The Vanderbilt Hustler 4-6-16

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VOL. 128, ISS. 12

A NEW VU FOR BRYCE DREW Vanderbilt tabs Valparaiso coach to lead basketball team PAGE 6 COURTESY OF VALPARAISO ATHLETICS DEPT.

SPORTS

LIFE

NEWS

What makes a champion?

Comparing the styles and strategies of the 2014 baseball team and the 2015 tennis team

PAGE 10

Medicine and military

A story ofPAGE courage, part III 6

The third installment in the history of Lambda, Vanderbilt’s LGBT group

PAGE 6

Ten questions with sophomore Army ROTC cadet and pre-med student Cristah Artrip

PAGE 16

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news

Researchers investigate mysterious honeybee disappearances A biological sciences professor and a graduate student suspect that pesticides are messing with bee brains

COURTESY OF MICHAEL TACKENBERG

Michael Tackenberg, a PhD student, is working with Professor of Biological Sciences Doug McMahon to use infrared monitoring technology to analyze bees’ intervals of activity after pesticide exposure.

By ANIA SZCZESNIEWSKI Science writer --------------------

Look up when passing Stevenson on the way to the pedestrian bridge and you may catch sight of the test subjects of Professor of Biological Sciences Doug McMahon and PhD student Michael Tackenberg’s latest research: honeybees.

The mysterious vanishing of colonies inspired Tackenberg to create a project applying his specialization in neuroscience to the issue. He and McMahon have been collecting data about ways pesticides change the daily routines of bee life. The results of this research could influence policy and regulations regarding pesticide usage and approval.

For over a decade, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate due to a little-understood condition called colony collapse disorder (CCD). This has been taking a toll on food production and the environment because bees are critical to the pollination of dozens of crops and contribute to biodiversity in the wild.

“One of the more mysterious aspects of colony collapse disorder was that bees were disappearing, not just piling up dead in colonies, so there was this aspect of ‘where are they going?’” Tackenberg said.

This is one of the questions Tackenberg asked after reading a 2012 study which found that after exposure to over-thecounter pesticides, bees were returning less frequently to their hives. Specifically, they were losing their way after being dosed with neonicotinoid pesticides, which are meant to attack insects’ central nervous system, resulting in paralysis or death. Fortunately for these researchers, Vanderbilt doesn’t use this type of pesticide, so they have full control over how much of the pesticide their bee test subjects are exposed to.

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ALLIE GROSS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

McMahon and Tackenberg are circadian neurobiologists, meaning they study the daily routines, or biological clocks, of organisms. They are hypothesizing that low doses of neonicotinoid pesticides are jet-lagging bees, or throwing off the bees’ sleep-wake cycles. If these pesticides are disrupting bee circadian behavior and synchrony with the environment, then they may be misnavigating and suffering from weakened immune systems.

Before working with the bees, they collaborated with Biological Sciences Professor Kendal Broadie on research using fruit flies. Fruit flies are biologically similar enough to bees and easier to work with in a lab setting, so the scientists decided to test their hypothesis on the fruit flies before investing in the bees. “[Bees] are really not something we usually work with in lab. Michael set us off with an organism we’ve had great fun with.” McMahon said.

The first phase of working with the bees has been using infared monitoring technology to analyze how the bees’ intervals of activity differ after neonicotinoid pesticide exposure. This involves luring bees from the hive with nets and a sugar-honey mix called bee candy so they can be put into one of 32 clear tubes. These tubes have a detector that pulls data every minute on how many times a bee crossed the infrared beam within their tube.

So far, the scientists’ results have been supporting the hypothesis that pesticides affect the typical biological behaviors of bees in 24-hour cycles — their circadian rhythms. The next phase of experimentation is to see whether pesticides mess with the bees by making changes to their brains.

Though still in the works, McMahon and Tackenberg are conducting trial runs of bee dissections so that they can start

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extracting RNA from their brains. They will be looking at the genes responsible for creating the schedule an organism’s circadian rhythm operates on, called clock genes. By removing the head of a frozen bee and separating the eyes, which have their own clock genes, researchers can distinguish between the genes from the eyes and brain. That being said, the researchers want to take all the clock genes into account, so they will leave or remove the eyes as they see fit.

By extracting RNA and making more of it through a duplicative process called polymerase chain reaction, the scientists are hoping to determine whether there are changes to the timing of the gene cycles that correspond to the bees’ behavioral changes. In examining their results, McMahon and Tackenberg have been getting advice from honeybee behavioral expert, Darryl Moore, from East Tennessee State University.

Eventually, the hope is that remedies can be found for either reducing the overuse of pesticides that catch beneficial pollinators in the crossfire or developing countermeasures to help bees reestablish circadian order.

Adding requirements for approving pesticides by organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency would also be beneficial. Currently, sublethal effects that don’t kill insects but could potentially be harming them are not considered a real concern, but this research would prove that they indeed have consequences.

If bee brains are being jumbled up by pesticides, one can imagine that other organisms may be struggling with similar issues. McMahon and Tackenberg have thought about monarch butterflies, but it is unclear how far-reaching the detriments of neonicotinoid pesticides are. Step one: help the bees.

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Class helps students create nonprofits Through a class in Blair, students learn about fundraising and social entrepreneurship before creating their own proposal for a 501(c) nonprofit

By NATHAN KIKER News reporter --------------------

Instead of taking cramming and studying for tests, students in Professor Mitchell Korn’s MENT 1140 class are busy creating nonprofit organizations to help solve important social inequalities such as poverty, environmental preservation and childhood literacy. The twocredit class, “Creating Funding and Nonprofit Vehicles for 21st Century Community Service,” is in the Blair School of Music, Korn’s home school. At the end of the semester, students get to file for their own 501(c).

As a professor in the Blair School of Music, Korn has also taught Music and Community and Music and Educational Outreach. Korn has been active in the nonprofit world for 30 years and today serves on the nonprofit boards of the Children’s Kindness Network, the Olde Worlde Theatre and the Mary Parrish Center.

Professor Korn became active in the nonprofit world after a career in music that led him to the forefront of the community arts movement, a movement in which members of a community express concerns or issues through various forms of art. The experience as a leader in the movement taught him about the power of the arts to make a positive impact on communities by helping promote social welfare and advocacy for inequality.

Korn explained how these experiences taught him more about how the nonprofit works, and also how the nonprofit world benefited his life.

“I learned how they operate, and in many ways became their advisor,” Korn said. “I became keen on how to build partnerships and reach communities that are not reached in underserved communities. This evolved through the years, and I was asked to teach.”

At the beginning of the course, students develop and articulate a mission for their nonprofit. They then develop a logo and a brand that represents their mission and begin researching to find out how their nonprofit can have the most impact. The students then work to design programs and create fundraising proposals.

After studying fundraising proposals, students learn how social entrepreneurship practices, such as raising private funds and using a business oriented hierarchy, can contribute to their nonprofit. After two weeks, each student submits their proposal for a social enterprise and begin learning about organizations, budgeting and staffs before learning about leadership and ethics. Finally, at the end of the semester, students submit their nonprofit proposals.

Korn noted that the key to success in the process is class discussion.

“We do a lot of discussion,” Korn said. “I want to hear students’ opinions, their ideas, and students giving other student’s idea’s.”

Sophomore Serena Deutch, who is in the class, explained that she was drawn to the class because she had heard positive feedback about Korn and because she thought learning about nonprofits would be an exciting opportunity.

“I am also interested in business, so I thought it would be cool to take a class to see what it is really like,” Deutch said. “My mom works in nonprofits. She is a fundraiser and a director, so my whole life that has been there and it has been important in my family.”

Senior Leah Hollingshead decided to take the course because of her previous experience working at a nonprofit organization.

“I interned at a nonprofit before, and I figured I would learn more about them from a teacher that everyone loves,” Hollingshead said.

Deutch is working to create a nonprofit that uses the visual arts to help improve literacy learning for children.

“I think reading is really important, so I wanted to do something with literacy, but I also wanted to use art for learning,” Deutch said.

“My idea is to have an after school center that would use the visual arts to teaching reading skills.”

Deutch decided to create a coloring book inspired by color-by-number activities. Instead of coloring each number a different color, children would color each phonetic sound a different color to further their reading fluency.

Hollingshead is creating a nonprofit that will help the environment by allowing people to donate used materials to a warehouse where others can then buy them instead of sending them to landfills.

“I want to see less waste going into landfills, especially here in Nashville with so much construction going on. Construction and demolition waste makes up 30 to 70 percent of waste streams in the city.”

In addition to helping the environment, Hollingshead’s nonprofit will help people buy cheap housing materials that would have otherwise been thrown away.

“It would help get those things out of the waste stream and help combat the issue of affordable housing in Nashville, which is a huge issue here,” Hollingshead said.

Professor Korn explained that he is excited about several of the students’ nonprofit ideas, such as one student who is working to help homeless individuals with mental illnesses and emotional trauma.

“I see him taking what he is learning into his

COURTESY OF PROFESSOR MITCHELL KORN ZIYI LIU / THE VANDERBILT Professor Mitchell Korn teaches a class in the Blair School of Music that allows students to createHUSTLER a nonprofit organization from the ground up and file for a 501(c) upon completion of the course.

life,” Korn said. “Another student is working on creating a Polynesian cultural center. He is very driven to share his culture, so he is meeting a personal mission and educating the rest of his class.”

