9-6-17

the davidsonian

September 6, 2017 Vol. 113 ISSue 1

The Independent Student Newspaper of Davidson College since 1914

Inside NEWS Updated mandatory meal plan impacts on dining at Davidson 2

LIVING DAVIDSON Lucas Weals '19 contextualizes VAC's Lenin exhibit 4

PERSPECTIVES Katie Walsh '20 encourages students to admit shortcomings 5

Cornelius's Confederate memorial is the closest of its kind to Davidson. Photo by Ethan Ehrenhaft

The Sparrow's Nest, behind Belk Hall, is believed to have been built as slaves' quarters, Photo by Ethan Ehrenhaft

Charlottesville Violence Shines Light on Local White Supremacist Collective Memory

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ETHAN EHRENHAFT Senior Staff Writer

short drive south on Main Street from Davidson’s campus, a tall stone monument stands to the left. Sitting on privately-owned land, just past the town center of Cornelius and in front of Mount Zion United Methodist Church, the statue depicts a bearded soldier, rifle rested on his shoulder, facing north.

On the stone pedestal beneath the soldier, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia is engraved, along with the inscription: “Though men deserve, they may not win success. The brave will honor the brave. Vanquished nonetheless.” On the reverse side, a simpler phrase: “Our Confederate soldiers.”

Cornelius’s Confederate memorial is one among the hundreds scattered across the US depicting and honoring Confederate soldiers, generals, and politicians. On August 11th and 12th, a Unite the Right rally was held in Charlottesville, VA, to protest the city council’s decision to remove one such statue of Confederate General

Robert E. Lee. Confederate monuments and the question of their removal and legacy are currently at the center of fierce debate across the country, particularly in the South.

The Charlottesville rally, which included Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members, Neo-Nazis, and other white supremacist groups, is the most recent and most prominent of these demonstrations.

“It didn’t seem real,” said Matthew Rose ‘20, a Charlottesville native. A helicopter carrying two Virginia state troopers crashed on property belonging to the University of Virginia Foundation, which is headed by Tim Rose, Rose’s father.

The deaths of counter-protester Heather Heyer, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates, along with President Trump’s delayed response to the white supremacists’ violence, spurred a wave of emotions throughout Charlottesville and the nation.

In light of the tragic events, local clergy from across faiths held a vigil on Davidson’s Village Green on August 23rd. Speakers included Davidson’s Associate Dean of Students, Ernest E. Jeffries. The clerical organizers stated the intention

of the vigil was “to gather as a community to pray, express our grief, lament, and commit to move forward together.” They stressed that it was not “a protest, rally, or political gathering in any way.”

“People across all traditions share a concern for respecting the dignity of their fellow human beings,” said Davidson Chaplain Rob Spach ‘84.

“Within the context of the religious communities, I think that our voices, whether it’s through student organizations or through the chaplain’s office, will all speak out as situations [such as Charlottesville] arise.”

In an email to the student body following the Charlottesville rally, a group of Davidson students who hail from the Virginia city, including Rose, stated: "Do not make the mistake of thinking that what occurred in Charlottesville, VA could not or would not happen in Davidson, NC.” Davidson, like many towns throughout the nation, has its own deep history pertaining to slavery, the Con-

Zach Miller '20 discusses community values observed on trip to Germany 5

YOWL Edgy freshman blinded from eclipse 6 CPE hosts renowned phrenologist speaker 6

SPORTS Men's and women's soccer teams encounter tough early season lineup 7 First-year students to look out for this fall 7

See DAVIDSON Page 2

Save Davidson Movement Stirs Up Municipal Elections OLIVIA DANIELS Co- News Editor

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pon returning to campus in August, many students were surprised to see “Save Davidson” plastered throughout Main Street in the form of car magnets, posters, and t-shirts. Is Davidson in danger? If so, why?

In 1985, the Town of Davidson purchased a nineteen-acre property on Beaty Street from Venie Clontz. According to Save Davidson leader Jamie Ramsden, “The property was originally supposed to be a park,” in accordance with Clontz’s wishes.

Current Town Commissioner Rodney Graham explained that technically, there was no guarantee for a park to be built on the land. Instead, the sale stipulated that “nothing can prohibit the town from using it as a park,” but there was “no absolute commitment” to building one.

In 1996, town records show that the Town Board issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to developers, but the Board decided not to pursue any projects.

According to the Town of Davidson’s “Beaty Street Proposal FAQs” (February 15, 2017), the town purchased more land in 2006, including “the Fiji House parcel at 832 Beaty Street (.6 acre)

and the parcel at 825 Shearer Street (.23 acre).”

During the early months of 2016, Michael Flake ’06 attempted to buy about five acres of the Beaty Street Property for use by Lake Forest Church, where he now serves as a pastor. Lake Forest Church currently holds its services in Davidson Elementary School, where it rents space on Sundays. Flake, however, believes that it is important for his “house of worship to put down more permanent roots.”

Flake was interested in the property for two main reasons. First, given that many members of his congregation are Davidson students, it was important that the church’s new location “be close enough for students to walk or bike.”

Second, according to Flake, a 2014 town ordinance stipulated, that “a place of assembly [in Davidson] cannot be within .25 miles of a similar place of assembly.” Because of the central location of Davidson College Presbyterian Church, this meant that the Beaty Street Property was one of the few locations that complied with this ordinance and remained accessible for students.

Flake, in partnership with Blue Heel, a Davidson-based development company, went to the town with a proposal of development for the entire property, including the construction of a church, a park, some housing, and some retail space.

Graham explained that after Flake approached process changed internally.” the Board, it was necessary to begin the bidding, Luminous, the development currently in the or RFP process. Of all the proposals, he recalled midst of contract negotiations with the town, dethat “there were three proposals that made sense,” scribes itself as “a purposeful living community.” but one offered too little compensation. Graham, a developer himself, sat on the selection committee, which made a recommendation in February 2017 to the Board between two proposals: Flake’s Blue Heel proposal and the Luminous Proposal.

Reflecting on the issue, Flake explained, “My understanding as a citizen was that the selection committee would bring two [proposals] to the Board and have the Board decide.”

Instead, the committee recommended the Lu- Luminous's proposed development includes a retail/residential center minous Proposal, which that resembles Birkdale Village. Photo courtesy of Luminous Proposal was eventually chosen in See DEVELOPMENT the spring of 2017. Flake described the situation Page 2 as either “a case of shared misinformation or the

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First-year Meal Plan Changes Seek to Balance Dining Options, Provide Students with More Flexibility and Choice EMMA PETTIT Staff Writer

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he new first-year meal plan is an attempt to reduce the crowd in the Union and increase usage of Commons. This academic year, the incoming class of about 520 new students has, by default, sixteen meal swipes a week with 400 dining dollars, and the choice to opt into the twenty-one swipes and 100 dining dollars plan, instead of requiring twenty-one during the first semester and reserving the choice for the spring.

