Davidsonian 3.13

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Rowan Wallin ‘27 investigates housing options for students returning from abroad

Volume 122 Issue 15

March 13, 2024

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Grace Kingsbury ‘24 gives behind the scenes insight on working as a Nummit barista

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Women’s basketball forfiets spot in the A-10 tournament due to injuries

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The Yowl previews the 2024-2025 course offerings

Student-Police Interactions Leave Campus Wary

STELLA MACKLER ‘26 (SHE/HER) CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

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ampus police serve as the first institutional line of protection at Davidson. When students are suffering from, as the Code of Responsibility puts it, “undesirable” effects of drugs, including alcohol, campus police are the first to respond. Student attitude towards campus police, however, has shifted towards one of mistrust, specifically in situations involving alcohol and other drugs.

In the past year, several students have interacted with campus police in a manner referred to as “hostile” and “lacking transparency.” Sophie Landers ‘26 is one of these students. She and her friends were celebrating Placement Day this past February when she received a call from her friend’s boyfriend, saying her friend (names are withheld for the sake of student privacy) had too much to drink.

“He calls me and he’s like, ‘You guys really need to get here. I don’t know what to do. She’s really out of it’…He was like, ‘I think she might need to get transported [to the hospital],’” Landers said. “I was like, ‘okay, just wait till we get there.’ We get there and he’s already on the phone with campo we’re like whatever, like it is what it is.”

“Campo” is a common shorthand among students for campus police, who arrived at the friend’s dorm shortly after Landers.

“Campo was really rude to [her boyfriend],” Landers said. “They, like, kept asking him, they’re like, why are you so nervous, blah, blah, like, he was interacting with the police. Of course he is going to be nervous…that also really wasn’t the time or the place to be like, holding this freshman on why he’s so nervous when his girlfriend is literally blackout on the floor, barely able to hold her head up.”

Paramedics were called to the scene and Landers’ friend was given the option of being taken to the hospital. According to Landers, she was unable to make a decision due to her intoxicated state, so she chose just to do a check up in the ambulance. Landers and her friends were prevented from speaking to the medics on the scene, and were ultimately told that her friend had to go to the hospital “He [the policeman] was like, she doesn’t have a choice anymore,’” Landers said. “Like she has to get transport and I was like, ‘Can you give me an answer?’ And he was like, ‘No you have to talk to the paramedics,’ but they wouldn’t let us talk to them.”

Landers was frustrated with the lack of transparency from authorities and compared it with her previous interactions with law enforcement on campus. She singled out alcohol as a possible distinguishing element.

“I’ve interacted with campo before and they’ve never been this closed off to answering questions,” Landers said. “But it seemed like

the only reason they were so upset with us was because it was alcohol related.”

Landers’ friend is underage, so her drinking alcohol was a violation of the Code of Responsibility. However, Landers highlighted that in situations such as these where students need help, they should feel safe calling for it.

“The whole reason campo is here is to make us feel safe,” Landers said. “And like they’re the people that we’re supposed to go to when we need help. But if they’re trying to intimidate us, why would we even reach out in the first place.”

Davidson campus police are sworn law enforcement officers and under state statute 74G, the Campus Police Act, they hold the same powers as municipal and county police officers. According to Davidson’s campus safety

call campus police.

Vermeer was doing homework in her dorm when her hallmate had a bad reaction to marijuana. Vermeer got her resident advisor (RA) and they tried to take care of her friend on their own. However, they ultimately realized they needed more support and called campus police, who arrived on the scene about 5 minutes later and began questioning them.

“Once we told them that there were substances involved, they were like, ‘okay, where are the substances in here that she was doing?’ And we were like, ‘Oh like we had no idea. Like she came from outside.’ And they were like, ‘Who was she with?’ And we’re like, we don’t know.”

The police officers then began searching the friend’s room.

Students do not feel totally comfortable calling campus police. Photo by Stella Mackler. procedures, officers receive “in-service training on topics pertinent to the law enforcement profession and the college campus environment.”

Davidson campus police Chief Julian Coaxum explained that campus police officers receive specialized training related to the Clery Act, Title IX, de-escalation and interpersonal violence.

However, he also mentioned that campus police do not receive any instruction designed for working on a college campus — unlike the college website suggests.

“We are not aware of training that is specific to a college community,” Coaxum said over email.

Though campus law enforcement are not especially trained for a college setting, Coaxum acknowledges that policing at Davidson differs from municipal police positions.

“However, policing on a college campus, especially one with Davidson’s distinctive strength of community, is different than policing a town or city,” Coaxum said. “Our officers are part of the campus community. Their priority is the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff, and they recognize that they also have a mentoring role with students.”

Coaxum’s aspirations toward mentorship contrast with student attitudes towards his task force. After an incident in February of 2023, Maya Vermeer ‘26 would do “anything” not to

“While this one officer was questioning us was walking around the room and just like digging through things..taking everything out of them [drawers] like searching through like the sock drawer and searching through everything,” Vermeer said. “They opened, I think like a drawer or like an ottoman or something I don’t remember exactly. They found alcohol on my friend’s [the roommate’s] side of the room. We were freshmen at this point, so obviously, it was against the code of responsibility [to have alcohol].”

The officers made the roommate pour out the alcohol they found and berated her, even though it appeared unrelated to the issue they were called to handle.

“The officer came out and he was yelling at the roommate and he was like ‘We just found this like, why do you have this this is against like, this is illegal. Like, who bought you this? How did you get this like bla bla bla bla bla bla bla,’ she’s sobbing into my chest like unable to answer because she can’t get words out.”

According to Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities Mak Tomkins, students are protected by a “Good Samaritan” policy.

“Good Samaritan policy is put in place so that you as my friend, don’t feel scared that you’re gonna get in trouble for being involved… that

Leonard ‘24 and Mills Jordan ‘25.

The 1619 Project seeks to reveal the history of enslavement and racism in the United States and focuses on the pivotal moment when a ship carrying enslaved people arrived in Virginia in 1619. The written manifestation of this initiative, The 1619 Project: A New

Origin Story, provides a detailed explanation of enslavement and its lasting repercussions through essays, poems, and fiction. This project and book explore current systems that oppress black Americans today while connecting these injustices to slavery.

Hannah-Jones received her master’s degree

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you can call for help for me,” Tompkins said.

The Code of Responsibility also references a “Good Samaritan” policy, outlining that if a student “who places a call for help is found to be in violation of policy, the fact that the student placed the call will be considered a mitigating circumstance if sanctions are imposed.”

However, Vermeer pointed out that officers attempted to search her room as well.

“They even asked at some point,..‘Do we have to come search your room’, and I was like, ‘You are going nowhere near my room.’ But they asked me like, what room I lived in and I was like, ‘I’m not telling you that like that has nothing to do with this.’”

Coaxum continuously emphasized that student safety is campus police’s number one priority.

“We are members of the college community and we value our relationships with students,” Coaxum said. “We want our interactions to be positive experiences. But our highest priority is keeping the campus and students safe. We are trained to assess the situation and respond appropriately.”

However, Vermeer and her friends did not feel safe.

“Davidson tells us, if you call for help, it’s all going to be okay, no one’s going to be mad at you because you called for help,” Vermeer said. “And it felt like they were trying to find loopholes around that.”

Landers and Vermeer’s dim view towards campus police is shared by an array of the student body.

“I feel like the general attitude towards them is that they’re focusing on the wrong things,” said Sarah Cobb ‘26.

Cobb described her own interaction with the task force.

“Last year one of our friends drank too much and hit her head and was bleeding in the hall,” Cobb said. “I signed something that said I would watch her for the night. it was just like all very weird. Like, I felt like … they were just trying to get in and get out and make sure they got the names of everyone involved.”

