The Vanderbilt Hustler 4-20-16

vanderbilthustler WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

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VOL. 128, ISS. 14

Highlights from a year of coverage, senior editor farewells and favorite sports moments

news

opinion

life

sports

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

news VSG

Experience Vanderbilt will provide scholarships for extracurriculars

VSG Exec Board placed on probation for spending violations

By ZOE SHANCER News editor --------------------

Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG)’s Judicial Court has implemented a one-semester probationary period as of Dec. 2 for the Executive Board of VSG due to statutory violations last semester related to the budget. The Executive Board includes President Lizzy Shahnasarian, Vice President Jay King, Speaker of the Senate Jackson Vaught and Chief of Staff Julia Gabriel.

According to Blake Ligon, chief justice of the Judicial Court, the probationary period means that if the Judicial Court becomes aware of any serious violations of the constitution or statutes committed by the Executive Board during the next semester, they will immediately launch an investigation into the matter with potential grounds for removal from office.

The advisory opinion says that the offenses committed last semester do not warrant removal of any Executive Board members, but that the court will act swiftly and decisively if violations occur in the future.

“The Constitution and Statutes are the governing documents of this organization, not the illegal precedents of previous administrations,” the opinion reads.

The advisory opinion responds to four alleged statutory violations: the maximum allocation of funds toward general VSG Co-Sponsorships, the maximum allocation of funds toward the VSG Co-Sponsorship of the Month, the Executive Board’s ability to re-allocate VSG funds, and the Executive Board’s usage of the Contingency Fund. Ligon said he found out about the budget violations — which included excessive funding for co-sponsorships and more than $1,000 allotted to an unregistered student group — from the Hustler article released on Monday, Nov. 2.

Upon review of the statutes and constitution, the court found that funds were allocated in excess of the general co-sponsorship cap as well as for the Co-Sponsorship of the Month cap. The court determined that the use of the Contingency Fund to cover last year’s allocations to a group called Vanderbilt Traditions did not violate the statutes, but did violate the constitution, because although the treasurer is to administer and maintain the budget, he did not oversee this particular spending transaction.

According to Ligon, this probationary period will add an extra level of accountability to VSG. “We are being looped in on co-sponsorship correspondence, while also maintaining oversight over spending decisions,” Ligon said. “In addition, the new treasurer will be much more aware of their specific duties to oversee and administer spending decisions, and we will aid in that. ­­­— Published in print Jan. 13, 2016

vanderbilthustler STAFF

ALLIE GROSS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Beginning in the fall, a pilot program will provide extracurricular scholarships for students who currently receive financial aid

By ANNA BUTRICO Web editor --------------------

Experience Vanderbilt, a scholarship program for extracurricular organizations that has been in the works since 2013, will come to fruition this fall.

The 2014 VSG Experience Vanderbilt Survey showed that 75.4 percent of undergraduate students participated in at least one non-academic extracurricular, but the numbers show that extracurriculars are often a hefty price to pay, with costs averaging around $1,000 a year. The survey revealed that programs’ large financial commitments often stood in the way of students getting involved, especially for students receiving financial aid.

In reaction to these statistics, the Experience Vanderbilt Scholarship was born, spearheaded by former student body president Isaac Escamilla during his 2013-14 term. This fund would provide scholarships for student organizations that do not give students academic credit. It will be specifically granted to students who are receiving financial aid. Lindsay Edwards, the VSG student services committee chair and senior class fund chair, was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the development of Experience Vanderbilt.

“Everything about this program right now is a pilot,” Edwards said. “It’s the first year, we wanted to get it out there, get it started. And honestly, we really wanted to get student feedback.

This could change in a year or two.”

Currently, VSG is reaching out to student organizations to both inform them and get feedback about this program. Additionally, VSG is pairing up with Dean Douglas Christiansen, the vice provost for university enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, to devise ways to inform incoming students about this program that awaits them in the fall.

Once they return to campus, students — as long as they’re receiving financial assistance from the university — can submit a request for a donation amount for an extracurricular activity.

There will be several application periods during the year that correspond to certain deadlines: they will open right after the Student Organization period, will close their application periods when the Alternative Spring Break forms are due, etc.

The maximum amount of money a student can request is

ZIYI LIU / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

$500. Students’ applications will be randomly selected for donation amounts. Edwards said that this lottery system was the most unbiased and effective method they could think of.

“It was the fairest way we could think of to do it,” Edwards said. “It’s hard to pull together a team that can evaluate what someone’s experience is worth. If we had applications for this, it would be really difficult for those people to sit in a room and decide who gets $200, who gets $300. They could be biased based on what they’re involved in also. So we’re going to try a lottery system for now.”

All of the information on the application will remain confidential. The only people informed of the Experience Vanderbilt recipients’ information will be the president and treasurer of the organizations, who will sign confidentiality waivers.

Currently, the Experience Vanderbilt Fund has $10,000 in the VSG reserve. Alex Taylor, a Vanderbilt alumnus, has agreed to pay $50,000 to Experience Vanderbilt if 75 percent of the senior class donates to the Senior Class Fund.

“We’re really hoping that the Senior Class Fund works out and that we can get this money. We’re hoping to go to some departments and seeing if they have any extra money in their budget they’d be willing to donate, like the Provost’s Office or Chancellor Hill. But honestly, we really want this to be donation-driven by alumni. There will be a way for alumni to donate to this fund.

The Office of Annual Giving is in full support of this program, so we hope that they will be encouraging alumni to donate to this,” Edwards said. ­­­—Published in print April 13, 2016

JOSH HAMBURGER — MANAGING EDITOR BOSLEY JARRETT — DESIGN DIRECTOR ZOE SHANCER — NEWS EDITOR ANNA BUTRICO — WEB EDITOR KARA SHERRER — LIFE EDITOR ZIYI LIU — PHOTO DIRECTOR QUEEN STEVENSON — OPINION EDITOR KATHY YUAN — CHIEF COPY EDITOR COLLIN ZIMMERMAN — CHIEF WEB DEVELOPER BEN WEINRIB — SPORTS EDITOR MATT LIEBERSON — FEATURES EDITOR PRIYANKA ARIBINDI — AUDIENCE STRATEGIST KATHY YUAN —ASST. PHOTO DIRECTOR

SHARON SI — ASST. DESIGN DIRECTOR JACK SENTELL — ASST. LIFE EDITOR SARAH FRIEDMAN — ASST. NEWS EDITOR PRIYANKA KADARI — ASST. OPINION EDITOR ROBBIE WEINSTEIN — ASST. SPORTS EDITOR DESIGNERS COPY EDITORS ZACH BERKOWITZ ALAN WILMS YUNHUA ZHAO KAREN CHAN

ABBY HINKSON

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

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DIVERSITY

Hundreds sign online petition to suspend professor Carol Swain An online petition gained more than 700 supporters in its plea to the administration to remove Professor Carol Swain from her tenured position

ZIYI LIU/THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

By ZOE SHANCER News editor --------------------

More than 700 people have signed a student-written online petition to suspend professor Carol Swain from her tenured position as a political science and law professor, in a period of nine hours as of 11:55 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.

The petition cites Swain’s Facebook posts and a column she wrote in the the Tennessean last January, which the petition authors believe “espouse hate towards minorities.”

“Carol Swain has publicly denounced a broad swath of minorities, including many with which students here can identify,” the petition reads. “Ms. Swain has called out, amongst others, all non-Christian individuals, particularly Muslims and the Islamic community, as well as the LGBTQIA+ community, especially transgender individuals.”

The petition goes on to claim that allowing Swain to affix the term “Professor” to her Facebook page and other sources is an abuse of her title at Vanderbilt and a way to broadcast her own personal agenda at the expense of Vanderbilt’s Community Creed. It also claims that Swain is in direct violation of the university’s non-discrimination policy.

Emmie Arnold, Vanderbilt alum (’15) and current graduate student at Rutgers, signed and promoted the petition and is spearheading a letter writing campaign to various university administrators regarding her desire to remove Swain from her position.

“I’m now a graduate student in social work, and one of the tenets in our Code of Ethics is that social workers have a legal obligation to advocate with and for people who are being oppressed,” Arnold said.

“This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while, and it seemed like the right moment.”

Arnold is encouraging the Vanderbilt community via a Facebook post to send emails of their own.

“We cannot have Vanderbilt be yet another unsafe environment for students who face enough danger off campus,” Arnold said.

“Freedom of speech is a crucial foundation of American society, but the consequences of her speech are damaging. I could not stand by any longer.”

Swain is a political science and law professor and has been at Vanderbilt since 1999. Swain has been on sabbatical the past two semesters, but she is expected to teach American Political Culture in the political science department next semester.

Last winter, Swain published an op-ed in The Tennessean entitled “Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam” on Jan. 15, in response to the Jan. 7 attack by two gunmen on the offices of a French satirical magazine in Paris.

Swain wrote that “Islam is not like other religions in the United States, that it poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.”

The op-ed sparked a campus-wide conversation about intolerance and freedom of speech. In response to the op-ed, students held a protest on Library Lawn on Jan. 17 titled “Campus-Wide Protest Against Hate Speech Published in the Tennessean.” — Published online Nov. 9, 2015

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‘We are Vanderbilt.

We will not be silent.’

Students hand-delivered a list of demands to Chancellor Zeppos following a silent march from Central Library to Kirkland Hall

By ANNA BUTRICO Web editor --------------------

Students gathered in front of Central Library this afternoon to each sign a list of demands to submit to the university administration. The Facebook event for the campaign instructed students to walk out of their noon classes at 12:15 p.m. to be a part of a “Call to Action.”

The “Call to Action” event was created this weekend as a student effort to take action on racial inclusion and systemic racism on Vanderbilt’s campus. It was modeled after concerns recently presented to the administration at the University of Missouri, as explained on the Facebook event.

Akaninyene Ruffin, president of the Multicultural Leadership Council and a lead facilitator for Hidden Dores, directed the crowd of approximately 200 participants, explaining that they would march as a group to Kirkland Hall to hand-deliver these signed lists of demands to Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos himself.

Ruffin explained that in a time of racial tension and change, students wanted to stand up and ensure that their concerns were realized.

“What we noticed is that as the administration started talking about these issues, there’s not a lot of space for student voices.

We wanted to make sure that the concerns that we have are made known. And from here going forward, we’ll be intimately involved in creating all of those changes,” Ruffin said.

The list of demands says it was written by a “diverse coalition of students,” and is separated into five categories: mental health, curriculum, staff, accountability and policy. The demands include hiring more mental health professionals to help students of color in times of crisis, establishing a curriculum that focuses on diversity and inclusion, hiring a Chief Diversity

Officer to oversee a Diversity Strategic Plan, as well as creating a bias response team and a Diversity Committee.

After signing the lists of demands, the students made their way to Kirkland Hall, which houses the administration.

“For the rest of the march we will be completely silent,” Ruffin addressed the crowd. “A lot of times the message gets lost in the noise.”

On the way, participants marched through a timeline of student activism at Vanderbilt from the early 1960s until today.

“When we walk through that, we see that activism on this campus is nothing new. It’s something that is built into the spirit of the Commodores,” Ruffin said.

One by one, the students entered the back entrance of Kirkland Hall and individually handed the signed lists to Chancellor Zeppos, who stood in the hall collecting them.

The students then exited, in silence, to the steps outside Kirkland. The participants stood patiently outside in the rain as photographs were taken.

“We are Vanderbilt. We will not be silent. We are Vanderbilt.

We will not be silent.”

Students chanted these phrases in unison, holding a banner with the same words. Then, silently, they descended from the Kirkland steps, leaving the banner lying flat outside Kirkland.

Later this evening, Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Beth Fortune provided a statement on the demonstration.

“Chancellor Zeppos personally accepted from each student who participated in the demonstration a copy of proposed actions created collectively by a group of Vanderbilt students,” the statement read. “There is nothing more important than cultivating a safe and tolerant campus for all members of the Vanderbilt community, and we appreciate that our students are engaging in that effort.” — Published online Nov. 18, 2015

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

DIVERSITY

Chief diversity officer outlines plans for the new position

As first step, Hill seeks to gather student, faculty and staff input to gauge campus needs

By ZOE SHANCER News editor --------------------

George C. Hill moved his things into his new office in Kirkland Hall yesterday for his first day as Vanderbilt’s first chief diversity officer (CDO).

