2 24 2016 the davidsonian

the davidsonian

FEBRUARY 24, 2016 VOL. 108 ISSUE 16

The Independent Student Newspaper of Davidson College since 1914

Inside NEWS 5HVLGHQFH /LIH 2IÀFH VZLWFKHV WR RQOLQH ORWWHU\ V\VWHP IRU KRXVLQJ 3 LIVING DAVIDSON 6,',0( ,QVWDJUDP SDJH FHOHEUDWHV VWXGHQW IDVKLRQ4 'HOLODKV UHFRUG ÀUVW DOEXP LQ WZR \HDUV 4 PERSPECTIVES 3HWHU %RZPDQ GLVFXVVHV .DQ\H :HVW LQ WKH ZDNH RI KLV QHZ DOEXP 5 'U 'DYLG 3HUU\ DUJXHV WKDW IDLUQHVV LV WKH +RQRU &RGH·V PDLQ FRQFHUQ 5 Jaela McDonald ‘18 leads the breakout session “The Act of Self Love Can be Radical.” Photo by Aly Dove.

Conference emphasizes female empowerment VITA DADOO-LOMELI Staff Writer

T

he eighth annual Women’s Leadership Conference took place on Saturday in the Lilly Gallery. Featuring exclusively female speakers and participants, the six-hour event brought together women from diverse educational backgrounds, professional persuasions and age groups to engage in a thoughtful discourse about female empowerment.

Founded in 2008, the conference addresses different themes in each of its installments. This

year’s theme was “Channeling Our Strength: Empowering Women From the Inside Out,” a topic meant to explore the distinct layers of female identity and show the importance of overcoming struggles collectively.

To set the conference’s tone, Kristi Mitchem ’92, former Davidson student and current executive vice president at State Street Global Advisors, an investment management company, delivered a speech that examined gender equity in the workplace in terms of female dignity. Under the umbrella of security, connectedness and purpose, Mitchem explored instances in which women are

currently under-represented in leadership positions, are not granted equal financial compensation as men and are often victims of sexual assault.

Mitchem concluded her speech with a question-and-answer session. She provided advice for women entering the workforce and suggested several ways in which women can successfully and realistically fulfill their professional as well as personal aspirations.

See WLC on page 3

YOWL $ JXLGH WR OHVVHU NQRZQ IUDWHUQLW\ UHSXWDWLRQV KDYH \RX KHDUG RI WKH WXUWOHQHFN IUDW" 6 SPORTS 7UDFN LPSUHVVHV DW $ &KDPSLRQVKLSV 7 %DVHEDOO RSWLPLVWLF DW VWDUW RI VHDVRQ 8

“Build Your Future” survey reveals top concerns for students STEFFANEY WOOD Senior Staff Writer

S

tudents believe the top priority issues that need addressing include mental health and wellness, academic stress, career development, campus social life, and financial aid, according to the initial results of the Student Government Association’s “Build Your Future” survey. The survey, which included a $175 cash prize for a randomly selected participant, came about as a method of garnering quantitative data surrounding campus attitudes toward SGA initiatives.

By design, the survey included all student demographics, ensuring that no one would be left out of the conversation. Overall, 40.8% of the student body participated in the survey, with roughly equal distribution across the four classes.

The survey also represented the shifting demographics of the student body in respect to race, ethnicity, and gender.

Freshmen and sophomores prioritized dining options more, and upperclassmen were more concerned about mental health and sexual assault prevention more.

Former SGA President Pablo Zevallos ‘16 and Vice President Kyle Taylor ‘16 sent out the survey to help the future SGA leadership make headway in initiatives that are supported and important to students. Taylor explained that the survey was an adaptation of a general social survey and a survey created and administered by UCLA. Taken as a whole, the survey is representative of the student body’s demographic breakdown.

African-American and Latino students were, however, generally underrepresented. It would

be better in a large survey for such demographics to be overrepresented as opposed to underrepresented, as identified by Linda LeFauve, Associate Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research. Zevallos and Taylor both also stressed the importance of noting the overlap between many priorities and policies so as not to skew data.

“The disparities where they do exist suggest a variance in the level of engagement with different campus issues. [...] We also decided that it was important to include a cash prize for one randomly selected participant because it was a very large sum of money, something that people would draw people to take the survey. It has not been given away yet, but will be at a big reveal,” said Taylor.

Added Zevallos, “Even at small campus like Davidson, you have so many constituent parts to it that although we share commonalities and a common community, there are in some ways such divergent perspectives that it’s hard to say that ‘campus wants this.’ It’s better to say ‘these constituents want this’ and maybe others want it less so. That’s not at all meant to be divisive, it’s just an accurate representation of reality in regards to who is at Davidson and what people’s interests are.”

According to the results, a majority of students think that the educational curriculum should be more interdisciplinary and that cases of discrimination should be handled on an interpersonal level.

Although none of the results were overly surprising, SGA plans to use the data to concretely and quantitatively represent the student body preferences to the Board of Trustees, faculty, and administration. Newly-elected Student Body President Ben Callinder ‘17 and Vice Presi-

dent Dara Ferguson ‘17 hope that this will help provide momentum to address issues that they emphasized in their campaign platform such as mental health and meal plan.

“We want to continue to have a heartbeat on campus, so maybe that means more polling and huge cash prizes or finding other ways to get the

feedback of the students,” Ferguson said.

Callinder added, “We want people on campus to continue to feel like they have the power to make an impact on campus. So if they think that there’s anything they themselves can do, then we encourage them to come talk to us.”

Results from a survey question. Seven hundred and ninety-six students participated in the survey. Infographic by Michelle Wan.

News

Page 2 February 24, 2016

Acclaimed Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa visits campus AJ NADDAFF Staff Writer

F

or Khaled Khalifa, acclaimed Syrian novelist and screenwriter who visited Davidson last week, leaving his home country of wartorn Syria had always been out of the question.

It was only in the fall of 2015, four years into a chaotic civil war when a sleep-deprived Khalifa could hardly write anymore, that he reluctantly accepted a year-long writing fellowship at Harvard.

Khalifa was brought to the international

Photo by AJ Naddaff. spotlight because of his 2006 novel, “In Praise of Hatred,” which portrayed the fight between the regime and the Muslim Brotherhood in Aleppo in the early 1980s. This novel, which he spent ten years conceiving and thirteen years crafting, garnered attention in part because it depicted the regime’s current crackdown and purging of universities. Last week, Khalifa discussed the book in both Dr. Rebecca Joubin’s “Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East” course and Dr. Jonathan Berkey’s “Nationalism and Colonialism” course.

“This is very important stuff that connects with the larger theme of this course,” Berkey told his students. “What Khaled has been talking about is a distinctive Syrian identity, which in the 20th century is in tension with other identities, for example a pan-Arab identity.”

Dr. Chris Alexander, Director of Dean Rusk International Studies, sponsored Khalifa’s visit.

The author spent four days with students and faculty, staying in the Carnegie Guest House on campus. He was invited by long-time friend and Chair of the Arab Studies Department, Joubin,

Photo by Bill Giduz.

who first met Khalifa while she was studying as a Columbia PHD student in Syria. “The entire time I saw him during my stay--either at the Journalists’ Club or on a visit--I was very impacted by how humble and generous he was,” she said.

While at Davidson, Khalifa spent some time writing at Summit on Main Street. In Damascus, he has spent the past 25 years writing at the Journalists’ Club, which the New York Times described as “a local hangout” in a 2008 review of “In Praise of Hatred.” By now, Khalifa is so close with the owners, waiters, and waitresses there that they reserve his particular seat and table daily for him. “I like [that] place. I go everyday around 11 - 12 p.m. Some days, I don’t have anything to write but I never leave the table until 6 p.m.,” he said. His meal is simple: cigarettes, water, and coffee; nothing more, nothing less. “The atmosphere is just right for me,” he said.

As a result of the checkpoints following the uprising and government crackdown, the usual ten-minute commute to the Club can take hours.

There is an apparent longing in Khalifa’s eyes when he speaks about this comfortable environment that is much like his second home.

He does not own any copies of his books or material written about him. He is extremely humble, loves cracking jokes, and never once stopped grinning even after four days of being pummeled with questions from curious Davidson students. “He possessed a sort of easy laughter,” said Flannery Rokeby-Jackson ‘19, an Arab Studies student who attended both his English and Arabic lectures.

