Davidsonian 4.17

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Bella Andjelkovic ‘26 sheds light on upcoming library renovations

Volume 122 Issue 20

April 17, 2024

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Vicki Burch ‘26 reflects on her experience with the Health Center, criticizes inaccessibility

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Henry Rendle ‘27 considers effect of sports betting on Davidson community

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The Yowl offers guidelines for students bands, gives song recommendations

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Students Probe Financial Priorities Amidst Fundraising Campaign ABBY SMETANA ‘27 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER

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ach spring, Davidson College calls on students, faculty, staff, and alumni for their annual financial day of giving called “All in For Davidson.” This day is full of social media content featuring community members and activities on campus for students to partake in, including pie-ing faculty members and entering raffles. Wednesday, April 10th marked the college’s 11th annual All in For Davidson event.

According to Director of Annual Giving Morgan Bell Kee, Davidson was one of the first colleges to host a giving day, and the practice has now become a cornerstone of higher educational fundraising efforts for schools across the country.

In addition to the money raised last Wednesday, All in For Davidson has raised over $11 million dollars over its 11-year runtime.

“Our annual giving program consistently ranks in the top five nationally in terms of alumni giving participation, and All in For Davidson is one more opportunity for our broader community to share why they go all-in for Davidson, each and every day,” said Morgan Bell Kee. According to Bell Kee, the money raised from All in For Davidson is allocated to many different causes, but “the top three designations for the 2024 campaign were: The Fund for DavidsonUnrestricted, Davidson Trust/Scholarships, and Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives.”

As part of All in For Davidson and other fundraising initiatives, the college emphasizes that it practices a “no-loan” policy, meaning that it meets financial needs without including any loans in its financial aid packages.

“Davidson is proud to be one of about two dozen schools that practice both need-blind admissions while meeting 100 percent of calculated need through grants and campus employment. Our financial aid office also works with students to address financial crises in their families,” Director of Media Relations Jay Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer elaborated on the financial support systems in place to support students once they are on campus.

“The college has programs in place to meet unexpected hardships like the SAFE Program and the team at Lula Bell’s offers support and

programming for all students. We will continue to focus resources on meeting the needs of all of our students,” Pfeifer said. He also recommends perusing the list of resources available on Davidson’s Financial Wellness page.

Though Davidson presents itself as financially supportive, some students feel otherwise and believe that the college is not “all-in” for their wellbeing. They find themselves taking out loans and enduring financial hardship to fund their study at Davidson and experience financial hardship.

Meghan Lagoutine ’24 recently went public with her financial aid story in response to an

However, Marsicano emphasized that some students might take out loans due to an imperfect estimate of their expected family contribution.

“When we have students who complain very much sincerely that their loan debt has gotten too high, it often has to deal with the fact that [...] what the expected family contribution is and what that student’s actual amount that they think they can pay are two different numbers,” Marsicano said.

For Lagoutine, taking out loans was not a strategic choice — rather, it was a necessity for her to remain at Davidson. In a LinkedIn response to Marsicano’s original post, Lagoutine explained

This year’s “All in for Davidson” occcured on April 10th, while nearly 70% of students at Davidson are on some type of financial aid. Photo by Davidson College. email from college president Doug Hicks lauding the school’s aid program.

“I saw that paragraph where Doug Hicks was sharing how we still proudly represent as one of the only colleges in the nation that admits students free of financial need, meet 100% of their demonstrated need, and do so without loans,” Lagoutine said. “That just triggered something in me because I was coming into Davidson expecting to graduate loan free.”

Assistant Professor of Educational Studies Dr. Chris Marsicano explained in a LinkedIn post that about a quarter of Davidson students take out loans even though the school is technically loan-free. According to him, this discrepancy has multiple causes.

Marsicano suggested that taking out loans can be a smart financial strategy for certain students.

“If you qualify for subsidized loans, it’s a really good deal to take them out, even if you don’t need them [...] it doesn’t charge interest over time while you’re in school, and you don’t have to pay it back until six months after school,” Marsicano told the Davidsonian.

that she has taken out over a total of $39,000 in private and federal loans. According to her post, she did not take out loans her freshman year, but decided to do so her during her sophomore year, when her “financial aid package unexpectedly decreased by over $14,000.” Though Lagoutine appealed the financial aid package, her needs were still not met — she had to take out private and federal loans to pay her Davidson tuition and still lacks financial security.

“I work at Union, and I’ll see student groups come and give tours, and they’ll talk about the no-loan policy. Every time I want to [say], ‘it’s not that simple,’” Lagoutine said. To make ends meet, she works four jobs and is on food stamps.

Lauren Collver ’25 echoed Lagoutine’s sentiments and pointed out that the no-loan program does not work for all students.

“I have a ton of loans; I work three jobs on campus. And then there’s also just another aspect that I think a lot of people don’t talk about, which is technically, right now, I couldn’t tell you if I’m coming back next year, because I don’t have my financial aid information.” The college will

release aid information over the summer, but until then, Collver and many other students will be uncertain of their financial aid packages.

These students’ financial obstacles are hardly the exception.

“I’ve had so many alumni and students reach out and say, ‘This is something I’ve struggled with too, and nobody talks about it. Thank you for sharing,’” Lagoutine said.

Both Lagoutine and Collver have a complicated relationship with college fundraising initiatives, a bond marred by financial insecurity. They feel that the nature of giving at Davidson is performative and often isolates low income students.

“The money [from fundraisers] goes to things that will give the college a good name, so they’ll be able to use my pictures from abroad and be like, here’s a way we supported a student,” Lagoutine, who is a recipient of a Dean Rusk grant, said. “All in For Davidson is all in for Davidson’s image.”

Collver, too, has hesitations with the way the school advertises their generosity.

“The one thing I find annoying is that they ask students to donate,” Collver said. “It does feel alienating to be in Union when [...] all of these students are being asked to give money and you realize that, you, as a low income student, are not who Davidson looks to.”

Though Collver and Lagoutine expressed some frustration with the school’s fundraising campaigns and financial support, they appreciate the resources Davidson and its donors provide.

“I’m obviously very grateful for everyone who has donated to the Davidson Trust. There would be no way I would be here if not for that,” Collver said.

Lagoutine emphasized that, while she loves the college, she wants to hold it accountable.

“The whole reason that I want to talk about this is because I don’t want to bring Davidson down. I love Davidson as a college and how it’s helped me grow,” Lagoutine said. “I do not know how to fix financial systems. My goal is to just be like, ‘this is something that needs to be addressed and shouldn’t just be shoved under the rug’ [...]I would say the people who have helped me most is the Davidson community, but it’s not the Davidson administration.”