“I’m still trying to find where the restroom is in Kirkland,” Hill joked. “I almost walked into a closet.”

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos appointed Hill, a biomedical researcher and diversity advocate, as CDO and vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion on Nov. 19, assigning him the duty of helping to cultivate an “inclusive, diverse and equitable academic community.”

“I think the chancellor was interested in identifying individuals who could serve in two roles,” Hill said. “One is stimulating and supporting the vision that he has for increasing diversity and inclusion at the university, and also someone who has had the experience of doing that.”

Hill said the sentiment one of his medical students shared with him relates to what he sees as his role as CDO. His student said, “I learn best when I learn from people different from me.”

“That says it all,” Hill said. “And that’s what I think the chancellor has in mind, because he wants to see all of the students, and in fact all of the faculty, interacting with people who come from different backgrounds than they do.”

Frank Dobson, director of the Bishop Johnson Black Cultural Center (BCC) and assistant dean of students, sees the advent of the Chief Diversity Officer position on campuses in recent years as a reflection of an increasingly complex set of issues having to do with diversity and inclusion. He said beyond the black and white binary of the past, diversity now includes issues for groups like the Latino, international and LGBTQI student communities.

“That’s what I think Vanderbilt has grappled with for years, how do we get a handle on all these various diversity issues in a way that we have someone who can help oversee and help marshal our resources to effect change in all of these crucial areas?” Dobson said.

For Dobson, the CDO position is broader than offices such as Inclusion and Cultural Competence — established over the summer — or the BCC, because it’s at the vice chancellor level, as opposed to existing as a part of the Dean of Students Office. Therefore, a CDO can examine issues beyond student life, including faculty recruitment, promotion and retention, or curriculum changes.

Dobson emphasized the value of hiring a CDO from within the university, as opposed to utilizing a national search committee, avoiding a potentially long and exhausting process.

“There’s a sense of comfort because George Hill has done this kind of work and has done this kind of work well. And he knows Vanderbilt,” Dobson said. “He knows the players and the players know him, as opposed to getting somebody from Stanford or Yale or wherever and they’re coming here and they’re learning Vanderbilt. They don’t know how to walk across campus, they don’t know what The Commons is.”

INITIATIVES AT VANDERBILT

One of Hill’s first initiatives in his position is to create a student advisory committee made up of students from a variety of backgrounds.

“We will sit down and discuss what are some of the things that you see that are working well here in this area of equity,

diversity and inclusion, and then what are some that aren’t?”

Hill said. “What bothers you? Where do you think we can make progress?”

“I tend to be a good listener ...” Hill said. “I think it’s important to have an ongoing dialogue and find out exactly what some of the issues are.”

In the same vein, Hill plans to have a series of listening sessions with faculty and students.

“What I plan on doing is, each month, going to some location here on campus, letting people know ahead of time, and just sitting and listening,” Hill said. “So I may go over to Blair, and say for the month of December, I’ll be present from 12-1 p.m., we’ll have lunch, and just talk about and listen to issues of equity, diversity and inclusion from people who are in Blair or anyone who is close to Blair. And in January, maybe in Light Hall. And in February, over in Wilson.”

This would provide Hill a way to hear from Vanderbilt students, staff and faculty regarding the issues they feel are most important.

“And it’s quite open, anybody can bring up any issue,” Hill said. “That’s the way I will begin to formulate some really key goals and directions.”

By the end of February, Hill also plans to bring in three experts from peer institutions who will provide an evaluation of what they see in terms of diversity at Vanderbilt.

“These will be national experts,” Hill said. “And then they’ll provide a report to me, and I’ll send it to the chancellor and to the senior management team, and that again will help to formulate the direction we move forward.”

To further understand needs related to diversity and inclusion on campus, Hill will send out a survey via email to students, faculty and staff evaluating the climate at Vanderbilt.

“You would get an anonymous survey that would say, ‘What are your thoughts with regard to discrimination at the institution?’” Hill said. “‘Have you ever experienced discrimination?

Do you see a need for further movement in this direction?’”

Another missing piece at Vanderbilt, according to Hill, is an easy mechanism for individuals who are seeking an individual of color or of a specific background as a mentor.

“What we will do is have a list of mentors that will be willing to serve in this capacity, and students can go online and say ‘I would like to interact with a person of this this and this,’” Hill said. “There will be a database of those individuals. There are two national databases that do that now, so we will develop one for here at Vanderbilt.”

Hill also wants Vanderbilt’s faculty and staff to be more diverse, saying that we need to make sure that individuals who would contribute diversity to certain departments are considered strongly.

“The point is, we want people in front of you, who come from different backgrounds, who have different experiences, so that when you’re discussing poli sci, the individuals have different perspectives, and when you’re talking about premed, they’re going to be people who are interested in why, for example, clinical trials do not often include women, but then when the drug is decided to be used, it’s used for everybody,” Hill said.

In an effort to oversee both student life and academic affairs, Hill will work closely with the other vice chancellors to identify their concerns, limitations and priorities. — Published in print Nov. 19, 2015 To read more, visit vanderbilthustler.com.

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LETTER FROM ZOE SHANCER, NEWS EDITOR I’ve been extremely lucky to work and, more importantly, be friends with Opinion Editor Queen Stevenson.

When I asked Queen to get coffee one day, she responded with surprise. She said she was used to feeling invisible around white people and was surprised I actually noticed her and wanted to get to know her. When I sat down with a friend, someone I share laughter with every week, someone I genuinely care about, someone who is nice to everyone in her presence, and I heard her tell stories of white people not acknowledging her existence, I realized there was a systemic problem.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with countless faculty, staff and administrators about issues of diversity and inclusion. When I sat down with Chief Diversity George Hill and heard him talk about the importance of diverse perspectives, I knew that it was my responsibility to communicate to Vanderbilt’s student population that they have something to gain from engaging with those perspectives. The administration has taken some great steps forward — chief diversity officer, wellness programs, initiatives to increase faculty diversity — but change has got to come from students. And I realized it’s got to come soon.

I’ve walked around Rand and talked to strangers about their opinions on racial issues. Once in a while, I hear shocking statements followed by “but you can’t use my name in this.” More often, I hear students say they don’t know much about what I’m asking. When I sat down with students at booths in Rand, I realized that if people knew more, they would care more.

As a reporter I wanted to be part of that voice that helps people know more. I didn’t want ignorance of issues to be a reason for a lack of understanding or empathy. I wanted to answer all the questions people were too afraid of asking and give them an accessible source of this information. That’s why I’ve dedicated myself to the Hustler, and that’s why I’ll continue to give those who feel silenced a voice on our campus.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

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SEXUAL ASSAULT

Project Safe Center will become a limited confidential resource in Fall 2016

Students to be able to report sexual assault without names associated

By ANNA BUTRICO Web editor --------------------

Project Safe, the Center for Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response, will be a confidential resource when students return to campus in fall 2016. Administrators believed this decision would encourage more students to seek Project Safe Center’s services after experiencing power-based personal violence.

Project Safe Center is currently designated as a private resource: it legally must relay all identifying information that it receives from students to the Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action, and Disabilities Services (EAD). Starting next semester, Project Safe will be a limited confidential resource, meaning that only the statistics about an incident will be forwarded to the EAD, without automatically identifying the student. This way, Vanderbilt will still be complying with Title IX and Clery Act requirements.

Asheeka Desai, a member of the he Vanderbilt Sexual Assault Prevention (VSAP) Committee - housed within Vanderbilt Student Government - said their committee was motivated to make this change as the Project Safe’s Center’s designation as a private resource dissuaded some students from reporting experiences with sexual assault. By making Project Safe confidential, students will be able to maximize the use of the resource.

“So if a student goes to Project Safe and really just wants to talk through their experience, they can do so without fear that an

immediate investigation will be launched,” Desai said. “They can then receive any interim accommodations that they may need in order to stay at Vanderbilt, and have their experience not be even more traumatic. If they do choose to go through with an investigation later on, they can have the autonomy to pick exactly when they want to bring that forward, how they want to go about it, while receiving the on-going and constant support and advocacy from the very compassionate, empathetic, and well-trained staff at Project Safe.”

G.L. Black, an Associate Dean of Community Standards and Student Support, said that this decision was made for several reasons: Project Safe had reached its two-year mark as a standalone center, federal guidance had recommended confidential resource centers, and Vanderbilt student input had necessitated this change.

“We have federal guidance that tells us that it is a best practice to be able to designate an advocacy center like Project Safe as a confidential resource from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights,” Black said. “And the White House Task Force, as a part of their report and their sample reporting protocol, is drafted in a way that contemplates and provides for this confidential designation.”

Bell stressed that students have greatly influenced this policy alteration. The Vanderbilt Sexual Assault Prevention (VSAP) Committee, housed within Vanderbilt Student Government, has pushed for this institutional change.

“I really think that student efforts, particularly through VSAP,

Understanding the survey about sexual assault on campus What you should know about the results from Vanderbilt’s first campus climate survey on sexual violence

By ALLIE GROSS Editor-in-chief --------------------

Vanderbilt has released the results of its first campus climate surveys about sexual violence. The surveys were distributed to 11,615 Vanderbilt undergraduate, graduate and professional students in spring 2015, in accordance with White House recommendations and a national effort among universities to survey their respective campus climates on the prevalence of sexual assault, the reporting of incidents, and student awareness and use of campus resources.

Two different surveys from two different outside consulting firms were each distributed to half of the student population. The shorter Educational Advisory Board (EAB) survey had a total response rate of 28 percent — four percent higher than the longer EverFi survey. As a result of this higher response rate and the lower percentage of students who failed to complete the survey, the university has relied more heavily on the EAB data. Accordingly, most of the numbers used below also come from the EAB survey.

The university chose to distribute two different surveys

in order to evaluate which was more effective in garnering a higher response rate.

“The insights we gain from the survey must and will inform Vanderbilt’s response to this serious problem, which is impacting the safety and well-being of students here and on campuses across the country,” said Provost Susan Wente.

5 KEY FINDINGS 1. Vanderbilt students don’t understand the university’s formal

procedures for handling sexual assault.

2. The prevalence of sexual assault on Vanderbilt’s campus is in line with peer institutions. Twenty percent of undergraduates surveyed reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact (28 percent of female undergraduates).

3. Respondents said they think the university takes sexual assault seriously...

4...But victims are more likely to report to friends than campus resources.

5. Almost three-quarters of the student body did not respond to the survey, meaning the findings are “not generalizable” to the student body or other institutions. ­­­—Published online Jan. 26, 2016

have led the conversation over several months,” Bell said. “The Campus Climate survey certainly helped inform the discussion, but it has been something we have been considering since the opening of the Project Safe Center in July 2014.”

Kait Spear, the chair of the VSAP committee, said that their group of twelve student activists “essentially acted as an advocate and negotiator for what was, and is, a student body-driven initiative.” They advocated for this policy change in coordinated meetings with administrators.

Cara Tuttle Bell, the Director of Project Safe, said that this limited confidential reporting will differ from the other three confidential resources that are on campus, which include the Psychological10 Counseling Center, the Chaplain acting as a clergy member, as well as Student Health Services. As a limited confidential resource, Project Safe will relay statistical data to the EAD to ensure student safety.

“I think that [limited confidential reporting] means that we will continue to provide data for statistical reporting, which is very useful,” Tuttle Bell said. “It enables us to track trends, and look at the types of sexual violence that our community is experiencing, when and where. Sometimes if we have the information, by whom. And that really helps us take the steps we need to keep campus safe, and figure out what types of programming we need and what we need to offer to which audiences. It also allows us to make exceptions when necessary for campus safety.” ­­­—Published online March 21, 2016

LETTER FROM ANNA BUTRICO, WEB EDITOR For the first time in my life, I felt I was telling a story that needed to be told.

Sexual consent and sexual assault are largely silent issues. Students are uncomfortable talking about sex – myself included. But after embarking on my sexual assault coverage, I’ve discovered that this is the very root of the problem. People don’t talk about sex. So I needed to.

I needed to summon up my courage, reach out to sexual assault survivors, and ask to hear their stories. I had to maintain eye contact for the entirety of all of my interviews, to fully understand the emotional, physical, logistical components of the sexual assaults and the process that follows. I had to march up to the Project Safe Center, walking through the same doors survivors had. I had to listen to the audio of these stories over and over again, editing the voices so the public could hear the story that I had.