With the increase in dining dollars to the sixteen meal plan, comes new limitations. Firstyears can no longer use meal equivalencies at the Union’s Davis Café, causing many to congregate at Commons for lunch and dinner.

Manager of Cat Card Services Anne Cavett sees the plan as an expansion of options. She explained that first-years “can always eat at Commons, Wildcat Den lunch on weekdays, Union café late night, and we are working to get Union Station to work within the parameters of the meal plan to work as a meal swipe for a quick grab and go. If they want to eat at the Café, they have so

many more dining dollars to do so.”

“Also by going to the sixteen with more dining dollars, that gives first-years more flexibility; you can eat lunch at Commons, and then later go to the Café with friends and get something there too without being constrained with the meal equivalency rules,” said Cavett.

These changes were enacted because the Davis Café was overcrowded last year with no choice to expand either the space or number of staff. Cavett recounted, “The turnaround time was slowing down, and we looked for a lot of options to try and manage that crowd at the Café and the option we chose was to not grant meal equivalencies to first-year students.”

This is part of an ongoing effort to keep the Union a “small option and a quicker venue for the whole campus. Until a couple years ago, students couldn’t start getting meal equivalencies until 2pm, and then last year we opened it up to that traditional lunch hour. Last year was the first year that you could basically get meal plan equivalencies at the Café at all hours of the day excluding turnaround times between meals.”

The numbers show the Union’s popularity.

During one week in November 2016, among students who had the twenty-one meal plan (mostly

first-year students), there was a range of 1-19 meals at the Union Café, and an average of 6.77 meals at Union that week. For the those with the sixteen meal plan, the range was 1-13 with an average of 6.3.

Cavett explained, “We looked at that number and thought it was a really identifiable number of people and a large volume that we could channel better.”

Some first-years feel like they are at a loss without the Union meal swipe. Anderson McNeil ’21 said, “I feel like it’s age discrimination and they should be encouraging us, as freshmen, to be trying all different meal options regardless of the time of day.”

On the other hand, Malcolm McCabe ’20 has benefitted from the new sixteen-meal plan at the same price as last year but with 100 more dining dollars. He appreciates the better deal and fewer people at the Union but concedes that “there are some days when I go to Commons, and it’s so crowded.”

Cavett acknowledges this circumstance and added, “Commons can handle a big crowd in terms of food preparation and in terms of seats.

We know there are lines this time of year, and in a couple weeks those lines will dissipate some-

what. When the college went to the mandatory meal plan four years ago, one thing President Carol Quillen touted was having that community experience in Commons, and we hoped that that would be an unintended consequence of this plan.”

Rosemary Turner has been working at Davidson since 1989 and loves interacting with students at the Davis Café. She reflected, “I really like what they’ve done with the sixteen-meal plan where they have 400 dining dollars which helps students out a lot. A lot of them don’t want a big breakfast and will save that swipe for late night. They can come here, study, and order a quesadilla.”

Despite the fewer swipes, Turner hasn’t “actually noticed fewer people since a lot of freshmen come to grab a bagel and cream cheese in the morning for two or three dining dollars, and come back around 9pm to use their late night meal swipe.”

With larger class sizes, Cat Card Services and the administration will strive to determine the best way to distribute the growing demand among the available resources at Davidson while preserving the communal dining experience.

Davidson Archives Show Historic Endorsement of Violent Racism Continued from Page 1 federacy, and white supremacists.

Following the Charlottesville rally, unnamed individuals spray-painted the Cornelius statue with an X and the word “No.” About a week later, on August 28th, an unnamed Davidson resident stood in front of the monument with a sign that said, “Honk if you think this statue should come down.” He was joined the next day by several friends to renew the protest. Their actions generated a mixed response, and soon SUVs appeared across the street with individuals standing in defense of the statue.

The incidents involving the Cornelius statue echo the tensions felt in Charlottesville. Cornelius’s Confederate soldier is “another instance of the whole Lost Cause, romantic ethos,” said Davidson College religious studies professor Dr. H. Gregory Snyder.

Following the Civil War, the South propagated a belief called the "Lost Cause," in which the Confederates predominantly fought a noble struggle for independence as opposed to one for the continuation of slavery. It also deified Confederate leaders such as Lee and Stonewall Jackson. “People look up a lot to Robert E. Lee,” said Eliza Brodie ‘20, another Charlottesville resident, explaining some of her high school classmates’ mindsets.

Cornelius’s monument was dedicated in 1910 as part of a construction wave of memorials honoring the Confederacy. The wave came at a time when Jim Crow laws were being institutionalized across the South. At a commemoration speech for the statue, Judge Armistad Burwell explained to the audience what the “patriotic” and “ideal Confederate soldier” immortalized before him represented. The soldier was "neither an advocate of human slavery nor a favorer of the disruption of the Union of the States,” Burwell explained.

“History,” Judge Burwell went on, “whether written by friend or foe, will answer, for on her pages are names and events, put there by [the soldier’s] prowess and the guarantee of his perpetual fame.” In his conclusion, Burwell stated blatantly that soldier represented “love of race - his race.”

Burwell’s goal, as he said in his closing lines, was “to protect from taint the Saxon blood that flows in your veins.”

Davidson College’s own history with regards to these issues long predates the statue’s dedication. Davidson’s initial campus buildings were constructed from “250,000 bricks made by slaves on a nearby plantation” between 1835 to 1836, according to "One Town, Many Voices," a Davidson history book by Jan Blodgett and Ralph B. Levering. Mecklenburg County had a higher percentage of slaves than the North Carolina population as a whole. A number of slaves belonging to faculty and the college lived on campus in the years leading up to the Civil War. As fighting erupted,

students and faculty alike enlisted in the Confederate Army. Professor W.E. Lynch “formed a local militia company,” according to Blodgett and Levering.

Visible reminders of slavery and the antebellum years remain on campus. The Sparrow’s Nest, a small brick hut behind Belk Hall, was built in the 1840s as slave quarters , according to the March 3, 1961, issue of The Davidsonian. While other Civil War-era buildings on campus have

ing wrote that “extreme white racists, probably members or supporters of the KKK from nearby communities” burned crosses on campus. The burnings took place on the football field as well as in front of Duke Hall.

The KKK reappeared again in 1986 when thirty-seven of their members marched down Davidson’s Main Street in a protest. This time, Davidson students rallied against the white supremacists and held a “Solidarity Day celebration behind the main dining hall on the northern side of c a m p u s ,” as recorded in "One Town, Many Voices." The KKK march was sparsely attended, and Davidson students and African-Americans from the community tossed frisbees and enjoyed music at their counter-event.