Party Cancellation Prompts Backlash, Questions Campus Accessability

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

he open party scene is a defining characteristic of social life at Davidson. Parties hosted by Patterson Court Council, Walt, and any other organization are open to all students. However, when those parties are held in spaces that are physically inaccessible to students with disabilities, i.e. stairs are required to enter or they can only be accessed through grass which is difficult for students with mobility aids, Davidson’s inclusive nature is called into question.

At the beginning of the spring semester Turner House moved into PC House 2, the former Sigma Phi Epsilon space on Patterson Court Circle. To celebrate their move, Turner planned a housewarming party to be held in their new basement in collaboration with Walt 1610, Davidson’s student radio station for Saturday, April 13.

However, the party was canceled due to accessibility concerns communicated from the Davidson Disability Alliance (DDA)

and from within Turner members. The cancellation prompted an explosion of hateful messaging and misinformation.

In planning the party, Turner’s social chair Georgina Haspel ‘26, was aware of the accessibility challenges presented by the basement, as it can only be accessed using stairs.

“With the event on our minds for many weeks, I did know that the basement was inaccessible,” Haspel said. “And there wasn’t really any feasible safe option to make it accessible within our budget, and the time period, so that’s on me. The DDA had the social chairs in last semester to talk about accessibility.”

In November of 2023, the DDA hosted an event with members of Patterson Court Council (PCC) organization and other groups on campus to discuss accessibility within hosting events.

“One thing that was discussed at this event was basement parties, and how many of the basements of PCC houses are not accessible because they have stairs and no ramp, or they’re only accessible through grass, which would not be accessible for people with mobility aids or who have trouble walking,” said DDA Founder and President ST Hammer ‘24. “So we encourage organizations

to host their events in spaces that are accessible via a ramp if there are stairs and so this has been an ongoing conversation since that meeting.”

At the same time, basement events are not uncommon at Davidson. There have been at least four basement parties in PCC houses this school year, including Boiler Room at the Kappa Sigma House in November and Pice’s performance at Rusk House in February.

“We were kind of using the campus norm of we just gained a house with a basement,” said Turner President Evie Mulhern ‘25.

“We’ve never had that before so we were really looking out at like, what other houses do;, almost every house in the court has hosted in their basement, many this semester. So it seems like this is a thing. So we will participate as well.”

In an April 9 email to Turner and Walt social chairs and presidents, DDA Outreach Coordinator Zoe Moseley ‘26 and Vice President Rui Rui Bleifuss ‘26 expressed their concerns regarding the site of the party in the basement of Turner’s house.

“By hosting the party in an inaccessible location, a portion of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

News

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CATS Revives Red Line Commuter Rail Project, Hosts Community AIDAN MARKS ‘27 (HE/HIM) POLITICS EDITOR

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he Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is scheduled to host community meetings this week about a proposed Red Line Commuter Rail project that would link parts of Mecklenburg County as far North as Mooresville with Uptown Charlotte.

The project has been in various stages of development since 1998 but stalled in 2013 when Norfolk Southern Railway changed their policy and no longer allowed passenger travel on freight tracks. In 2023, the railway, which operates over 19,420 route miles across 22 Eastern states, wrote an open letter to the City of Charlotte expressing interest in negotiating a transaction of the O Line, the name of the railway the Red Line would use.

In a virtual community meeting on Wednesday, Apr. 10, CATS Project Manager Brian Nadolny said the project requires a comprehensive redesign.

“Pretty much every element of the design has gone through changes over the last 15 years, we can’t just dust off the old project and try to build that project,” he said.

The first phase of the Red Line Design Update is expected to be completed by early 2025. It will focus on overhauling the antiquated 2008 design including assessing station locations, vehicle technology, and service frequency.

The original plan includes a Red Line stop in Davidson on the intersection of Jackson Street and Depot Street just behind the Davidson Village Inn. Part of the assessment process will include determining if that stop is still a viable option.

Director of Facilities David Holthouser explained that the College has minimal say in the planning process. “[Station location is] a decision being made without college input, although I think we’ve communicated our hopes and dreams for that,” Holthouser said.

Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies Dr. Dave Martin said advocating for a stop that benefits students should be a top concern for the College.

“I think the priority for Davidson as an institution should be to make sure that the location of the station is convenient for students

The Red Line Commuter Rail would pass through Davidson if built. Photo by Charlotte Area Transit System Website. and access to it will be safe,” Martin said.

The commuter rail project has long been a priority for The Town of Davidson as well. Martin served on the Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners from 1998-2003 during the project’s infancy.

“We were trying to keep Davidson’s identity as a vibrant small town, not a suburb,” Martin said. “And the notion of commuter rail fit in very nicely with that because what that means is that rail works best if there’s a clustering of housing within walking

distance as well as a clustering of destinations that are nearby. And so that reinforced our focus of maintaining downtown Davidson as a vibrant part of the community.

The Red Line would also create new opportunities for students.

“I would invite [students] to think about the type of access that they would have to Charlotte and what that will afford for your experience here,” Holthouser said. “You know, arts, sports venues, jobs and employment, meetings and conferences, cultural events, religious events, I mean, there’s just kind of a multitude of things that happen in a vibrant city like Charlotte.”

Martin does have some concerns about the planning stage.

Specifically, he would like to see the Red Line be treated as an experiment in mass transit.

“I’m not sure that the parameters that [planners are] setting are the best form of the experiment,” Martin said. “I would encourage them to think about it as mass transit. If so, what happens if it fails under the current system? We don’t know if the parameters of the experiment are at fault, if we did not make it encouraging to use in other ways, or whether Americans are just totally obstinate and unwilling to shift.”

Despite reservations, Martin supports the project.

“Over time, more and more people are commuting into Charlotte…and so if we’re going to have that commuting and considering the overall environmental ethos within the town, mass transit of some sort makes the most sense,” Martin said.

Henry Wilcox ‘26, who drives to Charlotte to see family, attend concerts, and shop, thinks the Red Line would make visiting Charlotte easier for students. “[Driving to Charlotte is] such a hassle and even when people ask me to take them to Charlotte, that is a huge ask because it’s…the fact that I have to drive and that the traffic is difficult and that it is draining…I think that’s where I could be passively transported on the Red Line,” Wilcox said.

Ultimately, Holthouser argued that embracing the Red Line is an important way for Davidson to adapt to continued urbanization.