Despite Cobb’s experience, campus law enforcement emphasized their relationship with the student body is an essential component of their work.

“We are here to protect and provide safety for the whole campus,” Coaxum said. “We want to be an asset to the college. An open, trusting relationship between students and our officers is very important to us.”

Cobb noted there is more work to be done, given her and other’s past experiences.

“I definitely feel like it makes students more prone to handle things by themselves, which is probably more dangerous,” Cobb said. “When people do have incidents with drinking too much, or you know stuff related to that, I don’t think anyone’s first instinct is to call the Davidson [campus] police.”

Award-Winning Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones Speaks at Davidson

JULIA RICHARDS ‘27 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER

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he prominent New York Times reporter and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, visited Davidson on Tuesday, February 27. She gave a sold-out talk moderated by Davidson students Kenzie

from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in 2003 — the same institution that denied her tenure in 2021, presumably due to her work with the 1619 Project, according to the New York Times.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

News

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Study Abroad Returners Navigate Housing Obstacles ROWAN WALLIN ‘27 (HE/HIM) STAFF WRITER

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tudying abroad presents many new opportunities including exploring personal and academic interests, living in a new environment and stepping outside one’s comfort zone. For Davidson students, returning from fall semesters abroad also presents a new challenge: finding on campus housing for the spring semester.

Many returning students, most of them juniors, have found themselves assigned to freshman and sophomore dorms and former lounges. According to housing coordinator Ashley Smith, this is largely due to the imbalance in the amount of students who go abroad in the fall compared to those who go in the spring.

“We have so many students that go for fall abroad, but not as many students [spend] spring abroad. This past year, we did have to put students in overflow housing to house everyone,” Smith said.

This overflow housing includes converted lounges at the Armfield Martin Court Apartments converted lounges in Chidsey, Sentelle and Cannon which are majority sophomore dorms. These lounge living spaces may house up to three students.

Nicholas Layke ‘25 was assigned the second-floor Sentelle lounge as his new home for the spring semester upon his return from his semester abroad in Madrid, Spain.

“I was definitely not expecting to open up my email in Spain and be put in a triple lounge,” Layke said.

Layke participated in the housing lottery while he was away, and felt as though the process could have been more transparent.

“I know a lot of people that didn’t get their choice in the ranking and a lot of people who didn’t get their person that they wanted to live with. It seemed that that information wasn’t really used [when making housing plans].”

A converted lounge in Watts during the 2021-2022 school year. Photo by Madeline Richard ‘26.

While Layke did not get his first choice student. She is preparing to live off-campus housing option, he is upbeat about his upon her return from Florence in spring current situation.

2025.

“Obviously, I would prefer an actual dorm “I knew I wanted to live off-campus next room, but we’re making it work as best we spring; I knew that if you get a lower lottery can [...] they just put us where they could I number then you could be placed anywhere guess.” and I wasn’t as interested in that because we In addition to the lack of students who pay a lot here for housing,” Gallagher said. go abroad in the spring, the reliance on “I don’t have a house yet for off-campus overflow housing may also have to do but I’ve been in touch with a couple of with Davidson’s steady enrollment rise. landlords and my goal is to find something According to the Davidson Fact File on cheaper [than on-campus housing options].” the Davidson College website, during the Many students begin searching for housing 2018-19 academic year there were 1,843 off-campus even before they have applied Davidson students enrolled. For 2022-23, to a study abroad program, the deadline there were 1,927. Despite these increases, for that being Feb. 1 for the following fall Davidson still must provide housing for all semester. its students.

“A lot of people locked down that off“All students are required to live on- campus living before they even knew they campus all years at Davidson College. To got approved to study abroad,” Gallagher live off-campus, students must receive said. “I know many people who had their permission,” said Director of Residence houses for off-campus living booked before Life Walter Snipes. winter break this year as a sophomore.”

Many students do seek out permission to Gibby Heiser ‘26 plans to study in Australia live off campus in order to secure a “more this fall and is intimidated by the thought of favorable” living situation after studying finding housing when she gets back. abroad. Grace Gallagher ‘26 is one such “It’s a bit daunting because I have heard so

much of students being put in random places with people they don’t know—such as a lot of juniors on my hall in Chidsey which is an all sophomore dorm,” Heiser said.

Living off campus is not without its challenges. It is made more complicated by the fact that leases are often year-long for students who only plan to use the space for a year.

“A lot of people have to pay rent for that whole year or find people to sublet [during the fall semester while they are studying abroad],” Gallagher said. “It’s hard, but you kind of have to and in some cases it’s cheaper. It’s just how it works. It’s really hard to find rentals for four months.”

Smith pointed out that despite a reliance on overflow housing, the college has the ability to house all of its students.

“The good thing is that, you know, even though the trends are going up, we are able to house everyone,” Smith said. “We make a way [so that] every student that wants on-campus housing [receives] on-campus housing” There are institutional accommodations that may also make living on campus a more attractive option, even if students do not get their first choice residence.

“I think living on campus gives you some sense of community. It gives you some sense of belonging,” Smith said. “It gives you a sense that you know, you can pick up the phone and you will have your student leader there. You have your area coordinator. You have campus police there.”

Layke emphasized the significance of one’s living space in their college experience, regardless of if it is on campus or off.

“It’s important for people to feel like they’ve been given a place where they can truly have their own space and separate school and the rest of their life,” Layke said.

“It’s hard to have a great semester if you’re not having a great living situation.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones Calls for Reparations at Davidson CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A Chapel Hill native, Bess Pridgen ‘24, serves as speaker chair for the Union Board. She ran for this position so she could bring Hannah-Jones to speak to our community. Pridgen knew HannahJones was important to the state and had been upset since HannahJones was denied tenure, particularly as the university “hadn’t denied anybody for tenure in years.” In fact, WBUR explains that for over four decades, UNC hasn’t denied tenure for an academic in Hannah-Jones’ proposed role.

Pridgen was especially struck by the university’s decision because Hannah-Jones is a UNC alumna.

“She is literally a graduate from that school. They taught her, they gave her the degree to do what she does,” Pridgen said.

Pridgen knew Hannah-Jones’ message would have an incredible impact on our school given that Davidson is currently reconciling with its history of enslavement.

“I really wanted to hear her point of view on [Davidson’s actions], and what she thought of where we were at and how we could do better,” Pridgen said.

Educational Studies and Political Science professor Dr. Brittany Murray was thrilled that the Union Board was bringing HannahJones to campus. She hoped that Hannah-Jones could share a crucial message with the Davidson community.

“As an outsider with a large platform, Hannah-Jones may feel empowered to critique the institution and suggest bold action steps that the college should take in a way that some junior/contingent/ marginalized faculty may feel reluctant to do,” Murray said.

Hannah-Jones also commented on The 1619 Project’s reception and the resistance she faced from certain politicians and groups.

“There were bills being introduced all over the country to specifically to ban The 1619 Project from being taught,” HannahJones said in her talk. “Tom Cotton and Mitch McConnell introduced the bill called the Saving American History Act which was trying to ban just the 1619 project.”

According to the Center for American Progress (CAP), such restrictions might result in incomplete history taught in many classrooms. Moreover, the CAP points out that these bans teach students that only certain voices matter, which may disempower students from marginalized backgrounds.

Hannah-Jones experienced this pattern in her own schooling.

Nikole Hannah-Jones. Photo from the New York Times “If we weren’t learning about black history or black contributions, it must have been because black folks hadn’t done that much worthy of us learning about,” Hannah-Jone said.

She explained that this erasure results from a power dynamic that can conceal parts of history.