With the tragic events of CharlotMembers of the "Georgia Club" enacted a mock lynching on Chambers lawn in tesville and 1920; the event was featured in that year's edition of Quips and Cranks. Photo the continucourtesy of the Davidson College Archives ing debate regarding plaques denoting their construction dates and Confederate monuments, some members of the benefactors, the Sparrow’s Nest lacks any such Davidson student body have increased calls to identification and is infrequently recognized by acknowledge the more disturbing aspects of the students. Maxwell Chambers, who donated the college’s past. money for the original Chambers Building, most “For me, I think something that’s problematic likely made a large portion of his fortune in the is how we don’t reckon with it at all,” says Evan Yi slave trade, according to the Dictionary of North ‘18. “I think everyone kind of implicitly knows Carolina Biography. that Davidson, being a historically Southern inSerious racial conflict persisted on campus stitution, has some dark secrets. I think that the long after emancipation. The 1920 Davidson administration and the school in general could yearbook depicts the “Georgia Club,” an organi- do a lot more as far as making that history more zation for students from that state, reenacting a aware or more publicly available.” lynching on the Chamber’s lawn. Students pose The student email from Charlottesville resiwith rifles pointed at an unnamed black man dents labeled itself as “a call to action - voicing with a noose around his neck. Participants are our frustrations over what is occurring is not listed below the photo, not as club members but enough if we are not doing something about it.” rather as “lynchers” (see photo above).

Furthermore, the email stressed that the DavidBefore desegregating, Davidson hosted an son community should “not continue to be pasinterracial seminar lead by a progressive Quaker sive in our resistance but rather active and aware group in 1956. The seminar included two black in what is occurring around us.” It concluded by graduate students. In response to the school’s de- inviting anyone to come forward to the adminiscision to host the seminar, Blodgett and Lever- tration or the Student Government Association

with ideas on how to “be more active in our resistance.”

Yi, who currently serves as the President of Davidson Teach-Ins, came up with the idea of a “Campus Disorientation program” at a meeting of Ortaculture several weeks ago. Campus Disorientation intends to have open group meetings facilitated in part by Davidson Teach-Ins and Ortaculture for students to discuss and learn about the darker parts of Davidson’s past.

Yi added, “Southern institutions all have a shared history with slavery and history and it is impossible to escape [that history]. There’s an obligation we can’t escape either.”

Shassata Fahim ‘18, the Charlottesville resident who coordinated the email, stated: “As a non-black immigrant I recognize that the racial legacy of this country doesn’t necessarily apply to me, but I can still be a strong ally. Hate has no bias.” The email brought attention to concern over the lack of follow-up action after flagpole meetings and other large group gathering: “It is especially difficult to see the same people come out for these movements and hear the same voices repeatedly.”

Black Student Coalition (BSC) Vice President Marquise Williams also reflected, “The most important thing that we talk about in our executive (BSC) board meetings about the flagpole is the fact that what are the follow-up actions? Are we really reaching the people that we need to reach?”

“One of the biggest problems about those flagpole meetings is that they gather the people of support,” said Williams. “Initially that’s its purpose but in the long run it gathers the same group of people, the same allies.” Williams advocated for more small-group discussions in the Union to help give more introverted and less represented voices a chance to speak up.

Houston Downes, Chair of the Center for Political Engagement (CPE), emphasized the need for student-driven action both on and off campus. “President Quillen has done an incredible job opening up as many opportunities for this campus as possible and making sure we that we can have a diverse student body. And now really it’s on us. It’s not just on us here at Davidson; it’s on us once we leave Davidson,” said Downes.

As the semester continues, the student body will continue to have conversations that revolve around the issues raised by Charlottesville. Many organizations including CPE, BSC, and Ortaculture have plans to generate further discussions that they hope will result in action. While Davidson is frequently referred to as a “bubble,” its historic scars that connect it to so many other campuses across the country are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.

Yi concluded, “It’s hard for any Southern community to say that they are substantively different from Charlottesville.”

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Development Looms for Davidson Continued from Page 1 According to the proposal, it plans to offer The Davidson Learning Center (“a community center dedicated to community wide learning”), a 6.5 acre park, over eleven acres of open space, a 100-room boutique hotel and restaurant, a 28,000 square-foot retail center, twenty-one townhomes, eleven single family homes, and 132 condominium flats. The development is scheduled to be complete by December 2022.

Jeremy Martin, Davidson resident and E.H. Little Library Client Services Manager, expressed his concern with Luminous, as the site sits within 0.2 miles of his home. He explained, “I am concerned about environmental and sociological impacts on North Davidson, since the site is so close to the only affordable housing option in town.”

He worries that developers will attempt to purchase the affordable housing property and leave residents with fewer options.

According to Save Davidson leader Denise Beall, the non-partisan movement began on Facebook in Februrary 2017, when town residents “started hearing about developer plans.”

She recalled that the town’s choice of a proposal without citizen input felt as though “democracy had been stripped away.” Among her concerns about the Luminous development are quality of life and traffic.

Fellow Save Davidson leader and current Town Commissioner candidate David Sitton explained that Luminous “represents a Birkdalestyle development that is not reflective of the historic character of Davidson.”

Ramsden emphasized that Save Davidson “is not just saying no to growth,” while Sitton explained that the movement is “not anti-development, but let’s decide together about the development.”

Cambria Nielson ’84, another Save Davidson affiliate, added, “I just feel it should be the park that it was intended to be, not a high-density development that will mainly benefit developers.”

The decision to develop the property also brought forth questions of transparency, which both Beall and Sitton see at the forefront of Save Davidson’s mission. Sitton explained that “Mayor [John] Woods said there was no documentation of the intent of a park.” Save Davidson then obtained documents proving otherwise through multiple NC Public Records Requests, according to Beall.

Graham, on the other hand, believes that the municipal government “is more transparent than in the last several years,” a trend that began before Save Davidson existed. He explained that more and more meetings are being held publicly, and private meetings are only held when legally necessary.

According to Ramsden, Save Davidson is organized into three subgroups: community outreach, research and documentation, and electoral. The movement has expanded beyond the Beaty Street development to address issues surrounding the Griffith Street hotel (which is currently planned to be built next to a school) and a Potts Street development application. In this sense, Beall believes that “Save Davidson has amplified the voice of the broader community.”

In an exclusive statement to The Davidsonian, Davidson Mayor John Woods said, “We have a clear vision, mission, core values and planning principles that encourage us to meet such pressures head-on and channel change to fit our community. We welcome and encourage active citizen input with encouragement that we act on behalf of the entire community, that our concerns are not a self-centered ‘not in my backyard’ or an ‘I moved here and I don’t want anyone else to move here’ focus.”

In July 2017, the Town Board voted 3-2 to proceed with Luminous by entering contract negotiations with the developer. That evening, around 250 people held a peaceful protest outside Town Hall. Graham was among those who voted in favor of the movement. He explained that his vote was based on belief that the development “would create jobs, foster business retail, and generate tax base.”

Graham also described Luminous as “an opportunity for the town to get an accessible park” and an ultimate reduction in traffic. While Luminous will create more traffic on Main Street, Graham believes that it will be less so than if developments were built on the wider edges of Davidson and more people drove into the town center.