Hollingshead hopes to use her experience from the class in future endeavors, whether she goes into nonprofit work or not.

“The class has taught me a lot about how organizations work in a hands-on way,” Hollingshead. “I feel like it has prepared me to work in any industry, whether a nonprofit or for-profit. It has helped me develop my critical thinking skills and my ability to analyze an organization.”

Korn encouraged other students to take the class in the future because of its unique structure.

“It is one of the few classes at Vanderbilt that you will create your own project, and it’s so much about you,” Korn said. “It’s about the passion that a student might have and to study it and get credits for it.”

Hollingshead also recommended the class to other students regardless of their major or

planned career path.

“Take the class. Even if you have no experience with nonprofits and you just want to learn more,” she said. “Professor Korn is very encouraging, and he will meet you wherever you are. It is a rewarding class no matter your skill level.”

For students interested in working for a nonprofit as an intern, Korn suggests researching the Center for Nonprofit Management, a nonprofit that provides education and consulting to other nonprofits. The Center posts about jobs and internships at various nonprofits so that students can find out about the opportunities and entry-level positions available.

Korn also offered to help students find positions if they are interested in working for a nonprofit, even if they are not in his class.

“Also, any student that comes to me, I will find them an internship,” Korn said. “I will work with what they are interested in and will help get the an internship position. I think that’s very important, whether they are students of mine or not. I have an open door for people that are interested in nonprofits.”

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Behind the scenes of Vanderbilt Ventures businesses

The president of Refridge-a-Dore and the executive director of VanderBIKES talk entrepreneurship and running a business on campus.

By MADELINE STEWART News reporter --------------------

As a neuroscience and Spanish major, Travis Courtney never thought he’d end up working for a small business. Yet, it has slowly become one of his most rewarding experiences at Vanderbilt.

Though there are many paths students may take to pursue business on campus, Vanderbilt Ventures provides the opportunity to team up with fellow students and create a company which is then owned by Vanderbilt and run by students. Through Vanderbilt Ventures’ annual competition for student-run businesses, Courtney and junior Ben Vallimarescu have pursued entrepreneurship in a way that benefits their peers and enhances their own college experiences.

Last Sunday, March 27, both Courtney and Vallimarescu spoke at Student Entrepreneurship, a school-sponsored panel event that included testimonial from the speakers on their initial interest and subsequent involvement with student-run businesses. The Hustler sat down with each of them to ask about the behind-thescenes aspects of starting a business on Vanderbilt’s campus.

REFRIDGE-A-DORE

Courtney, a senior, became involved in business during his freshman year at Vanderbilt. He was invited by an older student to join Refridge-a-Dore, a company that rents refrigerators, microwaves and freezers for student dorms, providing installation and pickup at the beginning and end of the school year. After winning the Vanderbilt Ventures competition, as well as a $10,000 grant from the school, the original founders were able to turn their idea into a functioning business that has been growing ever since.

Courtney, who first joined the team to help with finances the same year it won Vanderbilt Ventures, now serves as the president of Refridge-a-Dore.

“I never planned on being a part of a student business,” Courtney said. “But it’s become one of the most important parts of my college career in terms of my dedication to it and how rewarding it is.”

Over time, the student-run business has expanded its inventory to include a greater number of refrigerator and microwave units, and has reported a steady increase in profit for the past few years. There are two members of the staff graduating this spring, but eight remaining that will continue to run Refridge-a-Dore.

“It has been really great to be a part of the original group and see the business grow over the past few years,” Courtney said.

Though the business has grown tremendously throughout Courtney’s membership, there are still operational variables as well as day-to-day challenges for Refridge-a-Dore. For example, the company is responsible for malfunctioning units and coordinating maintenance or replacement parts. The company must also organize its entire inventory before move-in day each year.

Courtney and the other members of his team communicate with customers and faculty to make sure these procedures go smoothly.

“Move-in and move-out are the busiest times of the year for us, so coordinating all the installations and pickups can be a challenge because it requires a ton of help from volunteers,” Courtney said.

Organizing move-in day requires a lot of student volunteers to assist with moving the units into dorm rooms, as well as communication with the school to ensure timely delivery.

“This year we wanted to move in all the units before Saturday move-in [for first-years],” Courtney said. “It took longer than we had expected to install the units in the dorms, which we couldn’t anticipate, but the administration ended up helping us out a lot.”

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Senior Travis Courtney, president of Refridge-a-Dore, didn’t expect to be involved with business when he came to Vanderbilt.

Courtney plans to attend medical school at the University of California, San Diego in the fall.

“Sometimes being in pre-med you can get really bogged down in the material, which is why I really enjoy being a part of a business on campus,” Courtney said. “I can get a lot more hands-on experience, which is great.”

Courtney has been involved nearly every aspect of the business, from analyzing financial strategy to reaching out to incoming firstyears. He’s also spent a fair amount of time learning the proper way to clean a refrigerator and microwave.

“For a lot of people starting out [in business] making money is really important, but you won’t make as much as you think,” Courtney said. “I’ve made a little money to keep, but the skills I’ve gained in a really people-oriented environment are a lot more valuable.”

Courtney’s advice to students looking to hone in on their entrepreneurial side is to be committed to whatever you pursue.

“It requires a lot of dedication and commitment, which has taught me how to focus on one thing,” Courtney said. “You really have to care about what you’re doing.”

VANDERBIKES

Vallimarescu, an HOD and political science major, became involved in business on Vanderbilt’s campus through VanderBIKES. Like Refridge-a-Dore, this business got its start after winning the Vanderbilt Ventures competition. VanderBIKES is a bicycle rental service that rents bikes out to students on a semester or year-long basis. Vallimarescu was asked by a founding member to join VanderBIKES’ management team. Over the course of the past three years, he has seen the company expand its services and grow its customer base. Vallimarescu now serves as the company’s executive director.

On a daily basis, Vallimarescu is responsible for customer interface over email and responds to requests for maintenance on the bikes. Behind the scenes, Vallimarescu has a large role in making decisions for the company regarding where to allocate money, where to store the inventory and when to increase inventory of bikes.

“I didn’t know anything about running a small business or about bikes before [joining VanderBIKES],” Vallimarescu said. “I’ve seen a lot of development and we’ve gotten to know the best way

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Junior Ben Vallimarescu, executive director of VanderBIKES, said most of what he has learned about business has been “on the fly.” to run a small business.”

VanderBIKES has limited control of decision-making and profit because it is owned by Vanderbilt. Understanding those limits and maintaining constant communication with faculty advisors is important to VanderBIKES’ success, Vallimarescu said.

“The biggest thing is thinking creatively about how to solve problems, and making the most of the decisions that we get to make,” he said.

In the very beginning, VanderBIKES had a collection of many different types of bikes for rental, from multi-geared road bikes to cruisers. This variation in their inventory wasn’t a well-informed purchase, as it made it difficult for students to decide what type of bike was right for them. In the past few years the VanderBikes team has formed a larger inventory with a selection of bikes that better suits the needs of college students.

For Vallimarescu and his team, a general lack of information at the start made operations difficult for the first few years. In addition, because Venture businesses are owned by Vanderbilt, the student members have limited control over decisions regarding inventory and profit. Despite these challenges, Vallimarescu has learned valuable skills in how to run a successful business.

These skills will be a great asset to Vallimarescu in his future career, and have already helped him to gain a competitive edge in the job application process.

“I’ve been asked about VanderBIKES in every job interview I’ve had,” Vallimarescu said. “Getting to run a small business is a unique experience that I don’t think a lot of undergraduates have.”

Upon reflection of his own experience, Vallimarescu’s best advice for students interested in business is to always keep an open mind.

“Most of what I’ve learned has been on the fly, so being committed to what you’re doing and being willing to invest the time is important.”

Though Vallimarescu will only be a part of VanderBIKES for one more year, he says the company will continue to grow.

“It comes down to increasing awareness and publicity on campus,” Vallimarescu said. “Most of our renters are freshman, so we’re really trying to change that to include more upperclassmen.”

In order to help raise publicity for the company, VSG plans to install bike stations with tools and air pumps around campus in an effort to make Vanderbilt a more bike-friendly campus.

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A story of courage, part III:

FROM TOLERANCE TOWARD ACCEPTANCE -------------------By ALLIE GROSS Editor-in-chief --------------------

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

K.C. Potter and his partner Richard Patrick pose in the backyard of their home on their Hickman County farm. K.C. retired from Vanderbilt in 1998 to live on this farm.

This is part III in an ongoing series about the untold history of the Vanderbilt Lambda Association and the LGBTQI community on campus. The following is constructed from interviews with alumni and Vanderbilt Hustler archives. In part I, Dean K.C. Potter opened up his home on campus in the late 80s as an anonymous, safe refuge for gay students and faculty to meet, amidst the toxic, homophobic climate at Vanderbilt. In part II, the leaders of Lambda worked to change university policies and attitudes by including sexual orientation in the university’s nondiscrimination clause. In part III, after K.C.’s retirement, more courageous students continue to fight for acceptance and recognition in campus institutions.

Most vividly of all, Everett Moran remembers his high heel breaking as he stepped out onto the grass of the Vanderbilt football field. It was a sunny fall day in November 2004, and he was the university’s first male candidate for Homecoming Queen.