I needed to tell this story. I felt pulled to it, this weird magnetic force pinning me to dive deeper, to ask more uncomfortable questions, to get to the bottom of it. I averaged three interviews a day at some points, clocked in exorbitant numbers of hours of interviewing, editing and writing, and I cried.

Sexual assault is a real issue on this campus. I can tell you that personally. The emotional effects I experienced are nothing compared to what these survivors had shared with me. They live this, day in and day out.

I needed to tell this story, to de-stigmatize sexual assault, to make victim-survivors understand that it’s okay to talk about these issues. It’s okay to speak up about it, to report it, to get the help they need and deserve.

This story isn’t over. I know that for a fact. There are more survivors out there, more layers to be peeled away. I understand that my job telling this story isn’t done. But I’m ready, and more than eager, to tell it.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

LGBTQI

A frat for sexual diversity

Delta Lambda Phi returns to campus, aiming to include members of all sexual orientations and gender identities

By SARAH FRIEDMAN Assistant news editor --------------------

Sophomore Quinton Turner came to Vanderbilt with his heart set on one fraternity — the only one he could see himself calling home. After exploring the website for the Office of LGBTQI Life the summer before he arrived on campus, Turner discovered a link to an article about Delta Lambda Phi, a fraternity for sexual diversity, which had recently colonized on Vanderbilt’s campus.

“That was the first time I’ve ever thought about being Greek,” Turner said.

When Turner arrived at Vanderbilt and learned that the chapter had disbanded in 2013, he was crushed and knew he had to bring it back.

“This is something I want for future Vandy kids, to have that opportunity,” he said. “I had kept hearing a story, almost the exact same phrasing every time, of people in my community that were like ‘Oh yeah, I looked into Greek life, but I just don’t think it is for me.’”

Turner got the go-ahead from the Office of Greek Life over the summer and began to gauge interest by sending out an email on the Lambda (the campus gender-sexuality alliance) listserv and reaching out to prospective members on Facebook.

Turner created a to-do list called “Let’s Get it Started in Here” and did just that. He reached out to the DLP national organization, which consists of 30 chapters and 5 colonies, and got a phone call back just 20 minutes later from the executive director, Cory Mollner.

“Every contact I’ve had with nationals, I’ve gotten so much

support it’s been amazing,” Turner said.

Mollner provided Turner with a colonization document that provides step-by-step instructions for starting a chapter. He was paired with an interest group coordinator to mentor him throughout the process and also met with a Vanderbilt professor, George Wilson (class of 2011), who was a founding member of DLP when he attended Vanderbilt.

In order to become a colony, Turner compiled a colonization petition, a formal 23-page document including information about Vanderbilt as a university as well as plans for potential philanthropy, brotherhood events, recruitment ideas and biographies of each interested member.

During a conference call in January, the national organization approved the request, and the Vanderbilt Office of Greek Life approved the colony as a member of the Interfraternity Council (IFC). The colony, which was officially inducted last weekend, has 12 members. They have elected an executive board and revised the constitution of the DLP chapter that disbanded years ago to make it more inclusive.

“We want it to be as gender-inclusive as we possibly can as a fraternity because we don’t want people who maybe don’t identify with the word ‘brother’ or ‘man’ to be excluded,” said Turner, who has since been named DLP’s president.

While Turner said that DLP is composed of people “on the male side” of the gender spectrum, the members are accepting of nonbinary and gender fluid members, he said.

“You don’t have to define yourself as a stereotypical male,” junior member Morgan Miller said. “You can be non-gender binary and join or even trans, and for the most part, I think people like

Gender inclusive housing options formalized for Fall 2016 Morgan & Lewis apartments and McGill Hall to offer co-ed double bedrooms; additional co-ed floors established in Branscomb, Towers and Blakemore House

By SARAH FRIEDMAN Assistant news editor --------------------

There will be housing options available to students who would like to share a bedroom with a student whose sex assigned at birth is different from their own beginning in fall of 2016.

Five Morgan and Lewis one-bedroom apartments and the five doubles in McGill Hall will all accommodate this option.

This change follows several student requests for genderinclusive housing. A year ago, Vanderbilt Student Government and the Multicultural Council unanimously passed resolutions requesting that the administration create more gender-inclusive housing options.

Furthermore, next fall, in addition to the existing two floors in Branscomb and five floors in Towers that are co-ed, there will be two additional floors in Branscomb, two floors in Blakemore House and 3 additional co-ed floors of Towers singles and doubles. Additionally, Warren and Moore will remain co-ed throughout, as long as bedrooms are single-sex. All suites will still be permitted to be co-ed as long as bedrooms are single-sex.

There was a separate balloting process for the five genderinclusive Morgan and Lewis doubles, which were said to be reserved for “students...that would not have been able to under previous guidelines and policies,” on March 2, said Director of Housing and Residential Education Alison Matarese. Three pairs of students claimed these apartments.

Chris Purcell, Director of LGBTQI Life, expects interest in the co-ed bedroom option to grow in subsequent years.This year, because the options was announced so close to balloting periods, many students had already made arrangements to live elsewhere.

“For LGBTQI students, particularly transgender students, housing selection time is a difficult time,” Purcell said. “Trying to find the accommodation that works best, particularly as sophomores, when your ability to get access to premium housing options is very difficult. But I don’t even think transgender students are looking for premium housing; I think they are just looking for an option that they could make work for them.”

The selected rooms will serve as a pilot this year, and Matarese expects that more options will be available in subsequent years. ­­­—Published online March 20, 2016

PHOTO COURTESY OF QUINTON TURNER

that would definitely never consider joining a fraternity for obvious reasons. They don’t think it’s a safe space.”

While some members of the LGBT community are worried that DLP will be divisive among the already marginalized LGBTQI community, Wilson said that the organization will really serve to even further unite the community.

“I’d also like to say that the current colonists are taking proactive steps towards ensuring that the establishment of this group is not going to be divisive, but rather something that will add a different color in the LGBT community on campus.”

Wilson, who now works at the Vanderbilt Medical Center, has become one of the fraternity’s mentors, who also serve as “big brothers” for the first pledge class, Wilson said.

“One of my closest friends post-college was my big brother in DLP who was my mentor when I started the Alpha class [in 2011],” Wilson said. “I made really close connections with people who have been more than just mentors in a Greek sense but also in a career sense.”

Turner and the executive board are also beginning to plan for DLP’s recruitment, which he anticipates will be similar to that of the smaller fraternities on campus. Their goal is to take on at least five new pledges at the start of the 2017 spring semester.

After three successful semesters as a colony, DLP will become a chartered chapter. For now, though, Turner is focusing on building up DLP’s base so that it can provide the friendship and home that he has been searching for since he came to Vanderbilt. ­­­—Published in print Feb. 24, 2016

LETTER FROM SARAH FRIEDMAN, ASST. NEWS EDITOR After spending over an hour listening to junior Clare McDaniel talk about her life as a queer student on campus, she asked me why I decided to take on the project of documenting the Vanderbilt LGBTQI experience. People ask me questions all the time, yet I didn’t have an answer for this one.

After thinking about it for a while, I pulled together my thoughts on the far-reaching influence this community has had on me and the reason I chose to be their advocate. Members of the LGBTQI community are some of the most articulate and resilient people on campus. I have sat in the newsroom wondering, sometimes out loud, how these individuals are able to speak candidly as if they are giving a speech they prepared for weeks.

One day, Zoë Shancer, the Hustler’s news editor and my biggest role model, told me that they speak this way because they are accustomed to standing up for and explaining themselves. While I value these individuals’ thoughtful words, I want to play any part I can in lessening their burden by teaching others about their identities, explaining what they need from their allies and updating the campus community on their progress. I acknowledge that my articles are just a small contribution to their campus-wide efforts to foster understanding and acceptance.

Unexpectedly, Clare has ended up helping me shape my role within the LGBT community and form my own identity. To her, and to all the LGBT individuals who have opened up to me, cried to me, and taught me to “throw glitter, not shade,” thank you for showing me what it means to advocate for something I care about.

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Transfer Mayfield: Where are they now?

By ANNA BUTRICO Web editor --------------------

The Real Transfers of Mayfield 8 took an unlikely turn after The Hustler visited them last September.

All of the girls (save one, sophomore Sara Ernst) have moved out of the Transfer Mayfield.

Dakota Simpson, the Mayfield Liasion, packed his bags for a Towers Suite, and brought fellow resident, Alex Brewer, with him. Sadly, Alison Xiong (known jokingly as “Chu-mao,” the Chinese name for chest hair), found another place to live, as did Dani Molina and Sharveen Undavia.

Only Sara Ernst, Jacques Chemtob, Steven Patalano, and Patrick Zinck remain.

Ernst reported that she was the only girl in the Mayfield for quite some time.

But recently, three new transfer students moved into the Mayfield. Brooke Barry, Sam Korycki, and Jonny Baker have filled the empty rooms. Reacting to the Hustler’s description of the Mayfield’s “white and undecorated” walls, the house is now decked out with the state flags of each of the residents.

Reflecting on her year, Ernst says if she could live her first-year transfer experience all over again, she would still choose to live in the Mayfield.

“I was actually thinking about this today, since it’s so close to the end of the year and I’m sitting in my room doing homework, and I realized, ‘Wow, I’m really, really going to miss this place. If I could live here next year, I totally would.’”

Joey Maloney, the head resident, reflected on the Transfer Mayfield differently after living there for a year.

“Just being in a Mayfield, I don’t know if it’s the most ideal way for transfers. It works for some people, but doesn’t work for others,” Maloney said. “If people ended up liking each other, then it would be great, but Highland is kind of far away from the rest of campus. So when someone shows up to Vanderbilt, and they don’t know anyone, and they don’t feel like they can connect with the people in their house, then they might feel a bit separated from what’s going on.”

“It has been kind of like a family,” Maloney continued. “There have been a lot of bumps in the road. But I do feel like we’ve grown a lot closer and I think there were a lot of external [reasons for moving out.]” ­­­—Original story published in print on Sept. 16, 2015

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Rethinking the Row: What will Greek life look like in 20 years?

Greek Life Task Force recommends shorter pledging, nonresidential housing, promoting diversity

By ALLIE GROSS, MATT LIEBERSON, and SARAH FRIEDMAN Editor in chief, Features editor, and Asst. news editor --------------------

In 20 years, Greek Row could be entirely non-residential. In just a few years, Vanderbilt Greek houses could have their own Area Coordinator and programming from Faculty Fellows for each house. That’s if the administration adopts the recommendations put forth by the Greek Life Task Force report, released last week.

For the first time since 1998, members of the Faculty Senate — who serve as an advisory body to Vanderbilt’s administration — met over a two-year period to review the status of Greek life on campus, charged with studying all aspects of the Greek system from a “holistic perspective” and making recommendations to ensure the Greek system supports the university’s mission.

“Our job is to look into the crystal ball… and try to look into the future of higher education at Vanderbilt and in the U.S.,” said David Weintraub, Greek Life Task Force chair.

The Greek Life Task Force has produced a final report complete with goals and recommendations that were presented to the full Faculty Senate on Jan. 14 and, if approved, would be sent to the provost and chancellor’s offices for potential implementation.

In the past, recommendations released about every 20 years have led to drastic changes in Greek life on campus, such as switching to the on-campus Greek Row housing system during the 1950s.

According to Weintraub, the recommendations are usually seriously considered by the administration. He said the task force aimed to only include recommendations that were data-driven, and the most realistic and likely to be well-received by the Faculty Senate and the Greek community.

The report relied on data collected by an analytics sub-group commissioned by the task force to determine the main differences between Greek and non-Greek students. The group found that while affiliated students were happier with their social lives and had higher GPAs, they reported drinking alcohol and using recreational drugs at higher rates than non-Greek students and are more likely to be Caucasian than unaffiliated students, according to statistics cited in the report.

To determine the recommendations in the report, the task force met with stakeholders in the Greek experience, such as Office of Greek Life staff, the main Greek organizations’ presidents, VSG and several campus organizations’ leadership, Weintraub said. He emphasizes that

faculty hold a more holistic view of Vanderbilt than students.

“I’ve been here for 25 years,” Weintraub said.

“Students are here for four years. So we have a very different perspective on both the history, what’s going on now and the future.”