“The growth of Charlotte is inevitable. So to me the question becomes, as that tsunami of Charlotte expands in every direction… would you want to miss this boat?” Holthouser said. “If you think of it as an inevitability of an urban wave coming, you want to put yourselves in the best spot possible.”

Anonymous Discussion Highlights Rampant Ableism on Campus CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Members of the DDA were verbally targeted on Yik Yak. Photo by Stella Mackler. the population is excluded from participating in the event,” Moseley and Bleifuss wrote. “This not only limits the diversity of attendees, but also sends a message that individuals with disabilities are not welcomed or valued.”

Neither Moseley nor Bleifuss advocated for canceling the event, but they encouraged the hosting organizations to consider utilizing a different space.

“I kindly urge you to reconsider the venue selection and ensure the event is accessible,” Moseley and Bleifuss wrote. “This includes hosting the event upstairs and ensuring the accessible entrance door is open. By making these adjustments, you enhance the event’s inclusivity and demonstrate a commitment to diversity and equality.”

Moseley declined to comment on this issue, but in a later interview Bleifuss stressed that in

no way was the messaging intended to attack Turner specifically, and she acknowledged that accessibility on campus is a larger Davidson issue. However, she described what she deemed as the harmful message being sent.

“It’s dehumanizing in a way, because then disabled people or people who use mobility aids [...] want to party, we should have the right to party, but then not having those places in accessible locations sends the message [that] we don’t see you as someone who would party or want to take part in that,” Bleifuss said.

After conversing with DDA and Walt, Haspel and Mulhern decided to continue with the event, with the addition of an accessibility statement.

“We decided on Tuesday that we were going to write a statement to put out with the details of the event acknowledging the message that we’re sending by having that event, and apologizing and explaining,” Haspel said. “We were going to put it out with a statement once we had that. We were planning to have everything done and post

by Wednesday evening.”

However, on Wednesday morning, before the statement was completed, Haspel and Mulhern were notified of messages on the anonymous discussion app Yik Yak expressing frustration with the house’s decision to proceed with the party. In some posts, the user self-identified as a disabled member of Turner. After seeing those posts, Haspel decided to cancel the event.

“I think seeing the response from people themselves, like saying that they were hurt, essentially was what made us realize, we cannot host this event,” Haspel said.

On Wednesday afternoon the event was officially canceled. No one in Turner, Walt or the DDA expected the backlash that followed.

Users on Yik Yak flooded the app with hateful comments directed towards Turner members and disabled students. This continued for days. “[It] totally spiraled out of control and kind of the narrative became very, honestly, off of us and more like ableist and hateful for the fact that the party did get canceled [...]not really any of it was being directed at us it was being directed at DDA and disabled students.” Mulhern said.

Disabled students at Davidson were targeted by name and their disabilities were called into question. The eruption of anger online sent shockwaves and fear, through the community.

“I’ve never felt vulnerable in any way on campus as a disabled student, but this these past few days, since April 9, and this uproar has happened, I have felt a bit more vulnerable on campus as a disabled student,” Hammer said.

Hammer highlighted what she saw as an attitude of privilege that has been exposed.

“I do think they [comments] come from students here being very used to getting what they want and just not being used to things not going their way and having this attitude of how dare you take away something that was supposed to be fun for my weekend,” Hammer said.

Questions of peer versus administration responsibility have also been raised. What falls on students and allies to advocate for, and how should the administration be held accountable?

“We made a poor decision,” Mulhern said. “But [...] we [members of the PCC organizations] can’t really control these houses, so I think the administration are the ones who are able to control the accessibility of the spaces,” Mulhern expressed. “I think it is frustrating when we want changes made and we are not really able to get them; yet as much as we’d like to, we don’t really have the power to. You can of course, ask as much as we want, but in the end, we can’t just bring in the construction team and build a ramp.”

Bluifess emphasized that accountability for inclusive and accessible atmospheres falls on students and administrators.

“Davidson does pride itself on being an inclusive environment, inclusive campus,” Bluifess said. “It’s on them to have that within their infrastructure. But obviously, it’s an old campus, a lot of the buildings don’t violate ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] because they’re so old. They’re considered historic,so it’s—I believe—on students to help be in solidarity with Davidson’s disabled students and fight for inclusivity. Then it’s on Davidson’s administration to actually make it happen.”

Disability is a far-reaching category in that

spaces that are accessible for one person may be inaccessible to another. Yet Hammer emphasizes that this should not be used as an “excuse.”

“I’ve seen a lot of conversations about people saying, ‘well no event can ever be entirely accessible to everyone and kind of using that as an excuse for why it’s okay that an organization— any organization, not just Turner and Walt— can have a party that’s so directly inaccessible to people who can’t do stairs,” Hammer said. “But [...] it is pretty easy to resolve inaccessibility pertaining to there being stairs and no ramp via installing a ramp. It takes time but that can happen eventually. So it’s easy through that solution with time. And it’s easy in the meantime to simply host the events in an accessible space.

Whereas it is not easy to change aspects that are inherent to a party environment, such as loud noises, and flashing lights.”

Hammer highlighted that cultivating an accessible community should be everyone’s priority.

“I think that everyone should care about disability work, especially accessibility work, since anyone can become disabled at any moment,” Hammer said. “I was an eight year old who had no disability and out of nowhere became paralyzed from the neck down.”

Bleifess sees this as an opportunity to implement change within PCC buildings and build a community that supports disabled students.

“To have disability culture on campus, we need to have our basic needs met, so to have the basic level of compliance from the ADA and then hopefully, Davidson’s administration will be like, okay, these PCC houses are not out of compliance.’ And yet we should still do more to make them more inclusive,” Bleifuss said. “And then with that basic infrastructure, [...] the buildings wouldn’t be a barrier in actually forming that culture because so much of friendships and relationships form through that social aspect that without being able to take part in that there’s a huge divide them between, students who can’t access it, and then students who can.”

Features

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Renovations to E.H. Little Library Planned for Summer of 2025

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BELLA ANDJELKOVIC‘26 (SHE/HER) PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

avidson College’s E.H. Little Library has been a center of intellectual life on campus since 1974. While it has done its job over the years—helping students find class resources as well as serving as a space for both social and academic collaboration—many members of the Davidson community feel that change is necessary to meet the needs of the 21st century.

The college has been planning for a complete renovation of the library since 2018, when Lisa Forrest, the Leland M. Park Director of the Library, was hired to lead the project. While there is still not a concrete plan of what the library will look like yet, there are many visions.

Forrest explained that the new library will have four floors, which includes a rooftop level. Instead of being separated primarily by noise level, it will be based upon the purpose of each space.

