The Commonwealth Times; Nov. 13, 2019

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VOL. 61, NO. 13 NOVEMBER 13, 2019

‘KEEP GRINDING’ Sophomore guard KeShawn Curry logged 12 minutes against North Texas. Photo by Jon Mirador NEWS

See BASKETBALL PREVIEW on page 5

Annual crime report shows increase in student referrals for drugs, alcohol HANNAH EASON News Editor

Former VCU coach Will Wade made two NCAA tournament appearances at VCU. CT file photo

Now a foe, former coach returns to Siegel Center NOAH FLEISCHMAN Sports Editor When No. 23 LSU takes the floor Wednesday night at the Siegel Center, a few men’s basketball players will notice a familiar face at the helm of the Tigers: coach Will Wade.

Wade, who coached the Rams from 2015-2017, is returning to Broad Street for the first time since leaving for Baton Rouge.

Three players on the Rams’ roster during the 2016-17 season remain

from Wade’s tenure: senior guards De’Riante Jenkins and Malik Crowfield, and redshirt-senior Issac Vann.

Wade recruited junior forward Marcus Santos-Silva to Richmond before his departure.

“You don’t like playing familiar foes all the time or familiar faces all the time,” Wade said in a press conference Monday at LSU. “But, that’s how it goes in college basketball.”

See WADE on page 5

What started as a party in his Rhoads dorm room ended with the cops banging on his door because of a noise complaint.

After telling an officer that he drank one beer, Brian was given a court summons and a student conduct referral.

Brian, who asked to remain anonymous to speak openly about his experience, was charged with drinking underage in a dorm during his freshman year.

“I was told that if I had one more mess up, then I would have been kicked out at VCU,” said Brian, who was on VCU probation for a year and was “hesitant to go out afterward.”

The number of student referrals for drug and alcohol offenses increased between 2017 and 2018 while arrests went down, according to the VCU Annual Security Report released earlier this semester.

Liquor law referrals went up slightly on campus and in residential facilities.

On Monroe Park campus, there was an increase from 97 to 118 referrals on campus, and all but one were in residential facilities. Drug abuse referrals had a larger increase, from 44 on campus in 2017 to 111 on campus in 2018. Almost all occurred in residential facilities.

Brian, who is a junior psychology major, said he was more angry at himself throughout the process than anything.

He remembered his dad telling him, “you better not make all this tuition money be for nothing.”

I was told that if I had one more mess up, then I would have been kicked out at VCU.” Brian, VCU student “Being put on probation really didn’t hit home like my dad telling me to not like mess this shit up,” Brian said.

Police do not process student referrals, but every student who is arrested goes through a conduct process through the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity. A liquor law arrest is considered any possession of an open container of alcohol, underage possession of alcohol or possession of alcohol by an interdicted person. Under Virginia statue, an interdicted person is one who is considered to be a “habitual drunkard.”

Drug abuse arrests, which include citations for paraphernalia, went down on campus and on public property but increased slightly in residential housing.

See REFERRALS on page 3

2 The Commonwealth Times

Stories of the week

national: The country’s largest milk producer, Dean Foods, is filing for bankruptcy. The company told CNN it blames sale declines on the decreased popularity of the “conventional white milk category.” international: Following weeks of protest, former Bolivian president Evo Morales has been given politcal asylum in Mexico following his resignation earlier this week.

State grant to replicate VCU recovery program

KATIE HOLLOWELL Contributing Writer

Giving those in need a “safe place” is the most important aspect of developing substance use recovery programs, said Rams in Recovery members as it was announced their program would be modeled at eight Virginia colleges beginning this year, thanks to $675,000 in grant money.

VCU’s Rams in Recovery is being allocated more state funding due to the opioid epidemic. About 1,500 people died last year from drug overdoses in Virginia according to the Virginia Department of Health. Addiction and the opioid epidemic have become the state’s largest challenges, Gov. Ralph Northam told the Richmond-Times Dispatch.

The grant will cover two years of support through site visits, daylong retreats and monthly calls “to help implement programming and outreach strategies and coordinate on-campus services,” according to a VCU news release.

VCU’s Rams in Recovery received the grant money from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. It was first announced by Northam on Oct. 31.

“Young people who are often living away from home for the first time can be particularly vulnerable, and college campuses can be difficult places if you’re trying to avoid drinking or using substances,” Northam said in a news release. “Collegiate recov-

Rams in Recovery program coordinator Tom Bannard spoke about the $675,000 grant, which will develop recovery programs at eight Virginia colleges, at the governor’s mansion. Photo courtesy of Lauren Powell ery programs provide critical resources to help students in recovery have a successful college experience and give them the tools they need to be healthy and thriving well beyond graduation.”

The eight other schools that will receive a portion of the grant money and mentorship from Rams in Recovery staffers for the next two years are Longwood University, Radford University, University of Mary Washington, University of Richmond, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Union University, and Washington and Lee University.

Rams in Recovery hired an assistant program coordinator, Lauren Powell, with the grant in order to maintain consistent

support for Rams in Recovery members, since program coordinator Tom Bannard will be traveling frequently to mentor colleges across the state.

Powell said Rams in Recovery hopes to continue increasing its accessibility by considering intersectionality and underrepresented populations, such as racial minorities.

The grant will include ally trainings across the state for people who want better knowledge about what to say and do to help a person in recovery.

“Just a little tweak of language here and there, like ‘person in recovery,’ rather than ‘addict’ or ‘alcoholic,’” Powell said. “If this new language helps people talk about it and say look, ‘I’m recovering’ and gets the conversation going, it’s a definite impactful way to be on the front lines of trying to stop this awful epidemic that’s happening with opioids and addiction in general.”

Rams in Recovery member and social work major Shauntelle Hammond said

having the recovery support at the on-campus house helped her.

“That’s a very big thing for myself personally is having that recovery support,” Hammond said. “Having a community, being able to go to meetings on campus and in between classes with having a safe place to go when I need some help.”

Hammond says every person in recovery has different needs, which will depend on each college. She said it would be difficult for Rams in Recovery to replicate everything, and different programs would be more beneficial depending on the campus.

There is a constant need for naloxone training courses in every college recovery program, Hammond said. That way, people are aware of opioid overdoses and how to reverse them. “[It’s important to] have people prepared, to help them react in that situation if they need to,” Hammond said.

Left, the Free Hot Coffee Bike made an appearance at the governor’s mansion when the Rams in Recovery grant was annouced. The project was started by artist John Freyer and Rams in Recovery to provide an outlet for conversation about addiction and recovery. Right, Pam Northam poses with DeVo’na Spencer, a recovery ally with Rams in Recovery.

Photos courtesy of Lauren Powell

Wed. November 13, 2019 3

REFERRALS

Spike in on-campus students may have caused increase in drug, alcohol referrals in 2017-2018 crime report Continued from front page In 2018, out of 165 drug abuse arrests, 88 were on campus. Of those 88 arrests, 75 were in on-campus housing.