GREEK LIFE AND THE RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

Generally, the recommendations of the task force’s report aim to align Greek life with the university’s overall strategic vision for residential life. Vanderbilt’s Academic Strategic Plan, released last fall, prioritizes making all of Vanderbilt a part of the College Halls system.

Piloted last year with the opening of Warren & Moore College Halls, the system would place all undergraduates in residential living and learning communities similar to the Commons for their last three years at Vanderbilt.

In regard to Greek housing, currently, six officers of each chapter are allowed to live in each Greek house. But Weintraub said that the task force was concerned that students living in Greek houses — although physically on campus and on university property — are treated like students in off-campus housing by the Office of Housing and Residential Education.

To address this concern, the report recommends that an area coordinator be hired for the Greek houses as well as off-campus residents.

The report also suggests that three graduate RAs live on Greek Row, and that non-residential Faculty Fellows be assigned to each Greek chapter. These Faculty Fellows would serve similar roles to their counterparts in the Commons houses. Another recommendation urges chapter presidents to go through RA training to provide residents with resources Greek houses do not currently have.

To ensure students have an opportunity to spend time living in the residential communities, the report says that only juniors and seniors should be allowed to live in the Greek houses, effective in the 2019-2020 school year.

Once the chancellor’s College Halls project has been completed, the report suggests that the Greek houses should become entirely non-residential. Weintraub said that project could take up to 20 years, if it is completed at all.

According to Weintraub, because the College Halls are a goal of the university, all students should participate in that part of the Vanderbilt experience.

DIVERSITY IN GREEK LIFE: A CRITICAL CONCERN

Weintraub identified diversity and inclusivity as the most critical concern moving forward.

The report reflects this goal by suggesting that the Panhellenic Council and the National

Pan-Hellenic Council create “public declarations in support of full inclusivity” similar to the one already created last year by the Interfraternity Council.

He stressed that the task force is not trying to define why Greek life isn’t currently diverse or impose a solution — rather, the report just recommends increasing diversity and inclusion as a goal for Greek life.

The report also claims that another problem for Greek life in the coming decade is the divide it creates between those who can and cannot afford to go Greek, saying that Greek life should aim to increase socioeconomic equality in its members by 2025.

In this section, the report suggests preventing the chapters from using funds provided through Experience Vanderbilt and other similar funds, which are intended for the student body as a whole. This is already a stated restriction for Experience Vanderbilt, a VSG initiative which funds student extracurriculars and was launched this semester. While the report approves of alumni donations as a possible solution, it does not support setting up an endowment through the university. Additionally, the report suggests the creation and distribution of a publication entitled “Affording Greek Life,” which would provide actual, honest estimates of the costs of Greek life for potential new members.

RESTRICTING PLEDGING HOURS

Another suggestion is that the Greek organizations lower their maximum number of “new member education” hours — pledging — per week from 30 to 20. To defend this suggestion, the report includes references to the NCAA maximum practice time per week, capped at 20 hours. Additionally, the report claims that based on the “traditional academic rule” that students should spend at least three hours per week studying for each hour spent in class, thirty hours would value Greek life the same way as a 7.5 credit hour class.

“The real issue that led to this recommendation was a concern that came from the Commons. That [concern] was that when pledging happens in the spring, the communities in the Commons are disrupted in a very major way,” Weintraub said.

Although addressing sexual violence was identified as a priority in the task force’s interim report, because there was no data to express a link between Greek life and sexual violence on Vanderbilt’s campus, Weintraub said the task force decided to focus on other areas in its final report. ­­­—Published in print Jan. 20, 2016 Read more on vanderbilthustler.com.

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life Where’s Andrea Wall?

Catching up with the creator of the ‘Weekend@Vandy’ emails

By PAXTON GAMMIE Life reporter --------------------

“I’ve heard that students didn’t think ‘Andrea Wall’ was a real person - Lol...I am.”

After eight years at Vanderbilt, that is how Andrea Wall signed off her final “Weekend@ Vandy” email in April. Wall finally decided to resign from her position as administrative assistant to pursue a career in real estate, something she had wanted to do for 20 years.

Prior to working at Vanderbilt, Wall worked in the medical field as an assistant for a pulmonologist at St. Thomas Hospital. She originally transitioned to work at Vanderbilt in hopes of eventually receiving college tuition benefits for her daughter, who was in seventh grade at the time.

Wall started out on the medical side as an administrative assistant at the Vanderbilt Medical Center, and then six months later moved to the university side. She began working as an administrative assistant in the Office of the Dean of Students, and stayed there for seven and a half years.

Although Wall had a wide range of roles, she is most famous for her weekly email, “Weekend@Vandy,” which she originally created herself. The email went out every Thursday and rounded up events students should check out during the weekend.

“How it started was a parent called who had a freshman student move in, and she was very upset her child didn’t know what was going on on campus and didn’t know what was going on around Nashville,” Wall

recalled. “(The parent) said ‘Why don’t y’all send out an email so that students know what’s going on? So they talked about it in senior staff, and they came to me and said,

“

I was driving with Lyft and Uber, and I picked up three girls who had just graduated. I was like ‘So y’all are Vanderbilt students?’ and they were like ‘Yeah, we just graduated.’ And they were like, ‘What do you do?’ and I said, ‘Well, I send out the email that the students get every week,’ and that’s all I said, and all of a sudden they go ‘Oh my god! You’re Andrea Wall!’

’’

‘Can you create an email?’”

And thus, Weekend@Vandy was created.

As the years went on, the email — and Wall herself — grew significantly in popularity.

By the time Wall left last year, the email had about 45 percent readership. Wall herself also became a bit of a campus celebrity and had many memorable encounters with students outside of Vanderbilt.

“The funniest thing I had happen was two years ago right after graduation. I was driving with Lyft and Uber, and I picked up three

girls who had just graduated,” Wall said. “I was like ‘So y’all are Vanderbilt students?’ and they were like ‘Yeah, we just graduated.’ And they were like, ‘What do you do?’ and I said, ‘Well, I send out the email that the students get every week,’ and that’s all I said, and all of a sudden they go ‘Oh my god!

You’re Andrea Wall!’ and so they had to do a Snapchat with me.”

In addition to Weekend@Vandy, Wall managed budget details in her department, advised Mock Trial and the Vanderbilt Gardening Initiative, arranged student travel, started the Kroger fundraising initiative to help raise funds for the Vanderbilt Employee Hardship Fund and much more. While Wall gave a lot to Vanderbilt, she also says it gave back to her: Vanderbilt aided Wall financially in completing her undergraduate education.

“I really loved Vanderbilt. Because of Vanderbilt, I was able to finish my bachelor’s degree,” Wall said. “I finished at Trevecca and graduated the same year my daughter graduated from high school. I graduated in 2012 from Trevecca with a business management degree.”

With all the positive experiences she had at Vanderbilt, some wonder why Wall chose to leave Vanderbilt after eight years.

“For me it really boiled down to a job that was going to offer me a better future. I needed to think about my retirement years,” Wall said. “It was very difficult to give people my resignation. I consider Vanderbilt my family, my home. I miss it. I miss the people, I miss the students, but I’m in a better position now to make more money.”

Although Wall is thoroughly enjoying her

job as a New Home Counselor with Beazer Homes, she misses Vanderbilt and hopes to come back to Vanderbilt to attend some of her favorite events, such as Commodore Quake and Rites of Spring.

“Real estate is a lot of fun. I’m learning so much … it’s completely different (than working at Vanderbilt) in every way that you could possibly imagine,” she said. “But I miss my coworkers. I miss my Vanderbilt family. It’s really hard after you’ve been somewhere for eight years to transition into something completely new.” — Published in print Sept. 16, 2015

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA WALL

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Come for the

tea, stay for the times For three years, Tea Time has brought people together for treats and conversation

BLAKE DOVER / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

By MEREDITH VITALE Life reporter --------------------

Every Tuesday at 10 p.m., seniors Kristin Davis and Katie Zimmerman open the door of Zimmerman’s three-person Morgan suite for Tea Time, no invitation necessary. Each week, students fill the Morgan suite with laughter and chatter, lining up for tea and favorite homemade treats like red velvet Oreo brownies or Nutella chocolate chip cookies.

While Davis and Zimmerman provide the treats, tea bags and hot water, they do ask that people bring their own mug (and a friend) to Tea Time.

When Davis and Zimmerman first invited friends over to their Hank double for an impromptu tea time their freshman year in 2012, they didn’t expect to find a distinct space in Vandy subculture. But Tea Time hasn’t missed a single Tuesday since its incarnation in the 2012 fall semester.

“I had a friend over — this was the first Tuesday of freshman year — and Kristin started making tea,” Zimmerman recalled.

Her friend went to get a mug and grab her roommate, while Zimmerman knocked on the neighbor’s door and texted another friend. And thus, Tea Time was born.

“Everyone brought a few friends, and before we knew it, we had fifteen or twenty girls in the room,” says Zimmerman.

When Tea Time first began in Hank, Zimmerman and Davis saved desserts from Commons in Tupperware containers throughout the week to serve with tea on Tuesdays. Since their sophomore year, Davis and Zimmerman have lived on the ninth floor of Morgan house, where they have a kitchen to bake their tea time treats.

The operation has grown to include Davis and Zimmerman’s other roommates and friends, Taylor Smith, Brianna Gaboriault and Bethel Moges. Kristin and Taylor do the baking each week, while Katie, Brianna and Bethel set up the room and help with clean-up afterwards.

Last year, Tea Time regular and RA Nick Blair suggested that Reslife would love to work with them, and Morgan Tea Time became sponsored by Reslife. Davis sends Reslife a list of the baking ingredients she needs for the week, and one of the RAs purchases the supplies and brings it to her.

The day before classes started this year, the invitation to Tea Time was sent out to all Highland residents by the area coordinator. People with no connection to Davis or Zimmerman showed up that Tuesday, and the two founders could not have

been happier. While many regulars have attended Tea Time for weeks or years, they are always ready to welcome newcomers to their suite.

Although tea time is centered around drinks and snacks, it’s not the ultimate draw for most. J.C. Elmore, now a Tea Time veteran, didn’t even drink tea until he started attending. “When I lived on Highland, I could easily come, and after doing that [for a year] I became attached,” he said. “Even after I lived in Towers, I had to keep coming.”

“I’ve been coming since second semester freshman year, and it’s [been] cool to see it grow through word of mouth,” said senior Mary Nobles Hancock. “Being at Vanderbilt, everything is structured, so it is nice to do something social every week.

Vanderbilt is full of really cool people, and it’s great to meet everyone.”

To represent the hundreds of different people who have left their mark on Tea Time over the past three years, Davis and Zimmerman ask all the newcomers to add a sticker with their initials to their home town on a U.S. map. Their goal is to get all fifty states and every continent represented, and Australia is the only continent without a sticker right now.

“We had one boy who came the first week this year, who hadn’t been since freshman year. He was super excited that his dot was still on the map,” Zimmerman said.

Tea Timers are proud of their contribution to the map, and regular Lauren Heyano joked: “I’m an important member of tea time because I put Alaska on the map.”

The number of people at Tea Time varies from week to week, sometimes as few as ten and sometimes as many as forty. Along with the group of attendees, Tea Time activities vary from week to week, and they often put puzzles together or play games like charades in between sips. Themed Tea Times have included Festivus (complete with an aluminum pole and the airing of grievances), and Thanksgiving, when tea timers made hand turkeys and put them on the wall.

“It’s very rare to see someone pull out their phone or not be engaged,” Zimmerman said.

Now that Zimmerman and Davis are seniors, the future of Tea Time at Vanderbilt is uncertain. “We’re looking for a successor to take it on,” Davis explained. “I hope it continues.”

Tea Time’s continued success is proof that it fulfills students’ simple yet important need for a social, low-stress study break.

“People don’t really get it until they come, and then they get it,” Davis said. “A lot of social interactions at Vandy can be high stress — our lives can be kind of high stress — and Tea Time is an opportunity to totally de-stress. Sip tea, get to know new people. There’s no expectations.” — Published in print Sept. 23, 2015

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Taylor Swift comes home

Pop queen dazzles Bridgestone Arena in sold-out hometown show

by Matt Lieberson, Features editor It’s hard to classify Taylor Swift’s concert at Bridgestone Arena Friday night as just a concert. That wouldn’t do the experience justice. Bridgestone Arena acted as Swift’s personal neon church, and she spent two and a half hours preaching to a sold-out congregation of full-fledged zealots.