“History is not just what happened…but what we are taught to remember about what happened, and that history that we commonly think of is actually memory, and memory is being shaped by power, and [memory] often leaves out stories about people who didn’t have power,” Hannah-Jones said.

Kathleen Degnan ‘27 read The 1619 Project in preparation for her junior year American History class. Degnan noted that it is important that the school brings figures like Hannah-Jones to Davidson, since there are still “a lot of things that could be done to make our school more diverse and make better opportunities for people who might not have gotten those opportunities.”

According to Hannah-Jones, “[communities] have to own collectively the good and the bad [of their history.” She emphasized that social institutions created existing injustices, but can also be held accountable for constructing more equitable systems.

“All of the inequality we see has been constructed, it has been created by policy, by law. If you know that, then you know it can be deconstructed,” Hannah-Jones said. “You know we can make

other policy choices, that we can be a more equal society, that we can address that which causes black people to be on the bottom of every indicator of wellbeing.”

Davidson is taking steps to own the good and bad of its history.

The college has a Commission on Race and Slavery comprised of students, faculty, alumni, trustees, staff, and other Davidson community members. According to their page on the Davidson website, they strive to examine Davidson’s legacy of slavery and find ways to promote equity on campus in years to come.

For instance, their web page discusses the “With These Hands” memorial, which will commemorate the enslaved people who molded the bricks in buildings across campus.

According to Pridgen, it is “incredibly important that we’re putting that memorial on the front of campus.” She compares this memorial’s positive impact to the statue that greeted UNC students at the front of their campus until 2018, which “was a Confederate soldier that literally got torn down because the protests against having it up were so large.”

However, Hannah-Jones suggested that Davidson has room to progress beyond constructing this statue. In general, Hannah-Jones believes that commemorating enslavement through memorials, museums, and similar projects is not substantial.

“If that is the only thing you’re willing to spend money on, is what you’re comfortable doing, which is in memory work and not actually addressing the material disparities that black folks face, then you are not really to me interested in reconciliation, then this is just a performative act to me,” Hannah-Jones said.

Hannah-Jones also posed rhetorical questions about Davidson’s admission processes and how the college community is constructed.

“Is there a special scholarship for descendants of slavery? Is there a legacy bump in admissions for descendants of slavery, the same way that there’s a legacy bump for descendants of slave owners?”

Hannah-Jones asked.

Hannah-Jones encouraged her audience to listen to black voices when deciding Davidson’s next changes, since in any journey of reconciliation, “black people are the ones who should determine what justice looks like.” According to her, this is crucial since “what ends up happening is the same people who benefited from slavery now want to determine how to heal it.”

Features

Catawba Nation Corn Grows Relationship with Davidson

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ATYANTIKA MOOKHERJEE ‘26 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER

he Catawba Nation, or “yeh is-WAH h’reh” meaning people of the river, have lived along the banks of the Catawba River for at least six thousand years. Davidson College sits atop the original homeland of the Catawba. While the College has yet to make a formal land acknowledgement, the institution has sought out reconciliation through collaborations with the Nation. In a recent partnership, staff, students, and faculty at the Davidson College Farm have collaborated with the Department of Natural Resources in the Catawba Nation to grow “kus iswa,” a once-lost strain of traditional corn.

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historical apprehensiveness towards working with the College and other institutions. However, he has high hopes for the relationship between Davidson and the Catawba.

“I think that our history of how we worked with academic institutions wasn’t really one of trust, particularly because a lot of the times, as history has shown time and time again, anthropologists will come in, take data, take language, take, histories and things like that, and really just go off and do whatever they want with it,” Baumgardner said. “So I think that Davidson has really make a concerted effort to be careful about recognizing the past [and] this sort of exploitation by researchers to indigenous communities, but really try to make it a beneficial relationship for us.”

Although the college itself was founded almost a century after what is considered the “official” ceding of Catawba land to the British, Stremlau explained that it still holds responsibility for the dispossession of Catawba land.

The Catawba Nation Seal highlights their culture. Photo from Catawba Nation Facebook.

Davidson Students work in collaboration with Catawba. Photo by Davidson College.

According to a June 2023 press release, the Catawba had been searching for ancestral seeds for centuries, and in May of that same year, approximately 150 seeds of Catawba sweet corn were found in Oklahoma and returned to Catawba land. In September of 2023, the nation signed an agreement with the college to grow the corn together.

According to Associate Professor of History Dr. Rose Stremlau, this is the only program of its kind in a college setting and is holistic in its approach.

“Indigenous systems of knowledge are not siloed as they are typically in the European and American tradition,” Stremlau said. “And so when we envision what the collaboration would look like in terms of events like, yes, we plant corn. So we eat. So we do work in bio labs.

We also have artists, we have musicians and we have folks who help us to conceptualize the experience of being human and putting your hands in the soil.”

Stremlau stressed that the individuals involved in the collaboration have diverse knowledge that goes beyond academia.

“The folks who are doing this work themselves are interdisciplinary people,” Stremlau said.

“We are people who come together with these diverse interests, and one of the real gifts of a place like Davidson is that we can work beyond our immediate fields and areas of expertise.”

One of these “interdisciplinary people” is Roo George-Warren, an executive committee member of the Catawba Nation’s government. Through is work with the Nations elders, the significance of returning the seeds became obvious.

“It was the return of something precious,” he told the college. “The thing that came back over and over was, we have to bring back the corn.”

Aaron Baumgardener, who is the Natural Resources Director for the nation, explained a

“There has been an understanding that because the college was established in 1837 and the Catawba Nation [signed] their treaties ceding this actual land that Davidson is on to the British in 1760 and 1763 that these are very separate events. In fact, there is a relationship among them,” Stremlau said. “The college remained involved through some of the behaviors of its founders and dispossession of not just the Catawba, but Native people to the West – particularly the Cherokee Nation – in those same decades.”

Baumgardener recounted the College’s history and future with the Catawba people.

“I think that Davidson’s really trying to really come to grips with what their history is with land and land possession in our territorial homeland really means,” Baumgardener said. “... they’re actually putting work behind to kind of explore what that history is, and what the sort of reparations or whatever you want to call it is for the nation in that relationship. So I think that they’re not just doing lip service to the nation, but really actively being an agent of change for the better.”

By continuing to work with the Catawba Nation, Davidson may act as a model of how smaller institutions can work with Indigenous communities to showcase the people, culture and traditions that were forcibly displaced. “[We are] really trying to create something that’s long lasting and continues to impact the work that we’re doing at the Nation when it comes to food sovereignty work or land stewardship work, creating bridges between us and Davidson,” Baumgardener said.

Crime Log

Time Reported

Description/Location

02/29/24 11:00 hrs

Larceny Larceny

Offenses:

Misdemeanor

Duke, Unfounded

02/29/24 15:20 hrs

Burglary Offenses: Breaking or En-

03/01/24 08:19 hrs

Harassment Offenses: Harassing Telephone Calls Tomlinson, Further Investigation

03/06/24 12:13 hrs

Burglary Offenses: Felony Breaking or Entering Building Injury to Property Offenses: Injury to Personal Property and Vandalism

tering Vehicle Belk, Further Investigation

*Crime log information comes directly from the publicly available Main Campus Crime Log. For more information please reach out to campus police.

Perspectives

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The Deepest Confessions of a Nummit Barista

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GRACE KINGSBURY ‘24 (SHE/HER)

ummit,”which stands for “new Summit,” is the fond yet ironic name of the 11 year old cafe overlooking Patterson Court. I have worked at Nummit for three years, since the beginning of my sophomore year at Davidson.