Everett (’05) was the community outreach chair for the Lambda Association, the LGBT group on campus. Back then, Lambda would meet weekly in the annex behind Branscomb, essentially an old garage. It was tiny and secret. Each member that entered pledged not to talk about who they saw there, to ensure the meetings were a safe space. This was an unusual environment for Everett, who’d been out since he was 14.

“I’ve been the big gay man at the party my entire life,” he said. “I don’t blend in well and I don’t hide things.” So Everett was ready to move Lambda forward. The safe space and support elements of the group were crucial, but he felt it could be more.

“It was teeny, teeny tiny when we were there,” Everett said.

“That was one of the big things I wanted to work with Lambda on, was to create social spaces, create visibility.”

The applications for Homecoming King and Queen had appeared in the mailbox of Lambda’s office in Sarratt — just like they did for every registered student organization, just like they did every fall. Everett picked up the application. Scanning it, the rules were simple: each registered student organization

can nominate a King and a Queen, one man and one woman.

Candidates must be seniors, must have a particular GPA. He brought the Homecoming application to the next Thursday night Lambda meeting. After the 10 or so members filed in, he read them the rules, noting that there was no specification that the King must be a male and the Queen must be a female.

Only that there be one of each.

“I said, ‘Guys, here are the rules according to how it’s written, and other than that there are no restrictions,’” he said.

So, with the sponsorship of Lambda, Everett became the first man at Vanderbilt to run for Homecoming Queen, and another Lambda member the first woman to run for King. While the woman candidate for King didn’t make it into the next round after judge interviews, Everett made the cut.

Moran told the Hustler then that he was running for queen in the hopes of sparking student discussion.

“I don’t consider Vanderbilt a horribly conservative place.

The student body is open to discussion and new ideas, but the students fall short of discussing with each other,” he explained.

He filled out the paperwork. He crushed the interview.

Brows were raised and he could hear whispers around him in classes, but his peers voted him onto the Homecoming Court.

Many were supportive, and some op-eds lauded Everett for his bravery: “Everett’s own sexuality is irrelevant. He serves to represent all of us — gay, straight, male, female, masculine, feminine — in every way that we do not conform to the rigid ideal of ‘king’ or ‘queen.’”

Tullia Brown (Dec. ‘04) was the Homecoming Committee chair that year. She said the application didn’t contain any gender-based language, so the committee treated Everett just like any other candidate.

“Everything is uniform for each candidate,” Tullia told the Hustler then. “Obviously, the judges wouldn’t have chosen him if they didn’t think he was a strong candidate… They treated everybody equally.”

However, others criticized him for taking aim at Vanderbilt traditions and for tarnishing the university’s reputation. Tullia said she had to serve as a mediator between Everett and

Lambda, and some students and administrators who were fearful about both alumni reactions and possible future donations. An ’87 alumnus wrote in to the Hustler asking: “After twenty-plus years of embarrassment on the football field, now we have to endure the pain of a humiliating halftime show during homecoming?”

But Everett didn’t care. He was surprised and excited about what his candidacy meant for the school.

“I was an angry feminist studies major, and I loved to shake my fist at the man all the time,” he said, reflecting. “The whole point was this was a really heteronormative construct to look at recognizing a senior class.” He certainly had the credentials to be out there on the field: an almost perfect GPA, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. His resume of organization involvements was impressive: Lambda, Orbis magazine, VUceptor peer mentor, McGill Project, College Democrats, Vanderbilt Feminists—the list goes on.

“I was an outstanding senior, and this is who I am. I represent Vandy beautifully,” Everett said.

Soon, the Court members gathered for a meeting with the Homecoming Committee. The candidates sat around a table discussing dress code for the big game. Queens have to wear this, your heels should be this high, wear your hair this way.

Afterward, the committee members pulled Everett aside.

“Everett, we want you to wear a suit,” they said.

“Nope, we’re playing by your rules,” he replied. “I’ve been elected, and I’m gonna go by your rules.”

So on November 6, 2004, on Homecoming day, Everett’s roommate curled his long hair, which he was growing out to donate to Locks of Love. He put on his beautiful long, black, strapless dress (it’s still in his closet) and red gloves, and wrapped the bright yellow Homecoming Court sash around his shoulders. He strapped on his heels.

The Commodores were leading the University of Florida Gators at halftime. And Everett walked out onto the football field in drag, gracefully playing off his heel snapping in the grass.

Among the crowd at Vanderbilt Stadium, there was some booing, chiefly from the visitors’ side of the field. But Everett says

THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER u WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM he didn’t hear it.

“I didn’t hear anything but cheers,” he said. “There were people that were booing and very upset about it, that this guy stood up to be himself and represent the university. But there were so many more people that were so excited about the way Vanderbilt culture was moving, and the strides we were making as some small group of queer kids sitting in the student center garage on Thursday nights.”

“I’m not doing anything that’s wrong, I’m just being myself.

This is who I am, this is how I love, this is how I lead my life.

That was difficult for a lot of people,” he said.

Despite not being crowned queen, Everett was on the cover of the Hustler, the Tennessean, and even made it into the pages of the New York Times. He said that he and Lambda weren’t trying to make a big political statement, but 2004 was the last Homecoming that Vanderbilt had a King, Queen and a court.

From then on, the top ten Outstanding Seniors would be recognized on the football field instead.

“We never wanted to make a ruckus and make a legacy, but we did. We were just ourselves,” Everett said. “It made me feel more proud of being part of Vanderbilt, because the administration and staff handled it so beautifully. I was elected by peers.

Students, they voted for me. It’s not like I bullied my way in, I was just myself and they decided I was good enough to represent Vanderbilt during that weekend.”

— The early 2000s seem so close to the present, and it can be hard to imagine the kind of hate that was still present on our very own campus so recently. But Everett’s bravery is even more remarkable in the context of a campus environment that was still not very welcoming to LGBT students. Even during this time, with Lambda’s homecoming nominee voted onto the court, Lambda still had to meet in secret. The location — the chaplain’s office and then the Vaughn House annex tucked behind Branscomb — was spread cautiously, by word of mouth.

In 2003, an op-ed titled “Sodomy is ‘wrong,’ ‘disgusting’ and ‘perverse’” was published in the Hustler, prompting an uproar and pages and pages of responses condemning the writer’s bigotry for weeks following the publication, and necessitating a community forum.

One of the authors of these responses was Randy Minas (’05).

Randy had been pulled out of school for a while when his parents found out he was gay. When he returned, he was placed in a Chaffin with three other guys who had a Confederate flag put up on the dorm wall. The roommates urinated on his computer and threatened to beat him up.

“There was no outlet for them to voice their opinions, so they were basically resorting to being more hateful and violent,” Randy said. He was moved to a floor full of frat guys in Towers, who graffitied “dickfag” all over his room and pounded on his door threatening to kill him. Eventually he was moved again, to a private room in Tolman. When he shared the experience with his friend Kristen van der Bosche (’07, MA ‘09), she was angry.

“When I went to try and find resources with my friend, I realized the campus was a really terrible place to be for LGBT people,” she said. Kristen found that while Lambda existed — Randy was involved with it and even launched a special group within Lambda to help people who were coming out — it was small, it was “hush-hush” and it wasn’t integrated into the fabric of the larger campus community.

“I felt like there was something I could do as a straight person to advocate for this person. As somebody who was straight, I could stand up and say this is not my battle, but it should be everybody’s battle,” she said. Kristen became the first straight president of Lambda in 2006.

“Kristen used that incident as a reason to take over Lambda, and really revive it and turn it into a more visible organization,” Randy said. Under her leadership, Lambda held its Drag Show out on Alumni Lawn for the first time, visibly in the center of campus. The first Pride Week was held, other organizations began co-sponsoring the Drag Show and some Greek chapters made attendance a requirement. She revitalized efforts to make the LGBT community more visible and open on campus.

“I knew that the campus was silent, and their silence was their disapproval of this community,” Kristen said. “I wanted for

the gay population on campus to know there were other people like them and there were people who had a place to go, to talk to someone, to be around other people who were like them, who were supportive.”

Kristen noticed a difference after a gay couple was assaulted outside of the Carmichael Towers dorms in 2007, and it was widely perceived as a hate crime. Instead of sweeping the incident under the rug — as had happened with Randy in 2004 — the incident was discussed openly around campus, and the university took it very seriously. Although it was a nasty thing to happen, it provoked campus dialogue about the campus climate surrounding LGBT issues.

“I saw that as a moment where, this is an opportunity to move Vanderbilt forward,” said Nick Wells (‘08). He launched the Vanderbilt chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, an offshoot of Lambda that had a more overtly activist bent, and led the effort to amass signatures supporting the addition of “gender identity and expression” as a protected group in the university’s non-discrimination policy, an expansion on “sexual orientation” that had been added in 1992. Like Andy Dailey, Nick went before the Faculty Senate — presenting collected data, context from peer schools and legal arguments.

Then, during the spring of 2008, the university rolled out a series of announcements: Not only would it adopt gender expression as part of the nondiscrimination clause, but there would also be an LGBTQI center in the middle of campus with its own building. The LGBTQI center opened its doors the following fall on West Side Row, right next to K.C. Potter’s old home where he hosted the first secret Lambda meetings.

“It was definitely exciting, and it was something that really cemented the university’s commitment to sexual and gender minority students,” said Klint Peebles (’09). He succeeded his friend Kristen as Lambda president, and oversaw these 2008 developments translated into action — noting a change in atmosphere on campus from just tolerance, towards acceptance.