When GRC Phases I and II reopened in August 2018, the number of on-campus, first-year students increased by almost 1,500.

We’re kind of looking at GRC reopening, increasing that population of oncampus students. So we believe that that is what that number is tied to.”

Corey Byers, VCU police spokeswoman “We’re kind of looking at GRC reopening, increasing that population of on-campus students,” said VCU police spokeswoman Corey Byers. “So we believe that that is what that number is tied to.”

Byers said the numbers are not double counted, and if a student receives an arrest and a referral, they would only be counted as an arrest in the crime report numbers.

VCU has a zero-tolerance policy against

alcohol, which VCU Police Captain Jonathan Siok says is largely to prevent sexual assault and alcohol poisoning.

“It’s not because we want to come out here and arrest students or anything like that,” Siok said. “Honestly, most of our officers don’t want to do that anyway. We know that it can affect their academic career.”

VCU Police operates in concurrent jurisdiction with Richmond Police, which means both forces can make arrests on campus.

“Since we have such a great relationship with the city, a lot of times when they come in contact with a student, they call us,” Siok The increase in drug and alcohol referrals was likely due to the increase in students after GRC said. “Now that’s not just in reopened, according to VCU Police spokeswoman Corey Byers. Photos by Jon Mirador our jurisdiction, but maybe outside just a little bit since we’ve expanded Student Conduct decides punishments On the MCV campus, liquor law arrests our jurisdiction, into more of an internal — which can range from censure to expul- and referrals saw almost no change. In 2018, jurisdiction.” sion — on a case by case basis. Belanger there were fewer than 10 liquor law arrests Karen Belanger, director of student con- says when dealing with drugs and alcohol, and referrals combined. duct and academic integrity, said much of this can include variables like quantity, beThere were six drug abuse referrals at the student conduct process is meant to havior at the time of arrest, the type of drug MCV in 2018, all of which occurred in be educational. and if there was an intent to distribute. residential facilities. There was a decrease “Disciplinary probation at the university “Students are entitled to due process. So in drug abuse arrests between 2017 and is very different than criminal probation,” just because somebody is documented in a 2018, from 90 to 59, including arrests in Belanger said. “We’re not applying super- report either by a staff member or the uni- MCV hospitals. vision to the probation, we’re not applying versity police doesn’t necessarily mean that Numbers listed in the VCU Annual drug testing to probation. It’s not moni- they violated the policy,” Belanger said. “So Crime Report do not include public intoxtored in the same way the courts may with we don’t go into the conversation assuming ication or DUIs. a student.” that they have.”

Schools discipline black students more often, Virginia study finds KATHARINE DEROSA Contributing Writer

VCU sociology professor Travis Williams said he believes institutional racism plays a role in these findings, and that they A recent study found that black children were consistent with other reports he had in Virginia are disproportionately charged read from across the country. with disorderly conduct in schools when “I would say it doesn’t surprise me,” compared to their white counterparts.

Williams said. “It’s definitely kind of The report from the Legal Aid Justice bewildering and upsetting. I do think Center, which has offices across Virginia, that it’s for a lot of different complicatfound that the law is often brought down ed reasons that result in institutionally upon school children who do something to unequal outcomes.” disturb the peace of a school day — whether it was intentional or not.

According to the report, actions such as interrupting class qualify as disorderly conduct and have the potential to lead to punishments such as curfew, monetary fines, My students have told community service and occasionally time in me that in high schools, a juvenile detention center. black girls were more The report defines disorderly conduct as “vague, overbroad, catch-all law that crimilikely to be targeted nalizes low-level public disruption that does as being dressed not rise to the level of physical harm, propinappropriately.” erty damage, or even threat,” and asserts that the law is consistently used against Travis Williams, minority groups. sociology professor The report on the study was compiled

by Amy Woolard, Rachael Deane and Shannon Ellis.

The report found that black girls in “We gathered data from the Virginia particular were subject to charges of disDepartment of Juvenile Justice on Disor- orderly conduct in class. The number of derly Conduct complaints and data from black girls charged with disorderly conthe Virginia Department of Education duct increased by 60% between 2016 on student membership counts,” Woolard and 2019. said in an email, “all disaggregated by race “I’ve heard that black girls are often perand gender.” ceived to be older and physically stronger The report stated that between 2016 and than their white counterparts, whether that 2019, black students accounted for 22% of is or is not true,” Williams said. the school population in Virginia, but on Williams also spoke of interactions with average received 62% of the school-based black female students who shared their high disorderly conduct criminal complaints. school experiences with him.

Misconduct from black and white students, 2016 - 2019

“My students have told me that in high schools, 100% black girls were more likely to be targeted as being dressed inappropriately,” Williams said. “They said 80% that there were other girls in the schools dressed similarly, who were not targeted as quickly or directly.”

60% The increase in disorderly conduct charges against young black women was noticed by Monique Mor40% ris, an author and filmmaker who recently published a documentary titled, “Pushout: The Criminalization of 20% Black Girls in Schools.”

In an interview with Style Weekly, Morris said black girls are often target0% ed for their hairstyles, speBLACK WHITE cifically for wearing headSTUDENTS STUDENTS scarves in schools, which takes away their bodily Overall Student Population autonomy.

School-based Disorderly Complaints “Look at the control and regulation of hair,” she said, All School-based Complaints “Girls are being told they can’t be who they are. It’s Information compiled Infographic by Andrew Caress

by Katharine DeRosa not even about a threat they could pose to the learning environment.” in two-thirds of the cases. The report conThese charges of misconduct are not spe- tends that this sends children to court at a cific to adolescence; the report found that young age and has the potential to harm 19% of the charges were filed against chil- these children in the future if they ever end dren ages 13 and younger. up in court again.

According to the report, disorderly conduct charges can lead to court involvement, The full report from the Legal Aid Justice with disorderly conduct as the sole charge Center can be found at justice4all.org.

4 The Commonwealth Times

Homecoming recognition ‘more than just a crown’ CHRISTINE AMANO DOLAN Contributing Writer QUEEN After a week of anticipation, the name “Jalia Jeffreys” rang through the Siegel Center’s speakers on Friday evening. As she waved to the crowd and a Homecoming Queen sash was placed over her shoulder, Jeffreys said she was overjoyed and stunned.

“I was nervous,” Jeffreys said, “but I wasn’t really focused on winning throughout the whole campaign. I just wanted to just enjoy myself and make this experience enjoyable for everyone else around me.”

As the newly crowned queen, Jeffreys returns to her busy schedule as a health, physical education and exercise science major. Originally from South Boston, Virginia, Jeffreys says she was initially drawn to VCU by its exceptional medical program and dynamic city life. “[South Boston] is a very small area. Everyone knows everyone, your parents went to the same high school as you,” Jeffreys said. “In Richmond, it’s very diverse and has lots of different sites to see, and you never meet the same person twice.”

As both her father and aunt are involved in the medical field, she always knew she wanted to pursue a similar career. After aiding in her grandmother’s recovery for two knee replacement surgeries, she found her passion for occupational therapy.