I applied to Nummit because of the cultural significance that surrounded it. Even during my COVID-riddled freshman year, I could tell that Nummit was a buzzing, active spot on campus. From history like the 2011 Stephen Curry Nummit cameo, to inextricable parts of the Davidson social scene like formal events and weekly trivia, it is only right that Nummit sits aside social affiliation groups along Patterson Court.

There is certainly a curated vibe at Nummit. However, this is not new. In 1997, Outpost ran an ad in Libertas, a student

Grace with some of her coworkers. Photo by Cali Koerner.

run publication according to the Davidson Archives, encouraging people to visit: “NOT ENOUGH ANGST IN YOUR LIFE? COME ON DOWN TO THE OUTPOST, where you can SMOKE cigarettes, DRINK coffee, and ENJOY the company of those as ANGST-RIDDEN as yourself.”

Despite our obnoxious music playing, angsty WALT affiliations, and thrifted outfits, Nummit is the best place to work. We are a fully student-run coffee shop, though we are affiliated with a larger company, Summit, which we call Big Summit. It is a unique opportunity to be a member of a student-run coffee shop, and it gives Nummit a special connection to the community. When I was a freshman, Davidson planned to close the outpost and open a café similar to the Union’s Davis Café that serves coffee.

Upon the release of this news, our student body created a petition to keep Nummit, its affiliation with Big Summit, and the studentrun management style. Hundreds of students signed, expressing that maintaining a place for students independent of the college is important to them.

Nummit has a role in the social scene at Davidson, and in the face of our recently limited social scene, using Nummit as a venue is even more important. Most people don’t know that anyone can rent out the outpost for $45 an hour.

Sometimes working at Nummit can be stressful, draining, or plain gross. Behind the scenes, we are unclogging toilets (last week) and retrieving bras, panties, and boxers from the bathrooms after placement day. The worst part of the job? Forgetting people’s names. Especially when you are supposed to know their names.

Personally, I am a fan of the sneaky look at the cartcard as you are checking them out, but I admire my courageous

coworkers, bold enough to say “remind me of your name.” That being said, there is no better way to humble your enemies than never remembering their name as they are checking out.

Late night quesadilla shifts are another challenging part of the job. They can be a blessing and a curse. All employees are required to to work one night from 10:30PM to 2:30AM per semester. It can be a silly, tipsy night of para socializing while on the clock, or a 5 hour shift from hell where you watch the party you cannot attend rise and fall, confined within the mint green prison.

I have a special fondness in my heart for the patrons who offer a drunk cig to the baristas working the graveyard shift.

I would also like to put an end to an important debate: tipping. Essentially we are guaranteed a wage of 14 dollars without tips. Big Summit will always pay us a base of 10 dollars. If the tips do not make up the remaining 4 dollars of our hourly wage, Big Summit bites the bullet and pays us the rest of the guaranteed wage. However, if the tips are more than $14, we all split the extra based on what percentage of total hours each of us worked that week. Essentially this system guarantees us 14 dollars an hour, which I think is quite fair, and it also saves Big Summit money. I understand that there is an argument to be made that tipping does not matter because we have a guaranteed wage, but when people generally tip in a day, we walk away with it. We can have a conversation about capitalism placing the burden on the consumer another time.

Aside from good pay for a campus job from a fair company, there are other perks to the job. Free drinks, a good excuse to ask any Nummit crush their name, and unlimited “tea”. From behind our perch at the bar, YES we can hear all of your

morning debriefs after a night out. YES we can tell when you are on a first date. YES we know about couples before they are launched because we see the saga unfold.

And YES we know who is crazy enough to drink 8 scoops of ice cream with espresso at 10 AM (and we are scared of you).

We also hang out outside of work. We hold events called barista bashes, which are usually some kind of drinking race. In fact, some baristas hang out a lot outside of work. Nummitcest is real! Every year has seen beautiful romance and turbid scandal.

In fact, a few Nummit booths have seen their fair share of scandal and desecration in the name of team-building.

That said, I love working at Nummit. It has shaped my college experience in a way unlike the typical college job. I feel lucky to work in a place with people who I love so much and who work so hard. I know more people’s names at this school than I thought I ever would. After spring break applications come out, and I encourage people to apply!

P.S. My favorite drink is matcha lemonade, which is a shot of matcha with sparkling water, lemon juice, and our lavender syrup.

Though it’s not on the official menu, if you ask me to try it, I’ll know you’ve read this article, and you might even get some mugger privileges.

The SAT is Inevitable; Maybe That’s a Good Thing

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SAM FRANKLIN ‘26 (HE/HIM)

he SAT is returning. The past month-and-a-half, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown all announced the end of their test-optional policies, once-again requiring applicants to submit a standardized test score — usually the SAT or ACT, although there are alternatives — in order to be considered for admission. This marks a sharp break from the pandemic years, when hundreds of elite colleges abandoned the use of the once-necessary scores for admission. If you had a good score, then you were still encouraged to submit it, but for hundreds of thousands of students, the hard numerical barrier standing between them and the Ivy-league had vanished. Applications soared, sometimes by double digit percentages, while acceptance rates plummeted. In 2021, the first application cycle after test-optional policies became mainstream, the acceptance rate of Harvard fell by almost a third. Columbia’s acceptance rate fell by almost half.

Since 2020, Davidson’s own acceptance rate has fallen 3.5 percentage points to a record low.

Even after the pandemic and its associated disruptions receded, most colleges, including Davidson, retained their test-optional policies. The reasons for this were usually rooted in diversity and equity — though I suspect colleges may have had more self-serving motivations, which I’ll get into shortly — and the arguments for test-optional policies were good.

It was argued that students from privileged backgrounds had the resources to study for the tests, hire tutors, even, in a few highly publicized instances, hire someone else to take the test for them. Disadvantaged kids had none of these advantages, and as a result the use of standardized tests was seen as something which entrenched intergenerational inequality.

Going test-optional would therefore level the playing field by allowing for a more holistic application process, one which no longer reduced applicants to a number.

So why have Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth returned to requiring test-scores from applicants? It’s not that standardized tests are more equitable than believed — every

argument against them continues to hold true. But it turns out that the alternatives are worse.

We can break college applications into a few categories.

First comes the standardized test score, made almost useless by test-optional policies. That leaves an applicant’s essay, their grades, and their extracurriculars. When it comes to privilege, each of these qualitative categories is easier to game than the quantitative element imposed by standardized tests. Grading standards vary wildly from high school to high school, and a B at some schools can be worth more than an A at others. Colleges simply lack the resources to make the necessary school-to-school adjustments, making GPAs difficult to compare. Additionally, it’s not like students with the money to pay for SAT tutoring couldn’t pay for Math or English tutoring as well.

Essays are also easy to manage when it comes to gaming the college applications system. Where before applicants might have hired expensive SAT tutors, now they can simply hire expensive essay coaches, who might assist or even ghostwrite a student’s application essay. Besides giving more jobs to English majors, this shift hasn’t changed much about college applications. It certainly hasn’t leveled the playing field, it’s only changed the nature of the advantages wealth and privilege buy. Extracurriculars, too, are vulnerable to exaggeration and outright fabrication. No one’s checking whether you really went to those Model UN meetings, after all.

But even when applicants are one-hundred percent truthful, they might still be the beneficiaries of unfair advantages.

Students at underprivileged public high schools will have fewer extracurricular options than those at expensive private schools — that’s just a fact.

It turns out that the main advantage of the standardized tests was their standardized nature. Grades, essays, extracurriculars, they’re subjective. But everyone takes the same SAT, in the same conditions, and only a lucky few get away with cheating. Furthermore, the quantitative nature of the tests makes it easier to adjust for privilege. It’s well known that students from underprivileged backgrounds were

more likely to get into elite colleges with lower test scores than their more privileged peers, and this was by design.