For example, the ground floor will be focused on “object based inquiry.” This includes being able to work with archival and rare book materials. The ground floor will also include the college’s letterpress lab which serves as a space for experiential learning involving book history and the study of print culture.

The main level will focus on collaboration, like it does today, but with additional spaces to support collaborative study and group work. This includes an expanded Center for Teaching and Learning and a new “Scholars’ Studio” for research and digital media production services.

The third level is planned to center around “intellectual focus” and will feature a quiet reading room, a faculty and staff research room, and multiple study spaces for focused work.

In addition to a quiet reading room, there are also plans for a small “tech-free” reading room for those who want to escape technology completely.

“We want to make sure we have a lot of flexibility and offer a variety of spaces to support all kinds of learners and learning,” she said.

Forrest also spoke of the plans for a rooftop level.

“It will serve as a symposium and community gathering space,” she said. “A space to host guest lecturers, a space to hold workshops and creative programs, a space to showcase the good scholarship on the campus, and also hold campus events.”

In the distant future, the new library may even include a cafe, but plans are still being decided.

“We know that there will be a coffee shop somewhere in the future library,” she added. “However, we do not know exactly where this is going to be yet.”

In terms of external changes, the new building will feature additional entrances, such as doors exiting towards the Alvarez College Union and Richardson Stadium. Currently the building has one main entrance facing Chambers Lawn and one that connects to the basement floor exiting towards the stadium away from the Union.

“The entire library will be accessible, inclusive, and welcoming,” Forrest stated.

SGA Vice President Maya Rajeh ‘27 sat in on a planning meeting earlier this month to learn more about the new library and ask questions. She said that the renovation will reflect student learning needs.

“I think it’ll serve as a much more like multipurpose building that will tend to different student needs,” Rajeh said. “They’re going to extend it to put more mental health benefits [...] and different levels of comfort and areas of interest.”

MSR Design, a woman-owned architecture firm out of

Renovations on the E.H. Little Library will begin in 2025.

Photo by Davidson College.

Minneapolis was hired to make the College’s visions for the new library come to life. The firm has worked on more than 16 million square feet of library space across the country and won over 200 awards, 81 of which were in library work, according to the college.

Professor of English Suzanne Churchill is the faculty representative on the library advisory committee. She expressed her approval for MSR Design.

“I love everything about this firm, from their process of deep research and attentive listening; their well-planned, expertly facilitated, interactive, fun, and productive meetings; their collaborative ethos; and their beautiful, sustainable designs that respond to the needs, goals, and ideals of each client or institution,” Churchill said.

Churchill recounted an emotional moment during MSR’s presentation of their feasibility study to the committee.

“I actually teared up because I was so moved by the way they had transformed our current building into a light-filled structure that harmonized with the surroundings and made me want to go inside to explore, read, work, create, and collaborate.”

While choosing a firm was a process within itself, this is only the first stage of the project. The college has entered a year long design phase with MSR and construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2025. The construction was intended to begin earlier, but plans were delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Design development is going to take us all the way to Christmas [2024]. Then we will spend the spring getting our construction documents and permits together. If all goes accordingly—and we raise all the money—construction will start in May 2025,” Forrest explained.

Like the other new major projects such as the Davidson College Stadium and Game Changer’s Field House, the library project also requires significant funding. The entire project is expected to cost a total of $100 million because, as Forrest puts it, ‘“we are gutting the whole building and re-envisioning our entire program,” she stated.

“The initial budget for the Library Renovation is approximately double that of the Athletic Facilities project,” Director of Facilities David Holthauser said. That estimation includes both the new stadium as well as the upcoming Richardson stadium renovation, which will cost a total of $54 million once finished.

In part, the library project’s cost is so high since the college must preserve the library collection during renovations.

Currently, an annex for the collection is being constructed a mile past Ridge Road. ​​ This secondary project began in November of 2022.

“It is anticipated that the Annex will be complete in May 2025, so that materials from the existing E.H Little Library can move there [...] and that the Library Renovation will begin in May 2025,” Holthauser said.

The library annex means that physical library materials will

Crime Log Time Reported

Description/Location

04/09/24 12:50 hrs

Larceny Offenses: Misdemeanor Larceny Belk, Further Investigation

04/14/24 00:10 hrs

Alcohol Offenses: Consume by Person Under 21 Alcohol Offenses: Possess Under 21 Belk, Inactive

04/16/24 11:53 hrs

Larceny Offenses: Misdemeanor Larceny Little Library, Inactive

be accessible to students and faculty throughout the renovation and beyond. Students and faculty will be able to request print books from the annex to be picked up and delivered to campus.

As of now, Forrest is unsure what will be used as a makeshift library while it is closed for renovations. Forrest is calling it “The Library of the In Between (LOTIB).” The planning committee is in the process of identifying a number of spaces on campus where aspects of the library can be replicated, such as a completely quiet space and a collaboration area where students can be together. Printers and computers will also be moved to a future identified central space.

“We know social space is really important to students and we don’t want to lose sight of that,” Forrest said. “The librarians will be here for you [...] we will get research and archival materials for you and we will be here to help you with your projects; we won’t skip a beat on supporting you!”

Even with these makeshift spaces, students are concerned about the transition phase while the renovation is being completed. “[The Student Government Association’s (SGA)] main concern, I’d say, was just the transition process because it’s going to be about a year or two of kind of having no library,” Rajeh said.

After meeting with the College, the SGA was informed of additional spaces that will be used to make up for the missing library.

“For study spaces and study rooms, I think the biggest ones are going to be Lily Gallery, [...] or Commons [...] next year,” Rajeh said. “[Commons is] going to be open until 9pm, and so once that closes, tables will be wiped down, they’ll be cleaned up and they will have little snacks and other food [...] right now, you wouldn’t think of Commons as a study space, but I think we have to be flexible.”

SGA President Connor Hines ‘26 expressed his own concerns.

“I am going to certainly miss the community feel the library has. The first floor is a great social space in the most uniquely Davidson way,” he said. “I will not be surprised to see more students retreat to their personal spaces and study more in their dorms. This works for some people, but not for all. My hope is that the Davidson campus culture does not become more cliquey.”

Zoe Moseley ‘26 and is similarly aware of the decentralization of study spaces on campus.

“I do think it’ll be a big adjustment for students [...] I doubt all of the spaces will be in such a hub that they are currently in, so that does worry me a little, and just like the proximity of all the resources, I think, might be a little messy,” Moseley said.