When he was 11, Khalifa was established as the “city poet” and won nearly every poetry contest in town. “I would write poems for friends who would pass them on to their loved ones and pretend that they wrote it,” he said before bursting into laughter. “Up until 14 I was very good, then I turned into a little shaytan,” meaning “devil” in Arabic.

In addition to “In Praise of Hatred” being shortlisted for the first International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Khalifa is one of the leading voices in Syrian drama, and has written various dramatic mini-series. “My parents were against my writing ambitions. However, when my family saw that I could support myself and that I often appeared on television interviews, I was able to rupture the stigma that is often attached with a career in the arts. Now many of the children in my family and neighborhood aspire to become writers, musicians, and artists.”

Emphasizing the dedication he has always put into his writing, Khalifa told an anecdote from his university days. As a young student, he wrote a three-hundred-page novel only to subsequently burn it because he felt that it was not his true voice.

“My first goal is to be a good writer. I must be honest with myself and my characters. If I can do this, you can reach humanity,” he said. Citing William Faulkner as one of his favorite writers, he believes the human problems Faulkner evokes are no different than those anywhere in the

Photo by AJ Naddaff. world, especially in Syria.

During his visit, various faculty members seized the opportunity to include Khalifa in their class discussions and schedules. Every day students and faculty from various departments and interdisciplinary perspectives had the opportunity to meet with him outside of class. The History Department and the Middle East and North Africa Student Association each sponsored meals.

On top of his highly charged week, Khalifa participated in two question-and-answer events in the Sloane Music Library, and attended the Arabic table at Vail Commons during Wednesday lunch. The first campus lecture Khalifa gave was in English, attracting local townspeople, while the latter was presented in Arabic and catered more toward Arab Studies students.

During this session, Elementary Arabic learners were also encouraged to attend as a way to lend their ears to the local dialect and watch snippets of Khalifa’s most prominent mini-series. Later in the night, Sarah Taylor ‘16 asked in Arabic how Khalifa liked his experience at Davidson. He responded, with poignant laughter and a motion of his hands, how he found the fear of snow he observed so fascinating, and wondered if it could be an important scene in a movie.

Many of the topics discussed during the week in meals, classes, coffee discussions and lectures overlap and connect one way or another to “In Praise of Hatred,” a novel that subverts the regime’s narrative of battling against religious fanaticism by exposing how it used this opportunity to stifle all liberalism in society. Topics discussed among students and faculty included Khalifa’s role as a writer in Syria’s current political uprising, censorship, gender and sexuality and breaking taboos.

“Even I, from a Western perspective, I thought some stuff in the book was pretty explicit, so I can see why it would be scandalous in a more socially conservative culture” said Taylor.

Breaking societal and political taboos came at a heavy price. Khalifa talked about the difficult games that writers had to play in order to escape censorship issues in Syria. “Don’t believe those who say that the arts can flourish under dictatorship. Art yearns for freedom. It is very tiring to always write under control.”

In his conversations with students and faculty, his personal anecdotes – many filled with humor –humanized his struggle. “Once I was returning from Beirut with ten copies of ‘In Praise of Hatred’ in the cab. When I arrived at the checkpoint, one of the border guards searched my bag of books and expressed shock. I asked him sarcastically what had happened and if he had found anything illegal. The cab driver was trembling from fear; his face was livid. The officer informed me that the book is banned. When he realized I was the writer, he ordered me to come with him.

Once I was alone in the room with him, he told me that his wife was reading my book and loved it. He asked me to sign a copy for her as a surprise and then told me that he would be working there for the next few months and I could come to him if I needed anything.”

Students in various departments who had read “In Praise of Hatred” had many questions for Khalifa, many centered around the unnamed female character in the novel. “Actually, in my first draft I had two characters – a man and a women – talking about their transition to radical-

ism. After 100 pages, I knew this male character was not necessary,” he explained.

Yet, Khalifa did find himself inordinately worrying about the decision. “Some days I did not sleep. I wrote every day but some days I did not think this decision was good for me,” he explained.

Sharing his works with confidants is what gets Khalifa through difficult writing choices.

He worked tirelessly with two female friends and female relatives to write from the female perspective. “Some days they told me my writing on women was completely wrong,” he said, pausing before letting out a soft chuckle.

With students and faculty he also discussed the problems that arise with translation of his books due to a clear politics of production in the West. Joubin pointed to the U.S. version of “In Praise of Hatred” that many of her students carried. On the cover is an apprehensive-looking, ostensibly veiled, brown-eyed woman engulfed by a shadow. “If I saw this in a bookstore and did not see Khaled Khalifa’s name on the cover, I would not buy this book,” she told us. In bold letters are the words, “The famous novel that was banned in Syria.” Moreover, the entire final chapter was cut in both the U.S. and British translations, and the quotes on the back of the book mistakenly lead the reader to think that the novel portrays the sensational world of a young woman struggling against Islamic fundamentalism.

When asked what he thought, Khalifa responded sarcastically. “Ah you like this sexy cover?” he asked, holding the book up with a large grin. Then, continuing seriously, he said, “The American cover is dangerous because it follows Orientalist caricatures in the media which represent Arab society as filled with single, patriarchal oppression. U.S. publishing houses look at us as samples of Orientalism rather than important Arabic works of literature. On the contrary, the French version of this book preserved the final chapter and also presents a subtler cover design.”

People in the Arab world are not exempt from sweeping generalizations, either. “I hope that in the future we can have a better relationship in understanding the complex cultures and histories, especially those of the Syrian people,” Khalifa said. The American and English versions were abridged for financial incentives, but he believes that he will have more agency in the future with the translation process.

One of the questions that came up continuously during the four days on campus was the role of art and culture during revolution. In response, Khalifa spoke of the limited power of art during the devastating war that has ripped Syria apart. “Writing cannot give milk to the children and stop the bombs from falling. I write because it is like breathing to me; it is all I have. While I write, I can feel its lack of importance. I want to help my friends, but I cannot. In my opinion, it is those who are smuggling medical supplies into government-blocked areas and who risk their lives to help displaced populations who can really make a difference during this time.”

Aman Madan ’19, who is currently publishing a book review of “In Praise of Hated” for Al-Jadid Magazine, said that having a renowned novelist with absolutely no ego and completely down to earth, was “a breath of fresh air.”

News

Page 3

Davidsonian.com

WLC draws diverse participants crime log Continued from Page 1 Following Mitchem’s opening remarks, the conference attendees dispersed to their respective group breakout sessions. This year’s conference included two breakout sessions directed by a diverse collection of female community leaders.

The sessions served as small forums for groups to discuss critical topics that affect the larger female population. Visiting speakers this year included Kelley Finley, senior lecturer and undergraduate advisor for the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at UNC Charlotte, and Ebony Kimbrough, owner, head coach and member of the Carolina Queens, Charlotte’s Independent Women’s Football League team. Students and faculty members also featured into the breakout sessions, leading discussions on a myriad of subjects, including health, motherhood, and cross-cultural beauty standards. During the sessions, attendees were encouraged to draw from their personal experience and knowledge to participate in insightful conversations, facilitated by interventions and feedback from the sessions’ leaders.

After the breakout sessions, attendees returned to the Lilly Gallery for lunch and an open panel discussion facilitated by conference participants. This year’s panel members included student Adrienne Miller ‘16, member of the conference’s board and Public Health major; Courtney Spear, Director of Food at Summit Outpost since its opening in October 2013 and previous manager of the Davidson Farmers Market; Kathy Bray ‘85, Associate Dean of Students for the College; Caroline Fache, Associate Professor in the French and Francophone Studies as well as the Africana Studies Departments; and Alexandra McArthur ‘09, Davidson alumna and founding member of the conference.

In the panel discussions, as in the breakout

sessions, conference members were prompted to ask thoughtful questions of the panel members regarding their past professional experiences, personal struggles, female role models and longtime sources of inspiration. Most importantly, however, the panel discussion provided a multifaceted insight on what it means to be a female member of the Davidson community, along with its rewarding and challenging moments.

“I was a student at Davidson back when there were not many female students and very little female faculty members,” Dean Bray recalled.

“During [Carol Quillen’s] inauguration I was blindsided by how powerful it was for me as a woman graduate of Davidson to feel like finally I belong, that I was really part of the community.”