The next step in the development process is that the Town Board will vote to approve the con-

tract conditionally. Then, another bidder may be able to outbid the current developer within ten days on the exact same plan. After this process is closed, the board will vote to sign the purchase contract. During a 180-day period of due diligence, the developer will take soil samples before beginning the master planning process.

According to Beall, the Town Board hopes to sign the purchase contract prior to the upcoming, non-partisan municipal elections. She explained that as time goes on, “It becomes increasing difficult to stop [the development] because a thirdparty [the developer] will be legally involved.”

Save Davidson’s goal, Beall said, remains as “not signing the purchase contract.” She believes that the issue is “too divisive and the town is not in a position to move forward.”

Despite requesting a meeting with Davidson College President Carol Quillen, Beall and Sitton have not yet spoken to any college administrators about their cause. Sitton mentioned that given its commitment to the Honor Code, “it would be nice if the college would reaffirm that [sentiment] beyond the confines of campus and more broadly in the town.”

Nielson added that the movement would nonetheless “love to have [Davidson students] help us in any way that they like.”

According to Mark Johnson, Director of College Communications, the college has no comment on Save Davidson or Luminous.

Save Davidson currently exists as a broad “movement of engagement,” not an organization.

It is not registered as a 501(c)(4) organization, which refers to a tax-exempt social welfare group that “operates primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements),” according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

These groups are allowed to spend only 49% of their annual budget on political or campaign activities.

Save Davidson is not a registered 501(c)(3), which are non-profit organizations. These cannot donate directly to any political groups or campaigns, but can donate to 501(c)(4)s, according to the IRS. Beall and Sitton maintain that the movement is also not a Political Action Committee (PAC). Save Davidson is not registered with the IRS, NC Board of Elections, or NC Secretary of State’s office. Sitton explained that they have not sought any such classification because “its mission continues to evolve and change through organic growth.”

Save Davidson sells merchandise to fund its own initiatives and consultants, according to Beall. She explained that the movement’s members are collecting sales tax on goods and plan to pay it as well. For example, Save Davidson hired an outside appraisal company who valued the Beaty Street property at $4.6 million, according to Beall. This sat in stark contrast with the town’s appraisals, which were both below $2 million.

Sitton and Deal explained that in light of the upcoming municipal elections, “Save Davidson will not be endorsing candidates at this time.” Members may, however, create a ticket or scorecard to hand out to voters on Election Day, denoting which candidates are supporters of their cause.

Ramsden added that Save Davidson has conducted interviews with municipal candidates that are available on Facebook. Nielson explained that Save Davidson will also be hosting two public forums for candidates. The mayoral forum will take place on September 14 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, and the commissioner forum will occur on September 18 at Gethsemane Baptist Church. She confirmed that all candidates plan to participate.

As of September 6, 2017, three candidates have declared their intention to run for mayor, and thirteen for the five commissioner seats. Woods is seeking mayoral re-election. Among the commissioners, Stacey Anderson, Jim Fuller ‘64, and Graham are seeking reelection.

Jane Campbell ‘87 is a town commissioner candidate who believes that the Save Davidson cause “will be a sig-

Davidsonian.com

crime log Time Reported

Description / Location

08/28/17 at 1145 hrs

Use of Electronic Communication to Harass

08/29/17 at 0712 hrs

Further Investigation Felony Breaking or Entering of Building/Felony Larceny (Money) at Summit

08/29/17 at 1500 hrs

Further Investigation Larceny Misdemeanor (Kitchen Prep Knife) at Vail Commons

08/29/17 at 1500 hrs

Further Investigation Hit and Run at Laundry PVA

09/01/17 at 2225 hrs

Prosecution Declined/Dean Referral Discharge of Fire Extinguisher near Chidsey

09/02/17 at 2325 hrs

Further Investigation Miscellaneous Suspicious Odor at Sentelle

09/03/17 at 0045 hrs

Inactive Miscellaneous Suspicious Person at Armfield Trespassed

09/03/17 at 0345 hrs

Discharge of Fire Extinguisher at Armfield

09/03/17 at 2245 hrs

Dean Referral Miscellaneous Suspicious Vehicle at Lake Campus

09/03/17 at 2245 hrs

Inactive Underage Consumption at Richardson

nificant issue in the November elections, but no candidate should be assessed on a single issue.”

Sitton explained that he had not been planning to run before the Save Davidson movement gained traction. He believes that “most candidates are running based on what happened [at the Beaty Street development].”

Dean Referral Graham reflected on the number of candidates as a positive thing for the town, calling it “an indication of the level of interest out there.”

Flake also maintains that “if the Beaty Street development does not move forward, Lake Forest is still interested in the property.”

living davidson

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September 6, 2017

Lenin Lives: In Search of a Revolution’s Lost Father

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LUCAS WEALS LIVING DAVIDSON EDITOR

t was Lenin himself, in the first chapter of “The State and Revolution,” who lamented that the deaths of revolutionary leaders are always followed by attempts to “convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names,” all while “robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance.” Lenin was writing about Marx, and about the bourgeoisie’s penchant for brandishing his slogans while ignoring his calls to action; but it seems just, amid all of the Soviet experiment’s reflexive ironies, that Lenin’s words today so acutely describe his own tortured legacy. It’s the revolutionary’s great fear—of becoming a symbol without a signified, a stylized face on a banner flapping uselessly above an unchanged world—that seems on a deep level to animate the newest exhibition in the VAC’s Van Every Gallery: Lenin Lives.

Co-curated by Lia Newman, Gallery Director and Curator of the Van Every/Smith Galleries, and Dr. Roman Utkin, Assistant Professor of Russian Studies, Lenin Lives refuses both the hagiography and the demonology—to borrow the words of the author China Miéville—that so often dominate discussions of the Soviet Union’s first leader. Instead, the exhibition’s fourteen featured artists set off in search of a more nuanced Lenin, one whose image and words might transcend the brutal inevitability of history and illuminate something of the man himself: a man who, whether or not he still lives, must once have at least lived.

The work dances between whimsy— small portraits by the American artist Larry Rivers show a Lenin foregrounded on fields of warm pink, the drawn-in rifles more evocative of children’s toys than of the Terrors—and somber reflection—Dread Scott’s Lenin, Boy and World, a diptych of gray acrylic paintings, depicts a chiaroscuro Lenin, standing before a gramophone, while on another panel a group of peasants gathers to listen for the latest news of rev-

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olution from Petrograd. There is a Lenin to fit in the palm of your hand (Masha Vlasova’s Squishy Lenin sculptures), a Lenin to take pictures with tourists (Victoria Lomasko’s Lenin Isn’t For Sale), and even a Lenin to sell you Coca-Cola (Leonid Sokov’s Lenin Coca-Cola). Between them all is a yearning: both to know the man himself, and to tell the story of his life in a different voice than the many who have told it before.

This yearning finds its most haunting expression in The April Theses, a dramatic, biographical photography project by the Italian photographer Davide Monteleone.