As Forrest and her team move forward with their project, she stressed that they are continuously looking for student input and feedback.

“I’m looking for students to join me in focus groups to give suggestions,” Forrest said. “We are also holding sidewalk sessions with the architects through whiteboard activities so students can provide feedback. I really encourage students to participate.”

Ultimately, Forrest sees great potential in the future library.

“Who do you want to be when you come to the library? A scholar? Creator? Researcher? Writer? Coder? Designer?

Presenter? Listener? Collaborator? Informed citizen? The future library will provide the kinds of inclusive and diverse spaces and programs needed to support these aspirations and more,” Forrest said. “It will truly transform the student experience.”

MSR Design will be returning to campus on April 23rd, and students can participate in a focus group with them from 4-5pm.

Students can contact Lisa Forrest at liforrest@davidson.edu.

Perspectives

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Davidson Student Health Center: Can We Trust It?

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VICKI BURCH ‘26 (SHE/HER)

spent the entirety of my freshman year at Davidson perpetually sick, as I’m sure many can relate to. Everyone is in a new place, in very close proximity to people that they have never met, coming from all over, and swapping all sorts of germs whether they know it or not. You’ve probably heard of the freshman fifteen, but how about the freshman flu? It is so much more brutal. I am not exaggerating when I say that each week there was something new ailing my already exhausted and overworked body. To name a few: a 2 week long headache that wouldn’t go away no matter what I did, a cough that lasted a month and sounded like a barking seal, and a nose so stuffed that I actually got temporarily addicted to nasal spray. With all that being said, as a Davidson Student, sometimes we simply “don’t have time to be sick.” So, when I finally seek out medical help, it means I truly think something is wrong, and I need to be seen.

After the first few days (or sometimes weeks) of being sick and desperately trying to pretend that I am not, the next step is to figure out how I can get better. We’re college students, which, in my experience, means that we want the easiest, cheapest, and quickest way of getting better. Naturally, the first place yours and many others’ minds go would be the Davidson Health and Wellness Center. While this does seem to make the most sense, I know myself and many of my peers would rather go anywhere else but the Health Center, due to its wonky hours, undeniable inaccessibility, and questionable procedures/diagnoses. Where is this notion coming from? Countless direct experiences of myself and my fellow Davidson students.

The hours of the Health Center already make it extremely inaccessible to students.

They are only available by appointment, 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday. If these hours seem like they may be a little difficult for college students because classes and meetings at Davidson run from 8am-4:30pm Monday through Friday, yes, you’d be right.

But that’s okay, usually weekends work better for many students anyway, right?

Well, it actually isn’t okay because the Health Center is fully closed on Saturday and Sunday with the exception of their “after hours number.” The Health Center’s website advertises that they have a 24/7 on call registered nurse, which is not false, however, this RN is fairly inaccessible. She is fully remote (I’m not sure if she has even stepped foot on campus) and I have seen this inaccessibility first hand, many times.

Every time I have called the Health Center “after hours’’ and pressed their extension button, I have been put on hold for at least 10-15 minutes. Once connected, I was simply put through to an attendant, not the nurse, who told me that they will “obtain the necessary information for a RN to call you back.” Every time I have called, the attendant tells me that the wait time may be a while due to “high call volume,” and I have ended up waiting for up to an hour to get a call back from the RN. The website recommends that you should call back within 30-45 minutes if they haven’t answered, but even then, the message that you received the first time you called repeats. This tedious process is simply to get in touch with a RN over the phone, as they do not accept in person appointments after hours or on weekends.

While it would be nice to think that from

here you would be able to get helpful information to figure out the best way to get you feeling better, it is unfortunately not the reality. If I may, I am going to discuss an anecdote or two from both myself and my peers that highlight some of the interesting pitfalls of our Student Health Center.

The main anecdote I want to share is honestly laughable now, but at the time I was having trouble seeing the comedy.

It was the time that I had that cough (the seal-sounding one) that I referred to at the start of this piece. I was in the waiting room, aggressively wheezing (cough and all), for 45 minutes before I was seen. The doctor talked with me for about two minutes before telling me not to worry and that I probably just had allergies, and he told me to go pick up some Zyrtec from CVS. I was skeptical, and very done with having this cough, so I proceeded to pry a little bit and ask if he would at least listen to my lungs with his stethoscope and if there was anything else he could do before I left.

He hesitated, but eventually listened to my lungs and looked in my throat and ears before saying that my lungs looked great and my tonsils looked healthy. This wouldn’t be a big deal normally, except for the fact that I got my tonsils out when I was in 8th grade! I didn’t say anything, just sheepishly walked out and called my mom to make an appointment for me with my doctor at home for when I got back. I then came to find out that, no, my tonsils had not magically grown back, and no, I did not have allergies.

I actually had a pretty bad sinus infection that had developed into moderate bronchitis on its way to pneumonia.

On top of what my friends and I call “the

tonsil incident” and the Health Center’s extremely inaccessible system/hours, the nurses not respecting the boundaries of patients with respect to taking their vitals is just icing on the cake for why me, and many others I know, limit our use of the Student Health Center. I could go on for pages about more unfavorable instances I have had, such as them heavily implying to my friend that she had cancer when she simply did not, taking vitals like weight and BMI when explicitly asked not to as mentioned above, and their after hours “emergency mental health line” having me on hold for 10 minutes and then playing an automated message (that’s right, their mental health “crisis” line had me sitting on hold). I write this piece out of genuine concern and annoyance about the accessibility and validity of Davidson’s Health center, a sentiment that I know many fellow students find true as well. Overall, the system is way more complicated, inaccessible, and unreliable than it should be, and in my personal opinion students should have consistent access to dependable care when they need it.

Pickleball Club: Forming Lifelong Teammates

U

EMILY BRESTLE ‘27 (SHE/HER)

pon arriving at Davidson College, Pickleball Club was one of the clubs that I was most excited to join.

My family had learned to play pickleball during COVID-19, and we had played every single day of lockdown.

It was a fun activity that brought my family closer during the unknown times of the pandemic. The first Davidson Pickleball practice was held on a Sunday, a hot and humid day during the first few weeks of the semester when I didn’t know anyone but my roommate. We both ventured down to the tennis courts, unsure of what to expect. We encountered over 40 other Davidson students, some pickleball experts, and some not even sure of the rules. With makeshift lines set up on the court, and a group of smiling students who introduced themselves as the E-board, I instantly felt welcomed. I grabbed my paddle and hesitantly stepped onto the court, unsure of what to expect from my classmates. For the next hour, I had some of the most fun I had experienced since coming to Davidson. The members of the club were kind and encouraging, passionate about the game but also there to have a good time. I remember thinking that this was a club that I was going to enjoy being a part of.