After interning at a rehabilitation center over the summer, Jeffreys plans to take a year away from studies to work at another rehabilitation center post-graduation.

“My overall goal is to get accepted into an occupational therapy program and become an occupational therapist,” Jeffreys said.

Outside of her studies, Jeffreys says she finds ways to stay involved on campus.

She uses her dancing and cheerleading skills that she learned in high school as a

Left, Homecoming Queen Jalia Jeffreys sports her crown on campus. The health, physical education and exercise science major hopes to become an occupational therapist. Right, Homecoming King Spencer Vincent is an interdisciplinary studies major in charge of new member presentations for fraternity Eta Xi. Photos by Raelyn Fines member of the newly founded Elite Rams Stomp N Shake team. Jeffreys says the organization focuses more on the movement — rather than the competitiveness — of cheerleading. She is also a member of the pre-occupational therapy club.

As she prepares for her pending graduation in the spring, Jeffreys says she looks back on past Homecoming week events with fond memories.

“For me, I wasn’t very outgoing. I was afraid to get out there and try something new,” Jeffreys said. “It helps you get out of your comfort zone, form new friendships and create a new ‘RAMily’ to stay connected with others.”

KING Amid a crowd of roaring Rams fans, Spencer Vincent waited along with the

rest of the Homecoming Court for the halftime mark. Vincent, after anxiously waiting for the results during Friday’s basketball game, said he was happily surprised to be announced as the 2019 Homecoming King.

He felt nervous. After a long week of fun activities including lip-syncing, social media challenges and other campaigning activities, it was a “toss-up” of who would claim the crown.

Vincent says Homecoming week was more than just a crown to him. He has been involved with the Activities Programming Board, or APB, since his arrival at VCU and has since found a passion for student affairs.

He envisioned a different life for himself when first transferring to VCU in the fall of 2016. After growing up in Tacoma, Washington, Vincent was initially drawn to

the Richmond campus due to its unique but familiar city life.

“I picked VCU because I really liked the city of Richmond,” Vincent said. “It reminds me of a little version of Seattle in a sense.”

After transferring from Thomas Nelson Community College, he searched for ways to acquaint himself quickly with his new school. He soon discovered the activities the APB held for Homecoming week, applied for Homecoming Court and was named the 2016 Homecoming Lord for his freshman class. After his first crowning, Vincent fell in love with VCU and found a new career path.

“When I first did Homecoming Court I met a lot of different people,” Vincent said.

“They were involved in student affairs and telling me ‘You can have this as a job,’ and I really liked it.”

First arriving at VCU with a focus in pharmaceutical studies, Vincent changed his major to interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in business communications.

He says he hopes to one day become the dean of student affairs for a university.

“I just like how you are able to really change students’ lives for the better,” Vincent said. “I feel like college is a very trying time in students’ lives, and I want to be someone to lean on for students.”

Vincent is on the board of trustees for the Association of College Unions International, which represents student activity centers and student unions in the U.S. He is also a member of the Eta Xi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and is in charge of its new member presentation.

Keeping up with a busy schedule as he works through his senior year, Vincent said he looks back on his involvement over the years with the APB’s Homecoming Court with gratitude.

“APB is really amazing at what they do, and I made the best of friends in Homecoming Court from the first year of doing it,” Vincent said. “I feel like everyone should apply for it because this is what helped me find what I was passionate about.”

Former FDA commissioner examines 1990s tobacco regulation in ICA talk HANNAH EASON News Editor Tobacco regulations during the 1990s were an uphill battle, said David Kessler, who was commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 1990 to 1997, during his talk at the Institute for Contemporary Arts on Monday evening.

While commissioner, Kessler was involved in the implementation of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act — which required labeling on packaged foods — and the regulation of the tobacco industry. The event was presented by VCU’s Center for the Study of Tobacco Products and the College of Humanities and Sciences.

Here are highlights from the talk. Excerpts have been edited for length and clarity, and historical context has been added.

ON TOBACCO REGULATION IN THE EARLY 1990S: Where do you start to look, and what’s the question? It took us two years just to frame the question the right way. You don’t know if you have jurisdiction over tobacco.

No one had ever assumed jurisdiction.

We asked our colleagues at the Federal Trade Commission, who said that they had been regulating tar and nicotine levels for decades, and said they had data back to the 1980s. We said, “Send us all your data.” And you see that on the sales with nicotine and tar levels and smoke as of 1982. Something I didn’t understand is that tar levels would

drop, but nicotine levels had increased. How can that happen?

ON THE LATE-’90S FDA ATTEMPT TO REGULATE TOBACCO: We weren’t as lucky in the Supreme Court. First question from ,mJustice Sandra O’Connor: ‘“Nicotine is no more addictive than a horror movie, is it Solicitor General?”

My heart sank. I know it was a generational thing, and they don’t quite understand. We lost 5-4 in the Supreme Court. Normally, Supreme Court looks to the words of the statue, right? Certainly that’s the conservative temperature — looking at the intent of nicotine on the structure and function of the body. We had all this evidence, and they didn’t want to look at any of it.

(In March 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the FDA did not have the authority to regulate tobacco in Food and Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. The FDA argued that it had the authority to regulate via the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which gave the administration jurisdiction over “drugs” and “devices.” The tobacco industry argued that nicotine was not a drug.)

ON THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY’S MARKETING TOWARD WOMEN IN THE 1920S: The real progress came out of the second part of our investigation. Who smoked cigarettes in the early 1900s? Men. Who

did the industry target to in the 1920s and 1930s? For women, they were forces of liberty, symbols of freedom. They were granted with emancipation and liberation and the right to vote. There’s always that march down 5th Avenue which convinced women to smoke.

(After World War II, public relations expert Edward Bernays was hired by the American Tobacco Company to open the tobacco market to women. Bernays organized a public display of women smoking cigarettes during the 1929 Easter Parade in New York City. The cigarettes were coined “torches of freedom” and symbolized the advancement of women’s rights in the U.S.)

beginning to smoke every day, and 1,000 will go on to die. That’s an issue about free will. It was an issue about choice.

ON YOUTH TOBACCO USE AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS: We got up and said nicotine addiction is a pediatric disease, with 3,000 children

Young smokers have been a critical factor in the growth and decline in every major brand and company over the last 50 years.”

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 1984

Former FDA commissioner David Kessler said the adminstration “wasn’t as lucky” in the late-’90s court case against the tobacco industry. Photo by Marlena Artis

Wed. November 13, 2019 5

Stat of the week

Men’s basketball recieved 137 votes in this week’s AP Top-25, placing 26th.

Wade returns to VCU, players focus on the game Continued from front page For Jenkins, playing against his former coach won’t be a big part of the game.

“I want to win,” Jenkins said. “Me personally, I think it’s more so for our fans and the opportunity to let their emotions be heard and felt with him on the opposing sideline.”

He said that the team can’t let Wade’s return dictate how they play — they just want to win.