Monteleone re-created Lenin’s famous train ride: beginning in Zurich, where he had been living in exile; through Germany, Sweden, and Finland; and arriving finally in St. Petersburg, in the heart of the fomenting political turmoil, mere months before the events of October, 1917. Monteleone made the journey in a lifelike Lenin costume— complete with period clothing and detailed makeup—and photographed himself along the way, a stand-in for the young revolutionary. The pictures are surreal, revelatory: in a video interview, the artist explained that at times he became convinced that Lenin never existed.

Walking through Lenin Lives, awash with so many variations on the same iconic visage, it’s tempting to agree with Monteleone—in a meaningful sense Lenin didn’t really exist, at least not in the form of the caricatures we’ve come to accept. But Monteleone’s pictures provide, for a brief moment, a chance to step inside the few images available to us of Lenin, to enter his world and to draw him into our own.

There’s a near-magical elevation to a blackand-white shot of Monteleone’s Lenin, his left hand perched on a guardrail, standing before a vast and aluminum-gray sea: suddenly there is a place just outside the frame, a place we might recognize, toward which this shadowy figure proudly strides.

and repurposed Lenin’s image? (In Lamasko’s bitter sketch of a Lenin statue being sold for profit, it’s hard not to think of how many different stores in an average American mall carry t-shirts with Che Guevara’s face on them.) These questions implicate the gallery audience itself— in a university system long-since cleansed of any zealous or radical Marxism, what are we to draw from an aesthetic performance of a character so deeply entwined with the fervor of revolution?

An adjacent exhibition of Soviet propaganda posters, located in the Smith Gallery next-door, further agitates these fraught questions. The bold style and brash slogans of these pieces embody all the contradictions at work in Lenin Lives: futuristic utopias share wall-space with nationalistic paranoia; historical clarity is lost in lurid colors and pithy phrases. Every image heightens a certain dissonance between the world that was promised and the world that came to be.

In his book October, a narrative history of the Russian Revolution, China Miéville recounts a tale of St. Petersburg in the final days before the Bolsheviks seized power: a city where anxious soldiers guard every tramline and public street, and where Lenin, dressed haphazardly in the clothing of a crippled vagabond, crosses the city in disguise to join the ranks of the revolutionaries.

It’s a powerful image: a man risking everything on his ability to pretend to be someone he is not.

Lenin—a pseudonym, after all, for a man named Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov—wore many costumes; and Lenin Lives imagines him with more still. The result is an eerie sort of sleepwalking. We conjure up a Lenin from the world’s collective dream, chasing a phantom behind a face we’ve already seen.

The photographs provide, for a brief moment, a chance to enter Lenin’s world and to draw him into our own.

The final photograph in Monteleone’s room—and arguably the end of the entire gallery—is a life-sized rendering of Lenin’s iconic black suit. It calls to mind Van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes, and a famous debate over whom the shoes really belonged to. Jacques Derrida famously argued that the shoes did not quite belong to anyone: that the painting itself had created a “phantom debt,” some ghostly “out-of-work supplement” that haunted the space between the art and its viewer. In the same way Lenin’s suit, and perhaps his whole image, belong to no one in particular—he is a ghost without a body, restored to itself only through an audience.

This strikes me as vital to the exhibition as a whole. It’s as if each artist is responding precisely to Derrida’s question: “To whom does it,” the image, “return?” Lenin haunts his own gallery (A useful illustration of one such haunting: in the first room, Warhol over-saturates his Lenin in such a way that his face and hands turn a strange, deep orange; in the next room, Lomasko draws two pictures of a Lenin statue in Seattle, a statue whose face and hands have been spray-painted orange by vandals. Might these vandals have been admirers of Warhol’s Lenin? A fantastic theory, but almost certainly not a correct one.

If Lenin Lives is, in Derrida’s words, “a story of phantoms,” we might do best to let some ghosts be ghosts.)

Between Lomasko’s mournful report on Lenin’s commodification and Warhol’s gleefully lurid pop-portrait of that severe, goateed face, there’s also a healthy tension over what it means to sell a revolutionary. How has a global capitalist hegemony subsumed

Lenin Lives is on display until October 8, 2017, and Revolution on Display: Soviet Propaganda Posters is on display until October 6, 2017, in the Belk Visual Arts Center.

Lenin Lives at the Van Every/Smith Gallery Courtesy of Belk Visual Arts Center

Left: Lenin by Andy Warhol (1987). Above: Lenin-Coca-Cola by Alexander Kasolapov (1980).

perspectives

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September 6, 2017

A View From Weltenburg: Living in Community ZACH MILLER

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his summer, with a Staley Grant offered through the Chaplain’s Of fice, I was able to split three weeks between two Catholic monasteries in southern Germany. I went to compare the Christian faith I have grown up with to the Christian faith I found in these established communities, and to meditate on the role these beliefs should play when caring for those who are approaching the end of their lives. I entered these communities alone, but in my discomfor t I learned to lean on human commonalities that are bound by neither experience nor language.

Human connection is often associated with emotional well-being, but the effects of healthy community, or a lack of it, manifest themselves physically as well. C onversations about end-of-life care with monks living in the monasteries were unfocused and unproductive, but I did get to spend some time with a medical doctor at Abtei Oberschönenfeld, the f irst monaster y I visited. She practices in B erlin, still sees entire families in their homes, and made it ver y clear that the health of older individuals is often inter woven with the health

of their family. Elderly family members can live longer, happier lives when they actually live with young, healthy, loving relatives who allow them to have a role in the household and in family affairs. This is the kind of community that can give life, but is it only possible within families? Can it be built in a monaster y?

What about at Davidson?

S everal days later, as I tried to make my way f rom Abtei Oberschönenfeld to Kloster Weltenburg, I wound up in the passenger seat of a stranger’s car.

The young man asked me where I was traveling from, and, embarrassed that my German was even worse than usual after a lonely, stressful day, I told him I lived in North Carolina. I was so

“

grateful for him and his mother. They had decided to spend their evening gardening one bus stop beyond where I had meant to get off, and without their help I don’t know how I could have made it six kilometers back to Kloster We lt e n bu r g before sunset. Looking back, I am grateful I missed my stop.

They had no reason to help me – a sweaty A m e r i can with a clunky pack – but they didn’t even think about it. It was the most biblical display of brotherly love I witnessed on the entire trip. Two strangers were able to raise my spirits and let my body rest.

In these instances, the power hidden

In a broad sense, it was difficult to come into tightly bound and very structured communities as an individual traveling alone.

Even “universal” truths are clouded during the struggle to work through language, practice new rules of etiquette, and connect with new people.

in community felt nearly within reach, but my experiences at the monasteries were quite challenging. In a broad sense, it was difficult to come into tightly bound and ver y structured communities as an individual traveling alone. Even “universal” truths are clouded during the struggle to work through language, practice new rules of etiquette, and connect with new people. But if I am allowed to take away one big idea from my summer, it is that community, the kind that improves the quality of our life experiences, is possible wherever we are willing to be vulnerable. People of God, travelers in a foreign land, family members who are growing old – we all long for community that can heal. As we start a new semester, I would do well to ref lect on the quality of the communities that are meaningful to me. Do I consider these people family? Would I interrupt a quiet evening to drive them home?