Flash forward eight months, Davidson Pickleball had just been approved for a fund allocation to take a group of students down to Georgia to compete in the Collegiate Super Regional Tournament. We all packed up our stuff and made the three-and-a-half-hour drive down to Georgia to try our hand at playing other college students. Upon arriving at the massive pickleball facility, we were instantly bombarded with sounds from dozens of pickleball games, the balls hitting the paddles and echoing around the building. We checked in, claimed our free bag of snacks, and proceeded to take in the other teams around us. They ranged in size and experience: some complete with coaches and matching Lululemon team uniforms, others just like us, a team that had never competed in any tournament together, let alone a regional competition.

Collegiate pickleball has been rapidly expanding in recent years, with schools like UNC having hundreds of

students in their clubs, with rigorous tryouts to make it on their tournament rosters. This past year, UVA won the DUPR College Nationals Tournament, winning $15,000 in the process. Many colleges are earning sponsorships from various pickleball companies and earning their school free gear for the club.

This intensity was certainly seen among many of the teams at the tournament. Some of the teams had cameras set up to film their matches in order to watch them later to strategize and learn from their mistakes. We pulled up to the tournament in old Davidson Golf shirts that we had painted over and wrote “Pickleball” on instead. We knew that we weren’t the best team there, but our goal was to have as much fun as we possibly could. Women’s doubles was the first match that we played, and the constant support from our teammates on the sideline made the match so much fun.

In every game that we lost (or won), the best part was the constant support and encouragement from our team. We cheered after every point and encouraged our teammates after every bad shot. It was this team camaraderie that made the tournament so much fun.

After two days of playing matches, Davidson finished right in the middle of the pack, a respectable performance from one of the only small private schools in the tournament.

One of the coolest parts was meeting other college players from all over the country, learning how they structured their clubs and where they were staying for the weekend. Our performance wasn’t quite high enough to earn us a bid to nationals or scholarship money, but the adrenaline we felt while playing is motivating us to come back next year and do even better.

With over 200 students on the Davidson Pickleball Club email list, the concept of expanding our club is very promising. Looking forward to next year, we are hoping to bring even more students to tournaments and find ways to continue to play both on and off the Davidson campus. The unique thing about pickleball is that it is a sport that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and athletic abilities. It is a sport that can be played in settings anywhere from national competitions to casual backyard barbeques. Our club tries to

capture a little of both worlds, promising students an inviting environment to play casually with their friends as well as a competitive environment of traveling to tournaments to compete against other schools. Whether you have played all your life or have never held a paddle before, there is a place for you at Pickleball Club.

Six members of Pickleball Club attended a tournament in Georgia. Photo by Emily Brestle.

Sports

5

Sports Betting Legalized in North Carolina

HENRY RENDLE ‘27 (HE/HIM) STAFF WRITER

L

egal sports betting officially began on March 11, 2024 in North Carolina after being signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper on June 14, 2023. Online sports gambling sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings began a string of heavy advertising for the new market, offering special deals and promotions to eligible (21+) North Carolinians, a demographic that includes some Davidson students.

With offers such as gifting users $200 worth of bonus bets in exchange for a simple $5 purchase, these sportsbook apps are enticing not only to avid sports fans but also to those who are unfamiliar with sports or betting.

As someone who has always enjoyed sports, Thomas Athey ‘24 spoke about how the promotions and advertisements are helping him stay “in the green” for now.

“I’m in the positives, but the free play that has been given out across all of North Carolina’s betting platforms makes it a lot easier to win… but I think it ends close to mid-April. So my strategy has been, just [withdraw] the money out from [free play], and leave a little bit [in my account] to just kind of batter around with for fun.”

While many new betters are benefiting from these marketing strategies, the amount of sports gambling advertisements has become rather astounding. It is nearly impossible to watch any major sporting event without betting lines, over/unders, or spreads being mentioned–or even encouraged–on the broadcast or in mid-

game advertisements and commercials.

Professor of Philosophy Sean McKeever teaches a course called Philosophy of Sport, and according to him, “they’re promoting [betting] on every televised broadcast of an NBA game. There’s a gazillion ads for betting apps, and there are commentators talking about the spread.”

In fact, a new study from CBC says that sports fans are exposed to gambling advertisements about three times a minute during a sports broadcast. One ESPN anchor, Rece Davis, even referred to a bet suggested by a coworker as “a risk-free investment” on air. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to just enjoy sports for fun, with Athey calling this uptick in ads as “very gimmicky. And when you’re dealing with gambling and how addicting [it can be], that doesn’t exactly seem right.”

Unfortunately, the repercussions of sports gambling are very real, and addiction is certainly a threat to users, given how easy it is to overestimate one’s betting skill due to all of the free play offered. These risks are not limited to fans watching from home either; there have been several examples over the last few weeks alone of professional athletes being involved in betting scandals.

While these are extreme scenarios, could it be possible for problems to arise at Davidson surrounding sports betting? Davidson College Director of Athletics Chris Clunie ‘06 was confident in the student body to do the right thing, but acknowledged that there could be an increase in stress on students, especially student athletes.

Clunie considered how an increase in sports

Sports betting is now legal throughout North Carolina, leading to an abundance of advertisements for the practice. Photo by Ashley Mahoney for AXIOS Charlotte. betting may affect the student population. they have great power. They have a lot of “[We] rely on our community that’s built power. And with that power comes a really upon trust and the honor code [to follow high level of responsibility. So, just try to policy], as there’s really no way for us to track uphold that to the best of your ability.” [sports betting activity],” Clunie said.

So, if there are so many dangerous Clunie also touched on how this change possibilities when it comes to sports betting, could affect student athletes. According to why would Davidson students partake in it? him, “the safety of our scholar athletes is “I’ve always been kind of interested in sports paramount. The big issue is really the direct betting. I enjoyed doing it for fun. it makes potential impact on our scholar athletes such you a little more incentivized to watch things that they’re performing and then now they’re here and there,” Athey said. being accosted on social media. And the Dr. McKeever has a different perspective, integrity around our game, right? So those are saying that “historically, we live in an the things that our label is thinking about from abnormally sports-obsessed time.” our perspective.”