Jenkins played under Wade during his freshman season, and Wade hit it off with him and his family during the recruiting process.

“Coming here to Richmond, both my mom and my grandparents, they loved it,” Jenkins said. “They loved coach Wade and his philosophy so we felt like VCU was the place for me.”

Photo illustration by Jeffrey Pohanka

I think it’s more so for our fans and the opportunity to let their emotions be heard and felt with him on the opposing sideline.”

De’Riante Jenkins, senior guard

Jenkins appeared in 20 games while playing for Wade, averaging 12.9 minutes and 4.5 points for the Rams.

Crowfield played for Wade during his freshman season and is not treating the matchup with his former coach any differently.

“Same old, same old,” Crowfield said.

“Tune everything out, stick to everything we do the best and just play my game.”

Crowfield appeared in 34 games and made four starts during his lone season playing for Wade. He averaged 10.1 minutes and 2.1 points during that season. Vann served his redshirt season in 2016-17 after transferring from Maine.

Coach Mike Rhaodes and Wade were assistants under coach Shaka Smart for

four years. The two shared an office and were roommates when the team went on the road.

“We had some great times, we helped Shaka win a lot of games,” Rhoades said.

“He’s a good dude. He works his butt off, he’s meticulous in his approach. He’s a heck of a coach and you see it when he has his teams ready to play.”

The Siegel Center is expecting its 136th straight sellout crowd when the Tigers visit Richmond and Wade expects a loud arena.

“The atmosphere is incredible on any night,” Wade said. “It’ll be turned up even

more, I’m sure, for us. It’s a great place. ... It will be rowdy, but it should be fun.”

Jenkins said he looks into the crowd during games to see the signs and outfits that fans bring to games.

“All the time. Before the game, during the game, it’s fun though,” Jenkins said.

“Seeing it, seeing the pictures of it, there’s nothing like it.”

Wade left Richmond for LSU after the Rams were eliminated from the 2017 NCAA tournament. LSU paid a $1 million buyout to VCU when he was hired to coach the Tigers.

as LSU turned it over 16 times against Bowling Green. The Rams gave the ball away 18 times in each of the first two games this season.

“We can’t go in there and turn the ball over like we’ve been turning the ball over,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “If we do that, it’ll be a long night.”

Wade returns to the Siegel Center for the first time since leaving VCU in 2017 to coach the Tigers.

Coach Mike Rhoades said that the Havoc-style defense and aggression is meant to turn over other teams and not themselves.

“We can’t get a steal and give it right back and not get the points,” Rhoades said.

“Those are the bad turnovers.”

The Rams forced 18 Mean Green turnovers Friday night but only scored 20 points off the errors. Many turnovers that the Rams forced soon turned into VCU turnovers, giving away the ball soon after they got it.

Limiting turnovers will help the Rams on offense as it did last season, Rhoades said.

“Last year, when we got rid of the bad turnovers, there was a big difference in our play,” Rhoades said. “There’s a big difference in our result, and I think we caught some fire in league play.”

Rebounds are also a focus for both teams heading into Wednesday’s bout. Junior forward Marcus Santos-Silva is a focal point for the Tigers after his 18-rebound performance in the season-opening win

over St. Francis (Pa.).

“Marcus Santos-Silva is as good of [an] offensive rebounder that we’ll play,” Wade said. “If we can’t stick a body on him and our guards can’t get in there and get physical and help us rebound down, we’re going to be in trouble.”

Rhoades said the Rams have to grab rebounds on offense to minimize the Tigers’ possessions.

“We can’t give the other team more possessions,” Rhoades said. “We get steals, we turn people over and then we give the ball back on turnovers, or we allow the other team to get offensive rebounds and give them more possessions.”

The Tigers have a dynamic backcourt of Skylar Mayes and Javonte Smart, who both scored 21 points in LSU’s season opener.

“We just got to make it really hard for them,” Rhoades said. “Make them take tough shots, they may make a couple. Just keep grinding away.”

Mayes and Smart played 36 minutes and 37 minutes, respectively, in the Tigers win over Bowling Green. Rhoades said the Rams have to wear them down physically.

“They’re going to play so many minutes, we just got to do a good job just wearing them down,” Rhoades said. “I’m not sure if you can wear athletes like that down consistently, but let’s give it a shot.”

BASKETBALL PREVIEW

With LSU in town, Rams seek third win

NOAH FLEISCHMAN Sports Editor

Entering Wednesday night’s meeting between No. 23 LSU and men’s basketball at the Siegel Center, the two teams are eerily similar.

Against North Texas, the Rams used a 20-0 run in the first half to take a 10-point lead after a slow start. Likewise, in LSU’s season opener against Bowling Green, the Tigers used a 19-0 first-half run to take a 15-point lead on the Falcons.

Both teams also struggled with turnovers,

Senior guard Malik Crowfield logged 6 points against North Texas. Photo by Jon Mirador

The Rams host LSU Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center on ESPN2.

6 The Commonwealth Times

Will Wade returns to VCU as LSU coach ensued afterward, has left many fans bitter ahead of the former coach’s homecoming.

RYAN GRUBE Staff Writer

VCU

An old face will make a return appearance to Broad Street this week for the first time in more than two years.

Former VCU coach and current LSU coach Will Wade is set to revisit the Siegel Center for a much-anticipated matchup against the Rams on Nov. 13. Wade’s return to Richmond is one that is sure to unveil a multitude of opinions and emotions among the passionate VCU fans.

The success Wade had with the black and gold is undeniable, but his departure, combined with an FBI wiretap investigation that

Infographic by Jeffrey Pohanka

After Shaka Smart’s decision to leave VCU for Texas, Wade became the 12th head coach in program history. Wade had worked under Smart as an assistant coach from 2009-13, becoming Smart’s first hire in 2009.

Once he was brought back as a head coach, the Nashville, Tennessee, native didn’t waste any time racking up wins.

The black and gold went 25-11 in Wade’s first season at the helm, including a return to the NCAA tournament for a sixth consecutive season.

Wade’s crew advanced all the way to the A-10 Championship in 2015-16 before losing to a loaded Saint Joseph’s team that included two future NBA players: DeAndre’ Bembry and Isaiah Miles.

Despite the loss in the conference championship, the Rams’ tournament resume earned them a No. 10 seed in that season’s NCAA Tournament.

VCU defeated No. 7 seed Oregon State in its opening-round matchup 75-67, but the team ran into current Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners in the second round.

Hield’s 36 points capped off a 25-win season for Wade in 2015-16. The focus then turned to Wade’s second season with three talented freshman guards in Samir Doughty, Malik Crowfield and De’Riante Jenkins, and a lot of hype surrounding the squad.

Wade and his crew increased their win total to 26 in 2016-17. Once again, the Rams earned a bid to the Big Dance, ex-

tending their streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament bids to seven.

VCU reached its conference championship for a seventh straight season, but Wade and company would fall to Rhode Island in the title game, 70-63.