Her two openers, Australian singer Vance Joy and sister rockers Haim, both had exciting musical moments, but their most memorable contributions were their grateful endorsements to even having been graced with Taylor Swift’s presence. Vance Joy made clear multiple times how “incredible it has been to follow Taylor around” on her tour. Haim, for their part, was able to pump up the crowd every time they mentioned Swift’s name.

Swift may have abandoned Nashville for New York City, but on this night back in her hometown, she could do no wrong.

Even after opening with an impressively choreographed version of “Welcome to New York,” Swift said that she was “so excited to play this show that I can’t even deal with it.” Nashvillians seemed wholly unconcerned with her move north, as people were thrilled to be in the presence of the country singer-turnedpop star.

Swift’s show was such a full sensory immersion that it was impossible to have a bad time. The crowd was equipped with bright light-up bracelets programmed to pulse along with the music, and at various points paper hearts and confetti fell from the ceiling.

Famous friends like Selena Gomez and Lena Dunham preached the virtues of Taylor during her wardrobe changes.

Actress Cara Delevigne, for example, said in the video that she feels like she’s part of a “superhero team” when she and Swift are together.

Even with so many successful bells and whistles incorporated into her show, Swift would have been fine without them; she could send the crowd into a tizzy with barely a lift of her fingers or shrug of her shoulders. She often took a few seconds

after each song to admire her throngs of supporters, which only resulted in a louder scream from the adoring audience.

That’s not to say the praise was unearned. Swift was an impressively versatile performer, able to shift between her new pop sound from “1989” and her old country roots from her first albums with ease. She looked just as at home with nothing but an acoustic guitar on “You Belong With Me” as she did with a dozen backup dancers and elaborate choreography on her current radio single, “Style.”

A winning slate of guest performers came out to surprise the audience, and almost more importantly, bless the demagogue Swift with more praise. Part of Swift’s allure is the sheer magnetism of her celebrity, which has enabled her to bring out special guests along her tour.

In Nashville, she brought out Kelsea Ballerini, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, and 27-time Grammy winner Alison Krauss. All three could not have seemed more thrilled to latch on to the shooting star that is Swift, and Swift returned the gratitude. The crowd was especially electric for Swift and Tyler’s duet on the Aerosmith classic, “Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.”

The true Gospel of Swift was evident when she slowed down to talk to the crowd. The entire arena went from pandemonium to near-silence to listen to anything Swift wanted to say. Whether she was advocating for being optimistic about love or giving a short sermon on “living in the moment,” there was not a person in sight that didn’t seem to take her advice to heart.

As Swift closed the show with a delirious rendition of “Shake it Off,” part of the stage rose and circled her around the audience. The image was surreal: a sold-out arena looking up at Swift while she spread her message that “haters gonna hate.” At that point, she had converted Bridgestone’s 18,000 people into believers, so there was nothing left to do but delight in Swift’s performance. — Published online Sept. 27, 2015

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Five things I learned as the ‘Free Food Guy’ Our Features editor reflected on his #FreeVU experience as he rejoined the meal plan

By MATT LIEBERSON Features editor --------------------

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Features editor Matt Lieberson spent a week living off of free food by attending events all around campus. Now, he shares the knowledge he gained from the project. Read his daily recaps from last week online at vanderbilthustler.com.

for free food. This surprised me, but I realized as the week went on that the free food was just a hook for people to begin engaging with the event. Once I was in with a plate of food, they had me.

1. THIS IS POSSIBLE...

4. A SUCCESSFUL EVENT HAS A PURPOSE BEYOND FREE GIVEAWAYS.

To answer the most common question I’ve gotten: I survived. Through scouring AnchorLink and bulletin boards, an open lunch schedule, and sheer force of will, I was able to live off of free food for a week. This is most definitely a doable exercise. You’ll have to make some dietary sacrifices, and I’m sure some weeks are easier than others, but living off of free food on campus can be done.

2. ...BUT I WOULDN’T RECOMMEND IT.

While the most obvious drawback was sacrificing breakfast some mornings, nobody told me how exhausting this week would be. Actively participating in each event made the week more of a burden than I anticipated. Coupled with doing actual schoolwork and living a balanced college life, being involved in so many events every day is difficult. The biggest issue was trying to stay focused and engaged everywhere I went. As the week went by, this became more difficult. So while it is definitely an option for a meal or two if you want some rollover meal money for Chili’s margaritas, I wouldn’t advise anyone else take up my challenge.

3. PEOPLE WANT YOU AT THEIR EVENTS, ALMOST REGARDLESS OF WHY.

I expected as the week went on that people would recognize me as “free food guy” and frown on my presence. The opposite was the case. People were excited to have me at their events, even though I was there explicitly

My most meaningful engagement came when I was engrossed in a discussion or event. The events where I learned about a different culture or a new viewpoint were the ones that I found most valuable. My least meaningful engagement, on the other hand, came when I was only waiting in line for a meal or a shirt. If an event wants to be successful, it should have some sort of overarching goal.

The Block Party, for example, was 95 percent lines. While I understand that some events are simply meant to be fun, there has to be a better way to engage students with each other at an event like the Block Party. When the only interaction people have with an event is waiting in a line, then there is a problem.

5. EVERYBODY SHOULD GO TO AT LEAST ONE EVENT A SEMESTER THAT MAKES THEM UNCOMFORTABLE.

A lot of the events I went to involved hard, uncomfortable conversations, and I got the most out of these events. College is about being challenged, and many of the discussions I had challenged me in ways a classroom setting can’t. My dinner discussion about body hair with the Women’s Center made me consider implicit societal expectations of women, something I had never thought about before. My Invisible Identities dinner in Kissam put the issues of minorities at Vanderbilt in a new light.

— Published in print Oct. 20, 2015

BY THE NUMBERS

52 New Twitter followers 2 Chick-Fil-A meals eaten 3 New T-shirts 12

People recognized me as “Free Food Guy”

5.3

Rollover meal money in Chili’s margaritas

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Where to go, who to see, what you’ll spend, where you’ll sit: The Hustler has your road map to eight of the best music venues in Music City by Jack Sentell, Assistant life editor RYMAN AUDITORIUM

Typical genres: Country, rock, singersongwriter Style of show: Assigned seating Typical ticket price: $30 – $65 (varies by section) Capacity: 2,362 What to know: As a converted church and the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman has garnered the nickname the “Mother Church of Country Music.” Fans even sit (or stand, depending on the show) in church pews while watching the show.

The venue is renowned for having some of the clearest acoustics in the nation. Period.

BRIDGESTONE ARENA

Typical genres: Pop, arena rock Style of show: Assigned seating and dance floor Typical ticket price: $35 – $80 (varies by section) Capacity: 20,000 What to know: Bridgestone is the only arena in town, so most of the major touring acts will end up on its stage.

But while the stage is visible from all seats, the Jumbotron is often turned off for concerts. So when you’re picking where to sit, keep in mind that what you see is what you get for the nosebleeds.

EXIT/IN

Typical genre: Rock, hip-hop, EDM Style of show: GA dance floor Typical ticket price: $10 – $20 Capacity: 500 What to know: One of Nashville’s most famous venues, the club has an impressive list of alumni that includes Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kings of Leon, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Johnny Cash. While most of the venue is a dance floor, fans will take to the balcony and line its stairs

in order to get a better view of the show. While many nationally touring acts take the stage, the venue is also considered a major stepping stone for plenty of area bands as well.

BLUEBIRD CAFE

Typical genres: Singer-songwriter Style of show: Reserved seating and GA seating Typical ticket price: $15 – $25 Capacity: 90 What to Know: Reservations are competitive for the Bluebird, especially after the venue gained national recognition from the TV show “Nashville.”

Tickets for the week’s shows typically go on sale Mondays at 8 a.m. If you don’t have a reservation, every show also has a standby line. Just be ready to wait for over an hour if you want to be sure that you’ll get in.

THE 5 SPOT

Typical genres: Local, rock, country Style of show: Bar (note: 21+) Typical ticket price: $5 cover, $2 on Tuesdays Capacity: 180 What to know: The 5 Spot is known as one of the premier venues for local music, especially throwback-sounding rock and Americana. Regulars of the bar venue swear by the energetic crowds and constant dancing. The venue itself — a staple of East Nashville — is so committed to local music that a touring artist must share the bill with at least two Nashville artists in order to perform.

STATION INN

Typical genres: Bluegrass, roots music Style of show: First-come, first-serve seating (note: 21+) Typical ticket price: $12 cover Capacity: 175 What To Know: As the Gulch continues

to gentrify, the Station Inn may seem a bit out of place in the yuppy neighborhood. But rather than seeming like a “sore thumb,” the Station Inn is better characterized as a bluegrass hub reminiscent of classic Nashville and the sound that the city was built on. There are no reservations or tickets sold in advance, so if it’s a show you really want to see, get there early.

THE END

Typical genres: Alternative, punk, indie Style of show: GA dance floor Typical ticket price: $5 – $12 Capacity: 175 What to know: With bars on its doors, a black walled–interior and a fully graffitied smoking patio, The End is a true rock club. Perhaps that’s how it earned the nickname “Nashville’s premier indie-rock venue.” Shows are always cheap, and there’s often a number of bands on the bill, so The End is an inexpensive way to dive into Nashville’s alternative and garage rock scene.

THE BASEMENT

Typical genre: Indie, alternative Style of show: GA dance floor (note: 21+) Typical ticket price: $5 – $10 Capacity: 100 What to know: The Basement sits below the famous Grimey’s New & Preloved Music store. The Basement’s sister venue, The Basement East, is located in East Nashville and provides a similar environment to its western counterpart. Both provide support for local artists and continue to be home for regional bands even after they break onto the national scene.

Cage the Elephant played two surprise shows at The Basement East in 2015.

— Published in print Feb. 3, 2016. Read more at vanderbilthustler.com

Just how big is BRIDGESTONE? The only arena in town, Bridgestone can seat 20,000 people — more than the city’s other well-known venues combined. In fact, you could fit all the other venues in Bridgestone and still have approximately 8,000 seats left open.

ASCEND AMPITHEATER 6,800 SEATS RYMAN AUDITORIUM 2,362 SEATS MARATHON MUSIC WORKS 1,500 SEATS ALL OTHER PROFILED VENUES 720 SEATS EXIT/IN 500 SEATS

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opinion

Reviewing my year as editor

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The importance of telling stories and giving students a voice

ALLIE GROSS is a junior in the College of Arts and Science and the Editor-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Hustler. She can be reached at alexandra.m.gross@ vanderbilt.edu.

I don’t know how many people will pick up the newspaper this week. There isn’t really any “news” in it at all. The annual “Year in Review” tradition at the Vanderbilt Hustler seems like an exercise for ourselves, as the Hustler staff, more so than for our audience — a chance to reflect on our work this year. So after my year as Editor-in-Chief, I did some reflecting for myself.

My year in review is a jumble of Tuesday nights, spending about 12 hours straight in the basement of Sarratt with the rest of the Hustler staff to produce the weekly paper. When I get home at 2 a.m. after we inevitably send the paper to the printer after our midnight deadline, I can’t even sleep as I go over each page in my head.

But my year in review is also hanging out, talking and laughing in the newsroom spent with my best friends. These people on the masthead are more than my friends — they’re my family and my team.

We support each other and push each other’s work.

We’re fiercely loyal to each other, and to our mission: fostering conversations that we feel are important, and giving Vanderbilt students a voice.

The Vanderbilt Hustler’s masthead for many years read “The voice of Vanderbilt since 1888.” Yes, our Hustler predates our raunchy magazine counterpart. Media environments change, but having dug through decades of Hustler articles in research for my stories, I’ve found that the passion for serving as that voice has not.

I’m passionate about journalism because of what I see as my two purposes: collecting stories, and seeking truth about complex issues that don’t necessarily have a clear truth. I love going out and talking to people about who they are and what they care about.