Sports betting is as popular as ever, and The biggest possible negative impact that despite its problems, North Carolinians have sports betting can have on a college community decided that they want in. The introduction is related to student-athletes or coaches trying of sports betting to campus can increase to bet on their own games. Clunie is confident social activity, as it is possible for students to in his coaches and athletes to not “disrespect” unite over their love of sports and the rush of their own sports. watching a game. However, it is impossible to “We want to do things the right way. That’s ignore all of the problems that the introduction our motto. I tell our scholar athletes all the time, of legalized gambling has produced. like how Uncle Ben Parker tells Peter Parker, with great power comes great responsibility;

Track and Field Teams Continue to Break Records

A

THOMAS KADE ‘26 (HE/HIM) SPORTS CO-EDITOR

s April rolls on, the Davidson men and women’s Track and Field teams aim to continue a fruitful Spring campaign. The Wildcats competed at the VertKlasse Meeting held at High Point University from April 5-7, where numerous men and women achieved season and personal bests. On the women’s side, Parker Smith ‘25 and Amelia Monohan ‘27 each recorded personal bests in the 800 meters with times of 2:27.68 and 2:18.53, respectively.

Distance runner Anne Berquist ‘25 grabbed a personal best by 4 seconds in the 1500 meters, giving Berquist ‘25 her first outdoor event win. Turning to the Wildcats’ sprinters, Sophia Hood ‘24 ran a season’s fastest time of 56.25 in the 400m.

Hood reflected on how she achieved this mark.

“I was just feeling good and confident on the line. I had a good headspace before the race and was able to push during critical points of the race,” Hood said.

Hood also acknowledged another motivation pushing her to end the season strong: “It’s my last season ever, so I’d love to go out with some great PRs and races.”

When it comes to field events, one ‘Cat in particular, Nick Masterman ‘25, shone at the VertKlasse Meeting. Masterman, a junior from Pennsylvania, rose into second in the Davidson

record book with a javelin throw of 58.90 meters, his personal best. Masterman was selfless in crediting his work with his strength coach, Sarah Weatherford, in getting him at peak performance.

Sophia Hood ‘24 racing the 400m at the Atlantic-10 Indoor Championships. Photo by Tim Cowie.

“I had surgery over the summer and since the start of school I have seen [Sarah] at least three times a week. We have really focused on developing and strengthening my weak points and I

Men’s Baseball Standings

Standings Update

Team Saint Louis VCU Dayton Richmond Fordham George Washington George Mason Saint Joseph’s Rhode Island St. Bonaventure Davidson UMass

W

L

STK PCT

7 6 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 3 2 2

2 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 6 7 7

W4 L1 L1 W3 W3 L3 W1 W1 L1 W1 L6 L3

.778 .667 .667 .667 .667 .444 .444 .444 .444 .333 .222 .222

think that it is showing in my results,” Masterman said.

Despite season-best performances, both Masterman and Hood are not getting complacent. They emphasized the need to continue to work for personal records even as the Track and Field season begins to wind down.

When asked about his goals for the rest of the season, Masterman was positive yet determined.

“I would like to see even farther distances out of myself.

I am my biggest critic, and I know there is more work to be done,” Masterman said. “I want to see all of my teammates continuing our hard work into the championship season and have success at the conference championship.”

The success at the VertKlasse Meeting continued for the ‘Cats at the Duke Invitational this past weekend. For the second straight week, Sophia Hood set a season best in the 400m, topping her previous week’s performance by a quarter of a second. Molly Sullivan ‘26 shattered the school record in the 30000 meter steeplechase, while Frances Whitworth ‘24 set her personal best and took first place in the 5000m. On the men’s side, Chinedu Okeke ‘24 ran a 10.62 in the 100 meter on Friday in Durham, setting a school record for that event.

Members of the Davidson Track and Field teams will look to continue the proliferation of personal and Davidson alltime bests in the coming weeks as they gear up for the A-10 championship, which begins on May 4.

Arts and Entertainment 6 Megan Miranda Brings Mystery to Davidson

MADELINE RICHARD ‘26 (SHE/HER) CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

T

hough murder, disappearances, and dark family secrets seem like somber topics for a Tuesday night, a packed auditorium wanted to learn more. Davidson resident and thriller writer Megan Miranda released her eighth adult novel, Daughter of Mine, on April 9, 2024, and Main Street Books hosted a launch party at Davidson Town Hall that evening.

Individuals from Davidson, Charlotte, and beyond came together to learn about the book, hear about Miranda’s writing process, and connect through their love of reading.

According to Miranda, Daughter of Mine is defined by mystery. She avoided giving too many spoilers, but emphasized that the novel explores family secrets. “[Daughter of Mine is] about the past returning. It’s about people who know everything about one another and think they know everything about the generation before, which of course is not true,” Miranda told the audience.

While Miranda did not elaborate on Daughter of Mine’s plot, she still provided a lens into the book’s creation. Much of her talk focused on her experience writing and researching the novel. According to her, events in the news and her own life were major inspirations throughout the process.

“I do not plot before I start [...] so beginnings are super exciting for me as anything can happen and endings are super exciting because they feel all the pieces coming together. The middle is where the hard work has to happen,” Miranda said in her talk.

“Any bright shiny idea is going to get my attention [during this period],” including things “on television” and “on the news.”

For Miranda, paying attention to the news paid off. A story about Lake Mead, a reservoir in Nevada, was a catalyst for Daughter of Mine’s dark mysteries.

“The water level [of Lake Mead] kept dropping and a barrel emerged from the surface that had been there probably since the seventies...” Miranda explained to the audience. “They found a murder victim inside and no one had been looking for it, no one knew it had existed right below the surface all this time.”

That news story sparked initial ideas, but Miranda drew inspiration in other ways too. She found creativity in her own life, including on a writing retreat that took an unexpectedly creepy turn.

“When we arrived [at the writing retreat], none of us could get in because it was an AirBNB and we couldn’t find the code and none of us had cellphone service and none of us had internet [...] Of course my first thought was ‘this is a perfect way to start a thriller,’” Miranda joked with the audience.

Though Miranda discussed the moments that inspired Daughter of Mine, she also told her own story as a writer. She took a somewhat unexpected path to writing — she graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked for a biotechnology company, and taught high school science before

pursuing a formal writing career. Yet in her mind, the career transition made sense.

“It doesn’t feel like that big of a leap for me and it’s because I was a lifelong reader,” Miranda said in her talk.

However, it took years for Miranda to fully commit to writing.

“I anticipated that I would keep writing but I didn’t, I got busy with school and I got busy with my job,” Miranda told the audience. “I had kids of my own and it was after my kids were one and three [when I] was like ‘Okay, [writing] is what I love to do... Treat it like your job in hopes that one day it becomes

Miranda published Daughter of Mine on April 9, 2024 and started her book tour that same week. Photo from Megan Miranda’s Instagram. your job.’”