The conference concluded with closing remarks by the its co-chairs, Nora Marie Wartan ’16 and Emily Davidson ’16. In her speech, Wartan highlighted the importance on hosting a conference by women for women and identified ways in which public discourse about women’s issues can lead to pragmatic solutions. “The intergenerational discussions we have at the conference are crucial in understanding the issues that all women face every day and the accomplishments we have achieved, or the lack thereof, and what we can do to fix that,” Wartan commented.

“Being a woman […] is not a 9:00 to 5:00 job,” she continued. “It is something that we are constantly invested in in every environment we place ourselves in […] It is a very daunting task to identify the problems the women face and then to come up with actual productive solutions in order to empower ourselves and empower others.

We want to avoid coming up with idealistic solutions […] It is through conferences such as these that we can come up with realistic solutions and productive resources for women.”

Conference attendees participate in different breakout sessions. Photos by Aly Dove.

Time Reported

Description / Location

2/18/16 at 2202 hrs

Larceny Misdemeanor (Vending) at Little.

Further Investigation.

2/19/16 at 1737 hrs

Larceny Misdemeanor (Backpack) at Vail Commons.

Unfounded

2/21/16 at 0200 hrs

Underage Consumption/Urinating in Pubic at Armfield.

Dean Referral.

Residence Life Office moves lottery system online MEERA NAGARAJ Staff Writer

T

he Residence Life Office (RLO) introduced a switch to an online lottery system for all housing applications this spring.

Each year, students who plan to return to Davidson are able to select their future housing through a lottery number system. Previously, the housing process for students desiring to live in singles, doubles, or suites was done in-person and required students to attend a lottery night, at which they could select their housing. On lottery night, hundreds of students showed up to the Lilly Gallery with their lottery tickets and roomate clusters, hoping to get into the dorm of their choice.

RLO struggled to gather everyone together on the same night, and the in-person process was chaotic and arduous. In order to select their desired housing, students would have to line up based on their lottery number. “We had no idea how many people wanted to be in particular places or how the numbers would play out, which meant that there were longs lines and lots of waiting,” Jason Shaffer, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life, said.

Elaborating on some of the negative dynamics that would play out on lottery night, Shaffer explained that, with multiple clusters desiring the same dorm, “there were a lot of students saying, ‘Hey don’t take this place because we’re going to live there with our friends.’”

“It was really stressful and chaotic,” Bridget Lavender ’18 recalled. “You could see what rooms had been crossed off and which spaces were left, so everyone was strategizing and yelling across the line at their friends. Although everything turned out okay and I was really happy after it

was done, I think the online system will take out a lot of stress.”

A major goal of the new electronic housing selection is to eliminate some of the negative interactions that occurred during the in-person process. A few years ago, RLO switched to electronic housing applications for apartments. “Students were able to submit an application, and averaging each cluster’s lottery number, we were able to figure out who was going to get a spot,” Shaffer explained.

When RLO first considered the switch to an online application process, a group of students and RLO staff convened to form a “lottery task force” to discuss what the housing process should look like. Ultimately, the task force came to a consensus that an online system would be better as long it maintained important aspects of the inperson system, such as clustering.

“Once we figured out how to preserve clustering, we decided it was time to move forward and have everyone select rooms online,” Shaffer said. The decision came after two years of successful trial runs of electronic applications with substance-free housing and Martin Court apartments.

Selecting rooms through an online system makes the housing process much easier. “Having students wait in long lines and have to show up to be able to select something made it hard for students who were abroad to participate, and it wasn’t the best use of everyone’s time,” Shaffer recognized. Allowing students to select rooms through an online system will expand accessibility to students who are studying abroad during the housing process.

Information regarding important dates for the 2016 housing lottery timeline can be found under the Student Life section on the college’s website.

living davidson

Page 4

February 24, 2016

SIDIMÉ Instgram page highlights student fashion SEV STIER STAFF WRITER

S

IDIMÉ is a new style project that celebrates innovation and imagination in the clothing that Davidson students wear. The name SIDIMÉ is an acronym for two different style initiatives created by Davidson students— Style in Davidson and Dime Limited with an aigu at the end for some added flare. The group was co-founded earlier this semester by Tife Odusmosu ’17, David Nnadi ’17, Deanna

Grayson ’17, and Julia Vining ’18. “The purpose [of SIDIMÉ] is to appreciate the uniqueness of people and the way they express themselves in the Davidson community,” Odusmosu said. SIDIMÉ does not solely express style, but instead, showcases, according to Nnadi, “your passion, your background, and what you are interested in.”

Their Instagram page launched two weeks ago and the group can already foresee the impact it will have on Davidson students. “A lot of our models say, ‘I love this outfit, but I’d nev-

er actually wear this at Davidson!’ [SIDIMÉ] makes these students feel more comfortable to step out and wear different things,” explains Vining. The pressure to conform is certainly a struggle both at Davidson and beyond, and it “can be hard for people who have all this creativity to express themselves in clothing,” claims Grayson. SIDIMÉ hopes to empower individuals to wear something different and express their uniqueness through fashion.

The style team meets every weekend for a photo shoot with a variety of Davidson students

who dress in different outfits. SIDIMÉ plans to incorporate street-style photographs into their staged collection and hopes to eventually facilitate a peer-to-peer clothing exchange in which students can buy or sell clothing items. This new project gives Davidson students an opportunity to forge connections with one another in a new way, and, as Odusmosu said to close this past weekend’s shoot, “thank you for being you.” To view their current projects, follow them on Instagram at @SI_DI_ME.

Seán Curran Company harnesses Central Asian influence

L

COLLEEN KARLOVICH STAFF WRITER

ast Tuesday, February 16, Davidson College hosted the Seán Curran Company in the Duke Family Performance Hall. This performance was part of the C. Shaw and Nancy K. Smith Artist Series for the 2015-2016 season.

The Seán Curran Company was founded in 1997 and has premiered 27 performances and toured over 65 venues in the United States, France, Germany, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Kazakhstan. In 2012, the company was selected by DanceMotion USA to perform and teach throughout Central Asia as cultural ambassadors of the U.S. State Department. As a result

of their time in Asia, the performers adopted traditional Kyrgyz mountain music—a significant feature, for it is rarely heard in western concert venues.

For this performance, the Seán Curran Company presented two pieces: “Social Discourse” and “Left Exit: Faith, Doubt, and Reason.” In “Social Discourse,” all the dancers began on the stage in brightly colored, long-sleeve leotards, and tight black shorts. Throughout this visually overwhelming piece, the dancers used their bodies to show the interplay between hard angles (such as the bend in their elbows or a twist of their heads) and the more curved features of their bodies. This dance highlighted the artistic and flexible features of each dancer, as well as their athleticism.

Following the show, Elizabeth Coker, a dancer and the co-artistic director, along with other cast and crewmembers, answered questions. Coker commented that “Social Discourse” was Seán’s attempt at creating a dance that was solely focused on movement. The dancers were challenged by Seán to solve the natural limitations posed by their bodies.

In “Left Exit: Faith, Doubt, and Reason,” the dancers enter the stage one by one, dressed in religious garb. The house lights remained on even after several dancers had begun their solo work, and finally went out after nine dancers were on stage. Dancers changed into a second costume, which was an outfit combining bright colors and patterns. They changed a third time into an all-

white outfit, which, against a black backdrop, made the dancers appear as if they were stars. Additionally, the music to this piece was a series of bells combined with lines from the film “Examined Life” and “The Atheism Tapes”. Coker commented later that the recordings were not necessarily included for their content, but rather for cadence and rhythm that the speaker provided.

Regarding the choreography, there were several images of mudras and Christian iconography; furthermore, several minutes of the dance were based upon tai-chi tradition.

The Seán Curran Company was absolutely amazing and a thrill to watch. I highly recommend seeking them out at the nearest venue to you. It’s a show you would not want to miss!

Courtesy Photo

Delilahs head to recording studio for first album in two years

T

JACOB HEGE STAFF WRITER

he Delilahs are recording a new album!

Every two years or so, the all-female a capella group records and sells an album that highlights the group’s musical talents and favorite songs. In order to feature more of the girls and to make the process slightly less demanding, the group will break up the recording process into two semesters.

As part of the recording process, the group will drive to Charlottesville, VA to work with a recording artist that both the Delilahs and the Generals have worked with before. Grace Seekins ‘16 stated that they spend most of the weekend recording, noting that they will “lay down solo tracks on Friday and then record all Saturday and part of Sunday if we need it.”