This process is meaningful for me, because I learn from these people; it’s meaningful for the source, because I’m giving them an opportunity to share their story; and it’s meaningful for you, the audience — I

vanderbilthustler EDITORIAL BOARD ALLIE GROSS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@vanderbilthustler.com

ZOE SHANCER

KARA SHERRER

NEWS EDITOR news@vanderbilthustler.com

LIFE EDITOR life@vanderbilthustler.com

QUEEN STEVENSON

BEN WEINRIB

OPINION EDITOR opinion@vanderbilthustler. com

SPORTS EDITOR sports@vanderbilthustler.com

get to be the conduit through which you meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet, learn about problems you otherwise wouldn’t read about.

The most meaningful project I personally embarked on this year was also my first, a profile of Patrick Dugan, a student who tragically and unexpectedly died over the summer. I spoke with his father, his sister, his fraternity brothers, his childhood teachers, his professors. It was a difficult experience for me as the writer, as I became emotionally connected to a person I had never met before. I felt I owed it to him and his loved ones to do him justice and capture who he was, and I felt privileged to be in the position of sharing with others what a special person he was, too.

For my series on the history of Lambda, I was honored to illuminate the previously untold stories of individuals who inspired me. The people I spoke with were excited that someone was interested in hearing and sharing their stories. My reporting for this story had me Skyping at strange hours with alumni from Albania and Hawaii. I went to a farm in the middle of nowhere in Hickman County, Tenn. to talk to a former dean. I spent hours poring over old documents and Hustler archives in the library’s Special Collections departments. The project has illuminated a story many people on campus weren’t previously aware of, reunited alumni communities and echoed into student activism and advocacy efforts in the present by highlighting the impact of these courageous individuals. This project was everything I love about what we do at the Hustler: delving deeply into issues on campus and including different perspectives in order to get people talking and make an impact on our community.

This “Year in Review” issue represents the countless hours and immeasurable heart that the editors, photographers, reporters and designers have poured into the Vanderbilt Hustler. I’ve watched this staff

The Vanderbilt Hustler Opinion page aims to stimulate discussion in the Vanderbilt community. In that spirit, columnists, guest columnists and authors of letters to the editor are expected to provide logical argument to back their views. Unreasonable arguments, arguments in bad faith or arguments in vain between columnists have no place in The Hustler and will not be published. The Hustler welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three methods of expression: letters to the editor, guest columns and feedback on vanderbilthustler.com.

The views expressed in lead editorials reflect the majority of opinion among The Hustler’s editorial board and may be supposed to represent the opinion of The Vanderbilt Hustler at the time of publication. They are not necessarily representative of any individual member.

Letters must be submitted either in person by the author to The Hustler office or via email to opinion@vanderbilthustler.com. Letters via email should come from a Vanderbilt email address where the identity of the sender is clear. With rare exception, all letters must be received by 2 p.m. on the Sunday prior to publication. The editor

I’m passionate about journalism because of what I see as my two purposes: collecting stories, and seeking truth about complex issues that don’t necessarily have a clear truth.

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wrestle with the most controversial, complex issues, bending over backward to make sure we get the truth and make sure we’re fair to all perspectives. I’m proud that we’ve given voice to survivors of sexual assault in a special issue, we’ve held VSG and Vanderbilt administrations accountable, we’ve explored the complex issues surrounding diversity on campus.

We’re not perfect. But this newspaper has meant everything to me and the staff this year — the people I work with, the people we give voices to, and the people who read and learn about another perspective or another person outside themselves. My year as editor is up, but as long as there are stories to be told and a truth to be found, I’m confident the remarkable people that make up the Vanderbilt Hustler will continue to work as hard as possible to tell those stories and find those truths.

reserves the right to edit and condense submissions for length as well as clarity.

Lengthy letters that focus on an issue affecting students may be considered for a guest column at the editor’s discretion.

All submissions become the property of The Hustler and must conform to the legal standards of Vanderbilt Student Communications, of which The Hustler is a division.

The Vanderbilt Hustler (ISSN 0042-2517), the official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University, is published every Wednesday during the academic year except during exam periods and vacations.

The paper is not printed during summer break.

The Vanderbilt Hustler allocates one issue of the newspaper to each student and is available at various points on campus for free.

Additional copies are $.50 each.

The Vanderbilt Hustler is a division of Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Vanderbilt Student Communications.

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Fulfill a real ‘Perspectives’ requirement The classroom isn’t just four walls

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MATT LIEBERSON is a senior in the College of Arts and Science and the Features Editor for the Vanderbilt Hustler. He can be reached at matthew.a. lieberson@vanderbilt.edu.

hile serving as the Features Editor for the Hustler this past year, my job was simple, yet incredibly broad: tell stories. This job allowed me to interact and engage with a wide variety of interesting places and perspectives. Many of those came during my weeklong stint as “Free Food Guy,” but throughout this year I have learned the stories of international students, married students on campus, beloved friend and servant to our country Taylor Force, and more. While the actual process of writing each of my stories was certainly important, the value wasn’t solely from seeing my words on newsstands and online every once in awhile.

In telling these stories, I have spoken with and interviewed dozens of people on campus throughout the year, and I have learned more from these interactions than I have in most of my classes. Studying economic theories, doing math problems and reading textbooks is valuable to a certain point, but learning about the stories of my fellow students and my professors is far more enriching. Nowhere in a textbook can I learn about how sophomore Mianmian Fei from China got over the language barrier when coming to Vanderbilt, or how Taylor Force used to make his friends laugh, or how Professor Michael Bess trusts his students to follow the Honor Code.

Furthermore, I don’t have to buy my peers from the bookstore for $150. They come included with tuition.

This moves beyond my writing as well. Just going to events and talking to other students more has been incredibly valuable for me this year. For example, I had never been to Harambee until this February. From this event, I learned so much about the experiences of the African students on this campus, including their heritage and unique perspectives. I could read about this kind of thing, sure. But seeing my peers live it and represent it on a stage was so much more powerful. Learning from my fellow students, and interacting with the environment I live in, made my senior year a much more dynamic year than any of my previous three at Vanderbilt.

So my challenge to my fellow Commodores is this — go learn something from the people and perspectives around you. Go to an event from an organization you’ve never been to before, even and especially one whose goals and ideals you disagree with. Find people you don’t know and learn their stories. I’m not saying everybody has to like each other, or that everybody has to agree on everything. But respecting the individual experiences of those around us, and having a curiosity to learn from them, will make everyone more understanding and in tune with their surroundings. Learning is by no means confined to the classroom. In fact, the most valuable learning I have done at Vanderbilt has been from my friends, my peers and my professors outside of class hours.

So many people on this campus have stories to tell, and I consider myself fortunate that I was able to learn and tell a fraction of them. But I don’t think I realized soon enough how important it was to critically engage with everyone on this campus. I also find that a lot of people on campus are happy to stay within their own personal bubble, living their lives with limited interactions with the vast array of events, perspectives and people available to Vanderbilt students. Everybody got into Vanderbilt for a reason, and everyone has a story to tell. Moreover, it’s a true privilege that we are even able to be around so many people who will share their lives and diverse perspectives so freely. To refuse to engage with the multitude of different perspectives around you in some way would be a complete disservice to yourself and your time here.

I think Ilie Ashraff, a sophomore here from Malaysia, put it best to me when I spoke to her for my feature on international students: “You have a bowl, and you have eggs, baking powder, sugar, flour and other baking stuff,” she said, “but if you don’t make an effort to stir it, you’re not gonna have a cake.”

Vanderbilt, stir the cake batter. Interact with the dynamic student body around you, and seek out new perspectives from people who have lived them. You’ll learn something.

Your coursework isn’t the best measure of your potential

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Follow your passion and it will give you more than your grades Pick courses W that will benefit your learning, not your grades.

BOSLEY JARRETT

is a senior in the Peabody College of Education and Human Development and the Design Director of the Vanderbilt Hustler. He can be reached at edwin.b.jarrett@ vanderbilt.edu.

hen you look back in 20 years at the experience of being a student at Vanderbilt, what do you think you will remember? Is it that class that you took freshman year? So much of our preoccupation while we are students is with our grades and coursework that we tend to lose sight of why it is that makes Vanderbilt what it is – everything that happens outside the classroom.

For many of us coming in as freshmen, we had never experienced adversity in our academic careers.

I remember as a first-year how many of my classmates got Bs on an assignment for the first time and thinking about how truly incredible that was. Many treated it as if it was an F. According to admissions, 91.3 percent of the class of 2019 were in the top 10 percent of their respective classes in high school.

In a school filled with big fish, much like the rest of the world, realizing that you are not the best or even close to it is extremely important to personal growth.

It gives you something to work towards and get better at.

Pick courses that will benefit your learning, not your grades. Fear of “failure” is the greatest impediment to success. For example, this semester I took public speaking, not because it was easy but because it is an extremely valuable skill that I will undoubtedly use on a daily basis after graduation. If you are interested in a subject but are worried about your GPA, take the course pass/fail and, as long as you can manage a 60 percent, it will not count towards your GPA. Either way, that GPA is not as important as you might think. Thinking that you will not be

able to land a job after graduation if your GPA is not “good” is actually a dated concept. Some of the most “prestigious” or “desirable” companies to work at have found that an employee’s GPA lacks weight when it comes to predicting workplace effectiveness.

Other top companies utilize the GPA as an easy way to screen through thousands of applications and lose out on talented individuals as a result. This begs the question, are they hiring you for your talents and experience or because a number tells them to?

The problem with the GPA is that it does not account for any kind of experience outside of what happens inside the classroom and, most importantly, what a company desires the most. It does not account for the nearly 40 hours a week you spend pouring your soul into that student organization that you are so passionate about. For me, this was the Hustler.

It does not account for the soul-searching that you did freshman year when you figured out that you were truly terrible at chemistry and that a pre-med track wasn’t for you. Handling failure and the ability to bounce back is a more valuable experience than being perfect academically.

Vanderbilt is a school filled with truly incredible and talented individuals that can teach you so much more than a MWF lecture could ever hope to.

Because of my time at the Hustler, I was given the best excuse in the world to take part in every kind of experience on this campus — work. In addition to covering nearly every event on this campus at least once, the Hustler gave me the opportunity to lead a staff, deal with adversity and learn more about an in-

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dustry whose skills are widely applicable in the workplace. Still, don’t join an organization just because of the skills that it will give you. Join an org because it is something that you love or could love. I fell in love with photography in high school and the Hustler just so happened to be the place where I could do that on campus. From there, I began learning how to design our weekly print edition, leading me to my position now as Design Director and ultimately my first job after graduation at a marketing consulting company where my design experience and creativity are highly valued.

There’s a common thread that I have seen among the people that we deem “successful” on this campus. No, it’s not that they are the smartest person in every room that they walk into, nor is it because they have perfect grades. It is because they put every fiber of their being into what they do outside of the classroom. Find that passion and it will not matter where in the alphabet your grades fall.

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Don’t believe financial privilege is the norm There is more than one economic narrative at Vandy

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KARA SHERRER iis a senior in the College of Arts and Science and the Life Editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler.

She can be reached at kara.n.sherrer@ vanderbilt.edu.

hy did you choose Vanderbilt?

Throughout my four years here, I’ve been asked this question a variety of times by a variety of people — friends, my parents’ friends, parents of friends, prospective students, parents of prospective students, prospective employers. Usually, I say that Vanderbilt was the best combination of a number of factors, including academic rigor, available majors, geographic location, student body size, average yearly temperature and more.

Strictly speaking, these factors are all true, and they’re what led me to apply to Vanderbilt in the first place. But the real reason I ended up at Vanderbilt comes down to a single factor, one that people generally don’t like to talk about: money.

Prior to being accepted off the waitlist at Vanderbilt, I had paid my enrollment deposit at a small liberal arts college in Ohio. I liked that college much less than some of the other schools I had been outright accepted to, but this small college had given me a full-tuition scholarship and the other ones hadn’t.

I wanted to be able to tell my admissions counselor at Vanderbilt that I would absolutely come if I was accepted off the waitlist, but I couldn’t due to my family’s financial situation at the time. All I could truthfully say was that Vanderbilt was still my firstchoice university, and wait to see what the financial aid and scholarship package was.

Clearly, I was accepted, and I received a financial package that will allow me to graduate from one of the top universities in the country with no debt. I am unbelievably grateful for that huge advantage, and for all the students who were able to pay full tuition, as well as the alumni who donate to the university.

Without their contributions, I couldn’t have enrolled here, period.