“In short, I stood on the shoulders of trailblazers and activists from years prior during my tenure in Lambda, and none of the work that I was able to do would have been possible without them,” he said. “From K.C. Potter and the student leaders of that time to today’s Lambda leadership, the progressive struggle for support, tolerance, acceptance, and now celebration, is one that has necessitated the collective voices of driven, passionate individuals committed to social justice despite the obstacles.”

“Everyone had a role in Lambda’s success, and the striking testament to this fact is that the story of Lambda is no longer just a story of the campus LGBTQI community but of Vanderbilt’s mission as a whole.”

— Horseford Farm is way out in Hickman County, Tennessee, at the end of a mile-long one lane dirt road. Today, the first thing you notice upon arrival is the lawn art. There’s one tree with a ceramic face, another scattered with multicolored bird houses.

A number of yards away, there’s an intimate campsite, complete with multicolor Christmas lights and a fire pit.The Victorianstyle house is bright blue, with paper bags filled with candles lining the perimeter of the roof — a Southwestern touch. At the head of a pseudo parking spot in front of the house is a sign: “K.C. Potter, Dean.”

This is where Dean of Residential and Judicial Affairs K.C. Potter retired in 1998, leaving behind a Vanderbilt that was a more accepting university than the one he’d found as a law student in 1962. While working at Vanderbilt for 33 years, K.C. would leave his home on West Side Row — the same home where he hosted Lambda meetings — every weekend, retreating to his farm and tending to his cattle.

“The farm is where I could come and be myself,” he said. K.C. didn’t come out as gay until after retiring from Vanderbilt.

“I’ve been an actor most of my life,” he says. “When I decided to go to Law School, my father said you’d be a good judge — you don’t show emotion in your face. Most gay people were actors.”

“It was wearing on your soul,” he said. Everything changed after retiring, when K.C. met his partner, Richard, over the Internet — his first real relationship.

“When I met Richard, we just sat down and wrote a letter to

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KATIE KEAN / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

Everett Moran on the football field at the 2004 Homecoming game. our families… My family was very receptive.”

Although he was off campus full-time, the spirit of the work K.C. had done and the progress he and his groups of students made for Lambda and Vanderbilt didn’t end with his retirement. Students continue to gather once a week for Lambda meetings to hang out, support one another and talk about LGBT issues on campus and in the world. And individual students continued to dare to change the status quo and norms on campus to promote equality and acceptance.

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos dedicated the LGBTQI center to K.C. Potter on October 24, 2008. But for K.C., the most important part about the K.C. Potter Center is its visibility for incoming LGBTQI students.

“The important thing is that they’re there for the kids that come to the campus. Once you get to the campus, you make your friendships and everything, then things go along pretty well. But you’ve got to be a little frightened coming in if you’re gay, even if you were out in high school. Of course, at the time when we founded this thing, nobody was out in high school.

Nobody. It just wasn’t done,” K.C. said.

K.C. is humble about the building bearing his name.

“It’s difficult. You know it’s an honor, but at the same time I’m humbled by it because I really don’t deserve it… I’m embarrassed by it because I am a timid person,” K.C. said. He says he feels the dedication doesn’t give credit to the courage of groups of students over the years.

For Everett — one of those courageous students — he and his Lambda peers who launched his homecoming queen bid recognize and value the strides made by Lambda leaders who were on campus before him.

“It was that legacy we were building on,” he said. “There was a group of people that came before and were smaller and less open than we were. ...We owed it to those before us, creating a space where students who came in 2007 and 2020, when they came to Vanderbilt, they could see there were people before them who stood up with their voices and said this is who we are, and it’s OK. The momentum’s still going.”

Thanks to: K.C. Potter and Richard, Ryan Rexroth, Joanna Caravita, Norman Sandfield, Dan Caul, Steve Caldwell, Randy Tarkington, Mark Bandas, Andy Dailey, Laura Creekmore, Paul Feeney, Ron “DJ Ron” Slomowicz, Everett Moran, John Lachs, Nick Wells, Randy Minas, Klint Peebles, David van Dalfsen, Chris Freeman, Sherre Harrington, Mat Trotter, Margaret Coble, Idit Dobbs-Weinstein, Kait Spear, Chris Purcell, Kristen van der Bosche and Tullia Bruno.

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sports

THE BIG STAT

Wade Baldwin IV’s draft ranking according to DraftExpress.com.

Baldwin declared for the NBA draft on April 5.

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALPARAISO ATHLETICS

From one VU to another

New Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew will face a whole different set of expectations and challenges in the SEC

By ROBBIE WEINSTEIN Asst. sports editor --------------------

On Selection Sunday, the world awaited the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal while a pair of Vanderbilt coaches — old and new — sat in different parts of the country awaiting their respective teams’ fates.

As CBS unveiled the bracket, it didn’t take long for Kevin Stallings’ Vanderbilt team to show up: the Commodores had somehow parlayed a 19-13 season deemed a disappointment by many into an NCAA Tournament berth. In northwest Indiana, Bryce Drew, expected to be the new Vanderbilt head coach, watched in dismay as his 26-6 Horizon League champion Valparaiso team was passed over in favor of underachieving large-conference squads such as Michigan, Syracuse and his own future team on West End.

“It’s a sad day for mid-majors,” Drew said on Selection Sunday.

“If you look at all our numbers compared to other teams’; if you didn’t know the names of those teams, you might look at the numbers differently.”

On Wednesday, Bryce Drew is expected to be named the 26th head coach in Vanderbilt history. The brother of Baylor coach Scott Drew and the son of former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew, Bryce starred as a player for the Crusaders before being selected in the first round of the 1998 NBA Draft and playing for three NBA teams in six seasons.

Simply looking at this season’s bracket provides insight into why Bryce Drew accepted the job at Vanderbilt. Top teams outside the major conferences such as Saint Mary’s, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure joined Valparaiso in the consolation prize National Invitation Tournament, underscoring how difficult it is to succeed on a national level at a non-power conference school.

“The unfortunate thing is, at [Valparaiso’s] level, for 60 days you win the league, and you have one bad day … and the other team has the game of their life and you can’t get the automatic bid,” Drew said following Valparaiso’s loss to Green Bay in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals on March 7. “In the big scheme of things, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

In Nashville, Drew won’t have that problem as Vanderbilt’s conference affiliation assures that a top-flight finish in the SEC standings will result in an NCAA bid.

Instead, Drew will be charged with taking the Commodore program to another level.

While Vanderbilt has had seven appearances in the Big Dance since 2004, success in the Tournament itself has been rare. Aside from Sweet 16 runs in 2004 and 2007, the Commodores carry an ignominious 1-5 record since. Blowouts at the hands of double digit seeds Siena, Richmond and Wichita State haven’t helped the

program’s image.

“I think that there are things we want to maintain and things that we want to get better at, and I think if you ask anybody, everybody wants to do better than they could,” Vanderbilt Director of Athletics David Williams said. “So obviously we won 19 games last year; we’d like to win more. We’d like to go further in the NCAA Tournament.”

In his five seasons at the helm of Valparaiso, Drew certainly had his fair share of success. The Crusaders won the Horizon League regular season title in four of Drew’s five seasons and made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2013 and 2015. Drew took over the head coaching job from his father in 2011 after six seasons as an assistant. His career record of 124-49 includes a 65-19 mark in conference play, as well as three Horizon League Coach of the Year honors.

Fans will see a different approach from Drew compared to that of Stallings. Drew’s offense features fewer intricacies than Stallings’ and follows a simpler plan of attack that will be easier for young players to catch on to. Defensively, Drew’s last two Valpo squads ranked in the top 35 of Division I in efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy, despite the school’s lack of access to elite recruits. “[Drew]’s dad, Homer, preached defense when [Bryce] played back in the 90s and that is what he builds his team around,” Tom Mantice, sports editor of The Torch, Valparaiso’s student newspaper, said.

“He also knows how to use his star players on offense,” Mantice added. “There is almost no one-on-one offense, he uses a lot of motion and passing. The ball barely touches the ground.”

Drew’s players also succeeded academically, as Valpo showed steady improvement in its Academic Progress Rating — a metric used by the NCAA to measure athlete eligibility and retention of its member schools — during Drew’s tenure. A private Lutheran university, Valparaiso held its athletes to high academic standards.

Based on data provided from the school, the Crusaders performed similarly to Vanderbilt in terms of APR under Drew.

“We consider Vanderbilt to be a very special place, and … this is a place where not only do you think about coaching experience but you also think about fit,” Williams said. “This is not the right place for everybody. And so we do spend a lot of time making sure people understand what Vanderbilt is about and what Vanderbilt expects.”

Drew himself is known as a legend at Valparaiso for his game-

winning shot in the 1998 NCAA Tournament that gave the Crusaders an upset victory over Ole Miss. Reports suggested Drew’s preference for a smaller, more family-like community led him to choose Vanderbilt over previous offers from larger schools both this spring and in past years.

“He basically makes this university tick,” Mantice said. “He’s beloved by everybody, even students who don’t care about basketball. He is very engaging and very available on campus. Many students heard about this university because of the shot in 1998, so he was a big deal around here.”

With a strong roster returning, Drew will face immediate pressure from fans to show that he can take the Commodores to heights that Stallings ultimately couldn’t.