Group member Elena Jones ‘18 is from Charlottesville, so the group will be staying at her house for the weekend. The time will be a

THE CHEW 2.2

great opportunity for the group to spend some quality bonding and making memories together. Jones commented that the trip, “should be a fun time, and my parents are even more excited about it than I am! It will be so fun to road trip with everyone and spend a weekend away from Davidson. I’m excited to put together all of the music we’ve worked on this year and to record a CD for the first time.”

The last time the Delilahs recorded a CD was Seekins’s sophomore year; she described

Cardamom-Cinnamon Macaroons Mary Porter Adapted from Stupideasypaleo.com

Materials Measuring cups and spoons 1 large bowl Hand mixer or whisk Baking sheet

Ingredients Courtesy Photo

Take a break from mid-terms to recreate this sweet treat!

Want your favorite recipe featured? Email editor Mary Porter at maporter@davidson.edu to get involved!

the process as coming “full circle… for most of the seniors… [because] the beginning and now the end of our time as Delilahs has been punctuated by this process.”

You can currently preorder a CD for $15 or a signed copy for $30 via the group’s GoFundMe page, which can be found on Facebook. The album is expected be released by the 2016 holiday season.

2 egg whites ¼ cup honey ¼ tsp sea salt 2 ¼ tsp vanilla extract 2 tsp ground cardamom 1 tsp cinnamon 2 ½ cups shredded coconut

Directions (Makes 16 Macaroons) 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl, combine the egg whites and honey. Beat slightly until the white have lightened a bit.

3) Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

4) Refrigerate the mixture for about 30 minutes.

5) Use a small scoop or spoon to portion out the macaroons.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes or until just golden brown. Cool and enjoy!

perspectives Yeezus just rose again

PETER BOWMAN

W

hen Kanye West dropped “I Am A God” in 2013, it was the latest in a tradition of celebrity blasphemy, from John Lennon’s famous declaration in 1966 to Michael Jackson’s unsettling BRIT Awards performance in 1996. As much as believers may fume over comparisons with God, these acts are reminders that the entertainment industry produces its own sort of divinity.

While some rage at West’s messianic posturing, I think it’s much of what makes his work compelling.

“I Am A God” may not even properly be blasphemy: he claims it was a response to a snub at a fashion show, and in an interview with Zane Lowe he suggested that he wrote it against racial self-hate. “Would it had been better if I had a song that said ‘I am a n****?’,” he asks. 1 Declaring himself a god means a great deal in a country that would rather see its black minority as a pack of thugs instead of a host of angels.

I won’t wade into the discussion of where to differentiate between radical self-love and plain hubris, but presumably there’s a line to be drawn somewhere.

With West’s recent Twitter tirades saying things like “To Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, New York Times, and any other white publication. Please do not comment on black music anymore,” maybe it’s best that I don’t.2 More interesting to me are the religious overtones of much of West’s work. “The Life of Pablo,” his seventh studio album, opens with “Ultralight Beam,” a swelling track that begins with a four-year-old crying “We want the Lord!”3 And it’s good. Really good. But what Lord does it really ask us to want?

“This album is actually a Gospel album,” West tweeted a month before its release.4 If every track sounded like “Ultralight Beam” it might be, though

certainly not the stuff of any extant liturgy. Chance the Rapper’s verse on the opening track, “Know what God said when he made the first rainbow / Just throw this at the end if I’m too late for the intro,”5 is a direct quote of West’s “Late” where he raps “If I can catch the beat then slow down the tempo / Just throw this at the end if I’m too late for the intro.” By putting West’s words in God’s mouth, Chance makes it clear: this may be a god dream, but it’s the gospel of Kanye.

Occasionally West sounds remorseful: he tweeted in January that “My number one enemy has been my ego… there is only one throne and that’s God’s….”6 It’s hardly convincing, though. If 2010’s “Watch the Throne” left any doubts about whose throne we should be watching, “TLOP” confirms that Yeezus will keep rising again and again. As he raps on “Freestyle 4,” “This that rap god shit n****.” And while West recently tweeted, “This was made with love. Only God can judge me. So I only expect love back!!!” it’s the love of an embittered disciple: effusive but conditional, deferential but self-promoting, confident but madly insecure.

In a 2013 interview with The New York Times West recounts being left off a basketball squad despite excelling: “I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team, because some coach — some Grammy, some reviewer, some fashion person, some blah blah blah — they’re all the same as that coach.”7 At the end of “Ultralight Beam” Kirk Franklin preaches, “Father, this prayer is for everyone that feels they’re not good enough.”8 “TLOP” could be that prayer, West’s attempt to design something over his perceived void of inadequacy. There’s no indication that the void will ever be filled, however, and it’s hard for me to imagine what could come after “TLOP” other than more of the same: something beautiful but still dark and twisted.

In Lou Reed’s review of “Yeezus” he writes that “There are moments of supreme beauty and greatness on this record, and then some of it is the same old shit.

But the guy really, really, really is talented.”9 “TLOP” is

proof that, yes, this is still true. But while the supreme beauty of the production is still beautiful, the old shit may just be getting old. The brilliance of some moments—the title that suggests Escobar, Picasso, and St. Paul; the doubled significance of “FML”; the reflection of “Real Friends”; the savvy collaborations—makes verses about sex with Taylor Swift and being richer than Ray J all the more petulant. Moments of repentance, which felt more real on 2011’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” start to seem predictable when they don’t come with any real promise of change.

But if he changed he wouldn’t be Kanye. Like the God of the Book of Job, his ways are beyond our understanding. We can only listen to his declarations of might and have faith that we’ll be rewarded with another album, another track. Shall he that contendeth with Kanye instruct him? Let’s just pray the next album isn’t only on Tidal.

While the church of Kanye has a genius for an architect, there isn’t much outside of the sanctuary. The prayer is too postmodern to reach any heaven beyond the world of corporations and haute couture, but the Yeezus faithful know it doesn’t need to. The man in the confessional, the man at the altar, the man on the crucifix, the god in the stained glass—they’re all Kanye regardless of whatever he claims to believe in. And if it’s blasphemy, who cares? It’s a monument to that deeply human quest to tell the coach to go to hell, even if it means becoming, invoking, or one-upping God in the process.

There are others outside of that chapel, though.

Kendrick Lamar, whose storytelling is unrivaled, claims, “My word will never be as strong as God’s word. All I am is just a vessel, doing his work.”10 If this seems more believable than West’s vaguely spiritual tweets, that’s because “To Pimp A Butterfly” has a totally different soul: like the outro of “The Art of Peer Pressure,” it’s both hauntingly apocalyptic and stirringly hopeful. Lamar’s struggle with being a black artist in this country is the struggle of being a prophet, not becoming a god. Instead

Page 5 February 24, 2016

of counting stacks with Jesus, Lamar imagines a run-in with God as an old man in “How Much A Dollar Cost?”

Instead of saying “What up Yeezus?” he asks Lamar: “Have you ever opened up Exodus 14? / A humble man is all that we ever need.”11 If West’s work is gospel, Lamar’s is scripture. But for both the blurring of spirituality and secularity can be productive—even if Lamar is the better poet. Whether addressed to the fashion industry or the police state, declarations of black divinity are radical in an industry that seems intent on only canonizing whiteness. So while Kanye puts the finishing touches on his ever-unbuilt church, Kendrick is out making a congregation. As for Chance? Believe him when he raps on “Ultralight Beam”: “Uhh, I’m just having fun with it.”12 Peter Bowman `16 is an English major from Charlotte, North Carolina. Contact him at pebowman@davidson.edu bbc viral. “Kanye West Zane Lowe (full interview).” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 23 Sep 2013.

1

Web.20Feb2016.

West, Kanye. @kanyewest. “To Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, New York Times, and any other white publica-

2

tion.Pleasedonotcommentonblackmusicanymore.”3:27PM,15Feb2016.Tweet.21Feb2016.

West,Kanye.“UltralightBeam.”*RapGenius*.GeniusMediaInc.Web.21Feb2016.

3

West, Kanye. @kanyewest. “This album is actually a Gospel album.” 11:54 AM, 27 Jan 2016. Tweet. 21

4

Feb2016.