The Rams were slotted into yet another No. 10 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, where the team lost its first contest to No. 7 seed St. Mary’s in what became Wade’s final game as the black and gold’s head coach.

Just four days after VCU was eliminated from the tournament, LSU announced Wade’s hiring on March 20, 2017.

LSU Wade entered his third head-coaching stint with a roster loaded with young talent.

The 2017-18 Tigers had four freshmen and three sophomores, including guard Tremont Waters, the No. 44 ranked player in the class of 2017, according to 247Sports.

The team’s youth didn’t yield much success for Wade in 2017-18. LSU went just 18-15 (8-10 in the SEC), and the team missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid for the third consecutive season.

The pressure was already mounting for LSU to succeed, and Wade didn’t disappoint in the 2018-19 campaign. But his second season as the Tigers’ coach didn’t go without a hitch.

As LSU was enjoying a 25-5 record with the season winding down, Wade was suspended after a released FBI wiretap revealed an unspecified offer Wade appeared to make during his 2017 recruiting period.

According to Yahoo Sports, the FBI intercepted a phone conversation between

Wade and former Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins in which Wade appeared to allude to a money offer he made to one of his recruits two years ago.

Dawkins was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with three counts of wire fraud, as well as one count of money-laundering conspiracy, in 2017.

Wade denied the allegations, saying, “I cannot comment at this time on various media reports, except to say that they do not begin to tell the full story,” Wade told The Times-Picayune in a text message. “I understand the University had to take action before all the facts are in, but I would ask everyone to withhold their judgment until the record is complete.”

Assistant coach Tony Benford took over LSU’s head coaching role on an interim basis. In Wade’s absence, the Tigers lost their opening game in the SEC Tournament before advancing to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Michigan State.

REVISITING THE SIEGEL CENTER Now back as head coach after the school decided to reinstate him in April, Wade will be reunited with rowdy fans who once appreciated his high energy and passion for VCU. The crowd is sure to be loud for Wednesday’s date with Wade, but chances for any well-wishings to the former VCU coach have all but run their course.

The Rams will be in action at the Siegel Center on Wednesday night against Will Wade and LSU at 6 p.m.

Men’s soccer advances to A-10 semifinals NOAH FLEISCHMAN Sports Editor Trailing by two goals at the half in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinal Saturday night, men’s soccer found itself 45 minutes from its season ending.

The Rams are no strangers to playing from behind this season — they’ve played seven overtime matches.

“Look, this is not a new place for us,” coach Dave Giffard told his team at the half. “We’ll find the two goals, you just need to make sure we keep the zero here. Let’s not dig the hole deeper than it already is.”

In the Sept. 25 matchup with No. 24 Coastal Carolina, the Rams drew in overtime after falling behind early in the first half. Senior defender Ryo Shimazaki netted the equalizing goal for the Rams in the 86th minute against the Chanticleers.

Leading into the quarterfinal, VCU and George Mason met a week prior, and the Rams won on an 83rd-minute strike from redshirt-junior forward Biska Biyombo.

The Patriots scored both their goals in the first half on dynamic runs from their forwards, one off a rebound that junior goalkeeper Mario Sequeira couldn’t control.

In the 68th minute, freshman forward Celio Pompeu cut the Patriots’ lead in half on a free kick.

The São Paulo, Brazil, native missed the entire regular season due to injury and did not practice much. His lack of practice and game experience showed in the first half, Giffard said.

“It’s just a part of guys getting their feet within the group that you just do the right The Rams found the way to win against wet and starting to figure out what they things, we have players that can make plays the Patriots, despite falling behind early. can and can’t do and get comfortable,” Gif- and you find a way.

“We dug our own hole,” Giffard said, fard said. “I think he was just a little more Shimazaki tied the match for the Rams “but we filled it in pretty well.” comfortable when he came back on [in the on Saturday night on a penalty kick, and the second half ].” last time the Rams and Flyers met he ended The Rams will face Dayton in the A-10 semifiGiffard said Pompeu is a “game changer.” it on an overtime penalty. nals Friday at 4 p.m. at Fordham.

Late in the match, the Rams were in all-out attack mode as they raced against the clock. The constant pressure from the black and gold kept the Patriots on their heels.

In the 90th minute, the Rams drew a foul call in the box, sending Shimazaki to the penalty spot. Shimazaki tied the match as he converted the penalty kick, sending Sports Backers stadium wild.

After 20 minutes of extra time, the Rams and Patriots were in a deadlock tie at two apiece, sending the match to penalty kicks.

George Mason’s Pablo Pertusa Martinez sailed his penalty attempt over the crossbar, opening the door for the Rams to close out the game.

Redshirt-freshman defender Jared Valdes buried his attempt and handed the black and gold the win.

The Rams advanced to the A-10 semifinals against Dayton in the Bronx on Friday.

“You find a way to advance,” Giffard said. “[The] guys believe a little bit more, they feel like they’re going to find a way. … [They] have a certain amount of belief inherently Men’s soccer beat George Mason in penalty kicks Nov. 9. Photo by Jon Mirador

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8 The Commonwealth Times

On this day

In 2002, Eminem released the single “Lose Yourself” from the soundtrack of “8 Mile,” which became the first rap song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The Institute for Contemporary Art hosted the opening reception for Guadalupe Maravilla’s latest installation, “Disease Thrower,” on Saturday and Sunday. The festivities included an immersive overnight experience featuring a sound bath from a healer-led meditation. Photo by Jon Mirador

ICA exhibit promotes healing, dialogue regarding immigration and illness KATHERINE NOBLE Contributing Writer Towering cream-colored sculptures, massive glimmering gongs, sequin-encrusted embroidery and lavender walls traced with silver lines paint a rich scene featuring found objects and vibrant cultural patterns.

Every inch of the True Farr Luck Gallery in the Institute for Contemporary Art is filled with intense artistic detail, thanks to the “Disease Thrower” exhibit it now hosts.

The exhibit, by artist and sculpture faculty member Guadalupe Maravilla, is the second part of the “Provocations” series hosted by the ICA. It opened on Saturday night with an immersive overnight experience featuring a sound bath and meditation.

“It’s really layered and complicated but basically to overcome my own healing in the past — and based on that experience — it’s something I wanted to share in the exhibition,” Maravilla said.

Maravilla immigrated to the United States from El Salvador at 8 years old to escape the Salvadoran Civil War and became a U.S. citizen at 27. In 2016, as a gesture of solidarity with his undocumented father, who uses Maravilla as a fake last name, Maravilla changed his name from Irvin Morazan to Guadalupe Maravilla.

This exhibit provides an opportunity to reflect on his trauma and is deeply inspired by his journey across the border and his struggles with illness.

The sculptures were the “disease throwers,” made up of objects Maravilla found on his migration path, as well as

anatomical figures that represented the parts of his and his loved ones’ bodies that were affected by disease.

Amber Esseiva, the ICA’s associate curator and the curator of this exhibit, said Maravilla’s proximity to VCUarts was a big factor in hosting his exhibit.