Guard Wade Baldwin IV declared for the NBA Draft Tuesday and Damian Jones could follow, but Vanderbilt is still expected to return three starters and eight of the 11 scholarship players who saw playing time in 2015-16. Redshirt freshman D’Jery Baptiste will help bolster the Commodores’ depth up front while incoming true freshmen Payton Willis and Clevon Brown could fight for playing time as well if they choose to stick with Vanderbilt instead of heading elsewhere.

Similarly, Drew could look for a graduate transfer who would be eligible immediately to shore up the point guard spot or to add another productive frontcourt player. Valparaiso forward Alec Peters and guard Keith Carter, the Crusaders’ two leading scorers in 2015-16, could both potentially follow Drew to Vanderbilt, although Carter would have to win an appeal to the NCAA to do so.

“It makes all the sense in the world for Alex Peters to transfer,” Mantice said. “He came to Valpo because of Bryce. They have a special relationship that basically brought him to Valpo.”

One concern might lie in Drew’s lack of experience recruiting in the southeast, as he has largely recruited throughout the midwest and internationally at Valparaiso. Drew’s nine-man rotation in 2015-16 included four players born outside the United States and four Illinois natives. The ninth, Charlotte transfer E. Victor Nickerson, hails from Atlanta.

Vanderbilt showed a propensity to pursue foreign players under Stallings, including Festus Ezeli and James Siakam. Current Commodores Riley LaChance and Joe Toye are natives of the midwest. Although Drew will represent a significant departure from the style and personality Stallings brought to West End, his proven ability as a coach bodes well for Vandy’s chances of building upon

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Vandy just got one of the best young coaches in the NCAA, and he is getting better and better as the years have gone on.

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the previous regime’s success.

“Vandy just got one of the best young coaches in the NCAA, and he is getting better and better as the years have gone on,” Mantice said. “One thing that is different about Drew is his ability to work an official without swearing. He is a very devout Christian, so you better get used to hearing ‘We’re blessed’ at every press conference. He knows the game really well and has recruited well. It is a great hire.”

Drew will have the full support of Williams and Chancellor Nick Zeppos, and nothing about his track record suggests he won’t find success in Nashville. In leading Vanderbilt into a new era, however, Drew faces high expectations.

“You know, I think the way we evaluate is that it’d be wrong for me to say, ‘this is the standard that you have to meet,” Williams said. “But we will say our expectation is to win. Our expectation is to win the right way. Our expectation is to graduate student athletes. Our expectation is to run a clean program. But our expectation is to win.”

CRUSADERS WHO COULD JUMP SHIP ALEC PETERS JR. FORWARD 6’ 8” 225 LBS 2015 PPG: 18.4 FG%: 50.5% REB: 8.5 A two-time First Team All-Horizon League honoree, Peters led the Crusaders in scoring each of the last two seasons. Peters’ sterling shooting numbers stand out, particularly for a player his size, as the Valpo big man shot 50.5 percent from the field this past season to go with 44 percent three point shooting and 85 percent free throw shooting. The Horizon League’s second-leading rebounder in 2015-16, Peters would likely start alongside Luke Kornet in the Commodores’ frontcourt if he decides to follow Drew to Vanderbilt.

KEITH CARTER JR. POINT GUARD 6’ 1” 180 LBS 2015 PPG: 10.3 AST: 4.5 TO: 1.6 After transferring to Valparaiso from Saint Louis in 2013, Carter developed into a steady presence at point guard for the Crusaders. Carter ranked fourth in the Horizon League in assists per game this past season and posted a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio after being limited to only 21 appearances in 2014-15 due to a foot injury. Carter reportedly suffered a similar injury in the NIT championship game against George Washington this spring, so his health could be a concern going forward if he decides to transfer and wins an appeal to the NCAA. If Carter does end up in Nashville, he can provide immediate stability at point guard for the Commodores.

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special feature: Wha The initial moment after Adam Ravenelle’s championshipsealing strikeout and Astra Sharma’s out-call on the final point was surreal to the Vanderbilt players on the baseball and tennis teams.

The enormity of the win didn’t sink in for them immediately, as celebration completely took over.

“The first moment after I won was relief,” the redshirt sophomore tennis player Sharma said. “I was just so glad that I had done it. Then I couldn’t believe it happened and the enormity of the situation was so unreal.”

For some of them, there is no way to accurately articulate their feelings at that time. The championship was just so overwhelming to comprehend in such a short period afterwards. Two words came to mind for both senior tennis player Frances Altick and baseball outfielder Bryan Reynolds: “pure joy.”

These two teams have arguably been Vanderbilt’s most prosperous over the past few years. Once again, both Commodore teams find themselves in a competitive position this far in the season, ranked in the top five of their respective sports. In 2014 and 2015, these two teams brought Vanderbilt championship titles, tripling the school’s total amount in the past 100 years.

Both coaches — Tim Corbin for baseball and Geoff Macdonald for tennis — have won SEC and National Coach of the Year honors.

But to what do these teams, and these coaches, owe that success?

And how could that translate into the ongoing seasons?

COACHING STYLES COURTESY OF VANDERBILT ATHLETICS

WHAT MAKES A

CHAMPION Analyzing why the baseball and tennis teams prosper --------------------

By JOSH HAMBURGER Managing editor --------------------

COURTESY OF VANDERBILT ATHLETICS

The styles of leadership that both coaches pass onto their players is a key factor for the success of each team. Corbin focuses extensively on preparation before each game, but allows his players to dictate the flow of the game once the first pitch is thrown.

Although Corbin handles third base duties and pitching changes, senior infielder Tyler Campbell noted Corbin’s background presence during gameplay. “(Corbin’s) heavily involved before games,” he said. “He’ll give us signs from time to time, but I think a lot of people would be surprised how little he is involved during the actual game.”

Junior catcher Karl Ellison backed up Campbell’s assessment of Corbin during games. “(Corbin’s) main goal is to just let us have the field as our playground,” he said. “He wants us to have the reigns of that.”

That’s where Corbin and Macdonald differ. While Corbin focuses on training almost exclusively, Macdonald tailors his in-match coaching style to his players, much in part to the individuality of tennis.

“Sydney Campbell plays a different style than Astra Sharma, who plays different from Frances Altick,” Macdonald said. “Some players can be coached on court in very detailed, tactical ways, others it’s much more about reassuring them, calming them down and helping them, and it’s not as much informational as just being a good guide and a good coach on the side.”

In addition, both coaches eye to keep their players consistent and focused on their play and effort, but rarely if ever mention anything related to the “championship.”

Campbell said of Corbin: “He’ll give us reminders every once in awhile about where we want to be at the end of the season so that we are on the same page, not that we aren’t anyway, but every once in awhile it’s nice to hear that we need to get ready for a championship level of play.”

Macdonald utilizes a similar strategy, especially in keeping his team concerned with their level of competitiveness, not just the outcomes.

“We talk a lot about, you don’t go too high, when you win, and you don’t go too low when you lose,” he said. “It’s pretty even keeled. You also learn how to win. You learn how to play. And it becomes not so much the result as how did you compete. If you compete really well, you’ve won in a way.”

The length of both seasons can be taxing on the players, as tennis begins in January and baseball kicks off its season in February. To make it to the championship in both sports requires four months of intense competition, mainly against a loaded SEC conference. In women’s tennis, the SEC had sent one team to the championship in each year from 2010 to 2013, while there has been at least one SEC baseball team since 2008 in the College World Series final.

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at makes a champion Corbin encourages his players to live in the moment during the entirety of the season, despite the long season.

Instead of thinking too far ahead, the team’s demeanor is to take each game at a time and prepare with that mindset.

“You hear that about teams that they really focus on the moment, and they don’t talk about championships or playoffs or anything and you wonder if that’s the real deal or if that’s just something people try to emulate,” Campbell said. “At least here at Vanderbilt that’s something that’s been consistent since I showed up.”

Macdonald echoes the sentiment of the baseball team about not focusing on the endpoint. He explained that he matured as a coach in the 1990s at Duke following a season where he admitted that he thought about winning too much when the team had extremely high expectations. Since then, his focus isn’t solely on winning or dreaming of the championship title.

“I think I’ve gotten better at this as a coach, and I hope I’ve conveyed it to the team: Stay in the present moment, don’t dream too much about the future,” Macdonald said.

What really touched Macdonald the most about the championship was the way in which his players carried themselves, a testament to his leadership. Instead of letting the moment overwhelm them and skew their performance, they maintained a calm collectiveness throughout the five-plus hour match.

“I had a lot of coaching colleagues and friends there, and they said that in five hours, no one yelled, no one threw a racket, no one had body language,” Macdonald said. “And the number of good decisions was unbelievable to watch. So as a coach I felt a deep joy that the game was being played so well.”

Remembering the title, Macdonald was pleased with letting his players do their work without much interference.

“You look back and there was so much good fortune that went into it. There was luck, good fortune, a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat, but ultimately the team itself took over the whole process and did it,” he said. “We (coaches) did a good job of getting out of the way. Let the horses run, let the players play.”

THE TURNING POINTS

After finishing the tennis regular season with a 16-6 record, the Commodores placed second in the SEC, just one win behind Florida, a powerhouse with two titles in the previous five seasons. That overall performance earned the team a No. 9 national ranking heading into the SEC Tournament, which would ultimately become a turning point in the eyes of some of the players. They defeated No. 13 Alabama, No. 3 Florida and No. 6 Georgia in a row to take the SEC title in dominating fashion.