“UltralightBeam”;West,Kanye.“Late.”*RapGenius*.GeniusMediaInc.Web.21Feb2016.

5

West, Kanye. @kanyewest. “My number one enemy has been my ego… there is only one throne and

6

that’sGod’s …”11:07AM,17Feb2016.Tweet.21Feb2016.

Caramanica,Jon.“BehindKanye’sMask.”TheNewYorkTimes.11Jun2013.Web.20Feb2016.

7

“UltralightBeam.”

Reed,Lou.“LouReedTalksKanyeWest’sYeezus.”TheTalkhouse.3Sep2014.Web.20Feb2016.

9

Quoted in“Kendrick Lamar: A ‘ ll I Am Is a Vessel, Doing His Work.’” Relevant Magazine. 16 Mar 2015.

10

Web.21Feb2016.

West, Kanye. “I Am A God.” *Rap Genius*. Genius Media Inc. Web. 21 Feb 2016.; Lamar, Kendrick.

11

“HowMuchADollarCost?”*RapGenius*.GeniusMediaInc.Web.21Feb2016.

“UltralightBeam.”

12

Honor is more about fairness than trust DR. DAVID PERRY

A

t Davidson we often tie the concepts of honor and trust so closely together that I fear we miss some important distinctions between the two, and obscure the extent to which our actual practices reflect trust and whether we are according students the right amount of trust.

We faculty at Davidson place a lot of trust in our students to uphold academic integrity, more so than at any other educational institution I know. That’s not only because you have individually pledged to be honest: you genuinely seem to take ownership of the Honor Code as a kind of sacred collective promise, not an alien thing imposed upon you. But as you know, in practice we don’t completely trust you to do the right thing. One way to make that clear is to think what would be entailed if we did grant you unconditional, boundless trust.

Imagine, first, that we had a way to test incoming freshmen on their comprehension of what academic integrity entails, employing myriad examples of what counts as cheating and plagiarism. If some didn’t pass that test initially, we might coach them intensively until they did pass. But let’s say that before classes start, they all pass the test, and solemnly pledge to be scrupulously honest and uphold academic integrity throughout their sojourn at Davidson.

So based on our confidence in your understanding of and commitment to academic integrity (i.e., we’d assume that no one will cheat, because everyone knows what cheating looks like, and everyone’s pledged not to cheat), let’s then imagine that we’ve de-

cided to place complete trust in every student. What would that entail? 1) We could delete from the Honor Code the requirement to report cheating by one’s peers and the penalty for not reporting. 2) We could dissolve the Honor Council, because we would never expect any Honor Code infractions for them to investigate or try. 3) We could make all written tests take-home, and assume that no one will use any unauthorized materials during tests, collaborate with others in prohibited ways, or exceed specified time limits. We could also eliminate the restrictions on backpacks and electronic devices during self-scheduled exams in Chambers.

(Why even require such exams to be held only in one building?) And 4) when reading your course papers, we wouldn’t need to check whether you cited sources properly or paraphrased thoroughly, because of course you would always give credit where credit is due.

In fact, if we really trusted you, we wouldn’t need to require you to take any tests or submit any papers or other work products. Instead, at the end of each course, we could ask you to tell us how well you’ve mastered the course material and what grade you deserved. Some students who may not be entirely confident about their mastery of the material or what grade they deserve might then ask us to test their comprehension and skills. But if any students said to us, “I’m confident that I thoroughly mastered the material in this course, and deserve an A,” what reason would we have to doubt them, seeing as they satisfied our “rigorous” assessment of their comprehension of and commitment to integrity as incoming freshmen?

Now, I’m sure you’ll agree that it would be a huge mistake to trust you to that degree. But why? 1) Because we know better than our students what it takes to exhibit mastery and excellence in our fields. That’s partly what it means to have earned a Ph.D., to have proven that mastery to others who previously proven

the davidsonian staff editors-in-chief news editors living davidson editor

:LOO 0F'XIÀH Michelle Wan Mary Click Kate McNaughton Mary Porter

perspectives editor

Will Weisgerber

yowl editors

Paul Henderson Sophie McHugh

sports editors

Ethan Faust Jason Feldman

photo editor

Shea Parikh

web editors

Sabrina Cheema Bridget Lavender

business manager

Austin Newsome

graphic design editor

Sophia Smith

theirs. 2) Because we know that even generally conscientious people don’t always do the right thing. (E.g., our students procrastinate, they panic, they get wasted the night before a test, or they don’t check their uses of sources carefully enough.) So we need to have ways to monitor conduct and performance according to high ethical standards, and punish violations of academic integrity.

Part of our solemn responsibility as faculty is to ensure fairness: 1) Fairness of students toward one another, that none takes unfair advantage of an opportunity to cheat. 2) Fairness to other researchers and writers, giving them due credit for their ideas. And 3) fairness to ourselves, in students not deceiving us to believe that they merit grades they haven’t earned.

A commitment to fairness is the main point of an honor code, not trust per se. Trust can be the happy consequence of a demonstrated commitment to honesty and fairness. But trust freely bestowed can also be forfeited. Our obligation to academic integrity justifies our having a degree of prudent mistrust of our students.

Given the nature of our honor system at Davidson, we can at least take some comfort in the findings of careful researchers like Dan Ariely (“The [Honest] Truth about Dishonesty”) that people are less likely to cheat: 1) When they’ve made a public commitment to practice ethical conduct (like the pledge-signing ceremony that Dean Shandley instituted years ago).

2) When they’ve also pledged to hold one another accountable for cheating. 3) When their peers openly value honesty. 4) When they regard honesty and fairness as integral to their personal identity. 5) When they’re reminded of their obligations every time they take a test or submit a paper. 6) When their professors guard against cheating and plagiarism, so that honest students don’t feel like dishonest ones are free riders on their ethics.

On that last point, I worry that many of our faculty greatly underestimate the risks of cheating on take-home exams and plagiarism on papers by our students. We don’t actually have a reliable estimate of the percentage of Davidson students who cheat, apparently because we’re afraid to do that research, even though national surveys indicate that over 70% of college students overall admit to cheating, as do about 50% of students at schools with explicit honor codes. I’d wager that our percentage is lower than that, maybe even much lower, but I have no solid evidence to support that belief. No one knows, because we haven’t asked. I think we should be surveying our senior students anonymously, every year.

To be sure, some faculty report even minor errors in citation as full-blown plagiarism, which is unjust to their students. But other faculty don’t place adequate checks on potential test-cheating opportunities, or use the best tools to identify plagiarism. I’m personally conflicted about the requirement that our students report others’ cheating, in other words, that failing to report is as much an Honor Code violation as the cheating itself. On the other hand, that requirement makes me extremely confident that there will be no cheating during an in-class exam after I’ve distributed the test questions and left the room! That’s a welcome change from the in-room proctoring that I felt compelled to do in other college settings.

In any case, I hope that these thoughts will stimulate further reflection and dialogue.

Dr. David Perry is a Professor of Applied Ethics and the Director of the Vann Center for Ethics at Davidson College. Contact him at daperry@davidson. edu

THE 3D ISSUE Mayan Folklore: As Relevant As Ever

Page 2012

Guy Who No One Swiped Right On Declares Tinder Broken

Page o

Years of GSS Classes Forgotten During Student’s Debate With Bigoted Relative

Page y2k

Student’s Bernie Sanders Laptop Sticker Tips Scales For Undecided Classmate’s Vote

Page 0

Introducing The Gin and Juice Cleanse

Page 666

Seven Alternative Uses For That Best of Lionel Richie Album

Senior Scrambles To Stockpile Prescriptions While Still On Parents Insurance

Local Peeping Tom Views Self As Modern Day Nick Carraway

After a lengthy visit to the Davidson Health Center, Todd Raimondi ‘16 came to the realization that his cushy coverage under his parents’ United Healthcare insurance plan was nearing its expiration. Raimondi, who had initially visited the health center for a simple routine checkup, was inspired to fabricate a wealth of illnesses in order to obtain prescriptions for medication that, as he put it, “would pretty much leave me set for at least 30 more years.”

“On the checkup slip, he wrote ‘sniffles’ in the blank as his reason for visiting,” recalled Nurse Joy, “But after slipping out briefly for a heated phone call with his mom, he returned looking positively ghoulish!”