Colleges could and did put a thumb on the scale in the name of diversity and equal opportunity. Affirmative action and diversity programs become impossible without a standardized element of the admissions process, when everything becomes subjective, prone to exaggeration, and lacks needed context about a student’s background and opportunities. It’s not that standardized tests were perfect, far from it. It’s not that they should be the only part of an application — of course they shouldn’t. But however unfair they might be, the alternatives are worse.

However, as I touched on earlier, there are less altruistic reasons colleges may have wanted to eliminate standardized tests. If the SAT becomes optional, then the barrier which prevented most students from applying to elite schools — a sub-par SAT score — vanishes. Hence the pandemic-era surge in applications, and the corresponding collapse in acceptance rates. Colleges have a vested interest in ensuring that they get as many students competing for the same number of spots, making them appear more competitive on paper.

In an age of education dominated by metrics such as teacher/ student ratios, yield numbers, and grade-point-averages, schools have prioritized a meaningless statistic, their acceptance rate, over one that really matters. Underprivileged students will always face disadvantages, but standardized tests came closest to placing all applicants on an equal playing field. When it comes to ensuring diversity and opportunity in higher education, there are only lesser evils, and no easy choices. Davidson should follow Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown in making this hard choice, and reinstate its standardized testing requirement.

Sports

5

Davidson Women’s Basketball Team Forfeits After an Injury-Plagued Season

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patch adjusting to time without such an impact player, the Wildcats showed resolve in the latter portion of conference play. They won 5 games in a 6 game stretch including road games at St. Bonaventure and Loyola Chicago.

THOMAS KADE ‘26 (HE/HIM) NATHAN STEWART ‘25 (HE/HIM) SPORTS EDITORS

he Davidson women’s basketball team was forced to cancel the remainder of their season on March 1, 2024.

The decision came after the Wildcats faced a plethora of injuries, and more recently, sickness, which caused many players to be sidelined. Some notable players who were forced to miss extended time throughout the season were forward Elle Sutphin ‘24, guard Charlise Dunn ‘26 and guard Suzi-Rose Deegan ‘24. When healthy, these three players averaged close to a combined 40 points per game, which made their removal from the lineup even more detrimental to the Wildcats.

Prior to the 2023-2024 campaign coming to an abrupt finish, Davidson enjoyed one of its most fruitful seasons in the last couple of decades. The Wildcats won 12 of their first 13 games, highlighted by non-conference wins against Wake Forest on November 11 and Duke on November 16. The Wildcats continued to fly high in the non-conference and saw their only loss come to a ranked North Carolina squad in a hotly contested game. After Sutphin went down near the end of November, Davidson continued to win games leading into conference play, even without their senior leader. This streak of successful play contributed to Davidson’s best start in program history – the team even received votes for the AP Top 25 Poll.

The injury bug took the form of a revolving door. When Sutphin returned on January 2, senior scoring guard Deegan was forced out of the lineup a week later. After a small rough

Eventually, the team’s shortcomings began to take a toll.

Davidson forfeited their first game on February 21 due to health and safety protocols; another game was cancelled three days later. After suffering a loss to George Washington on February 28, the team cancelled their final regular season game against Saint Louis. Shortly after, it was announced that the team would forfeit the remainder of the season and miss the A-10 Conference Tournament.

Davidson Director of Athletics Chris Clunie ‘06 spoke to the difficulty of the decision that the team had to make, as they eventually chose to do “what was best for the program” and “mov[e] into the future.”

Clunie also spoke to the team’s camraderie and dedication.

He explained that the team was able to embrace the challenge of an “unprecedented level of season-ending injuries” and continue to play for each other. In spite of the difficulty, many players embraced a “next woman up” mentality and stepped up when the team needed them most. This mindset reflects the fierce determination of the team, one which will hopefully be back in full force next season.

Women’s basketball team huddling up during a game against Rhode Island. Photo by Tim Cowie.

Track and Field Wraps Up Indoor Season at A-10s

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of his own 3rd place finish. He commended Bynum ‘24 for “really stepping up when others were injured.” Muldoon ‘25, however, was unwilling to attribute the team’s overall middling results at the meet entirely to missing important contributors. “Moving forward, I think we have to prepare better for these big meets. Our coach always tells us to be prepared,” he reflected, identifying an area that could lead to improvement in the back half of the season.

The Wildcats finished with a strong effort in the face of adversity, and while the teamwide performance may not have met their own expectations, various strong individual performances and the knowledge that they can hold their own against A-10 foes even in the most dire of circumstances are cause for optimism as they head outdoors beginning this weekend at Charlotte.

BEN WOLF ‘26 (HE/HIM) SPORTS EDITOR

n February 24, Davidson’s Women’s and Men’s Track and Field teams made the trip to Virginia Beach, VA to compete in the A-10 Indoor Championships, culminating the indoor portion of their seasons. While there is no such thing as good timing when it comes to injury and illness, some key Wildcats were on the shelf for this particularly critical meet. Frances Whitworth ‘24, ranked second and third in the conference in the 5K and the 3K going into A-10s, respectively, was among the studentathletes unavailable for the finale.

To their credit, though, her teammates stayed focused on the task at hand, putting their best foot forward in their final indoor battle among conference foes. “I’m proud of my event group specifically. Megan [Burkholder ‘24] finishing her senior year with another great performance [2nd place] in pole vault and Isaac [Bynum ‘24] getting his gold medal moment in the 60-meter hurdles was something special for sure. And, of course, Jack [Muldoon ‘25] killing it in the 1K,” Hannah Casey ‘26 said, who herself placed 3rd in the pentathlon.

Although satisfied with her medal-worthy performance, Casey ‘26 acknowledged that “as a team, we didn’t perform to our standard,” but maintains a positive outlook heading into the season’s second portion. “I’m so proud of everyone for going out there and giving it all they had. We battled a lot of sickness and injury, so it was difficult. I think outdoor will be a different story and I’m excited to see what’s to come…we have a lot of young talent and hard workers, so I think as long as we stay healthy and focused, we’ll have an exciting outdoor season.”

Muldoon ‘25 shared similar sentiments about the meet. “The 1000-meter is a very hard race. There was a lot of pain, just pain everywhere, but it was rewarding in the end,” he said

Isaac Bynum taking gold in 60m hurdles. Photo by A-10 Conference.

Women’s Lacrosse Standings

Standings Update

Team

W

L

STK PCT

George Mason Richmond Duquesne St. Bonaventure Davidson Saint Joseph’s UMass La Salle George Washington VCU

6 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 2 1

2 2 3 3 4 3 4 4 6 6

L1 W1 L2 W3 W1 W1 W1 L2 L2 L2

.750

.714 .625 .571 .500 .500 .333 .333 .250 .143

Davidson Women’s Basketball Senior Spotlight Video

Arts and Entertainment 6 Fanfiction Class Encourages Inner Nerd Among Students

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CLAIRE KELLY ‘25 SHE/HER NEWS EDITOR MADELINE RICHARD ‘26 SHE/HER CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

eading the Harry Potter books, exploring the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own, and watching Star Trek might not sound like part of any typical class’ syllabus. Yet these are all parts of ENG:375 “Fanfiction,” a course offered by the Davidson English Department this semester. The course provides a way for English majors to fulfill their “Innovation” requirement as part of their major while also discussing a unique topic. English professor and director of the College Writing Program Dr. Shireen Campbell has been teaching the course since 2017 and is currently in her third semester of teaching it.