Before coming here, I had always considered myself to be of average financial privilege. Sure, my family had their share of financial knocks, but we never came close to dire circumstances. Not once did I have to consider the possibility of worrying where my next meal was coming from or if I would have somewhere to sleep at night. Going to some kind of college was never a question — I knew for certain that my family had the resources for me to pursue a post-secondary education at a good university; it was just a matter of where. Within the context of the United States, and especially the world, I have lived an incredibly fortunate life.

Then I matriculated here, and multiple times experienced the surprise of becoming the poorest person in the room. In the scheme of the world economy, I lead a relatively privileged and financially stable life that many cannot even dream of. Yet in the scheme of the Vanderbilt economy, I feel discontented and even embarrassed because I can’t afford a post-grad vacation in Europe and my parents don’t own a yacht. Attending Vanderbilt can make you feel like these situations of extreme financial privilege are the norm, and that you should feel marginalized or unsatisfied if this is not your situation — which is ridiculous.

I’m not trying to speak to whether or not that financial privilege is deserved. Rather, what I am trying to point out is that we often only hear one economic narrative at this university — that of great privilege — because the alternative is uncomfortable to discuss. At Vanderbilt, it’s much easier to act like you have money than to admit that you don’t, and many of our conversations take place with the tacit (but incorrect) assumption that we’re all relatively wealthy.

Unfortunately, this absence of discussion creates the false impression that these situations of great financial privilege are normal, but they’re not: More than half of the undergraduates at Vanderbilt are on some type of financial aid. It has been an honor to attend this university, and I will be proud to have its name next to mine on my diploma. However, I do think that as a community we need to stop creating — on purpose or inadvertently — this culture of financial privilege. The Vanderbubble is just that, a bubble, and when it comes to finances most of the university is greatly removed from the world beyond our beautiful brick buildings.

Am I less affluent within the context of Vanderbilt students? Probably. But am I poor within the context of the nation or the world? No, of course not. I have enough financial freedom that I could get a good job in my desired field (not to mention in a different city) and find an apartment to share with one of my best friends. I won’t be able to live extravagantly, but I will be able to have a comfortable life on my own, and that in itself is a very rich thing.

I’m certainly not seeking to criticize other students or their families for their financial stability. As I’ve already acknowledged, I realize that the full-tuition students are one of the major factors that allow the 60 percent of us on some form of financial aid to attend Vanderbilt. Indeed, if I have my own kids one day, I hope that I am in a financial position to provide them with an upbringing that is as free from monetary concern as that of many of my peers here.

But I also want my kids to know that freedom from financial concern is a great privilege, and not something that should be taken for granted — and that’s something that the Vanderbilt community would also do well to remember.

Rhetoric versus reality in diversity initiatives AKANINYENE RUFFIN is a junior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at akaninyene.d.ruffin @vanderbilt.edu.

—Published online Nov. 2, 2015

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have been the President of the Multicultural Leadership Council since the spring of 2015.

Prior to that I served and continue to serve as the Lead-Facilitator for the Hidden Dores Movement.

Because of these positions and my studies in the African American and Diaspora Studies Department, I spend more time thinking about racism, marginalization and oppression than is probably normal.

It’s what I discuss in class, meetings and with my peers. It’s what I read about, study about and watch Buzzfeed videos about in my free time. These topics are a large part of who I am. So, one would think that with the new attention diverted to these efforts I’d be extraordinarily pleased by the consideration placed on diversity and inclusion at this institution.

However, that’s actually not the case. With everyone throwing around the words diversity and inclusion it becomes more and more apparent that very few of us understand what that truly means. Even as the chancellor declares that diversity and inclusion is the “most important thing,” the Dean of Students Office closed the Office of Intercultural Affairs which for years had advised the MLC and some of its member organizations by providing guidance and

support dedicated specifically to issues of racial and ethnic exclusion. While the office was replaced by a wide-ranging office for Inclusion Initiatives and Cultural Competency (IICC) that oversees the Office of International Student Scholar Services, the Women’s Center, the Office of Religious Life and the K.C. Potter Center, there is no specific office to specifically deal with issues of broad racial exclusion. Closing your only center dealing with issues of intercultural racial exclusion is not progress. Let me be clear, I have had a spectacular relationship with the IICC; nevertheless, I cannot ignore the fact that this move is an institutional regression in the efforts to provide higher levels of inclusivity and awareness.

Such a move might suggest that maybe the university in reality isn’t as dedicated to the idea of inclusion as its rhetoric may imply. The rhetoric says that diversity is important. The reality is we have no diversity mission statement, and efforts to attain one have been thwarted and stalled by administration. The reality is that according to the university’s organizational chart, out of the 23 people who make up the top tier of administration, only two of them are people of color. The reality is our Dean of Inclusion Initiatives and Cultural Competency was not included in the chancellor’s decision to create a com-

mittee dedicated to diversity and inclusion.

The rhetoric flaunts that minority enrollment has increased from 21 to 33.5 percent over 10 years; however, the percentage that Black students hold in those numbers has remained exactly the same — 8.4 percent, and the percentage that Native American students hold (0.4 percent) has only increased by one-tenth of a percent. The reality is the number of tenured-track minority faculty has decreased by 0.2 percentage points over the past 10 years. The rhetoric says that we cannot return the money invested by the Daughters of the Confederacy to build Confederate Memorial House, yet in reality we’ll be happy to have a fraternity on campus whose spiritual founder is Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The rhetoric aligns our university’s core values with the ideologies of advocate for worker’s rights and Civil Rights Leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, the reality is that many of our hospitality staff are not even paid a living wage. The rhetoric states that the institution seeks to ensure a welcoming and inclusive campus for all, yet administration watched as Muslim students and their allies were maligned and bullied by Professor Carol Swain. The rhetoric would suggest that Vanderbilt seeks to nurture its LGBTQIA+ community, yet efforts to attain gender-inclusive housing

THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER u WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM have not been thoroughly addressed even after jointresolutions approved by the MLC and VSG. The reality is that our current VSG leaders never took the adequate time to critically engage with minority student groups before exploiting their platforms. The reality is that even while most organizations centered around creating safe spaces for historically marginalized groups are working to make strides on this campus, we are grossly underfunded.

As president of the Multicultural Leadership Council, I receive less money than some of my member organizations; yet the organization is simultaneously expected to govern and shepherd organizations at all stages of development, and then cosponsor events that have nothing to do with inclusion or bettering the lives of marginalized groups in order to engage with the mainstream Vanderbilt populace.

The rhetoric portrays administration as suddenly desiring to engage with this topic of marginalization while in reality they are not publicly recognizing the years of work that students have put in to bring

this to their attention. And while administrators have worked to suggest that diversity is close to their heart, I posit that their heart and grand intentions do not assuage the feelings and reality of marginalization in this place. Alas, even the road to hell has always been paved with the most miraculous of intentions.

So when a student says that the institution is set up to marginalize the collective voices of certain students, the facts tilt in their direction. The Vanderbilt space mirrors the larger American context which has a history — long and true — of marginalizing the voice of the underprivileged and the experiences of the disenfranchised. This doesn’t detract from some of the amazing facets of this space. Nevertheless, it does call us to real action. It causes us to be concerned about the task in front of us. We as students, especially those of us who identify as activists, must continually speak truth to power. Even when no one hears us, when folks try to discount our truth, we must continue to work to make Vanderbilt a commu-

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nity where all of us have the ability to reach beyond our largest imaginations. In this space we must dare to look beyond the rhetoric into our sometimes hidden realities. Even if the truth is not pretty we must engage with the full stretch of experiences here, recognizing that the experiences students have here are colored by the complex reality of intersectional identities. The truth may be harsh, uncomfortable and unappealing, but it will be our truth.

As everyone begins to critically engage with questions of inclusion and diversity, I beg you to critically engage with the truth that has been displayed in this space. Let us expand our knowledge about the outside legacy of sociological issues that impact the realities on this campus. Let us not scold students we disagree with for attacking injustice. Let us instead work within ourselves to recognize that this a space where many feel excluded. Let us work within ourselves to evaluate how we as individuals and collectively through various systems work to contribute to or lessen the marginalization.

My opinion on Opinion: a letter from the editor ­­­—Published online Aug. 31, 2015

I QUEEN STEVENSON

is a junior in the College of Arts and Science and the Opinion Editor of the Vanderbilt Hustler. She can be reached at queen.o.stevenson @vanderbilt.edu.

became Opinion Editor because I am constantly fascinated by what both enrages and engages students on campus. To be frank, it’s incredible that I can be led on by a guy, become indignant and angry, and use those emotions to produce content that not only references my singular experience but also highlights the larger issues of a broken dating culture and charges students to do more. The piece, titled “Clear intentions,” was the second piece I ever wrote for the Hustler, and it only took me less than an hour to write because I had so much to say.

Time after time I have seen issues tackled — living wages, privilege, free speech versus safe spaces, achievement and stress, “Fifty Shades of Grey” — through scheduled columnists, invested and prepared to share their thoughts. But what impresses me further is the impassioned submissions of letters and responses — that students can be so taken by an opinion that they will stop what they’re doing and generate content then and there. This is a beautiful thing, and it is an honor to be the one who reviews and refines their rawness of heart.

For the Opinion section, the biggest strength and weakness are the same — as some have noted, many students on campus have a “love-hate relationship” with this section. Opinion asks for the messy, the controversial, the not-easily-quantifiable: students’ honest thoughts on issues. The nature of this section requires a particular level of passion, and because of this, Opinion is highly criticized.

I don’t know how many people — acquaintances and close friends alike — who have expressed their hatred of the Hustler to me and their claims are mostly founded in what Opinion chooses to publish.

I give them the simple argument: the Hustler is the outlet for Vanderbilt’s student voice, the Opinion section even more so. “We” publish what “you” write.

Therefore, if you dislike the content that is currently being published, you write and change the conversation. Take ownership of your paper. It isn’t Opinion’s job, or the “Hustler’s” job for that matter, to censor specific outcries because they don’t align with the thought structures of certain groups on campus.

But at the same time, it is productive that Opinion elicits so much engagement — it means that students are at least wrestling with the material and hopefully, with their own thoughts. Sure, we get honorable mentions on Yik Yak, but anger is better than apathy because, again, of the presence of passion.

Thus, Opinion has to balance being constantly disliked with being constantly engaged. Coming in as editor, I knew I had to have a thick skin, because the biggest weakness would be an editor who pandered to the student body.

The goal of this section is not to make students comfortable. Instead, my top three goals for Opinion are recruiting diverse, nuanced writers; maintaining first-responder status during controversial times; and ushering in and cementing an honest and broken brand of opinion sharing.

For so long, Joshua Everett was Opinion’s preeminent writer of color. His thoughts have caused stir and unrest in both the administration and our student body. His views were perceived as radical, but I know for certain that other students agreed with him and also fashioned their own outlooks on the racial climate at Vanderbilt.

He has graduated, and thus an era of intelligent and inflammatory writing has ended — but I don’t want the diversity of our column to leave with him.

I’ve appealed to the Multicultural Leadership Council for new writers with diverse backgrounds and thoughts. I plan to speak to first-years, and humanities courses (and why not STEM classes, too? Writers hide everywhere, even in the nooks and crannies of Stevenson and Featheringill and Olin).

Furthermore, students flock to submit their voices to Opinion during times of controversy. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the constant inundation of material we had during the Carol Swain incident. Again, it was beautiful, and I loved seeing nuance in arguments over the same issue.

Finally, I want to make Opinion full of honest and broken people. We’re all broken in some way, and I think there’s an increasing desire to see if others are broken in the same ways that we are. The editorials published that were honest about failures, flaws and frustration catapulted Opinion to a level of bridging

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Truths from the Hustler’s most hated section

Opinion asks for the messy, the controversial, the not-easilyquantifiable: students’ honest thoughts on issues.

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community among students. Vanderbilt can feel fragmented in its groups and cliques, but everyone here knows something about death, about depression, about denial.

Opinion enriches and improves community by bringing these personal issues to the forefront, stripping them of stigma and giving people permission to be free. People have already started to be heartbreakingly honest — I can help encourage this by writing honest things myself, and again inspiring trust in my writers. I hope you — yes, you — will join me.