Raimondi reportedly prattled off symptoms including dizziness, inability to concentrate, hemorrhoids, morning sickness, thigh cramps, discolored nasal discharge, a fractured spine, vision loss, fever, seasonal allergies, hiccups, coughing up blood, forgetfulness, and more.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about Davidson’s latest scandal. Recently, the menace popularly dubbed “Peeping Tomcat” was detained and identified as Ned Gutz ‘19. In the midst of his formal trial process, The Yowl was able to conduct an informal investigation of our own, beginning with the man himself.

“I don’t really see what I did wrong,” declared Gutz, the young man charged with multiple accounts of peering into his neighbor’s windows, in some incidents even photographing them. “If anything, it was merely a naturalistic observation. I shouldn’t be penalized just because my IRB approval form never came through.”

Gutz, whose Sentelle dormitory room provides him with a perfect view of the Cannon windows, intends to submit his journal as further evidence that his actions were not stalking, but rather a purely academic endeavor. Gutz’ moleskine notebook contains detailed entries such as “6:23 a.m: shirley washes her beautiful “I don’t really see what I did porcelain hands; applies pomegranate Dove deodorant” and wrong. I shouldn’t be penalized “9:14 p.m: eye contact made with just because my IRB approval Dylan. blinds quickly shut. discard this evidence.” form never came through” When we questioned his professional interests in the mundane lives of his peers, Gutz invoked the credibility of a classic novel: “I view myself as akin to Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby. Carraway, like myself, was an outsider to a world full of glitz and glam. Carraway, like myself, was morally and mentally above the rest. Carraway, like myself, was intrigued in the stories that lay behind the windows of bright buildings. Of house, he wrote a book about it and you don’t see him getting into trouble.”

Subjects of Gutz’ analysis view his methods a bit differently.

“Yeah I’ve caught the Peeping Tomcat in the act a few times,” confessed Tiffany Coleman ‘17. “Once he took a picture of me with the flash on. Who does that?

The picture wouldn’t even turn out clear! And then, even after I flicked him off, he just seemed to chuckle and write something down in his creepy notebook.”

Such critiques aren’t stopping Gutz from pursuing his craft. He’s even hinted at the possibility of a Humans of Cannon book deal.

“The things I’ve seen,” murmured the blossoming scribe with a faraway glint in his eyes, “the tales I could tell.”

Until his trial closes, Davidson officials have advised residents of Cannon to keep their shades shut and curtains closed.

Page 0

Saying “It’s All For Charity” At Drink Pink Doesn’t Excuse Puking on Table

Page 13

Groundhog Correctly Predicts Davidson’s Spring Break Will Arrive 5 Weeks Early

Page 0

The Yowl Presents:

Guess That Scent! Ɛ́GDGVƓ́X Ɛ́ƓVX$

“I want to be able to provide for my future family as well, so I faked a colic and a diaper rash while I was at it. I mean why not, while it’s all still free?

“The thing is, I’m about to turn 22,” explained the near-dead Raimondi, “And at 22, United kicks me off. I guess I could get a job with insurance myself, but I’d rather just stockpile a variety of pills I could take for any reason that might come up in the next couple of decades.”

Campus doctors have indicated that they’re on to Raimondi’s game, but are making no steps to inhibit his actions.

“I walked in on him holding his head up to a lamp. It’s the classic trick kids have been using for centuries to replicate fevers. I would call him out on it, but on the off chance that he actually is sick, we could be held accountable or even sued. So I just prescribed him some steroids and threw in some ointment for his forehead burn,” reported Dr. Bumgarner.

Raimondi insists that his scheme isn’t entirely selfish.

“I want to be able to provide for my future family as well, so I faked a colic and a diaper rash while I was at it. I mean why not, while it’s all still free?”

“Some of the prescriptions are covered, but all of the bloodwork, STD testing, and gatorade will show up on his tuition bill at the end of the year for sure,” stated Dr. Bumgarner.

Raimondi was seen pouring the entire contents of the complimentary condom basket into his satchel before making the trek ransack his unsuspecting neighborhood CVS.

The Yowl’s Guide To Lesser-Known Fraternity Reputations Forget meathead, Southern, nerdy, or preppy.The Yowl’s here with a guide to the reputations of Davidson’s less conventional fraternities:

Your Davidson Honor Section

Editors: Paul Henderson Sophie “The Rock” McHugh Writers: Namrebiel Hannah James Patterson probably readers like You! Note: The Yowl is a satirical supplement to The Davidsonian.

Hence, nothing in it should be taken as truth. Word.

THE DAVIDSONIAN

This Issue Brought to You By: Carrier Pigeons

The Murder Frat - If you’ve got a taste for homicide, Alpha Ro Bruticon is the place for you! Widely known for their “Come on Down to the Basement…No, Really, Get in the Basement” party. The slayers of this frat always have a killer good time!

The Email Frat - Hate face-to-face interaction? So do the brothers of Rakka Beta Track Sigma, who communicate exclusively with hotmail accounts, and have never actually met in person.

The Construction Worker Frat - Guys who know their way around a grouting trowel tend to gravitate towards Alpha Pepsi Tau, whose hard-hat-wearing membership

built their own (now condemned) four story frat palace, and can often be found operating jackhammers down the hill.

The Candy Frat - Be it Skittles, Starbursts or Fruit-by-the-Foot, the men of Upsilon Kai don’t judge; they’re always down to hang out and indulge their sugary desires.

The Turtleneck Frat - If you like keeping your neck warm at all times of the year, you’ll feel right at home with the brothers of Tau Necronia Omega, a strangely high number of who wear turtlenecks on a daily basis, and have little else in common.

The [Censored] Frat - The boys of Sigma Telepathe Digacron just can’t get enough of it.

sports

Page 7 Davidsonian.com

Track conludes indoor with strong A-10 showing ISAAC MERVIS Staff Writer

L

ast weekend, the Davidson men’s and women’s Track and Field squads travelled to Rhode Island to compete in the A-10 Indoor Championships. Come Sunday afternoon, both teams were able to leave with a sense of accomplishment.

The men’s team, who finished fifth overall with 57 team points, was headlined by A-10 Champion runners Patrick Rollo ‘16 and William Brewster ’17.

Tight from the get-go, it became clear that Saturday’s 5k was going to come down to two competitors in the last laps. Brewster and Saint Louis junior Neal Fitzpatrick were neck and neck

until the end.

“When the bell rang to signal the final lap, I tried to make the pass, but he held me off and picked up the pace even more,” he said. “When that happened I fell back a little bit and remember thinking back to my senior year of high school when I was out-kicked in the final stretch at the state championship, finishing a close second. On Saturday night, with 200 to go, I remembered how painful it was losing a championship race in the final stretch.”

With a sour taste still in his mouth, the transfer from the University of Illinois did everything in his power to make sure that he would never feel that way again.

“Just like every basketball player always dreams of making the game winning shot as time expires, and every baseball player always dreams

:LOO %UHZVWHU · RXWOXQJHV KLV RSSRQHQW DW WKH ÀQLVK OLQH WR WDNH WKH FRQIHUHQFH WLWOH LQ WKH .

Photo by Daniel Petty/Atlantic 10.

of hitting the game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth, every runner dreams of winning a championship with only inches left in the race,” Brewster said. “All I envisioned during my winter break training was winning that race. It’s definitely a moment I will never forget.”

Brewster leaned over the finish line .04 seconds before Fitzpatrick, taking home the individual championship. In that moment, running 100 miles per week in the chilly North Carolina winter, and doing intense interval training to work on closing speed, were all made worthwhile. He left a champion. A day later, without much in the tank, he followed that performance up with a third place finish in the 3,000m, with a time of 8:26.55.

Rollo is no stranger to the 800m race. The senior was the reigning champion coming into the weekend, with high hopes of repeating. “The good and bad thing about running,” noted Rollo, “is that you approach every race with a blank slate. Anyone could win any given day. This gave me the confidence to believe in my ability to defend my indoor title, but also the cautiousness not to take the moment for granted.”

His confidence propelled him to a great start, which translated into another battle down the final stretch. In the last 50 meters, Rollo pulled away with a half-second victory. “My coach and dad probably would have preferred I made the decision easier,” he added, “but sometimes that’s how the race pans out.”