Campbell describes fanfiction as creative works inspired by existing pieces of media, like books and movies, most often created by fans. Campbell recognized fanfiction’s cultural power years ago, as well as its ability to inspire creativity. She hoped to engage students by bringing the field to Davidson.

“I was [...] interested in finding literature that really seems to speak to students in some way,” Campbell said. “There are a lot of there are a lot of possibilities there, right? I think you can make any text can be an interesting text. But I was interested in fanfiction, which I was increasingly aware of not reading myself but aware of because it seemed to me here was an area where people were eagerly reading and not just reading but engaging creatively with content they loved.”

Anna Niepold ‘26 is taking “Fanfiction” this spring, and like Campbell, she was interested in exploring a distinct type of literature from the typical English class.

“I have been interested in English classes, but I wanted to try something new and interesting. And I had heard really good things about Dr. Campbell and I felt like [“Fanfiction”] was so far from what I think of an English class,” Niepold said. “I wanted to just try something new and get to see how far the English department can expand in terms of what it is teaching.”

According to Campbell, the class challenges students’ – and

Readers make stories their own! Graphic by Stella Mackler her own — concepts of what literature can look like and brings a change of pace to her teaching.

“This is the third time I’ve taught [“Fanfiction”], and I am thinking about it this spring more than ever, is that fanfiction is a place where the assumptions we bring about how you read a book, and how you should think about the author/reader relationship or the publisher reader relationship is radically different [in fanfiction] than it is in sort of classical literary studies,” said Campbell.

“Everything is turned on its head in fiction so it is fascinating, because it’s so very different than a lot of the other courses I have taught and taken.”

Campbell pointed out how this course attracted students, both English majors and non-English majors alike.

“It is interesting to me how many students who have majors completely outside the humanities seem to think, ‘I can do that; I am not afraid of that,’” said Campbell. “It’s also interesting when students are willing to take the class who are not fanfiction readers, because there are some people [...] who are all over it [...] and there are other people who have never read fanfiction before. And so it is fun that they were willing to try.”

Nora Jorgensen ‘25 is enrolled in “Fanfiction,” and her experience reflects Campbell’s point. She had little experience with fanfiction

prior to this semester, but thought the class would be a chance for intellectual exploration.

“I had never read fanfiction. So I honestly was curious,” Jorgensen said. “I probably was not going to start reading fanfiction if I did not take this class, so part of the reason I took this class was to try a new subject I did not know much about.”

Niepold had a similar experience and felt welcomed in class.

“I was a little intimidated at first before the class started that I would have needed to have like a baseline of understanding, but Dr. Campbell does a great job of allowing everyone to be a part of the class [regardless of their fanfiction background,” Niepold said.

Niepold and Jorgensen have learned more about fanfiction during the first part of the course, expanding their approach to English and dismantling their previous stereotypes about fanfiction. “ I thought it was really interesting to see how much [fanfiction] is out there [...] l even though it might not be published or [...] people might laugh [and not take fanfiction seriously], there can also be a lot of talent among fanfiction writers,” Niepold said.

Jorgensen said that the class has helped her engage with texts in a new way.

“You learn to analyze something you are really not used to,” Jorgen said. “Just forcing everyone to pick a new field and adjust to it in an academic setting probably is the biggest takeaway [...] [the course also helps] people that have not read fanfiction [...] appreciate a different viewpoint [...] if you previously only had an outside perspective, it forces you to have an insider’s perspective with more appreciation of the work it takes to make fanfiction.”

Campbell gives students a new perspective on analyzing texts throughout her “Fanfiction” course, and she also wants the class to be a fun experience and an exercise in intellectual curiosity.

Moreover, she hopes that it is a break from the pressure to achieve stereotypical academic success.

“Sometimes, we get so worried about getting our requirements done [or] defending our GPAs [...] there is not necessarily always time in your education for play for intellectual play, and I feel like this class hopefully can feel like play for people,” Campbell said.

“Even though they are reading a lot and learning [...] they are also having fun while they are doing it. I would like to think you can be challenged and you can have fun. I do not think they are mutually exclusive.”

Q&A: Gamut Dance Company CATE GOODIN ‘26 SHE/HER CLARA OTTATI ‘27 SHE/HER SECTION EDITORS

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amut Dance Company performed a medley of different genres this February. Both Saturday and Sunday, February 24th and 25th, Gamut took the stage of Duke Performance Hall. Families from the town, classmates, friends, and relatives, filed into the Union theater for the culmination of more than a semester’s work. The Davidsonian had the opportunity to interview two company members, Ally Creswell ‘27 and Bailey Maierson ‘25.

C.O.: How much preparation went into Gamut? How many hours a week do you practice?

Creswell: Personally, I had about 4 hours of rehearsals and 3 hours of technique classes each week. Other dancers had more depending on how many pieces they were in, but I was in fewer than a lot of the other dancers. It is definitely a big time commitment year round.

C.O.: Do you feel like Gamut provides a supporting community? Did you already know many of the members due to classes or other overlapping activities?

Creswell: I love how close the Gamut family is. Some of us overlap in classes and activities, but rehearsals and dance classes are where we truly connect. There is such a deep bond from how much time we spend together, and it is so comforting to know that we have a group to support us.

C.O: Who were the heads of the Gamut production?

Creswell: Maeve Corcoran ‘24 is the company manager, and she does so much to coordinate the company. Leigha Hoffman ‘25 is the assistant manager. They are

Gamut Members dancing in Duke during rehersals. Photo by Bailey Maierson

Gamut Company Photo. Photo by Bailey Maierson

both so dedicated to the success of our performances, and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to dance with them. Dr. Bory is the gamut faculty advisor, and she deals mostly with giving notes to choreographers and helping facilitate show week. The affairs of the company are truly in Maeve, Leigha, and the e-board’s hands.

Clara: Did your friends come to support you? How did that feel?

Creswell: Most of my friends made it to the shows, and I was so excited for them to see me dance for the first time, especially those who did not know what to expect!

C.O: How do you feel like the Davidson community in general supports the dancing community here?

Creswell: I have only experienced it this year and I’m sure the older dancers in Gamut could speak more to this, but I feel that many people in the Davidson community support Gamut. There was a wide variety of students, professors, and members of the community in the audience.

C.O: What was your favorite part of the show to perform? Why? Creswell: I loved performing our production piece. Every member of Gamut in the performance was in it, and there was just so much energy. The piece was upbeat, moody, and so full of personality. I had so much fun in the process of learning, and

getting to see the finished product was so rewarding.

C.G.: What is it like to come back to Gamut after studying abroad in the fall?

Maierson: From reuniting with my friends in the company, to performing in our annual showcase for the third time, returning to dance this semester has been nothing less than exciting. Upon my return to campus, I was instantly met with a familiar sense of kinship from the company that I missed while abroad.

C.G: How was this show different from your experience freshman year and sophomore year?

Maierson: Because I was abroad and did not have a chance to learn student choreography in the fall, I automatically had less of a role in this year’s show. Last year I was in six pieces -- four student choreographed works and two faculty works -- whereas this year I was in one faculty work and one guest artist piece. While part of me wished I could have been onstage more, I am grateful to have been a part of this year’s show in any capacity. Also, the company made a change this year in which the majority of our faculty work takes place in the fall in a totally separate show, which allows our spring showcase to be primarily

student works. I am looking forward to the possibility of being part of that show next fall.

C.G: How is it being choreographed by students?

Maierson: In high school I choreographed three different times for an annual student choreography showcase, so I love that our company gives students a chance to explore their artistic pursuits through choreography.

Each dancer holds the capacity to express a specific message through their own unique movement patterns.

Maierson also remarked on how it was “rewarding to be back onstage with my fellow dancers.” With the guest artist piece in particular, she attests, “Working with new choreographers truly helps a dancer become more versatile/flexible in learning different teaching and movement styles.”