Z ach Miller '20 i s an undeclared student f rom Morehead City, Nor th Carolina. Contac t him at z amiller@ dav id son.edu.

Davidson Students: We Must Embrace Our Vulnerability KATIE WALSH

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or a school which upholds it’s honor code as the cornerstone of its existence—we lie a lot at Davidson. Students at Davidson are known to be over-committed, and the over-stressed, high achieving, Davidson archetype is not worth deconstructing again. However, our student body propagates a collective lie—that we’re all just happy, dandy, and fine. In reality, the range of daily emotions and experiences stands in stark contrast to the image we put forward on our Facebook page.

I’ve learned through recent conversations that even people I would consider dedicated and passionate members of this community—ones with seemingly limitless close friendships and incredible time management skills—feel inferior. This fear is based on the comparative standards we set for ourselves—standards that play out most abundantly in the classroom arena.

On entering college, I believed that I was not intelligent. This didn’t occur to me as a problem—doubting, undervaluing, underestimating my intellectual faculties—until I heard the same

thoughts from a friend of mine. “I’m dumb. The professor thinks I’m dumb.

I don’t know why I bother participating in class. Ugh,” said a friend who had given what I perceived to be a very profound series of statements in class.

If you could fashion a collective mantra out of the voices in Chambers postclass, I’d conjecture to say this might just be it.

I’ve witnessed wide-eyed disbelief at a dissenting opinion voiced by a professor, started a shameful hand raise, and then lowered it quicker than it shot up. The nervous question “did I sound ok?” has echoed out of both my mouth and those of my friends.

These reactions are caused by a bigger problem on campus.

Students here are afraid of vulnerability, of even the most minor of failings perceived or imagined—and unfortunately this seems to be most true, in my experience, of the female student body.

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve peppered in the word “di-

“

Students here are afraid of vulnerability, of even the most minor of failings perceived or imagined...

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chotomy” and the phrase “problematic fragile masculinity” to try and sound semi-coherent in a classroom setting. I barely know what those words MEAN much less how to use them. This being just a minor example of the grander issue of “performing” outwardly to mask an inner feeling of comparative inadequacy.

There is an ever-present feeling of impending scrutiny caused by the ten other eager hands waiting for me to drop the ball and say something dumb, so everyone else’s “incredibly complex” insights into the meter of Beowulf look a lot better in comparison.

What all this seeming inferiority boils down to is that as everyone looks around at this school full of talented, high achieving impressively credentialed adolescents, and they see a dearth in true, blue, self-deprecating vulnerability. A lack of vulnerability that isn’t punctuated by an air of purposefully

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ironic self-exposure.

I have watched my friends break down because they feel isolated by the veneering self-aggrandizement here.

Even the people who are the beacons of “involved” and “outgoing” feel the enormous pressure that we have as a student body weighed upon our own shoulders. And when I see people who I admire and respect doubting their own ability time and time again, I have to wonder if there’s not something we present ourselves and how we connect with one another.

What I’m asking for is vulnerability. At the risk of sounding crass, no one here has their life together, but we certainly do a wonderful job of convincing everyone otherwise. So why bother with all the pretense?

What too few students here seem to realize is that admitting your own failings and weaknesses is not akin to failure, because ultimately vulnerability is a measure of strength—strength that creates the space for genuine connection and growth.

Katie Walsh '20 is an English major from Jupiter, Florida. Contact her at kmwalsh@davidson.edu.

Welcome back to school from the staff of The Davidsonian.

If you are interested in writing for one of our sections, News, Living Davidson, Perspectives, the Yowl, or Sports, please email any member of our staff for more information.

We strive to increase diversity on our staff in accordance with our mission "to provide the Davidson community, students, faculty, and alumni, with critical and unbiased content on a weekly basis" and with the college's statement of purpose, which articulates diversity as "recognizing the dignity and worth of every person."

The Swag ISSue Experts: Lizards Just Snakes With Arms

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New Dorm; Same Jeff: Sophomore Back on His Bullshit

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Grab the RLO Popcorn: Facebook Group Political Debates Are BACK!

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First Year Jealous That Roommate Keeps Getting Packages from Boyfriend ‘Luis’

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Seniors Require ‘Soothing Construction Sounds’ Playlist to Fall Asleep now that Wall Construction is Complete

Edgy Freshman Regrets Attention-Seeking Eclipse Stunt

The Committee for Political Extraversion to Host Lecture from America’s Leading Phrenologist

“Well, we always knew that putting Braille on the Belk floor placards would come in handy.” Randy Lawson, Davidson’s longest tenured RLO staff member, sighs faintly as he describes how he’s “seen a lot of s*** in his day.” Lawson leans back in his chair and chuckles. “Hell, this might just be the most bizarro story since those First Belk kids turned their room into a hedgehog sanctuary back in ‘94. Matter of fact, this might be even crazier than the pineapple incident.”

The absolutely non-partisan and incredibly transparent Committee for Political Extraversion will host Dudley Cottonbottom IV, America’s leading (and only!) phrenologist for a night that those with the proper cranium shapes are sure to remember for years to come. Bringing in a guest speaker with the credentials of Mr. Cottonbottom may seem shocking, but given the moral turpitude, seemingly unlimited funds, and political efficacy of the two members of the CPE, this comes as no shock to Davidson students who have come to view the CPE as an institution on campus. The CPE would like to stress that there will be a Q&A where students can even submit their questions ahead of time, making sure that Mr. Cottonbottom can answer them to the best of his abilities.

The situation Lawson is alluding to is, of course, the tragic tale of the student now affectionately known as Blind Mike — a (previously) wide-eyed freshmen who, in an admirable attempt to raise his campus profile, flew a little too close to the sun...and moon.

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Service Row At Activities Fair: The New Walk of Shame

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Barring Freshmen, Davis Cafe Looks To Rebrand As Exclusive ‘20+ Nourishment Hub’

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Help Wanted: Seeking: Literally anyone who has ideas on how to fill this f***ing box.

Part-time, rewarding job with flexible hours. Excellent opportunity to make new friends, be part of a somewhat competent team, and have a giggle.

“What better way to look like a bada** than to rip off my glasses and stare at the fucking sun?

At precisely 2:41 PM on August 21st, Mike was heard yelling “glasses are for squares!” and defiantly starring up toward the skies. He went on to lose the totality of his vision in the seconds that followed. We sat down with this freshman Icarus to hear his side of the now infamous story.

“The goal was to establish myself as the big man on campus right of the bat.

Become ‘the guy’ on day one, ya know?” Mike had it all set up. One-strapping it with his Jansport, he donned his backwards polo hat and headed out to Chambers Lawn. “Gave a quick ‘sup bro’ to an SAE guy. It’s whatever,” Mike added. “So I was like, what better way to look like a bada** than to rip off my glasses and stare right at that fucking sun? Mikey D, king of the freshman class. I could see it right before my eyes.”