Behind that title-winning duo, the team boasted several top-10 finishes. The 4x800m team of Ramsay Ritchie ‘18, Dylan Carmack ‘19, Ben Corson ‘17 and Rollo set a new school record with a time of 7:52.28. Freshman Sean Caveney finished fourth in the 60m hurdles (8.44), while Jacob Hostetler ‘18 scurried to a fifth place finish in the 400m with a time of 49.98. Senior co-captain Daniel Samet recorded a fifth place finish in the 5k and another top-10 finish in the onemile in his final A-10 Indoor Championship. The 4x400m team of Charles Rappe ‘16, Caveney, Amir Pappu ‘16, and Hostetler recorded a seventh place finish with a time of 3:27.03. Jordan Marshall ‘17 finished eighth in the heptathlon.

The women’s team showed great tenacity, fol-

lowing the lead of two shining stars, freshman Caroline Yarbrough and junior Hannah Rieden.

The A-10 All Conference selections shined this weekend.

Yarbrough allowed her dominance from the cross-country season to translate to the track.

A four-sport athlete in high school, Yarbrough now focuses all of her energy on running. She attributes her success at Davidson to “a greater emphasis on running, combined with a different approach to training, great coaching, and so much encouragement and camaraderie amongst our team.” This combination translated into a first place finish in the 3000m (9:55.52) and a third place mark in the 5000m.

Rieden, for her part, broke the 800m school record for the third time this season, with a time of 2:12.41, finishing in second place. These two athletes are looking forward to the outdoor season, and they are the primary reasons as to why we are so excited.

Despite a successful Indoor Championship meet, the teams won’t be celebrating for too much longer. “Feelings of success are often fleeting,” noted Rollo. “Not because they are not satisfying achievements necessarily, but because they only serve as an impetus to motivate future performances. Competition is like an unquenchable thirst that drives me to desire to achieve much larger goals.”

The goals are high for both teams. Brewster has his sights on the school record in the 5K, another A-10 Championship, and an appearance at Nationals.

For Rollo, “This championship meet has proven to our team as a whole that we are ready to compete at the next level, and I’m excited for our prospects in the upcoming outdoor season.”

Brewster knows as well as anyone that “in a tactical, championship race, anything can happen. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. So, I just need to keep training hard and be a gamer when the gun goes off.”

The road to the Outdoor A-10 Championship starts now, and you can bet when the gun goes off in a couple months, the Wildcats will be ready to run.

How the Warriors have made people numb to greatness STEPHEN PACHECO Staff Writer

“W

arriors Become Fastest Team Ever To Win 50 Games.”

“Warriors Chase History With Record-Setting Season.”

“Steph Curry Pursues All-Time Great Status with Record-Smashing Season.”

“2016 Warriors: GOAT?” “2016 Warriors vs. 1996 Bulls: The Greatest Teams Ever Assembled.”

At this point in the season, articles like these about the Golden State Warriors have flooded ESPN and the greater Internet community to such an extent that we gloss over them like we would an advertisement for KIA on NBA.com or a TMZ report on the Kardashians. We have become so desensitized to the deluge of articles recapping and predicting the Warriors’s success that we don’t understand how to look at this team from a fresh perspective.

Sitting down to write this article, I must have deleted at least 15 drafts before arriving at an ultimate conclusion: no one wants to read another article about the greatness of the Warriors. This team has accomplished the seemingly impossible in that they have made greatness commonplace, history boring, and success trivial. They have dominated the league to the point where every subsequent win is somehow both over-scrutinized and completely glossed over at the same time. Each ground-breaking victory generates more and more content about chasing history, and – simultaneously – more and more numbness to the unparalleled level of success they are achieving. The Warriors have made greatness so pedestrian that each loss carries the weight of an NBA Finals Game 7 blowout, and every win as unsurprising and expected as a preseason victory over the Sixers.

But this isn’t another one of those articles.

This isn’t another attempt to make us somehow more amazed at the Warriors’s success and accomplishments. At this point, I’ve accepted that as an impossible task.

This is an article about the Warriors’s greatest barrier to their own success: themselves. Every team that has ever been mentioned in the conversation about the all-time greats – the ’86 Celtics, the ’87 Lakers, the ’96 Bulls, the ’02 Lakers – has had to face an obstacle that either destroyed or strengthened their dominance. The Celtics had their rival Lakers constantly breathing down their necks, challenging their success and looking to destroy their dominance any chance they could (and vice versa). The Bulls had to deal with Michael Jordan’s departure after a mixture of tragedy, a questioning of meaning and success, and a thirst for a new challenge forced him out of the Finals and into the minor leagues. And the Lakers faced an ego challenge and identity crisis after Shaq was traded to the Heat.

So what will the Warriors’ barrier be? What will be their obstacle? What will step up to stumble them on their path to all-time success? After the final buzzer inevitably sounds to cap this NBA season – after the Warriors have raised another banner into the rafters –after another ring ceremony, trip to the White House, and Larry O’Brien patch on their jerseys – how will the Warriors stay motivated after capping the greatest season of all-time virtually unchallenged?

How will they skirt boredom, avoid the trap of complacency, and refuse to take a step back in 2017?

While these articles are normally written in the days following a championship, I have never in my life been more certain of an inevitable outcome and less interested in yet another take on the Warriors’s historical season. Therefore, now is as good of a time as ever to tackle this topic. As I see it, there are two main barriers to focus on

in looking at the Warriors’s future success, both resulting from their own accomplishments in addition to the barriers of a possible major injury, lapsing into a state of complacency due to an unsustainable level of success and accomplishments or the formation of a competing super-team, reminiscent of the 2008 Boston Celtics or 2012 Miami Heat.

Pride & Contract Extensions Every great group of people always faces a challenge to the individual pride of its members or outlook on their personal ceilings of success and achievement when grouped together. Shaq left Kobe when Kobe wanted to win a championship on his own. Durant and Westbrook will more than likely split this off-season after multiple years of upper-class mediocrity following their 2012 NBA Finals trip. Additionally, Harden left that same Finals team after realizing that he could not only start for another team, but become a superstar in his own right (as he has since become).

Every supporting member of the current Warriors team not named Steph Curry faces this same dilemma: stay with the team and continue winning or accept a fat contract from another team in order to prove their individual abilities in a new environment. While they outwardly show their loyalty and love for Golden State now, no one can say that a max contract won’t entice Green, Thompson, Barnes, Iguodala, or Bogut away from their beloved team in the future. The love of money and fame is a dangerous thing, and no team – no matter how seemingly loyal or satisfied they may seem to be - is above that pride.

Lineup Additions There have been rumors circulating for some time now that the Warriors are actually in the best position to sign Kevin Durant in the off-season. While this sounds like an improbable/im-

possible proposition, with some slight maneuvering and tactical decisions it’s scary to realize that this may just be possible. While I highly doubt that this will ever actually come to fruition, the idea of signing another “superstar” or high-caliber player who will contribute to the team’s success will be tossed around for years to come. Yet, while the move may seem valuable in the shortterm, it could have effects that damage the chemistry, cohesion, and compatability of the team in the long run. For example, the Cavs are already considering trading away Kevin Love a little over a year after swapping him for Wiggins, and you can’t help but think the Cavs would be better off if that trade never happened in the first place. In the pursuit of a championship in the short-term, the Cavs made a decision that affected them negatively in the long-run.

While I’m not saying signing a player of Durant’s status (or lower, most likely much, much lower) would inherently hurt the team, it could have long term effects that alter the chemistry and functionality of the team. We have to remember that upgrading to a better player cannot be equated with upgrading to a better team.

Golden State has a perfect formula of talent right now, and any subsequent alteration to that lineup should be seriously considered beforehand.

At this point, it seems the Warriors’ greatest barrier to future success rests solely in themselves. When you reach the level of historic success the Warriors have, your greatest competition becomes yourself. The Warriors have spoiled us with greatness. They’ve flooded us with history, and we’ve started to become numb to its potency.

Instead of saturating newsfeeds and websites with articles predicting the Warriors’ record-breaking conclusion to the season, we should start to focus on what lies beyond. A championship and record-shattering season are inevitable. What comes next is the true question.

sports

Page 8

February 24, 2016

Swimming shatters numerous records at A-10s LO DONATO

T

Staff Writer

he Davidson swimming and diving programs competed in the 2016 Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships, which began Wednesday, Feb. 17 and concluded Saturday, Feb. 20 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. After finishing fourth a year ago, the women improved this year with a third overall finish, while the men grabbed seventh place.