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sports

THE GIANT STAT

Number of strikeouts in sophomore Jordan Sheffield’s first career shutout, earning him National Pitcher of the Week honors

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BEST OF THE BEST Evaluating and celebrating the most exciting moments and standout athletes from the past year

ZIYI LIU / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

GAME OF THE YEAR

Men’s Basketball

vs. Kentucky

Re-live Vanderbilt’s incredible upset over the Wildcats

By Cutler Klein, Sports reporter

Across Vanderbilt sports, there’s no game on the schedule with more hype year after year than the men’s basketball game against Kentucky at Memorial Gym. Going into this year’s meeting, Vanderbilt had not beaten Kentucky at home since 2011.

That all changed this February.

On February 27, Vanderbilt took down No. 16 Kentucky 74-62 in what was the most memorable game of the year for everyone in Commodore Nation. After a rough couple months for the Commodores, they had the chance to solidify their tournament resume and get another signature win at home over an SEC rival.

Early on, Vanderbilt hung tight with the high-octane Kentucky offense but found themselves down by three points at halftime. That’s when Vanderbilt’s starters really started coming alive. Guard Matthew Fisher-Davis tied a career high with 20 points, and center Damian Jones chipped in 15 points.

The storyline for the Commodores in the second half was their defense. Kentucky shot only 26.9 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, making just 7 shots. That allowed the Vanderbilt offense to come to life, pulling away in the final few

minutes.

Despite a large presence of Kentucky blue in Memorial Gym, the Vanderbilt crowd was into the game and loud from start to finish. The student section was filled full and rowdy. After the final buzzer sounded, the students stormed the court for the first time since Vanderbilt took down No. 1 Florida in 2007.

There are countless reasons why this game easily deserves the honor of Game of the Year. First, it was the most memorable Vanderbilt basketball game in a few years. It also all but guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Tournament after the Commodores had taken down Florida on the road earlier in the week.

But, most importantly, it re-energized a student body and fanbase that had been frustrated and a little upset. The Commodores went into this season with big expectations but had failed to meet them. This upset win restored confidence in this team and made students excited about Commodore basketball once again. Given the fines that were levied after the court-storming, that was also probably the last chance any of those students had to storm the court in college.

It was worth every penny.

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MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

ZIYI LIU / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Zach Cunningham

By Robbie Weinstein, Asst. sports editor The beginning of the Derek Mason era for football brought little hope for change. Quarterback Johnny McCrary developed a bad habit of throwing more interceptions than touchdowns, bringing pain in nearly every game to the Commodore fans.

But then a bright light shone on the quarterback position when Kyle Shurmur surprised many by surrendering his redshirt status. His first game resulted in an SEC victory against the Missouri Tigers, the first for both him and Mason. Shurmur would go on to lead the team to their second SEC win against Kentucky.

Even a loss against Tennessee in the season finale earned some encouraging words from Mason: “We have some young talent, we saw the emergence of a young quarterback in [Kyle] Shurmur.

Shurmur is going to continue to lead this program exactly where we need to go.”

After starting five of the next six games until the season’s end, save for a game he missed due to injury, Shurmur finished with a 42.7 percent completion percentage, five touchdowns and three interceptions.

While his stats are not explosive, Shurmur had led his team to two SEC victories and played well against rival Tennessee. With another year of training and development, Shurmur looks to lead the Vanderbilt Commodores to a more promising season.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

Expected by many to serve as a backup to fellow inside linebackers Nigel Bowden and Darreon Herring, Vanderbilt redshirt sophomore Zach Cunningham garnered little recognition across SEC country heading into the 2015 season.

That all changed after a dominating campaign in which Cunningham led the Commodore defense toward the top of the SEC in numerous major statistical categories. Cunningham’s instinctive and aggressive play helped Vanderbilt finish second in the SEC in third down defense by conversion percent.

Similarly, the Pinson, Ala., native’s four forced fumbles and three recoveries helped the Commodores finish first in fumbles recovered per game and second in fumbles forced per game. As the best player on one of the conference’s best defenses, Cunningham’s improvement correlated strongly with the defense’s improvement from 2014 as a whole.

The only ‘Dore to receive First Team All-SEC honors in 2015, Cunningham stepped in as a starter early in the season due to a Bowden injury and delivered the best game of his career in a road win at Middle Tennessee State with 15 tackles, two pass breakups and a forced fumble on the Vanderbilt goal line.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound team captain never looked back in racking up nine or more tackles in eight of his nine starts. Cunningham’s 103 total tackles and 16.5 tackles for loss ranked eighth and sixth in the SEC respectively, while his 69 solo tackles were the most for any Commodore since Moses Osemwegie in 2003.

Cunningham was honored as a Third Team All-American by college football analyst Phil Steele and asserted himself as arguably one of the best linebackers in the country. It’s hard to say where Vanderbilt would have been without his contributions, as Cunningham ascended to stardom at the precise time when the Commodores needed him most.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Kyle Shurmur

By Evan Mercer, Sports reporter

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

BRENDAN MALONEY / VU COMMODORES

Astra Sharma

By Steve Sherk, Sports reporter Darren Ambrose arrived at Vanderbilt in February 2015 with a winning pedigree and visions of turning around a stumbling Commodore soccer program. Ambrose’s first season exhibited plenty of steps towards that goal, as the team made the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2010 and notched its first postseason win since 2005.

The Commodores finished with a record of 9-8-4 (4-4-3 SEC), the team’s first season with more wins than losses since 2009.

That mark earned the ‘Dores the No. 8 seed in the 10-team SEC Tournament.

Vanderbilt defeated No. 9 seed Georgia, 2-1, in the tournament opener for the program’s first postseason win in a decade. They nearly followed that up with an upset of top-seeded Florida two days later, losing 2-1 in the season’s final game, a tough ending to a major year of growth for Ambrose, his staff and his players.

Ambrose immediately started preaching a defense-first mentality, the implementation of which was greatly responsible for the team’s success. Vandy ranked fifth in the SEC in goals against average, surrendering just 23 goals all season and improving its goal differential by eight goals from 2014 to 2015.

The team’s strongest defensive stretch lasted nearly three full weeks, as the Commodores went 401 minutes without allowing a goal in a shutout streak spanning parts of five games. That five-game unbeaten stretch was the team’s longest in six years, as the team picked up nine points in the standings. That run was punctuated by an overtime win over No. 8 South Carolina on the road, the highest-ranked victory in program history.

Defense made Ambrose’s on-field schemes work in his first season in Nashville after 15 years as the head coach at Penn, but two players he brought into the program early on were equally paramount to the club’s success.

Ambrose brought in two transfers, defender Danae O’Halloran from North Carolina and midfielder Kacy Scarpa from Florida State, who immediately became starters and team leaders.

Moving senior Erin Myers from midfield to defense further solidified the back line and made the statement that this team could only win by playing stout defense.

The challenges will mount for Ambrose and the Commodores in his second year at the helm. Multiple early departures have left the team with just twelve players in spring practice. Goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami, who led the SEC in saves under Ambrose (a former goalie), is transferring, and leading scorer Simone Charley will likely redshirt this coming season following her Olympic pursuits in the triple jump.

Ambrose’s first hand-crafted, non-conference schedule includes early visits from national powers San Francisco and Florida State, who has finished fourth or better in each of the last five NCAA Tournaments. Vandy soccer is a program on the rise, and Darren Ambrose has been the difference between the past and future just 14 months into his tenure.

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Sharma, the Australian native, led the Commodores to their first-ever women’s tennis national championship in 2015 and only the third team national championship in school history during her redshirt freshman season.

Sharma played her best tennis in tournament play last year, reeling in both the SEC and NCAA tournament MVPs. She didn’t lose a match at the No. 2 singles spot in either tournament, and her clutch play down the stretch of the NCAA tournament propelled the Commodores to the title.

In each of the championship, semifinal and quarterfinal rounds, Sharma defeated higher ranked opponents in three-set matches that proved crucial for Vandy to bring home its first title. Sharma followed up her great team tournament with a doubles tournament run with partner Ashleigh Antal that took them to the quarterfinals. This performance gave the duo first team AllAmerican honors.

As the 2016 season has progressed, Sharma has shown solid play as she has bounced around the No. 3 and No. 2 positions for singles. She currently sits on an overall record of 23-8, good enough to make her the 21st ranked singles player heading into the SEC and NCAA tournaments later this spring.

Look for Sharma and the rest of the Commodores to build off their experience from last season’s run and use it to succeed in the postseason this time around.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Darren Ambrose

By Max Herz,

BRENDAN MALONEY / VUCOMMODORES

Sports reporter

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TEAM OF THE YEAR

Women’s Tennis

By Jordan Grapentine, Sports reporter Attention Vanderbilt athletic programs — a national championship will earn you “Team of the Year” honors, no questions asked.

Accordingly, we are crowning the women’s tennis team our 2015 Team of the Year.

Overall, the racket-wielding women went an impressive 25-6 on the season, but we at the Hustler don’t just hand out awards for regular season play. No, our proverbial hardware is earned in the postseason.

The Commodores won the SEC Tournament title, the first in program history. After reaching the Final Four for the third time in the program’s 38-year lifespan and making their first championship match appearance since 2001, the Commodore ladies beat perennial powerhouse UCLA, 4-2, to earn the title of NCAA National Champions. The tourney win is the first for the program, meaning they now join women’s bowling and baseball as Vandy’s only national champion programs.

Head coach Geoff Macdonald may have summed up the accomplishment best, calling the title win “a dream come true.” Dreams or not, though, this Vanderbilt team had some very real talent.

Vanderbilt names littered the AllTournament Team list for both singles and doubles. On the doubles side, Marie

Casares and Frances Altick were the best No. 3 duo of the tournament. For singles, Courtney Colton and Ashleigh Antal were the top performers in the No. 4 and No. 6 slots, respectively, and Astra Sharma was crowned with both the top No. 2 honor and the Most Outstanding Player award.

While this Commodore team was certainly no Cinderella, their rise to glory was an improbable one. Once making the postseason for the twenty-first straight season, they had to best the likes of No. 5 Florida and No. 1 USC en route to a date with the defending champion Bruins, a team with four straight Final Four appearances. The sheer difficulty of their title road was not lost on Macdonald, who lauded his team’s toughness and determination. In his postgame comments, Macdonald reflected on how his team handled the “incredibly large” championship moment with “class, guts, and great spirit.”

The Commodores are looking to repeat their title run from last year and are off to a good start. Currently No. 5 in the national rankings, the women are poised to become back-to-back champions, one of the most difficult achievements in sports — just ask the baseball team.

Whether they repeat last year’s run or not, this team has accomplished great things for themselves and this university.

Hopefully they can make some noise in the postseason again — a racket, even.

BRENDAN MALONEY / VUCOMMODORES

Jeren Kendall’s home run

PLAY OF THE YEAR

By Ben Weinrib, Sports editor All it took was one swing of the bat for Vanderbilt’s hopes to turn around in Omaha.

Trailing by a run in the ninth inning and facing the prospect of heading to an elimination game, Jeren Kendall launched a walk-off home run into the right field bullpen to beat Cal StateFullerton 4-3 in the College World Series opener.

To this day, it remains the secondbiggest home run in Commodore history after John Norwood’s game-winner in the College World Series final.

What made the home run even more important was how it happened.

If it weren’t for a rain delay, Vanderbilt likely would have lost and not made it back to consecutive championship appearances.

While ace Carson Fulmer tossed another quality start, he was out-dueled

by Thomas Eshelman, who didn’t allow a run over 5 2/3 innings, while striking out eight before the game was called for a rain delay.

The game resumed the next day, and

head coach Tim Corbin tried to reverse his team’s fortunes by changing from black to white uniforms. That seemed to work, as first baseman Zander Wiel launched a double on the first pitch of the day to plate Vanderbilt’s first run of the game.

The Commodores wouldn’t score again until the ninth inning, when they faced Titan’s star closer Tyler Peitzmeier. Following doubles by Wiel and Bryan Reynolds, Kendall finally got a chance to shine.

Although he struck out his first time up against Peitzmeier and struggled throughout the postseason against lefties, Kendall got the best of a hanging slider to put the Commodores on top.

Had Kendall not put the Commodores on top, they would have had to win three straight games without their ace to reach the College World Series Finals, an extremely tall order. But with a little luck from the weather gods and one powerful swing, Kendall’s magic was Vanderbilt’s Play of the Year.

STEVE GREEN / VUCOMMODORES

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