Performing in front of the expansive seats of Duke can be intimidating, though, but Bailey affirmed, “eventually you realize the magnitude of what you’re doing, embody the act of performing, and lose yourself in the movement. Dr. Bory always says that even if you’re not onstage at a particular moment, we all have each other’s backs when performing.” Make sure to catch the Gamut show next year, and watch the dedication of the dancers shine through.

Cate Goodin ‘26 (She/Her) is an English and Art History Major from McLean, VA and can be reached for comment at cagoodin@ davidson.edu Clara Ottati ‘27 (She/Her) is an English Major from Oak Park, IL and can be reached for comment at clottati@davidson.edu

Living Davidson

Crossword Who’s In First?

7

Crosswords by Victor Fleming ‘73

Across 1 Dummy Mortimer 6 Departmental Coordinator Jones or Director of Academic Access and Disability Bleil 10 Comic strip “The Wizard ___” 14 Certain string adjuster 15 In ___ of 16 Chambers Building feature 17 Hersey’s town 18 ___ Studies Department 19 “Clumsy me!”

20 Irish-American operetta composer

23 Luisiana or Tejas 24 “Uh-huh” 25 Accessory for Miss Piggy 28 Ave. crossers 29 Raises 32 Antacid choice, for short 34 “Scram!”

37 Flag holders 38 Stipulation for a wager, maybe 41 Single-celled creature 42 Straying from the right course 43 Beantown’s real name 45 Arbor Day mo.

46 “Pull ___ chair!”

49 Suffix with lemon 50 “Spare” item at a barbecue 52 Houston baseballers 55 Show eagerness to get started 59 Lanai neighbor 61 Exploding-cigar sound 62 Belittle 63 Group pronoun 64 Decoy 65 ___ Code 66 Makes do, with “out” 67 “College GameDay” airer 68 2001 NFL Hall of Fame inductee Lynn

Down

1 Averts, with “off” 2 Colony resident 3 Puts into law 4 Designer Oscar de la ___ 5 Dickens’s “The Mystery of Edwin ___” 6 Ho-hum 7 The Emerald Isle 8 Visibly sad 9 Ado 10 A hound may pick it up 11 Coach Scott Abell’s sport 12 Little pest 13 ___ Moines 21 Auto club suggestion 22 Certain autoinjector 26 1988 Cy Young Award winner Hershiser

27 Six-pack units 30 Hole in a sweater?

31 “Kama ___” 33 Assembly of minks?

34 Little pest 35 “Bewitched” witch 36 Field shield 38 Fireplace fuel 39 Not self-confident 40 Weight at the jeweler’s 41 CEO’s degree, possibly 44 Surefooted 46 Illinois city 47 Toxicology topic 48 Rudder’s position 51 It’s just below A 53 Former Teheran rulers 54 Former Broncos’ QB Tim 56 Leaky tire sound 57 “To serve, not to be served” sloganeer 58 Fed. tax agents 59 Partner of Larry and Curly 60 Flying diver

ANSWERS TO LAST CROSSWORD! AIRLINE SECRET CODE

% / $ 6 7 $ ' $ 0 6 2 & 6 5 2 1 ' 2 0 < / 2 8 1 2 + ( 5 $ 2 1 7 , 0 ( 0 ( $ 1 6 % < $ 5 $ 7 , 1 * : ( ( & 2 ( 1 6 2 1 ( / ( * 7 + ( ' ( / $ < 6 ( 1 5 < 8 3 5 $ , 6 ( , 6 ( ( 6 7 ( ( 3 ( 7 ' < ( $ 6 7 ( $ 6 , ( 5 / , 3 2 $ / / ' $ < + $ 6 < ( 7 7 2 1 2 7 ( 6 8 3 7 $ . ( ) 2 5 0 $ / : , 7 $ + $ % ( $ 1 1 2 8 1 & ( ' ) / $ 2 6 6 , ( 3 ( 5 ( = ( / ) ' 2 ( 2 6 . $ 5 6 : ( ' (

Masala Mastee: The New Spice Corner?!?!

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PHILIP GREENWOOD ‘26 (HE/HIM)

ello Davidsonites! I’m starting my reviews for this semester with a restaurant that I have ignored for far too long. I’ve been walking right by Masala Mastee on the way to my frequented spots (Davidson Farmers’ Market, Raeford’s Barber Shop, and Mandolino’s Artisan Pizza) for a full two years. I don’t know why it took me so long to try it out, but alas, we’ve arrived.

Let’s get into it.

For my food, I ordered a bowl of vibrant and creamy orangered butter chicken, a steaming mound of jasmine rice, and a small cup of dal (lentil) soup. We’ll review dish by dish.

The butter chicken, a timeless classic, was terrific. The chicken, which at other restaurants too often consists of dry, unevenly sized chunks, was wonderfully tender and presented in perfectly proportioned morsels blanketed in their robust, silkysmooth sauce. Each spoonful, combined with a small pile of the subtly sweet, pillow-soft, long-grain jasmine rice was a delight.

The dal soup lacked texture, but the flavorful taste and aromatic smells, combined with strong notes of turmeric and cumin, more than made up for it. A certain degree of separation and dissolution is expected with any lentil-based soup, and while this was a little out of hand, it was still relatively enjoyable, texture aside.

My drink of choice was a mango lassi, a sort of yogurt smoothie. While it wasn’t chilled to my liking and was served in a stemless wine glass (a personal nitpick), it was perfectly sweet and silky.

As for the non-food aspects of my experience, the restaurant was almost completely full at 7PM on a Saturday. It is definitely well-known and seems to attract a younger clientele, which makes sense, as Davidson students receive a discount if they bring their CatCard.

The setting and decor could use a bit of work though. The

lone life-sized tuk-tuk cutout in the corner, combined with the flashing rainbow LED string lights, left something to be desired on the porch. The service, however, was attentive and energetic.

Overall, it’s a good establishment and, more importantly, I think it’s absolutely necessary in a world where the Spice Corner in Commons is less and less satisfying. Eat well, friends! (8/10)

Masala Mastee is a welcome fixture on Main Street.

Photo by Heiner Dornburg.

Dinner at Masala Mastee. Photo by Philip Greenwood.

A sunset view from Masala Mastee’s porch. Photo by Madeline Richard.

The

Yowl

Irreverent student journalism since 2004. Castigat Ridendo Mores. yowl.com/thisisrealjournalism

March 13, 2024

inside

History Always Advice Amanda: Local Orthopedic Surgeon Starts Offering Repeats Itself: SPE He’s a Munch 2 for 1 Deals to Women’s Virus Outbreak But I Hate Basketball Team for ACL Among Floridians Pineapple Repair Surgery After Spring Break Page Ligament Groupon Page Every Single Year Page Dilemma

Humans vs Spring Break Hurt Hub Grant Zombies: Union Debate Trip: Used to Repair Davidson Democrats Broken Chandelier Board Accused of Discriminating vs Dominican in Punta Cana Against the Republicans Page Innovation Color Blind Page We Lost Page Orange?

Perspective: Make the Old Turner House a Casino

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n the last day of spring break the state government of North Carolina declared 2 major moves that are sure to impact the Davidson student population. First, they legalized Sports gambling in NC. Second, they declared the old SPE House (referred to officially as the SPousE in legal documents) to be the new home of Turner, leaving a new vacant lot and vacant house on the top of the hill. This combination of moves offers Davidson a great opportunity: make the old Turner house a casino.

