season.

UVM went on to defeat No. 3-seeded UMBC in the semifinals of the America East Championship, before winning the whole tournament against No. 5-seeded Binghamton University.

“Beating UMBC in the playoffs in overtime and then winning the title against Binghamton [were the highlights of the season],” Cormier said.

The conference championship win occurred on Virtue

Junior forward Brian Wright takes a shot in the Catamounts’ season-ending loss against Boston College Nov. 18. PHOTO COURTESY OF UVM ATHLETICS Field, a home game for the Catamounts.

A record crowd of 1,913 fans showed up to Virtue Field to cheer the team on during the final against Binghamton, according to UVM athletics.

“The school spirit was beyond anything I could imagine,” Cormier said.

“The fans and the media coverage were a big piece of our striving for success. The home support [and] the energy on Virtue spurred us on to achieve

more,” he said.

Junior forward Brian Wright said he was also very thankful for the fans that came out to support the team this year.

“We truly appreciate all the support that we got from the community of Burlington,” Wright said.

“From the beginning of the season with the rough start, all the way to the end with everyone coming to the first round game against Boston College,” he said.

“Even that game felt like a home

game with all the people that came out to support us.”

This season, Wright scored a team-leading 10 goals .

To go along with his 10 goals, Wright dished out seven assists, finishing the season with 27 points.

However, he said there is still room for improvement.

“I’m happy that I finally reached double digits in goals, but I felt I could have done better,” Wright said. “I would say I still need to improve on my

heading and the left side of my body.”

Cormier was full of praise for the junior forward.

“Brian’s future is very bright,” he said. “His talent, character, and maturity have moved him past many of the players in our league, to being, in my opinion, the best and most dominant player in the league.”

Not returning next year is senior defender Jack Shea, who started in all but one game this season.

“I believe we found the most success this season because we built a strong team culture around hard work,” Shea said.

“We were also able to look back on the previous teams and build off their mistakes. We started to find our groove at the perfect time and we were able to maintain it.”

The team he is leaving behind has what it takes to repeat this year’s success, he said.

“They understand what it takes to be successful at this level and will uphold that in the new players,” Shea said.

“With a complete starting attack returning they will have even more chemistry and confidence, which can only lead to one of the most lethal attacks in the conference,” he said. “They will have more success in the future, I’m sure of it.”

Powerhouse teams using payouts to purchase wins John suozzo JOHN.SUOZZO@ UVM.EDU

I

n the early stages of the 2013 basketball season, the Catamount men’s basketball team traveled to Durham, North Carolina to take on the then-No. 6 Duke University Blue Devils.

Duke expected an easy win against the Catamounts to help start their season, but they were given all they could handle before eventually pulling out a 91-90 win, aided in part by a questionable foul call in the final seconds.

Perhaps instead of asking why Vermont lost this game to Duke, we should be asking why the Catamounts were playing Duke in the first place.

One could question whether this was representative of a concerning trend in collegiate athletics, where successful, nationally-ranked programs can offer a monetary incentive to less competitive teams in order to add “easy wins” to the beginning of their schedules.

This process has been popularized by numerous college football programs, who in some cases pay out six-figure sums to lower-level programs in order to host a game against these lesser teams.

The revenue made from ticket sales and advertisements

for these games often make these payouts negligible to national powerhouse teams.

One of the most notable cases took place in 2012, when Savannah State University traveled to Oklahoma State University.

Savannah State received a payout of $385,000 for this game, according to the New York Daily News.

They returned home to Savannah not only with a six-figure check, but with an embarrassing 84-0 loss on their record.

Payouts are inherently unfair to both teams involved.

There’s a reason why there are weight classes in boxing: to ensure that all of the competitions are fundamentally fair.

This is where the NCAA should step in and eliminate this practice.

Athletic programs should only be allowed to play schools of a similar skill to their own.

If schools want to continue to ‘beat up’ on their little brother programs, their wins should not count towards their overall record or bowl eligibility.

It’s only fair, and doing so would uphold the integrity of a team’s record.

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John Suozzo is a first-year history major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2015.

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THE VERMONT CYNIC

SPORTS

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2015

11

Catamounts win in first game back at home

by Locria Courtright casey.courtright@uvm.edu

The Catamounts defeated the Marist College Red Foxes 86-60 on Nov. 29.

UVM returned to Patrick Gym and played in front of over 1,500 fans on their home court after thousands of travel miles in one week and two away games.

Head coach John Becker called the game “a great team win.”

The Cats had five different players score at least 10 points each, and all but two players on the team had at least one rebound.

The team was led by juniors Kurt Steidl and Dre Wills, with 17 and 10 points respectively.

The Catamounts’ defense stifled Marist, limiting them to 42 percent shooting.

With Marist playing four guards, “big men” such as Steidl, as well as seniors Ethan O’Day and Darren Payen, dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Red Foxes 46-20.

The size also gave the Cats 21 second chance points, as opposed to just six by the visitors.

From the tip-off, Vermont took a lead that they would hold onto for most of the game, with Marist’s lone lead being a brief two-point advantage early in the game.

The Catamounts led the game for over 38 minutes and led by as much as 29 points.