“It was just such a confidence boost,” Sharma said. “Everyone was super match tough by this time. We kind of knew deep down we could make it really far in NCAAs. At the time, I wasn’t sure if we could win it, but I definitely knew we could hang in there with the top teams for sure.”

Both tennis and baseball players noted the SEC Tournament as a turning point in the season, albeit for different reasons. With the tennis team surging after winning the conference tournament, the baseball team was knocked out early of the tournament and in need of a revival. They beat Tennessee in the first game, but fell to eventual winner No. 14 LSU and No. 16 Ole Miss in their next two matchups.

These points in the season when the teams recognized their ability to make a title run provided a crucial boost to put the teams in a higher gear.

“That was a moment we came together, and we had to really realize that if we keep on the path we’re at, we’re going to lose in the regional,” Reynolds said. “And we really turned it around from there.”

After this moment, senior tennis player Courtney Colton recognized how the team seemed to be in a good position, especially as the conference championship bumped them up into a better seed at the NCAA Tournament.

“When we got our draw at the NCAA Tournament, it seemed feasible, but you don’t really think about it until you actually had done it that it’s possible,” Colton said.

INTENSITY OF PLAYOFFS

After long, grueling regular seasons, the competition only increased for these teams in their respective championship years. They immediately jumped into the SEC tournaments and soon after the NCAA playoffs, where they played many consecutive games without much rest, if any.

The NCAA tournaments for both Commodore teams provided tough opponents, especially towards the latter rounds.

The tennis team battled No. 5 Florida, No. 1 USC (Southern Cal) and No. 7 UCLA in a three day span. The baseball team faced off against Louisville and UC-Irvine in back to back days, Texas twice in three days, and Virginia three times in three days. All four opponents would finish the season ranked in the top 8.

While so much is on the line in the playoffs, both teams recognized that these games and matches should not differ from any others played before. They should not act any differently, considering how they played before had worked well in the past. Maintaining the psyche of the regular season was crucial to performing so well in the postseason.

Getting used to the new setting was important for the Commodores once in the College World Series in order to adjust more smoothly.

“We try to get to the park in Omaha, we try to be on the field at least three or four times before the first game,” Reynolds said. “So (it feels like) again you’ve been there before, it’s not new, it’s not a new atmosphere.”

This familiarity is a vital first step to help calm the nerves of the players, as the stakes are raised and more viewers tune in to watch.

“The first team to relax wins,” junior catcher Karl Ellison said. “Just continue to remember what you did all year.”

Macdonald explained that the team maintained their regular routine and attitude even during the tense tournament.

“We were in Waco, Texas, and we were not talking about, ‘This is the quarterfinals, this is the match for the finals, this is the championship match,’” he said. “We didn’t do that, we followed the same routine we did all year.”

MAGICAL MOMENTS

Any great championship run requires at least a few magical moments to help lift the team. For baseball, two distinct ones stick out: the emergence of Tyler Campbell and John Norwood’s game winning home run.

With starting third baseman Xavier Turner suspended during the College World Series, Corbin penciled in Campbell to take his place against Texas. In his two year career, Campbell had just three starts and 31 at bats. However, he would soon prove to be the hero, earning a spot on the CWS All-Tournament Team.

In the second game against Texas with the bases loaded and two outs, Campbell grounded a ball towards the shortstop and beat out the throw at first by mere inches, scoring the clinching run. Then in game one of the finals, Campbell led all Commodores with two doubles in the third inning, three RBIs and one run from the number nine spot.

Although these moments were high-pressure, the minimally game experienced-Campbell didn’t let the intensity faze him.

“I think the whole idea is that you don’t have to do much adjusting once you do get in,” he said. “I think as a guy on the bench for most of the season you have a lot of emotional ups and downs... you try to replicate what our team is all about and that’s just staying in the middle emotionally as much as you can.”

With Game 3 tied 2-2 in the eighth inning, former outfielder John Norwood stepped into the batter’s box and launched a home run just over the left field wall. Not only was it just his third home run of the year, but it was Vanderbilt’s first in the College World Series and first in 40 days. The blast put

Vanderbilt ahead and all but sealed the deal.

“Everybody in the dugout just came shooting out of there,” Reynolds said. “Everybody was screaming. It was probably the coolest baseball moment I’ve ever had.”

While most Vanderbilt fans clearly remember these breakthrough moments, the tennis team too enjoyed its memorable moments.

In the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, the tennis team found themselves down 3-1 to Florida, on the verge of defeat. Altick then cut the lead to one point by handedly winning her singles match. Senior Ashleigh Antal, at No. 6 singles, then battled back from a set down to even up the match. That left the fate of the match to Sharma, who secured the Dores’ spot in the semifinals with a three set victory.

That wouldn’t be the last time that Sharma would seal the deal for Vanderbilt. She went on to win the clinching sets in the next two matches, including the final point of the season.

Over the course of those two matches, Vanderbilt added some impressive milestones. Against USC, the ‘Dores swept them 4-0, the first time Trojans had been shutout all season.

Then in the final, every starting Vanderbilt tennis player won at least one match in singles or doubles, a feat they accomplished in the SEC final as well.

THE TALENT

While coaching and impact moments may affect the course of a season, any discussion of these teams’ success can’t leave out the players’ talent. The Vandy Boys roster featured four first round picks, including Tyler Beede, Carson Fulmer, Walker Buehler and Dansby Swanson along with current highly touted draft prospects Bryan Reynolds and Ben Bowden. Meanwhile, five of the six singles players for the tennis team were ranked in the ITA top 125, highlighted by All-American No. 8 Sydney Campbell. In addition two of the three doubles team ranked in the top 20 in the nation, including No. 18 Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma.

Building up these championship teams was years in the making, as the recruiting efforts have been a top priority in both sports. In both 2011 and 2012, Corbin bought in the top recruiting class in the nation, according to Baseball America.

The classes from these years made up the bulk of the team’s championship starters. While tennis hasn’t brought in the top recruiting class, they still added the No. 4 class in 2012 and No. 20 class in 2013, according to Tennis Recruiting Network, to build a competitive roster.

LOOKING AHEAD

After winning the championship, players on both teams understood the expectations that many would have for them for the subsequent season. They admitted to recognizing that the pressure to repeat may be around them, yet they try to block any of this added anxiety.

“We know that there’s a target on our back,” Ellison said.

“There’s no ‘we gotta do this again,’ just we’re going to be the best we can.”

Altick noted how different it feels to essentially field the same team, yet carry such a different expectation from the previous year.

“I feel like we always have an underdog mindset as a team,” she said. “It feels weird to have the one (ranking) next to our name.”

Now, flags adorn the perimeter of Hawkins Field, and a large banner hangs proudly on the outside wall of the tennis courts commemorating their championships. These displays remind fans of the accomplishments of both teams, but the players and coaches alike don’t reflect on these moments.

“The year before is history,” Reynolds said. “You know, that’s over and done with, and that doesn’t really shape who you are this year.”

Macdonald agreed.

“Obviously we would love to repeat (but) I’ve been pleased that they haven’t felt enormous pressure,” he said.

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opinion Don’t forget your ‘second-tier friends’

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The people who influence you the most aren’t the ones closest to you

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DANIEL WEITZ is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at daniel.r.weitz@ vanderbilt.edu.

here are 37 more days until Commencement. Only 37 more days for seniors to call this campus their home. After that we’ll be going out into the real world, working long hours or studying in various graduate programs. We will have to start budgeting, paying for rent and utilities (unless you make the smart decision and move in with your parents for some time) and maintaining strict calendars that will most likely severely cut into our social lives. And while all of this may be scary, what is more intimidating, and perhaps even more stressful than finding a job, is figuring out our relationships with our friends.

While getting coffee with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago, we were discussing what we would and wouldn’t miss about being undergraduates. We discussed the typical eagerness to get away from Rand food and dealing with the overrated social tiers that permeate throughout all of campus. However, the aspect of graduating that we both agreed would be the hardest was leaving friends and how hard it will be to remain in contact with some of them. We all need to remember that it is the “second level” of friends — not our best friends but those whom we love to run into walking across campus — who will be the most missed.

It’s the friends whom you don’t deliberately make time to see, those who pop up at a party or on your newsfeed from time to time, whom you wave at across Alumni Lawn that will be some of the hardest to say goodbye to. They are not the ones who you will deliberately seek out to maintain a friendship with after we leave here in a little over a month, but will slowly become faces and names that we see on Facebook and maybe run into at homecoming. And while you maybe haven’t made it a priority to spend the most time

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

with these people, they have helped you grow over your time here.

For me, those people are the ones who most challenged my beliefs and ideology, forcing me to reconsider my viewpoints on issues both on and off campus. These were the people who I became friends with through studying for tests that led to entertaining 3 a.m. discussions on the subject material or even on current events around the world. Rather than my closest friends — who I have found hold similar views to me on most issues — the “second tier friends” were the ones who helped fully shape my college experience. I light up when I see them around campus and at different events. I know that I will always be influenced by what I learned from them throughout these four years and I hope that they also learned from me.