Elise Lankiewicz ‘17 dominated the Championships, winning the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 1650 freestyle while also helping the 800 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay squads to first-place finishes. Lankiewicz swam a time of 16:39.65 in the 1650 freestyle, a grand 10 seconds faster than her competition.

Justifiably, she was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Performer for the second straight year

on Saturday night.

When asked how she felt about winning the award in consecutive years, Lankiewicz noted, “I was really grateful to my teammates and coaches for having put me in a position to defend my titles this year. There are some incredibly talented women in our conference, so I couldn’t have done it without my teammates holding me to high standards throughout the season and in particular my coaches’ support; they deserve so much of the credit for any successes I’ve had.”

On the whole, the women’s team broke many Davidson records in Ohio. The 800 freestyle relay team highlighted the first day of the Championships, as the quartet of Maggie Farrell ‘19, Elizabeth Weldon ‘18, Lankiewicz and Angie Healy ‘16 crushed the event with a time of 7:16.79, setting an Atlantic 10 record. A five-year Davidson record was also broken on the first day in the 200yard medley relay, as Anabelle Durham ‘19, Katy

Katy Williams ‘17 set both conference and school records with her performance in the 100 breaststroke. Photo by John Reid/Atlantic 10.

Williams ‘17, Emma Tobey ‘16 and Kassie Shannon ‘17 put together a time of 1:42.81.

Records continued to fall throughout the week. Lankiewicz won the 200-yard freestyle with a NCAA B standard time of 1:46.92, setting both an A-10 and school record. Two Wildcats scored in the top-10 in the 200-freestyle -- Healy recorded a notable third-place finish with a time of 1:48.25.

Williams won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.73, and her preliminary performance set conference and school records, touching the wall at the 1:01.23 mark.

Day three came to a close as the women took a first-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Kate Moreton ‘18, Williams, Farrell and Lankiewicz swam the relay in 3:42.31, setting yet another school record. Along with the medley relay, Moreton also swam to a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke, in 55.67 seconds.

As for the men, Luke Burton ‘16 swam the best individual performance for Davidson in the early going, recording a time of 47.53 in the 100 yard backstroke and tallying second place. He also set a Davidson record with his preliminary time of 47.53 seconds.

The 400 medley relay team, comprised of Burton, Taylor Willenbring ‘18, Cameron Bard ‘16 and Colin MacKay ‘16, swam a time of 3:16.36, which broke a five-year Davidson record and placed them second overall.

Bard, Clay Resweber ‘18 and Grant Smith ‘16 also finished day three with notable finishes for the ‘Cats. Bard placed sixth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.45, Resweber took sixth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:39.66 and Smith placed fifth in the 400 IM with a time of 3:57.25.

Headed into the final day of the championships, the Wildcats had five gold medals, four Atlantic 10 records and seven school records under their belts.

Lankiewicz completed her flawless performance with an undefeated outing on the final day.

Recapping this weekend, with her goals for

next year in mind, Lankiewicz explained, “I was really happy to hit several best times this year and defend my titles but am still a little ways out of reach of qualifying for NCAAs. That’s something I would like to take one last shot at accomplishing next year.”

On the final day of the championships, the women collected three school records and one of their A-10 records. Moreton finished ninth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:01.40, which broke a Davidson record that had been set in 2001.

“I knew my goals were difficult so I always had them in mind during our many practices,” Moreton said. “This weekend I thought back to all the pace sets we had done and that helped me feel confident going into a race. After qualifying for the A final in the 100 back on Friday, I never could have imagined placing third overall and standing on the podium. It was such an awesome experience.”

Also on Saturday, Williams also won the 200 breaststroke and set a school record with with a standard time of 2:12.65 and the 400 freestyle relay squad of Shannon, Farrell, Lankiewicz and Healy set Atlantic 10 and school records with a time of 3:19.65.

The women swimmers had a lot to say about their team’s supportive and motivating dynamic.

As Moreton described, “At this championship meet, we all made a ton of noise for the people swimming to the point where we lost our voices.

“We fed off each other’s energy, and it made for some really fast swimming.”

The men swimmers finished the final night successfully, with Burton claiming a first-place finish. The senior hit the wall at the 1:43.76 mark in the 200 backstroke, good for another NCAA B time.

Resweber, Riley League ‘18, Max Schimanski ‘16, Smith and Bard all recorded top-10 finishes for the ‘Cats to end the night.

Young baseball squad begins season with promise JASON FELDMAN Sports Co-Editor

O

ver the past two years, the Davidson baseball program has begun to turn a corner. After being stuck between 17 and 19 wins every season between 2009 and 2013, the team has dragged its win total up from that range by double digits the past few years, winning 29 in their final SoCon season in 2014. Last year, the Wildcats followed that up with 28 wins in their inaugural A-10 campaign, including a big win in the conference tournament over top-seeded Saint Louis.

This season, the team will have to replace the production of eight graduating seniors, who together pitched over 200 innings last year. “Every member of the 2015 class had a vital impact in helping us win and reach the culture that the Davidson Baseball program has developed into,” explained fifth-year senior Clark Beeker ’16. “We relied heavily on upperclassman pitching, and our offense was surrounded around proven, college-ready hitters.”

Despite losing all that talent and leadership, the team still has reason for optimism. This year’s freshman class is among the deepest the program has seen, especially in terms of pitching. Austin Leonard ’19 and Peyton Hopkins ’19 are among the many young arms that are expected to be cogs at the back of the bullpen, while Adrian Mayans ’19 will bring some pop to the lineup with his bat.

Catcher Jake Sidwell ’17 had high praise for them, remarking, “they’re talented and go out there and compete.”

These freshmen put their talent on display this past weekend, as the Wildcats took two out of three games at home. Leonard came into a tight game against Marist in a jam and was able to limit the damage so that the offense could rally in the bottom half of the inning, before Hopkins came in for the save to preserve a 4-3 victory and Leonard’s first career W. The next day, after being given the start at DH, Mayans came within a

few inches of his first career home run with what amounted to a long double off the top of the wall in the team’s 5-0 victory over Buffalo.

Combining this young talent with some improving returning players, the team has a nice overall balance. Beeker will lead the pitching staff and is able to mentor all the young arms with his experience, while upperclassmen, including Sidwell and Will Robertson ’17, have come back looking like new players. Both of them provided a spark in the lineup this weekend, as Robertson hit the first two home runs of his career, while Sidwell was 4 for 8 at the plate himself. Both of these players credit associate head coach Rucker Taylor for the strides they made at the plate in the off-season.

Putting these players alongside established stalwarts, including Lee Miller ’16, Sam Foy ’16, and Alec Acosta ’18, the team is not short of depth. As Robertson remarked, “One advantage of having so much depth is that everyone feels the need to compete and get better every day in practice to try to earn time on the field.” Because of this, the team expects to continue to get better and better as the season wears on.

If this past weekend is any indication, Wilson Field could be a daunting environment for opposing teams to come into this season. Throughout the weekend, the right field deck was often overflowing with students to the point that opposing teams began to question whether the turnout was atypical. Sidwell attested to the effect of having so many of his fellow students in attendance this weekend, saying, “The fan support was incredible this past weekend, and hopefully that continues for the rest of the season.”

Throughout the team, the focus is primarily on performing well in conference play. Every single player has his sights set on the same prize: winning the A-10 title, and the appearance in the NCAA tournament that comes with it. After being picked sixth in the conference preseason poll, they know it won’t be an easy task. However, the squad showed last year they belong in the league, so a good shot at an A-10 title is certainly there

for the taking.

While the focus is primarily on the A-10 season, the team also has a daunting nonconference schedule facing them. After a tough 7-4 loss against ACC foe Wake Forest in the first of two meetings between the schools this season, the team will also have a home game against Duke and travel to nationally ranked powerhouses UNC and South Carolina.

Though the Wildcats know nothing will come

easy for their young squad, they are confident about what they can do this year. “I think this year we have the best team chemistry since I’ve been here,” explained Sidwell. “We have a lot of really great guys, and everyone is playing for the guy next to him instead of themselves.” With the combination of this mentality and the raw talent on the squad both in the lineup and on the mound, an A-10 title is certainly within reach this season.

Shortstop Alec Acosta ‘18 is one of the few bats returning to the starting lineup this season. Photo by Shea Parikh.