Irony proved yet again to be a cruel and unforgiving force, as Blind Mike would never see his grand vision come to completion. It was only when the sun’s powerful rays penetrated Mike’s retina that he realized his master scheme was but a fool’s folly.

At press time, Mike was seen nursing an ambiguous meat dish at Commons and muttering to himself, “Well, at least I don’t have to look at it.”

Any experience related to boxes (packing, shipping, etc.) preferable.

Tim need not apply.

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When asked about what brought Mr. Cottonbottom to the field of phrenology, he mentioned that it’s something of a “family industry” and that “his father was a phrenologist, his father’s father and his father before him,” adding that “we really are a longline devoted to our craft.” The theme for the evening’s festivities is “The Irish Question: Where Exactly is the Criminal Ridge in the Celtic Cranium?” Cottonbottom first made a name for himself by reclassifying Albanians, Kurds, and Turks based on brow-protrusion.

“Just because he believes that an indentation over the occipital lobe determines submissiveness doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hear him out!”

Student groups on campus have voiced concerns about the implications of inviting someone whose ideas and beliefs have been called “racist nonsense” and “a completely outdated pseudoscience” by left-leaning critics. Many students are planning on boycotting the event and some are even calling for it to be cancelled entirely. In a completely ad hominem response, one hysterical student made a purely ideological reach: “Wasn’t this stuff disproven like 200 years ago? I just don’t see why the school would pay a speaker who thinks sunken eyes determine violent behavior.” A member of the CPE issued an off the record response: “So what? Just because he believes that an indentation over the occipital lobe determines submissiveness doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hear him out! So much for the tolerant left being willing to hear other viewpoints. I mean we’re letting students ask questions, I don’t see the big deal.”

Whether or not you agree with Mr. Cottonbottom, the speech is sure to start conversations about campus culture. Remember there will definitely be a Q&A following the lecture, so anyone can submit a mildly critical question for consideration. Be sure to get there early; the first 10 students will enter a raffle to win a free autographed pair of calipers!

Freshman Rushed to Hospital After Fun Fact Induced Aneurysm Last Monday bright-eyed freshman Charles Kelly was rushed to Cornelius medical center after suffering debilitating head trauma due to his inability to produce a fun fact for his introductory economics class.

Kelly, who hails from the most demographically boring Caucasian hamlet of northern Massachusetts, fell violently ill, ultimately suffering a brain aneurysm, when asked to produce a ‘fun fact’ for his class of ten.

Witness accounts say that Kelly appeared shaken and visibly pale upon having to produce a fun fact.

“He got really quiet and blood started coming out of his eyeballs and dripped onto his pink Vineyard Vines shirt. I know he was boring but he could have made something up right?” said freshmen Deandra Reynolds. Reynolds presented her fun fact --absorbing a twin in the womb-- without injury just moments before Kelly’s accident.

Sophomore Frank Devito claimed he had seen a similar incident in his Introductory Dance class.

“The same crazy s*** happened to this girl Tiffany my freshmen year. She could barely even say her name so much foam was coming out of her mouth.

She could have just said she went to the Bahamas

“She could have just said she went to the Bahamas with her family or something. Nobody would’ve fact checked that s***.”

with her family or something. Nobody would’ve fact checked that s***.”

College officials have issued a formal statement condemning the use of fun facts as an ice-breaker for classes, citing title IV which states that “students must not be submitted to unusual forms of forced social bonding.” In the wake of Kelly’s hospitalization, professors have changed their requirements from fun fact to boring lie.

“We just can’t continue to put our students under this kind of duress. It’s criminal. I’d rather have them tell me how many wisdom teeth were pulled over summer break than lose another kid,” said philosophy professor Randall Doppleheim. Doppleheim retired from using inquisitive ice-breakers in the early 70’s when former student James Brookes jumped out of a third floor chambers window when asked what his favorite book was.

Kelly still remains in critical care. Doctors report that though his voluntary speech faculties may never return, he will be able to return in the fall, hopefully to never be confronted by the “fun fact” again.

sports

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September 6, 2017

Soccer Teams Face Challenging Early Schedules SAM THOMAS

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Staff Writer

avidson, NC - The Lady Wildcats fell to the Pirates of Eastern Carolina 2-1 in their season opener at Alumni Stadium on August 25th.

Eastern Carolina gained momentum early in the first half, keeping pressure on the Davidson defense throughout the first half. In spite of the aggression, the ‘Cats had two huge defensive stops at the 41 minute mark. Junior goalkeeper Kendall Thomas and the rest of the Wildcat defense showed tremendous poise by keeping the ball out of the back of the net throughout the two minute long attack before clearing. Thomas described the moment as a response to some fatigue that the team faced at the end of the half, but they still, “fought together as a team to get through that pressure.”

The Pirates kept up the attack, striking first in the first three minutes of the second half. This moment “sparked an energy on the field within our team,” said Thomas. The Wildcats held their own, however, and kept themselves in the game.

The offense responded with a push of their own at the 55-minute mark and kept the pressure up for the rest of the half. Finally, their attacks paid dividends in the form of an Allison Gray goal in the 87th minute. The Davidson faithful was electric in the home opener.

Unfortunately, after a questionable call in the 88th minute, ECU responded with another goal off of a free kick from just beyond the far right corner of the box. The Wildcats put up a valiant fight over the course of the last few seconds, but came up empty handed. Thomas noted that, “in our future games, we are looking to continue playing our style of soccer - building through the midfield and connecting passes to create quality

Nathan Marder '18 has been an integral part of the Cats' defense since his freshman year.

Photo by Davidson Athletics

chances. We are excited for the rest of the season and the opportunities we have to show what we can do.”

On the men’s side, Davidson won the showdown against the Presbyterian Blue Hose 2-1 on Saturday night. The Wildcats came out of the gates executing a strong game plan of countering Presbyterian’s energy with aggressive sets on offense. The pressure from these sets ultimately paid dividends for the Wildcats early in the form of a successful penalty kick by senior Matt Reinikka in the nineteenth minute. After an intense mental showdown between the Davidson captain and the Blue Hose goalkeeper put the Wildcats in front early.

Despite a miscue on defense that led to a Blue Hose goal in the twenty-first minute, Reinikka was proud of how the Davidson defense responded. He noted that Presbyterian was a young team with a lot of energy, but that the Cats’ did a good job of matching it. Thus, the defense as a whole did a good job limiting opportunities. The Men’s Captain was satisfied with their overall performance, acknowledging that, “We defended well for the most part, with their only real chances being their goal and that final header within the last minute.”

The ‘Cats came out in the second half firing.

After an early save in the forty-sixth minute by goalkeeper Sam Bissett, the ‘Cats settled in and clearly dominated the momentum of the game.