Looking back at my college experience, there have been so many people who helped me become who I am today, for better or worse. As I wind down and prepare for the next step in my life, I know that there will be many more who also help me grow, continue to challenge me and force me from my comfort zone. So, with only 37 more days to really live it up in this amazing city, I will also be reaching out to these friends while we are still in the same place. I challenge everyone to really think about who they will stay in contact with in the future and to try and stay in touch with those “second tier friends.” After all, they may end up being some of the most influential people in your life. And lastly, to the underclassmen, live it up. College — and senior year especially — flies by way too quickly and before you know it, it’s time to move on.

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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 challenge everyone to really think about who they will stay in contact with in the future and to try and stay in touch with those ‘second tier friends.’

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Advocate for confidential resources beyond Vanderbilt

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Use your vote to influence the next president’s sexual assault policies

KAIT SPEAR

is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at kaitlin.p.spear@ vanderbilt.edu.

want to report. For example, she argues that as president she will “fight to make sure every campus offers every survivor the support [they need] and will make sure those services are comprehensive, confidential and coordinated.”

This confidentiality policy is something that has dominated recent campus discourse, especially considering the provost’s recent announcement that the Project Safe Center will be partially confidential, starting in Fall 2016. Given that this policy change was largely prompted by student advocacy, it is easy to see how all of the Democratic hopefuls (and the Republicans as well) have quite a bit to learn from Vanderbilt students. We know that promoting private resources over confidential resources and demanding police intervention (which is what Sanders and O’Malley support) not only contradicts current White House recommendations, but also creates a toxic environment for

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s Vanderbilt heads into Sexual Assault Awareness Week, which the Project Safe Center has scheduled for April 11-15, I’m filled with pride at what our university has accomplished. We not only have a stand-alone center dedicated to prevention, education and support around sexual assault, but that center will become partially confidential in Fall 2016.

We have countless student organizations that have spent years creating programming around the issue of sexual assault, and we have a strong, policy-oriented student government committee devoted to preventing sexual assault. Our student body is active and committed.

Although this is a time for reflection and celebration, this is also a time to look beyond Vanderbilt. As this is an election season, we have the unique opportunity to influence how our future president might organize around the hotbutton issue of campus sexual assault. The topic was carefully considered at the Black and Brown Forum for Democratic presidential candidates in early January at Drake University. This forum allowed each of the three democratic candidates (Martin O’Malley hadn’t yet suspended his campaign) to address pertinent issues outside of the structure of a debate and covered topics related to diversity and inclusion.

Much of O’Malley’s guided discussion focused on sexual assault on college campuses, and although he has since suspended his campaign, his responses went largely unchallenged in the media or by his peers. O’Malley, similarly to Bernie Sanders, but to some degree unlike Hillary Clinton, believes in the promotion of mandated reporting and police intervention. However, for students, mandated reporting and police intervention may only prolong and publicize the painful judicial process. In addition, O’Malley referenced the Obama administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign and “The Hunting Ground” film before agreeing that educational institutions should, in fact, be fined for not rerouting sexual misconduct investigations through local police systems — a radical view for a politician.

At the same forum, Sanders declared, “if a student rapes a fellow student, that has got to be understood to be a very serious crime. It has got to get outside of the school and have a police investigation … Too many schools now are seeing this as, ‘Well it’s a student issue, let’s deal with it.’ I disagree with that.”

While Clinton did not address campus sexual assault at the Black and Brown Forum, as early as September of 2015, she unveiled a three-pronged plan to combat sexual assault on college campuses. She spoke of providing comprehensive support to survivors, ensuring a fair process for all and increasing prevention efforts. Clinton, at the very least, publicly promotes the necessity of allowing individuals to choose how and when they

Our hard-won victories and our networks of support are at stake if we do not closely critique our presidential candidates’ policies.

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students who have experienced sexual misconduct. However, if presidential candidates move forward with an emphasis on private resources, potentially undoing the hard work of student activists on Vanderbilt’s campus, the importance of confidential, university-housed resources will be haphazardly ignored.

There are many benefits to reporting through schools instead of, or in addition to, local police systems, including access to fast dorm changes,

the option to have a stay-away order immediately instated (whereas external restraining orders are nearly impossible to obtain in a timely manner), administrative intervention in coursework deadlines, etc. Most universities’ disciplinary systems, despite criticism regarding their lengthy proceedings, are also organized to address alleged violations much more quickly than the judicial system.

At this time when we can watch a member of the Vanderbilt community experience a very public rape trial, it is more than clear that the judicial route can be a lengthy and intrusive process. The Vanderbilt rape case has arguably lasted from the night of the incident in June 2013 (the Metro police got involved mere days later), past the original conviction date well over one year ago, and again into this week as Corey Batey is being retried starting Monday, April 4. The remaining three defendants must still go through the judicial process, which can only mean more time and exposure for the victim. Despite this exhausting process, the initial trial of this Vanderbilt case is a rarity, as two of the four suspects were actually convicted the first time around. According to RAINN, “Only 3 out of every 100 rapists will ever spend even a single day in prison.” For presidential candidates to expect a college student to undergo an investigation and trial which could take upwards of two, three or even four years and which will most likely result in absolutely no conviction is naïve.

To force students into such a situation by way of mandated reporting procedures, however, is simply cruel. No one is happy to enter into a long, invasive, expensive criminal investigation, but the people who do so voluntarily and at a time when they choose are more prepared and likely to cooperate than those who are thrust into it. To make campus resources private rather than confidential is to limit the programming that such a center can offer, and to hold hostage the resources that students need unless they are willing to sacrifice their right to privacy. The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault sums this up eloquently: “If victims don’t have a confidential place to go, or think a school will launch a fullscale investigation against their wishes, many will stay silent.”

Our hard-won victories and our networks of support are at stake if we do not closely critique our presidential candidates’ policies. Every college campus faces a threat to the well-being of survivors should sexual misconduct investigations be rerouted through local police systems.

Vanderbilt, in particular, should be concerned that the promise of a well-staffed and accessible sexual misconduct education and prevention center could be squandered for the sake of a platform point. Pay attention to our candidates, Vanderbilt. Pay attention, and vote.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016

life

GO DO

THIS

Vanderbilt Off-Broadway Presents: Avenue Q

Sarratt Cinema; Thursday, April 7 – Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m.

VOB describes their second show as “Sesame Street meets Cards Against Humanity.” The Tony awardwinning musical is a comedic coming-of-age story that features both live actors and puppets (hence the “Sesame Street”). Tickets are free for undergraduates for all four shows.

10 Questions with Cristah Artrip you want going into the military. It actually affects your career. There are more strict consequences, but it’s also a really good outlet to get feedback.

Courtesy of Cristah Artrip

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

Meet Cristah Artrip, a pre-med, Army ROTC cadet who is the first-ever sophomore vice president of Vanderbilt’s Programming Board. When you can’t find her doing 6 a.m. physical training sessions, she’s chatting about international affairs in McTyeire Hall, conducting sociology research or assisting Vanderbilt’s Institute of Imaging Science.

The Hustler chats with Artrip about her incredibly organized schedule, what it’s like to be a female in the Army ROTC program and her plans for what lies beyond graduation.

Vanderbilt Hustler: You are the first-ever sophomore VPB Vice President. What does this role mean to you?

Cristah Artrip: I’m more of a big picture person, so I think it’s really unique and exciting in the sense that we get to establish a vision and see it implemented longer than just one year. As far as establishing relationships, one of my biggest goals is to increase conversation between the big student organizations. Programming on campus at Vanderbilt is a whirlwind — so many different orgs planning so many different events. So there’s never going to be an event each night. We don’t want that. But how can we actually have conversations that are meaningful and collaborate in ways that one, produce an even greater sense of community and two, we’re not standing on one another’s toes.

VH: Is the goal to be the president of VPB next year?

CA: I don’t know yet. We’ll see. Especially with pre-med stuff… and Army stuff becomes more and more involved. And so senior year I have no idea what that looks like yet. I kind of take it day by day and if we get there and if I love VPB in this role, then sure. You know it’s okay to step down, too.

VH: What initially interested you in ROTC? CA: In high school, I wanted to apply to military academies but scared myself out of it. I was like, you know, ‘Military is no place for a girl,’ so I didn’t apply. I started looking at the program just as a way to establish discipline and a routine schedule — a very routine schedule is what I thrive under.

Coming to Vanderbilt I kind of walked into the Army ROTC office and said, ‘Hey, this is something I’d like to do,’ and kind of signed up as a walk-on. I wasn’t recruited. But since then, it’s really had a big role in shaping dayto-day scheduling. I wake up for PT (physical training) three days a week, so I’m up by 5:30, because PT’s from 6-7. It’s easier to have a loose schedule around that time, so I wake up early most days and sleep in maybe one day.

As far as what it has done for me in college, it’s been a challenge to balance because what the Army and pre-med want don’t always line up. But, at the same time I’ve learned a lot from a lot of different people.

What’s special about Army ROTC at Vanderbilt is that you can meet a lot of people from multiple schools in the Nashville area, outside of the Vanderbilt bubble. We have students from Vanderbilt, Belmont, Fisk, TSU, Trevecca and Lipscomb.

VH: You’ve mentioned that what pre-med wants isn’t always what the Army wants. Is there one that takes precedence?

CA: It’s a give and take... depends on which dog you feed, really. Do I think that being in the Army affects my GPA? Definitely.

And numbers-wise I may not add up to the person beside me, but as far as experiencewise, the things I’ve done throughout my college career, I think that’s for me a really vital part of my experience. I would say that Army ROTC gives me a very different type of leadership than other outlets on campus.