Instead of losing all your real world money on gambling, you could use dining dollars (which you still spend a lot of real world money for but you can dissociate that value in your head) to bet on the results of certain dice and roulette rolls. Think of the joy visiting students could get upon seeing that they have the ability to go straight from a 1:30 math class to a 2:30 session of counting cards in Blackjack.

While Patterson Court house parties are only fun for members of each house, think of the cross-campus cross sections of gamblers that could meet new friends and have fun while losing hundreds of dollars as a result of misjudging a hand of poker. Maybe certain eating houses that find themselves in severe debt can simply make back all of their budget by successfully gambling in the Casino on the Hill. If this operation is successful we could potentially expand the casino into the surrounding areas: nearby Knox is frankly irrelevant to the social fabric of this school and both could and should be turned into a satellite campus of

W

a casino.

The new joint decisions on the SPousE and Sports gambling have even allowed the possibility of a sportsbook to open in the ex-Turner House. Think of the beauty of watching the baseball team play while sitting on the patio or behind the full length glass windows that make up this house. What a beautiful view to let you get the full experience of watching our team lose 24-1 to UNC Charlotte. This wasn’t even an exaggerated final score for hyperbole, this one did happen! You really can see it all through the sportsbook windows. If you think hearing people talk about their fantasy sports teams is annoying just wait until they can tell you about their parlay all week. This new ex-Turner Sportsbook would also allow us to centralize all the degenerate gamblers and force them to talk amongst themselves, increasing the overall quality of conversation for every Davidson student not invested in setting their money on fire by betting on players like Jordan Poole or Patrick Beverly every weekend. The state of North Carolina has given us the perfect opportunity to once again push the boundaries of what’s possible, allowing us to make a beautiful new Casino in the new available PCC house, and this space will truly be inclusive to all (the house will win and take the available money or dining dollars of anyone regardless of PCC membership or lack thereof). If those DIFA kids are so good at betting on stocks and making money I say we really put their skills to the test and make them use their budget on a couple bets to really get this new Casino going.

Rejected Hobart Park Love Poems

hile performing the hard, backbreaking work of investigative journalism that Yowl writers so often find themselves in, one Yowl writer discovered a crumbled up stack of papers in one of the Union trash cans. In it, appears to be the latest submissions to the Hobart Park editors–all of them rejections. To support Davidson’s policy of freedom of speech, the Yowl has taken it upon themselves as stewards of faithful journalism with the utmost integrity to publish these poems and the Hobart Park editor’s commentary on them.

Roses are red Violets are blue Your love is unrequited too :( Hobart Park editor’s notes: This is my ex.

Fuck no.

In skies above, on a spring break day, A tale of candy bars came to play.

Amidst the passengers, seated with care, One man’s craving filled the air.

Before the flight, as it prepared to soar, A man named Frank leaped for more.

To the overhead bin, he made a dash, A hunger for sweets, an urgent smash.

“Sir, return!” the attendant did plea,

The

Yowl

WRITERS

But Frank’s desires, they were free.

“Not sugar’s need, just candy’s call,” He declared, a craving that enthralled.

With a nod, the attendant relented, And Frank’s carry-on, it presented.

A bounty of treats, a sugary haul, Twix, Snickers, stacked so tall.

But oh, the price that Frank had paid, At the airport, where wallets dismayed.

For every bar, a costly fee, Sky-high prices, a robbery decree.

As Frank reveled in his candy spree, Passengers watched, eyes wide with glee.

For every bar, he’d paid the price, A sky-high markup, a sweet device.

Yet annoyance grew among the crowd, At Frank’s obsession, they were loud.

Their grumbles drowned by candy’s cheer, As Frank indulged, without a fear.

And as the plane soared, amidst the clouds, Frank’s sweet quest, it was allowed.

A flight to remember, a tale so sweet, In skies above, where candy bars meet.

Hobart Park editor’s notes: I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you though or sorry that happened.

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Honor Code Violation Punishment Ideas

Test subjects for pre-med students research Walk around with a dunce hat for the day The college president runs you over with his golf cart Make a YouTuber apology video Write the full Honor Code statement repeatedly on a chalkboard Get kicked out of your dorm/triple/quadruple/apartment Get put in a pillory on Chamber’s Lawn Write a Yowl article Have your Honor Code trial appear on live television 100 hours of an ethical training module where you can’t skip the videos Sit in a Board of Trustees meeting, write down all of their honor violations, and then justify why theirs are correct and yours are still wrong Listen to a recording of every member of the Honor Council saying “empathy” simultaneously on repeat Manually perform WebTree for every student on campus Successfully receive money or literally anything helpful from student activies officials Clean all the sex couches across campus 3 hour session where guy from your econ101 class mansplains the stock market to you Subjected to 5 hours of watching late game basketball coaching Sit through executive board meeting with PCC sustainability chairs Mandatory audition for an acapella group Exiled to live in Irwin Akers or Knox Sent to the woods.

Forced to sort the entirety of the mail room Must walk through the Watson tunnels in the middle of the night Live in one of the quadruples Find Kate Middleton Play the college president in Ping Pong until you win Run for SGA Entire Yowl article written about you

Davidson Releases New Courses for Fall 2024

WRI-101 Q Newspaper: Stories and Sentiments Interested in exploring a career in the lucrative and burgeoning newspaper industry? Writing 101-Q offers first-year students the opportunity for an intensive newspaper. Assignments one through twenty will require students to create written pieces for the school newspaper, the Davidsonian, utilizing themes and instructions of the Editors. The twenty-first through fortieth assignments will ask students to use instruction from the editors as a lens through which to create written work on the editor’s desired subject. For their final project, students will be asked to complete the arduous task of laughing once while reading the yowl. (IMPOSSIBLE DIFFICULTY) This course offers no financial compensation for the required labor.

When asked, Professor Brownleigh responded “What? No way! This course has nothing to do with the Davidsonian shortage of staff writers.”

PSY 310: Exploring the Mind of a WALT DJ An in-depth examination of specific theories, concepts, and methods related to the secluded and strange WALT disc jockey. Students will explore a wide range of factors including: cognitive development, moral development, identity formation, social relationships (or lack thereof), and the effects of counter-culture on DJ development. The class will culminate with a multi-day trek over Fall break into the “Alvarez” attempting to capture and study this terrible creature. Special importance will be given to understanding their curious inclinations towards KSIG and The Dead Milkmen.

GEO-102 Navigating Davidson’s Naming Convention Can’t discern the locational difference when someone asks you “Belk in 15?” Do they mean the Dorm, Sports Arena, Parking lot, Art Hall, Track, or your friends Scholarship Dinner?

Struggle to understand why the same five names Belk, Chidsey, Little, Watts, and Richarson are reused over and over again? This course, primarily focused for first years, aids students in understanding the complex and complicated history and naming conventions of Davidson College buildings and programs, special attention will be drawn to colloquial usage.

HUM-105 Understanding Everything A collaborative and expansive course that engages with texts, topics, and artifacts from around the globe. Includes intellectual, spiritual, and artistic themes. Teaches students to learn humanistically, develop their WordPress skills, write esoteric research papers, and read complex scholarly articles. Before students place this class on their Webtree, they should be aware that this is a year-long course with very few ways out and that the pre-orientation trip before the school year starts will be the most fun you have in that class ever.

Quote of the Week

Audit “We used to be funny, what happened Slinky 2 Braincells, 1 Article to us?”

- Editors this semester

The Gambling Issue

Big Little Week Surprise Ideas - Georgian Wine Basket - Androgyny Serenade - Commons Tilapia - Tickets to STEM night Stand Up Comedy - Basket of condoms delivered by student health advisor to you in class

Note: The Yowl is a satirical supplement to The Davidsonian.

Hence, nothing in it should be taken as truth.