“Having him be a colleague and be really close to the VCUarts family was kind of a no-brainer,” Esseiva said. “And then also, we have a really serious situation going on currently with migration and our borders, so it felt like an important topic to address.”

Maravilla invited healers of various traditions from places like Miami and New York to surround participants with their healing energy, leading meditation sessions.

The walls of the gallery featured a mural inspired by a traditional Mexican game, “tripas de gato” in which players take turns drawing lines between pairs of numbers (1 to 1, 2 to 2) without crossing or touching any other lines. This gets harder as the lines form a maze. It was drawn by Maravilla and a VCU student who is a recipient of DACA, an Obama-era policy that grants work permits and other benefits to undocumented youth brought to the U.S. as children.

Attendee Kimberly Wolfe heard about the exhibit from her spouse, an ICA employee.

“It sounded like a really different and immersive experience which is, you know, different from a usual art opening,” Wolfe said. “So I wanted to make sure I experienced it.”

Wolfe was particularly interested in the sound bath and that the experience offered

participants the ability to lose themselves in the art. She also said the themes of the exhibit — regarding immigration, the Mexican-American border and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE — are very timely.

“Pausing and taking in the moments is certainly something our world needs to do right now,” Wolfe said.

“Certainly our country.”

Roy Dugayo is a junior chemistry student who heard about the exhibit through his friends in VCUarts.

“I think it’s really well made,” Dugayo said. “Definitely a lot of craftsmanship was put into this, and I like all the various body parts strewn around the exhibit.

That’s a weird way to put it, but it draws my attention to it.”

He said the gongs within the sculptures were some of the most interesting aspects, as they made the artwork engaging and multidimensional.

Maravilla relates his sculptural practice to healing through the use of gongs, a tea ceremony and other rituals.

“I hope that people will be open to a different kind of cultural sensitivity when it comes to issues of migration and illness,” Esseiva said. “Sculpture and contemporary art can serve as a catalyst for conversation and for healing, and not just as an object to admire.”

Maravilla hopes this exhibit will help people learn how to heal themselves, build up their own meditation practices and become more open to embracing their spirituality. He believes the immersive

nature of the experience is what makes that possible.

“It’s a different type of healing that happens,” Maravilla said. “It’s almost like meditation is really helpful, and this brings it way beyond. Because it’s a whole night, it really helps the students that are in school get used to it. … I guarantee after this they’re gonna have a better time meditating in the future.”

“Disease Thrower” will be on display at the ICA until July 1.

The sculptures in the exhibit are referred to as the “disease throwers,” made up of objects Maravilla found on his migration path. They represent loved ones who were affected by illness. Photo by Jon Mirador

Spacebomb House Band curates a quickly growing library of tapes QUENTIN RICE Staff Writer Seven albums in two years is a release schedule that would make most musicians age exponentially. But it’s a stunt the Spacebomb House Band is on track to complete this December with the release of their newest project, “Library Music.”

Spacebomb Records is home to such prominent Richmond acts as Natalie Prass, Angelica Garcia and Andy Jenkins. Richmond musician Matthew E. White, with his bandmates at the time Trey Pollard, Cameron Ralston and Pinson Chanselle, founded the record label in 2011. Today, in addition to running the label, they form the Spacebomb House Band.

“We’re just building up a library of music,” Ralston said, referencing the title of the collection. “The idea is that it’s just generating material in a quick manner and trying not to be super precious about it. … It’s like creative exercise.”

Spacebomb House Band doesn’t sacrifice quality for quantity. Each of the “Library Music” tapes clocks in at around 30 minutes, but there’s a remarkable diversity in sounds on each record.

The quartet maintains such constant and distinct releases by combining samples from all the musicians they work with. They produce records for the artists signed to the Spacebomb label with live jam sessions between the four core musicians.

“You listen to one [track] and there are all these different sounds,” Pollard said.

“It may have been recorded over a dozen different sessions. Or sometimes I’ll pull samples from other records we’ve made. I’ll go ‘Oh, this is a cool piece that never got used,’ and I’ll throw it into a song.”

It’s difficult to describe succinctly the vast array of influences and sounds on each “Library Music” record. “Phlegmatic” on “II: Temple of Engine Room” is driven by ominously dissonant piano chords and frigid guitar licks, while a cool ride cymbal and what sounds like glass bottles shimmer underneath the darkness. “Speed Limit 79” on “V: Gold-Toothed & Lonesome” features a frantic drum pace and cool, echoing marimba flourishes that recall passages of Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians.”

“Sometimes we’ll book days where it’s just the four of us in here playing a bunch of stuff,” Pollard said. On these days, the band will convene at the studio and jam together with different ideas from each member.

The band works closely with Spacebomb art director Travis Robertson to craft the unique artwork and title for each release.

“He works on the cover and then we see it, and it’s always awesome. It’s super fresh,” Ralston said. “Travis is cool because his art doesn’t look like anything else, but it also doesn’t look like it’s trying, you know? It’s just a cool aesthetic.”

Most of the cover artwork is a hodgepodge of vintage and retro images, such as a loaf of bread on the first record, or the bipedal turkey in a cloak on “VI.” The titles are equally unique and seem totally arbitrary. The fourth record is called

Wed. November 13, 2019 9

UPCOMING EVENTS See something

SAT. 11/16 VCUarts Senior Dance Project Concerts Members of the Spacebomb House Band.

Clockwise from top left: Pinson Chanselle, Matthew E. White, Cameron Ralston and Trey Pollard. Photo by Shawn Brackbill.

Photo courtesy of Spacebomb House Band.

“Return to the End of Time,” and the sixth is “Connected by Birth and Employment.”

Pollard and Ralston said Robertson lets the music conjure up a phrase in his mind as he listens to the record and works on its cover art.

Spacebomb House Band plans to release their seventh album in early December and have already begun working on the eighth record. They have performed live only once, and have no solid plans for any future performances. But it’s not off the table either.

“I don’t think there’s any real active energy being put into booking the house band,” Ralston said. “But it would be great.

If somebody out there wanted to book us a gig, we’ll do it.”

“Library Music” can be found on Apple Music, Spotify and Youtube. To learn more about Spacebomb, visit spacebombrecords.com

Instructor derives sound from light in latest art project ANDREW RINGLE Managing Editor

solar panels were used as props.

“I was also making sculptures that were being powered by solar panels and solar energy,” Harkin said. “Over a course of just playing in the studio, I had the idea to hook up a solar panel to a speaker.”

The solar panels and oil drums in his latest experiment reference ecology, climate change and the way humans affect the environment, Harkin said.

“I’m oftentimes taking different materials that have perhaps different political or ideological weight to them and juxtaposing them against one another in the work,” Harkin said. “And then hopefully creating a conflict for a viewer or allowing a viewer to come to their own conclusions about how they feel about these materials and their broader implications.”

In his spare time, Harkin is a jazz drummer. He said learning to improvise music informs the work in his latest installations.