Additionally, the Cats shot 19 of 28 from the field (68 per-

Sophomore forward Ernie Duncan drives to the hoop against Marist in the Catamounts’ Nov. 29 win against visiting Marist College.

Duncan finished with eight points for the game, and hit two out of his five attempts from beyond the three-point line. RYAN THORNTON/ THE VERMONT CYNIC

cent) in the first half, ending the half on a 29-15 run that saw them open up a 14-point lead at halftime.

Despite this, Marist’s quick guard Brian Parker led the game in scoring, scoring 22 points. Steidl led the Cats with 17, including a solid 50 percent from 3-point range.

“We could have made excuses,” Becker said after thegame, citing the recent away games that saw the team travel from Uncasville, Connecticut, to Florida midweek before returning to Burlington for this game.

“But we were focused, determined today, and got back to playing Vermont basketball, which was great to see,”he said.

Steidl, who missed the midweek loss to the University of Florida at Gainesville due to injry, credited Becker’s emphasis on rebounding as a key contributor to the win. “[Becker] has really stressed rebounding throughout the whole offseason, the whole preseason and saying that’s the key to our season. If we rebound, we’re going to win a lot of games,” Steidl said. “We just got out there, and, as a

team collectively, rebounded as much as we could.”

Wills, who Becker called the “heart and soul” of the team, gave plenty of credit to the “big men.”

“Credit our bigs, they played unbelievably today,” Wills said. “They stayed with them, with their hands, forcing their guards to give up the ball.”

He added to Steidl’s comments about defense and rebounding: “We focused a lot on offense early on, because we know our defense was going to get better eventually,” Wills said. “But as we go on, we’ve

been stressing defense more; our offense is up to speed, and our defense is getting caught up.”

The Catamounts improved to 3-4 on the season, and next embark on a three-game nonconference road trip with stops at Dartmouth, Yale and St. Bonaventure.

The Catamounts will then return to Patrick Gym Dec. 16 to play the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Conference play opens when UVM plays the University of Maine in Orono on Jan. 6.

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Pro sports adjust the rules to promote entertainment Shane Town STOWN@ UVM.EDU

T

he NHL Players Association recently announced that there would be a new format for the NHL all-star game, yet another example of professional sports being increasingly focused on entertainment value.

Now the all-star game will be a three-on-three game instead of the traditional five-onfive.

Additionally, the all-star teams will now be based on the four divisions instead of the two conferences.

The NHL has already made the switch to the three-on-three regular season overtime format, an extension of the fouron-four model that they used last year.

Now there are no ties. If neither team scores in the extra session the game goes to a shootout.

The NHL is also discussing making either the nets bigger or the goalie equipment smaller.

Similar rule changes in other sports have been heavily biased toward helping offensive players, much like these recent changes in the NHL. In the NFL, quarterbacks and teams in the are breaking

passing, receiving and scoring records left and right.

For example, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning recently passed Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre for most all-time passing yards.

The record for most touchdown passes in a season was set

by Peyton Manning in 2004,

We are now watching a watered down version of the original product.

Today's sports are Diet Coke. broken by Tom Brady in 2007 and set again by Peyton Manning in 2013.

The previous record held

by Dan Marino had stood since 1984.

Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have also flirted with the record a couple times themselves over the past decade.

Granted these are some historically great quarterbacks we are watching right now, but if all of these records continue to get broken, is it really a personal triumph or just the meticulously planned materialization of offense that the league is trying to create with the tweaking

of the rules?

The NBA implemented the three-point shot in the late 1960s to increase scoring output.

More recently the NBA has put more referee emphasis on hand-checking and other defensive fouls that make it easier to score.

The same trend of referees leaning toward the offensive end can be seen in the NHL. In the NHL, there has been a growing number of slashing and interference calls that would have never been called a decade or two ago.

The NFL’s referees have also taken part in this trend, with referees calling more penalties for hitting a defenseless receiver, pass interference and defensive holding than ever before.

The offensive protection has grown to the insanity that some games it seems quarterbacks have become exempt from any contact that their contact sport tries to give them.

It’s not helmet-to-helmet hits that scare the policy makers; it’s the monetary hit on the defenseless Nielsen ratings system that they truly are looking to avoid.

All the leagues say player safety and replay technology has led to these trends.

However, in reality, all the leagues really want is more

goals, touchdowns and buckets.

They want to make the game more exciting and compelling to the infrequent fans by providing more offense.

The result is what we are watching, particularly in the NHL. Today, sports barely resemble what they once were.

We are now watching a watered-down version of the original product. Today’s sports are Diet Coke.

Anyone with a stake in the athletic business is aware that breaking records brings allure to games that otherwise might have none.

Thus, they continue to push for more scoring and higher numbers.

Defensive intimidation is entering the realm of nostalgia.

Gone are the days of fans worshiping run-stuffing middle linebackers, beefy rim protectors, and guys that would layout to block a slapper from the point.

Gone are the days of fans going to games not to see a high scoring shootout, but rather hoping to see Donald Brashear

and Tie Domi drop the mitts and start throwing haymakers.

It’s truly sad that defensive intimidation is entering the realm of nostalgia.