VH: What is the ROTC lifestyle like?

So we have PT three times a week, have class on Thursday in the ROTC building, and then we have ROTC lab. It depends. This week is an awards ceremony. Some weeks we run a simulated mission, other weeks it might be a uniform inspection. It’s just a time for us to come together as a battalion and not as a specific class. So my class is just specific sophomores. In my class there are about 14, and in my battalion there are 46.

[For genders] it’s about half girls, half guys.

VH: What kinds of different leadership do you experience in ROTC? CA: I feel like in other leadership roles on campus, it’s very easy to do poorly and get away with it. And that’s not the case in ROTC. You are bound, by contract, and you have to follow through. Your performance is evaluated. In another student org on campus, if you get a role and suck at it, your peers will know, but the line on the resume is still the same. Whereas in the Army and your leadership abilities, your actions fall onto you and your potential to get the branch

VH: How do you respond to people who might say, “Girls don’t belong in the military?”

CA: I think it’s like anything. You find your place, you make things work, you do what you want to do. Our battalion is an exception that it is 50-50. We just happen to have a lot of nursing majors. That just happens to be a very direct path in the Army. You get a nursing scholarship, you are guaranteed a spot in the nursing branch. Whereas with a STEM scholarship, I’m not guaranteed a specific branch.

As far as ‘do girls have a place in a mili-

tary’: If that’s something you want to do, go for it. But at the same time, you just have to be self-aware. And you have to love it.

VH: How does it all work, getting a medical degree and serving? Getting into a branch in ROTC? CA: It’s scary. Basically with my contract, going into your senior year you preference what branches you want to be in. And there are 16 branches available to entry-level officers. Instead, what I’ll pref is educational delay. As soon as I get that acceptance letter in my hand from med school, I take that back to the Army and say I want to go to med school. And the cool thing is that there is a very good chance that they’ll pay for med school. But I’ll also owe more years.

When it’s all said and done, depending on the track you choose, you might [incur more years of service] in the Army, but you are also going to be debt-free. So I think if I go undergrad and grad, I’ll owe eight years after [a military] residency … [the residency years] count towards retirement, but not towards payback. So once you finish the eight years that you owe, you’ve really been in the military 12 years. You’re still learning how to be whatever speciality you could be. It’s just a track, just a different way to look at things.

VH: What is it like to live in McTyeire?

CA: I live on the McTyeire International Hall, a very small community but definitely a special one. We discuss global topics in English at dinner four nights a week, ranging from what you foresee in a new government in Myanmar, to do you think China should censor types of TV shows, to why don’t Snickerdoodles have Snickers in them... any conversation you could think of, we’ve probably had at the dinner table.

VH: What should the world know about you?

CA: I don’t do it alone. Nobody does. I think that’s the biggest part of being a student, and wearing different hats and roles.

It’s okay to ask for help. I think the bestkept secret on Vandy’s campus is the PCC. I actually go for time management. Every two weeks I go hash out how to spend my time, how to maximize my grades and everything else. I think that it’s interesting to see how other people perceive you, versus how you balance things within yourself. And it’s okay to ask for help and to admit to others that you’re struggling, or that you’re unsure about something. I think that’s the biggest part of engaging in Vanderbilt’s community … it’s much better to be vulnerable and open to new ideas and experiences. That’s the biggest takeaway for me.

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The deep cuts of RVU Records

Five things you didn’t know about Vandy’s independent recording studio

By Sara Ernst, Life reporter

2016 is a historically unique time for musicianship. Digital spaces such as SoundCloud, Bandcamp, YouTube and Instagram have forged and founded online communities for independent self-starters to distribute their music to a virtually limitless audience. The easy accessibility of once esoteric technology such as cameras, microphones and editing software are now, quite literally, in the palm of your hand with the iPhone. These low barriers to entry can allow for nearly anyone to become a music producer, making amateurism the new wave of artistry. RVU Records, Vanderbilt’s record label and recording studio started in 2013, has taken this notion of amateurism to the next level.

“We’re an intro studio,” says William Podolak, student director of RVU Records “It’s like minor versus major league baseball. It’s good experience for people to come in and be behind the mic and have someone producing them. It’s very much like the real world.”

Here is a quick rundown of the Vanderbilt’s own RVU Records:

1. MUSICIAN PAIRING PROGRAM RVU Records’ Musician Pairing Program, the loudest and proudest function of the studio, works to connect songwriters with full bands to produce rich and vibrant tracks, mimicking the professional studio experience. The pairing process first begins with a demo recorded by the songwriter, which serves as the benchmark to link the artist’s sound with the best matched band. The studio looks to cut fully produced records, involving many parts of the production process instead of the bare bones sound of a lone singer-songwriter. This has been the program’s most successful year, putting together four new bands and producing their first singles. ”[We want] to catalog and unify the music scene at Vanderbilt,” Podolak said, “creating a network of musicians on campus.”

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2. COMPLETELY STUDENT-RUN RVU Records is part of Vandy student media.

Every part of the production process is run for and

by Vanderbilt students. Trainees undergo shadowing sessions guided by experienced student staff, in which they learn the ins and outs of the equipment and software. They receive instruction in Pro Tools, microphones, mixers, midi cables and more, all while recording live at a real studio session.

3. STARSTRUCK IN THE STUDIO Local Nashville and campus-wide musical celebrities have recorded in the insulated walls of RVU Records. Rites of Spring 2015 artist Daniel Ellsworth and the Great Lakes recorded a portion of their set before the festival performance, including tracks such as “Phantom” and “Sun Goes Out.” Other notable Nashville/Vanderbilt artists include Future Thieves, Ted Moock, The Candid, Space is Huge and more.

4. ANNUAL COMPILATION ALBUM At the end of spring semester, RVU Records releases an annual compilation album called “West End Blend” showcasing the highlights and hard work of the past year. West End Blend Vol. 3 will exclusively feature Vanderbilt originals by the four newly matched bands, as well as other student recording artists, including Rites of Spring performers The Candid.

5. PARTYING WITH RVU RECORDS RVU Records is hosting an album release party for West End Blend Vol. 3 on Tuesday, April 12 at 8 p.m. in the SLC Ballroom, open to all students. Expect free food, album copies and live performances by album artists!

Month in Music: April

To help end the year on a musical high note, the Hustler highlights five concerts to check out before leaving Nashville for the summer. By Jack Sentell, Assistant life editor THE KILLS, APRIL 7 – EXIT/IN Before Alison Mosshart helped cement garage-blues rock in Nashville alongside Jack White in The Dead Weather, she and British guitarist Jamie Hince formed the indie rock duo The Kills. The group released a string of acclaimed albums — most recently 2011’s “Blood Pressures” — but has been largely silent since then. Mosshart kept busy with The Dead Weather, while Hince was forced to re-teach himself guitar after a serious hand injury. Now, the two are gearing up to release a new album, “Ash & Ice,” this June, and Exit/In is the perfect venue to show off their new tracks. Must Listen: “Doing It To Death” MUMFORD & SONS, APRIL 15 – BRIDGESTONE ARENA If the party music of Rites isn’t your speed, Mumford & Sons is not a bad alternative. The folk-rockers are touring in support of 2015’s “Wilder Mind,” which saw the band plugging in their guitars and placing less emphasis on the “folk” and more on the “rock.” The British four-piece was last near Music City in the summer when they performed at Bonnaroo after having canceled from the festival two years prior. Official tickets for the Bridgestone show are sold out, although they can be found through third-party vendors. Must Listen: “Wilder Mind”

ALABAMA SHAKES, APRIL 21 – ASCEND AMPHITHEATER Alabama Shakes have already started 2016 on a high note.

The blues-rockers from Athens, Alabama took home three Grammys at this year’s ceremony, including Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and Best Alternative Music Album for their sophomore LP “Sound & Color.” Listening to some laidback Southern blues on the bank of the Cumberland River?

Not a bad way to experience a little bit of Nashville summer before the end of finals. Must Listen: “Gimme All Your Love” THE STRUTS, APRIL 26 – MERCY LOUNGE The Struts are one of a few current bands that seem to blur decades together. On one hand, the band is rooted in the powerful glam rock of the ‘70s and ‘80s, yet at the same time, they seem poised to make a run at the country’s alternative charts.

The group’s latest single from their debut album, “Kiss This,” broke into the top 25 of Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart just this week. Mercy Lounge will be a great opportunity to catch a glimpse into both the past and future of rock ‘n’ roll.

Must Listen: “Kiss This”

NEIL YOUNG AND PROMISE OF THE REAL, APRIL 28 – ASCEND AMPHITHEATER Neil Young’s legend comes both from his songwriting and his willingness to unabashedly speak his mind. He merged those two characteristics on his most recent release, 2015’s “The Monsanto Years,” a concept album that found Young criticizing the unethical business practices of the agricultural company Monsanto. Young cut the record with Lukas and Micah Nelson (sons of country singer Willie Nelson), as well as Lukas’ band Promise of the Real. While Young’s setlist is often as unpredictable as the man himself, the show at Ascend — which includes very special guest Steve Earle — will be a master class in songwriting. Must Listen: “A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop” COURTESY OF JOEL BERNSTEIN

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Asian New Year Festival’s Chinese Ribbon and Fan dance was performed at last weekend’s InVUsion cultural performance showcase on Alumni Lawn.