“It’s totally improv,” Harkin said. “I don’t really plan much of this ahead of time. I’m

mostly just responding to the different kinds of sounds that are happening, different kinds of tones.”

Harkin’s studio is in a warehouse shared by a handful of other artists, and he said the 2,000-square-foot space is always busy with different projects.

“There’s a couple metal bands that play here, a knife forger, a woodshop, next door is a skate park,” Harkin said. “So it’s a little bit of everything. There’s a lot of energy in the space, and I think that helps us all bounce off of each other.”

After giving a short performance, Harkin pointed out his favorite lights in the display and explained their tones as if they were instruments.

“For instance, this light would give us a very high-pitched shrill kind of sound because it’s kind of a cold LED light,” he said holding a campground light with a white bulb. “Whereas maybe the fire bulb would give us a warmer kind of hum.”

Harkin said there’s a direct relationship to the tonal quality of the sound to what the light actually looks like, and that’s what he listens for while he’s performing.

“As abstract as it is, it’s visually kind of captivating,” Harkin said. “The elements of the work that are kind of entry points allows me a little bit of latitude to have people try to figure out what’s actually happening, and then hopefully the kind of conceptual nature of the work comes later.”

When Patrick Harkin was at the state fair this year, he was distracted by the lights around him. Some flashed yellow, some red; some were on strings with several other tiny bulbs, and some were bigger, like the kind on top of lampposts.

But Harkin, who teaches in the photography department at VCU, was fixed on something other than the lights’ colors and sizes. He was thinking about their sounds.

“The way that I walk around spaces and look at artificial lights now,” Harkin said. “I’m constantly wondering, ‘What does that sound like? What does that light sound like?’”

At his studio in Shockoe Bottom, Harkin uses solar panels and hidden speakers to translate artificial light energy into sound. Each lightbulb in his collection emits a different tone, allowing him to control a library of sounds in an improvised musical performance.

“My new favorite is this fire LED bulb,” Harkin said, pulling the light from his display. “I think that one sounds really cool.”

The setup is visually captivating — solar panels resting on two oil drums are strewn with lights, and hidden speakers within the drums play the ‘sounds’ of each bulb. The energy first passes through a receiver device that’s either hidden in the arrangement or in Harkin’s hand.

The ar tist said he Patrick Harkin, an instructor in the photography and film department, thought of the idea while shows off his display of solar panels and hidden speakers that translate making videos in which artificial light energy into sound. Photo by Andrew Ringle

To watch an interview with the artist, visit commonwealthtimes.org

The Department of Dance and Choreography will present the 2019 Fall Senior Project concert, “IYKYK (If you know, you know.)” The performance on Nov. 16 will feature site-based work by Jenna Beardsley, followed by a one-hour dance party. The stage works for the show will begin on Nov. 22 and 23. For tickets, visit the VCUarts Dance website or call 804-828-2020.

7:30 p.m., The Anderson (907 ½ W Franklin St.) Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for students with valid I.D. and free to VCU students with valid I.D

MON. 11/18 ‘Strangers on a Train’ Screening The Byrd Theatre will host a screening of the 1951 film “Strangers on a Train” directed by Alfred Hitchcock. For tickets, visit byrdtheatre.org.

7:15 p.m., The Byrd Theatre & Foundation (2908 W. Cary St.) $6

Do something

MON. 11/18 Improv Night

The Department of Theatre will host a night of unscripted comedy by the VCU Improv house teams. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on the VCUarts Theatre website. For more information, contact Elizabeth Byland at ebyland@ vcu.edu or 859-803-3374.

7:30 p.m., Raymond Hodges Theatre, Singleton Center (922 Park Ave.) $5

TUES. 11/19 ‘Open Book: A Human Library Experience’

The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Office of Student Leadership & Civic Engagement will host an event that showcases identity-based storytelling from the VCU community. It will highlight stories and experiences to promote diversity and inclusion. For more information, contact Chris Jeter at rlhmaga@vcu. edu to fill out the Google Form.

7 - 9 p.m., Rams Lounge, University Student Commons (907 Floyd Ave.)

Learn something

THURS. 11/14 The Cooking Gene

Author and culinary historian Michael Twitty will visit the Library of Virginia to discuss his book, “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South.” The book serves as a memoir of Southern cuisine through African and African American culture. For more information, contact Emma Ito at 804-692-3726 or emma.ito@ lva.virginia.gov.

5:30 – 7 p.m., Library of Virginia (800 E. Broad St.) Free.

SAT. 11/16

LETTER TO THE EDITOR ICA Panel Discussion: Design and Blackness

The ICA and VCUarts’ graphic design department will sponsor a discussion on graphic design centered on blackness. The panel will include Great Force catalog designers Silas Munro and Brian Johnson from Poly-Mode and typeface designer Tré Seals from Vocal Type Co. The discussion will be moderated by assistant professor of graphic design Nontsikelelo Mutiti. For more information, visit the ICA’s website.

3 - 5 p.m., the ICA (601 W. Broad St.) Free.

10 The Commonwealth Times

Quote of the week

“A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.”

— Maya Angelou

Campus reactions to local tragedies illustrate our respect problem BRYCE RANDALL Contributing Writer What happened to the concept of being respectful? It seems the most courteous thing students on this campus can do is hold open a door for the person behind them.

About a month ago, Alice E. Woodson, 32, was jaywalking — as many of us do — across West Broad Street when she was hit by a GRTC bus. When she was found, Woodson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Death is quite a familiar subject for VCU students. Unfortunately, we live in a city where violence is somewhat common.

Every week in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, there’s a new murder story, or one about someone being caught and convicted.

At this point, death comes as no surprise.

What made Woodson’s death shocking was the complete lack of respect on the part of some VCU students.

A student who witnessed the accident took it upon himself to take a video of the “mangled” body and post about it on his social media. Additionally, he went on to post, “if you want the vid, just ask me,” to his Snapchat. Evidently, he wasn’t mindful of the Logan Paul situation from a few years ago, when the YouTube star took a video showing an apparent suicide victim hanging from a tree in a Japanese forest.

Let me give the gist of what we learned from this: Posting videos of corpses is disrespectful.

If you see a body in the middle of the street, your initial reaction should be to call emergency services if they aren’t already on the scene. If they are, move on — it is none of your business.

Corpses are not props or forms of entertainment; they are real people.

They are people who have reached the end of their road, not prizes to add to your social media collection. I doubt you would take a video at a close family member’s funeral to post on Snapchat, so have the same respect for others.

On my quest to find out more information about the bus incident, I stumbled onto yet another example of VCU students not knowing the “dos and don’ts” of posting to social media. In a less newsworthy situation, a VCU student took it upon herself to mock a woman, whom many have assumed to be homeless, on campus.

It’s sickening that some students are willing to post jokingly about this woman, but cannot be bothered to call her by her name — if they even took the time to ask. This presumably homeless woman is seen walking around campus almost every day. We all have seen her. She isn’t bothersome or rude, and I have never seen her ask for money. Instead of giving money or food to a woman who is obviously in need, the sorority members chose to whip out their phones and make fun of her.