Though Presbyterian had their fair share of possessions, Reinikka explained that, “at halftime, we discussed staying together and compact as a team when they had established good possession, and talked about picking times to press them and doing it as a group.”

In the 58th minute, Aidan Peterson scored the go-ahead goal with a header. The stands were electric on the home opening weekend. The team carried this energy through the rest of the game.

Presbyterian didn’t have any more real opportunities for the rest of the game until the last minute. The Blue Hose had a header that narrowly

missed wide left with 38 seconds to go in the game, but, after that heart-stopping moment, the Wildcats were smooth sailing to their first victory of the season.

Reinikka said that going forward the team looks to continue “putting pressure on teams through quick, clinical attacking play. We are a team that likes to have control of the ball and wants to dictate the game through our possession.”

The Men’s team followed up their win over Presbyterian with a strong effort against Radford, pulling out a narrow 1-0 victory. Junior Coleman Richards, a Charlotte native, broke the deadlock in the 71st minute. Radford responded with a threatening offensive attack, nearly scoring off consecutive corners in the 78th minute. They kept the ball in Davidson’s end for the remaining minutes, with narrow misses up until the final whistle.

Meanwhile, the Women's Team has had a tougher start to their season, especially given that one of their opening two games was against Wake Forest, a team currently ranked 17th nationally. Their win over Gardner-Webb has been followed up by losses against Wake Forest, their previously mentioned loss against ECU, and closely contested losses to ETSU and Coastal Carolina. The team is hoping that their tough early slate will prepare them well for the most important stretch of the Cats’ schedule, when they begin their conference schedule against UMass on September 21st.

The Women’s team next faces off against Appalachian State on Thursday, while the Men’s Team will take on UNC-Asheville today. The teams' A-10 conference slates begin September 21st and September 30th, respectively.

Freshman to Watch: Fall Edition SAM THOMAS Staff Writer

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very year a new freshman class steps in eager to contribute. At the Division 1 level, it can be an extremely difficult adjustment for freshman. However, the following athletes have the potential to make an immediate impact on their respective teams.

Jamie DiLuzio - Men’s Soccer (MF) Jamie DiLuzio, hailing from Long Island, New York, joins the Wildcats Men’s Soccer team this fall following his high school career at Lawrence High School. He was a part of the National Honors Society and was impressively a multi-sport athlete, talented on the track and on the tennis court where he was All-County and All-Conference, respectively. DiLuzio fell in love with the campus on his visit, but what brought him to Davidson were the people both on and off of the team.

The humble manner in which DiLuzio carries himself combined with his mature level of competitiveness helps the team both on and off the field. “I look forward to the challenges that this school brings. Not only is it a new, elevated level of competition, but I will also be challenged with balancing academics,” DiLuzio notes. In spite of the challenges, the freshman has high hopes for what the team can accomplish. “Our short term goal is the win the A10. Long term, I hope to see our program make the NCAA tournament and gain some recognition for the program.” It is this level of competitiveness that DiLuzio hopes serves as a model for future teammates.

DiLuzio and the Davidson men are hoping to keep up their momentum against Winthrop on Saturday at Alumni Stadium.

Kat Smith - Women’s Soccer (D) The women’s soccer team landed a key addition to their defense with Houston native Kat Smith. The All-Conference and All-Region freshman from St. John’s High School found Davidson through the soccer camp that the team hosts. “I fell in love with the campus, I loved the coach, and I loved the team. There is a great culture of both academics and athletics. It all clicked,” said Smith.

Smith looks to help the Lady Wildcats make the conference tournament as well as personally improve her game to help the team grow as much as possible. “After this season, we are losing a lot of senior defenders,” Smith noted. In this regard, her teammates already trust her as a leader on the defensive side. One thing that sets Smith apart is her speed. “I really try to use my quickness as an advantage on defense.”

Smith and the Davidson women are back in action against NC State in Raleigh on Sunday.

Rachel Hendricks - Women’s Swimming The Davidson swim team adds Californian freshman Rachel Hendricks. Hendricks, an All-American and Moraga native from Campolindo High School, was a member of the California Honors Society, a captain of her high school and club teams, and president of the Red Cross branch at her school. The idea of knowing everyone that she learns with and from was a large reason why Hendricks was brought to Davidson.

“Also, Davidson is just so cute,” she noted.

This year, Hendricks looks to help the women’s side improve upon their top 3 finish at the conference meet last year. “The team lost a lot of seniors last year. I really think that I can help contribute a lot of points in the relays and bring a positive attitude to the overall Davidson swimming culture.”

Part of this positive attitude in comes from the fact that Hendricks sees a lot of room for personal improvement over the next four years. “I had a shoulder injury my freshman year which meant I

really didn’t have intense training until the later part of my high school career. I have a lot of time to drop with the addition of a lifting routine and college coaching.”

The Davidson swim team opens up their season on September 29th against Queens.

Jake Carver - Men’s Cross Country/Track and Field After one of the strongest incoming freshmen classes in recent memory, Jake Carver - from Santa Clarita, California and West Ranch HS - was the top frosh at the men’s cross country season opener against UNCC. After an All-Region performance and leading his team to a 3rd place finish in the CIF state championships, Carver found Davidson due in large part to the great academics and great coaching.

As for this year, Carver wants to break the 26-minute mark for 8k (5 miles) and chase some of the top guys on the team. “Ultimately, the goal is an A10 championship. If I can consistently improve, the team will keep approaching that goal,” Carver noted. “It helps that we have such a large freshman class this year. The key is going to be staying motivated even when we aren’t performing our best and maintaining a competitive culture.”

Carver and the Wildcats looks to keep their momentum at the Adidas Invitational on September 15th.

here,” said Crosley. Added Champaigne, “I fell in love everything on my visit.”

After successful campaigns at the UNCW and William and Mary Invitationals where the team finished a combined 5-1, the two freshmen agreed that the goals are to make and win the A10 tournament. When asked about the secret to their success, they said, “We connect really well.

With our positions we have to have that strong connection to find success.” The two freshmen have had an incredibly smooth transition to collegiate competition, a trait that is unique amongst other freshmen in the A10 this year.

Crosley and Champaigne look to lead the ‘Cats in their home tournament this weekend in the Wildcat Classic where they host Georgia, Florida Gulf Coast, and Wofford.

Ellie Crosley and Sydney Champaigne Volleyball (Middle Hitter / Setter) Ellie Crosley and Sydney Champaigne join the Wildcats from Austin, Texas and Greenwood, South Carolina as they kick off one of the most successful seasons in recent memory.

Between them, they bring two Club National Championships, two years of captainship, and four times being All-Region to Davidson.

“I love being a student, an athlete, and having Jake Carver '21 hopes to be a huge contributor in a social life. I can get all three of those worlds Cross Country for the Cats. Courtesy of Jake Carver

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Davidson Freshman Ready To Contribute Rachel Hendricks '21 See Page 7

Photo courtesy of Rachel Hendricks

September 6, 2017