For the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL switches back to its original five-on-five sudden death format with no shootouts.

Implicit in this switch is the league admitting through action more than words that the regular season format is a goal-hungry, money-grabbing gimmick and that five-on-five is the way hockey games should be decided.

Retired players from every league refer to today’s players as “soft,” and compared to the games they played. They’re right.

I understand we have to attract new fans to the sports that we love, but at what point do we draw the line?

Professional sports are made possible through their popularity, but the price paid for that attention should not be the sport itself.

A fan that doesn’t appreciate a tightly-knit defensive battle is a fan that neglects half the sport. This type of fan is a fan whose attention is not worth seeking.

Shane Town is a senior English major and public communications minor. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2014.

12

W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 2, 2 015

SPORTS

THE VERMONT CYNIC

UVM hockey starts slowly scoreboard Alex benoit ABENOIT@UVM. EDU

The UVM men’s hockey team has had two consecutive 20-win seasons but this year, they have only won three out of their last 13 and currently stand at 3-9-2.

Students reflected on the team’s start to the season.

First-year Morgan Schwartz said that UVM has had a slow start.

“It’s tough because we just want to see them win and they haven’t been good at home recently; I really hope they turn it around soon,” Schwartz said.

Continuing education student Austen Thum agreed.

“The team has been playing alright this year, but they haven’t been getting puck luck and the hockey gods just aren’t on their side right now,” Thum said.

Multiple reasons factor into why they have had such a slow start.

The Catamounts lost two of their best players from last year defensemen Mike Paliotta and Nick Lukko.

Both played significant roles on the team last season.

Losing Paliotta, Lukko and then-junior goaltender Brody Hoffman to professional teams has weakened this year’s men’s hockey team.

That is not to say that current junior goaltender Mike Santagu-

ida has faltered; in fact, according to Sneddon, he has played quite well considering the lack of defensive maturity in front of him.

Sneddon has made it clear that the problem with the Cats this season has not been Santaguida.

UVM has had the hardest schedule in men’s Division I college hockey this year, and is the only team to play all of last year’s Frozen Four participants, according to Rochester Institute

According to Sneddon, the team needs to learn to complete a full 60-minute effort, something the Cats have seldom done this year.

“You’ve got to pay a price to win,” he said. “It’s a hard lesson to learn that if you don’t take your foot off the gas, or pay a price for 60 [minutes], things can happen.”

As of late, the Cats are 1-3-1 in their last five games, with the tie coming from losing a threegoal lead to UMass Amherst in

Visit vtcynic.com for more coverage and uvmathletics.com for schedules and tickets

LAST WEEK

L 77-71 Men’s Basketball vs Buffalo

Uncasville, CT Nov. 22

L 71-54 Women’s Basketball at Brown Providence, RI Nov. 23 L 86-62 Men’s Basketball at Florida Gainesville, FL Nov. 25 L 59-55

Women’s Basketball vs St. Francis College HOME Nov. 27

L

Women’s Hockey vs Ohio State HOME Nov. 28

5-2

THIS WEEK Women’s Basketball at Holy Cross Worcester, MA Dec. 2

7 p.m.

Women’s Swim at AT&T Nationals Federal Way, WA Dec. 3

You've got to pay a price to win. It's a hard lesson to learn that if you don't take your foot off the gas, or pay a price for 60 minutes, things can happen.

Women’s Hockey vs Northeastern HOME Dec. 4 7:00 p.m.

Men’s Hockey at Boston University Boston, MA Dec. 4 Men’s Basketball at Yale New Haven, CT Dec. 5 •

of Technology.

In those games, the Cats lost to the University of North Dakota twice and the University of Nebraska Omaha twice.

They will play Boston University this weekend and Providence College later on in the year, the other two teams in last year’s Frozen Four.

Vermont’s first five games were against top-10 ranked opponents: University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota and University of Nebraska-Omaha.

the third period Nov. 15.

The Catamounts’ two losses to the University of Maine came at time when Maine had previously not won a game all year.

The Cats’ schedule does not get any easier from here on out, as they will play No. 11 Boston University this weekend, followed by St. Lawrence University and Union College.

Alex Benoit is a sophomore English major. He has been writing for the Cynic since fall 2014.

• • • • •

7:30 p.m.

2 p.m.

UVM sophomore Laurence St. Germain finished 27th in her World Cup debut in Aspen.

UVM women’s basketball sophomore Sydney Smith was named TD Bank Student-Athlete of the Week.

Sydney Smith scored a career-high 30 points in the Catamounts’ loss to Quinnipiac on Nov. 28.

Martin St. Louis Night will take place on Jan. 8 at Gutterson when the men’s hockey team will host Dartmouth.

The UVM men’s soccer team won the America East Championship this season for the first time in eight years.

Men’s basketball graduate student Dylan Sinnickson scored his first points as a Catamount in the Nov. 29 win against Marist.

RECORDS

Men’s Soccer 11-7-3 Men’s Hockey 3-9-2 Men’s Basketball 3-4 Women’s Hockey 3-13 Women’s Basketball 1-5 Women’s Swim 5-2

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