On top of this, the woman is clearly not the rapper Kodak Black — who she was being compared to in the picture — and the attempt to establish a likeness between them is demeaning. But who needs to take

Illustration by Lauren Johnson

the time to understand someone when it’s OK to generalize people based on their skin color and hairstyle, right?

Even on a smaller scale, outside these two major examples, VCU students still lack respect. A few days ago, I was leaving the Academic Learning Commons and a man had dropped a large box of pens on the ground. A whopping total of two people stopped to help him.

Understandably, not everyone can pause their day and help him pick up pens. Many of us are on our way to classes or meetings.

However, many of us also have nothing better to do with our time. There were people no further than 5 feet away from the man who just stood and watched him scramble to collect his pens.

Ironically, it seems that a lot of VCU students claim to be “woke” and aware of the issues plaguing the community. Many people on campus want to do “big things” and fix the world’s problems. But how can you do that when some of you can’t even fix the small things on campus?

I doubt that the majority of you intend to be disrespectful. However, that being said, the campus community needs to do better.

Think twice before posting to social media.

Take time to be kind to others, including homeless people. Extend a hand to those in need, especially when you’ve got nothing to lose. It’s sad to see how little we care about others. Our parents raised us better than this.

Rams in Recovery is the epitome of support TAGWA SHAMMET Opinions Editor It’s something that floods the media networks; something that seems so far yet is so close. As we grow older, it starts happening right in front of our eyes: addiction.

One in seven Americans, averaging 40 million people, suffers from addiction every year. Addiction is stigmatized to be a choice, something that can be easily avoided and healed. However, as time progresses, people are learning that addiction is a disease that can lead to deadly consequences if left untreated.

Drug overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. College students are so overly exposed to alcohol and drugs on campuses that it doesn’t shock me to hear they are at risk of abusing drugs. I’m sure we’ve all read the Stall Street Journal and all the facts provided by The Well — nevertheless, many of us don’t take that seriously. As students, we have this false sense of untouchability, which is why we find ourselves saying: “Well, that can’t happen to me.”

The thing is, it can happen to you.

According to the Center of Addiction, nearly 3.8 million American college students find themselves abusing some form of alcohol or drug. Listen, I’m the first person to advocate for self-restraint, but I

understand the situations we are all in. Between classwork stress, jobs and peer pressure, saying “no” feels impossible.

It’s time to stop ridiculing people for having an addiction and start helping them recover from their illness. I get it; if it were up to me, students would never have been exposed to these substances, let alone given the opportunity to abuse them. Yet, the reality is people are becoming addicted to substances all around us. Running away from them and choosing to blame the victims of this disease can only cause harm.

I’m the last person to compliment VCU. However, today I’ll give credit where it is

due. VCU’s Rams in Recovery is a Student Affairs program that helps students receive treatment for their addictions while staying on track with their education. This program is a prime example of how to handle addiction on college campuses.

It’s easy for us to overlook the struggles of students with addictions when we’re not the ones affected. But just imagine all of your daily dilemmas with the added challenge of having a severe need to put a substance in your body. Rams in Recovery understands that just because you’re suffering from this disease doesn’t mean your need for education has suddenly disappeared.

While these students have been momentarily impaired, they still plan to continue with their degree plans.

I’m not the only one noticing the greatness Rams in Recovery is doing. As announced on Oct. 31, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services is allocating more of its funds to the VCU program due to the extensive opioid crisis. Not only that, but many Virginia schools such as Old Dominion University, University of Virginia and even our neighbors at Virginia Union University have begun to receive assistance from Rams in Recovery. These schools can see the excellent compassion and concern Rams in Recovery has for its students and will be modeling portions of their programs around ours.

Our culture has conditioned us to blame victims of addiction for their disease. It has told us that those suffering had a choice when in reality they are just dealing with the consequences of their circumstances. At the end of the day, people have to deal with their addictions, regardless of whether we get involved. I refuse to idly stand by while they fight to recover. More importantly, I reject the concept of forcing other humans to their caskets rather than giving them the love and support they need to survive.

Illustration by Karly Andersen

Wed. November 13, 2019 11

THE CT STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR Georgia Geen geengr@commonwealthtimes.org

Shoes by Carleigh Ross

MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Ringle ringlea@commonwealthtimes.org NEWS EDITOR Hannah Eason news@commonwealthtimes.org SPORTS EDITOR Noah Fleischman sports@commonwealthtimes.org SPECTRUM EDITOR Iman Mekonen spectrum@commonwealthtimes.org OPINIONS EDITOR Tagwa Shammet opinions@commonwealthtimes.org PHOTO EDITOR Jon Mirador photography@commonwealthtimes.org AUDIENCE EDITOR Alexandra Zernik zernikal@commonwealthtimes.org ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR Sammy Newman illustrations@commonwealthtimes.org STAFF WRITERS Adam Cheek, Sports Ryan Grube, Sports Quentin Rice, Spectrum STAFF ILLUSTRATORS Erin Joo

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Fired by Ellie Erhart

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ABOUT THE CT The Commonwealth Times is the award-winning independent student newspaper at VCU, since 1969. The CT staff maintains all editorial and operations discretion. There is absolutely no prior review by the public, university or VCU Student Media Center administration or staff. The Executive Editor writes and manages the Operations Budget.

ADD YOUR VOICE The opinions pages of the CT are a forum open to the public. Contributions are welcome by email to Tagwa Shammet, by mail or in-person at 817 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23220. Opinions expressed are those of individual columnists and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Commonwealth Times. Unsigned editorials represent the collective opinion of The CT staff.

The Commonwealth Times strives for accuracy in gathering news. If you think we have made an error, please email the appropriate section editor.

Corrections will appear on the news pages and/or online. One CT per person. Additional copies can be purchased at the Student Media Center for $1 each.

12 The Commonwealth Times

For answers to this week’s puzzles, check commonwealthtimes.org/puzzles every Friday at noon.

Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle

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FOWL PLAYEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

L o s An g e l e s Ti me s S un d a y Cro s s wo rd Pu zzl e

By Ed Sessa

Contact Dominique leeds3@vcu.edu Edited by Rich Lee Norris@and Joyce Nichols Lewis

62 Swedish university 4 Pain relief 75 One of two on a city 5 Give a hoot three-speed 64 Colorful pond fish 6 “Clueless” director 76 Inuit transport

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ACROSS

that may FOWL1 Alerts PLAY lead to roadblocks,

L o s A nge l e s Ti m e s S u n d a y C r os s w or d P uz z l e Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Fowl Play by Ed Sessa

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By The Mepham 1 2 Group 3 4 Level DIFFICULTY LEVEL 2

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Complete the grid so each row, column, and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) containsSolution to Monday’s puzzle every digit, 1 to 9.

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1/15/19 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

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Solution to Tuesday’s puzzle

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11/13/19 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk

© 2019 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.