Dedicating herself to writing was a first step, but Miranda’s journey did not stop there. After finishing her first project, she decided to enter the publishing world despite her anxieties.

“The first time I started writing, I didn’t know anyone in the industry,” Miranda said in the talk. “I think for a long time that might have been the thing holding me back.”

Getting published was not easy, but Miranda accepted the challenge and was willing to experience rejection for the sake of her goals.

“They said no a lot but I was at the right time in my life to hear that and be like, ‘Okay, well that’s what I have to do to get to the next step.’”

Miranda’s persistence worked — she has published seven young adult novels and eight adult novels throughout her writing career, many of which are New York Times bestsellers.

However, she has not been alone in this process.

“We’re always here to help have a launch party for her,” Main Street Books proprietor and Davidson alumna Adah Fitzgerald ‘01 said. “Over the years, we’ve gone from having her launch parties in the bookstore to having to move to bigger venues, as she has grown her audience tremendously.”

According to Fitzgerald, the event was a welcoming space for a broad range of readers.

“There were folks that have been coming to her launch parties for years, people who collect signed editions...” Fitzgerald said. “But then there were also people who really haven’t been reading in a long time and picked up a Megan Miranda [book] in the last year and it’s sort of rekindled their reading life.”

Fitzgerald also emphasized that these launch parties help forge relationships between Miranda and her audience, regardless of their past experience with her work.

“I think people are attracted as readers just to [...] have that enriching experience and just hear the backstory [of a novel],” Fitzgerald said. “It definitely, for the folks that can come to our events, adds relatability.”

Audience member Lexie Granger drove from Fort Mill, South Carolina seeking that very connection.

“I love meeting authors,” Granger said. “I have not read any of her books [yet], but I like the fact that she lives locally. And I also appreciate the fact that she’s like, willing to spend her night with us.”

Though audience members engaged with Miranda as readers, many brought their own love for writing to the talk too.

“I think there’s also a group of people who come [to these launch parties] because they are aspiring writers,” Fitzgerald.

“There were lots of folks asking questions about professional writing [...] hearing about the craft is inspiring.”

Granger has thought about writing a book herself and appreciated that Miranda spoke so much about the writing process.

“It was nice to hear about her writing process [...] and how she got into publishing. I think it’s very, very hard to publish a book,” Granger said.

Though Miranda’s event provided a lens into the local reading and writing culture, it also spoke to the strength of Davidson’s community more generally.

“It was really cool to see how many people showed up,” attendee Abby Reardon ‘25 said. “That’s one of the things I love about the town of Davidson [...] it feels just so communitybased.”

Fitzgerald echoed Reardon’s point. In her mind, Megan Miranda is an asset to the Davidson community.

“Having her as a part of our community, I think it offers, you know, civic pride,” Fitzgerald said. “People [...] feel honored and proud to have that connection. So much of the publishing world is in New York City, and here we are in this fantastic, small Southern town, representing.”

Madeline Richard is an English major from Baltimore, MD and can be reached for comment at marichard@davidson.edu.

Physics Students Put On Eclipse Party, Community Celebrates

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AVA MCKINNEY ‘25 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER

he front lawn of Chambers was crowded as the Davidson community gathered for the solar eclipse.

Davidson’s Society of Physics Students (SPS) organized a Solar Eclipse Watch Party on April 8th for all to enjoy — filled with snacks, telescopes and interactive demos. SPS even passed out pairs of highfashion eclipse glasses so that everyone could witness the eclipse safely.

Physics major Emily Paton ‘24 spoke to the importance of this protective gear.

“The sun, when you stare directly at it, emits such intense light at high wavelengths and intensities of light that if you’re looking through regular glasses it’s not going to be polarized enough and block enough light for you to see,” Paton said.

A total solar eclipse only happens every few years. This solar event in particular offered Davidson College a view of 80% totality, meaning that the moon covered 80% of the sun from our Chambers Lawn perspective.

SPS member Vincent Scauzzo ‘24 reflected on the wonder and serendipity of this event.

“It’s amazing because the moon is the perfect size to completely cover the sun,” Scauzzo said. “If you think about it, if the moon were any smaller, then it wouldn’t completely cover the sun.”

nature’s weirdness.

According to Paton, the rarity of this event made it even more special.

“The eclipse doesn’t happen that often [… ] when it happens, you get really cool results.” .

Students from all majors came to witness the eclipse. Photo by Ava McKinney.

Davidson had 80% totality during the eclipse. Photo by Ava McKinney.

It’s a bonafide perfect alignment — these two floating orbs just so happen to be the perfect size for each other.

Davidson’s festivities matched such a miracle. Students, professors, and community members completely covered the lawn as they stared up at the sky. It was a celebration of

While the SPS had a prominent presence on campus during the eclipse, it also helps bring those interested in physics closer together.

Associate Professor of Physics, Anthony Kuchera, touched on SPS’ history, as well as the legacy of physics on Davidson’s campus.

“A fun bit of history is that the Society of

Physics Students originally came out of a national physics honors society called Sigma Pi Sigma, which is a nationwide thing that started at Davidson College,” Kuchera said.

Davidson has always been a physics hub, it turns out.

Now, students like Paton and Scauzzo seek academic community through SPS. Paton said she joined the Society in order to “create a positive physics community and a culture around physics that was fun.”

Scauzzo is a classical language major, not a physics major, but he embraces intellectual curiosity through SPS. He simply takes “a variety of [physics] classes for fun,” he said.

The eclipse brought many different Davidson people together to learn the effect that physics and nature has on our planet. As Scauzzo emphasized, it was a moment of collective wonder.

“You can call it a coincidence; you can insert whatever belief you want. But I just think that’s pretty miraculous that we have such a perfect alignment like that,” Scauzzo said.

Ava McKinney ‘25 is an English and Political Science major from Richmond, VA and can be reached for comment at avmckinney@davidson.edu.

Living Davidson

Crossword Rare Insults

7

Crosswords by Victor Fleming ‘73

Across 1 Barrette, for example 6 “Cheesy” Italian city 11 Egg ___ 14 Keep one ___ the ground 15 “Broadcast in process” 16 Fury 17 Contemptible toady 19 Opposite of paleo20 Brit. verb suffix 21 ___ Buddhism 22 ___ Penh, Cambodia 23 Whirlybirds 27 Undercover agent, at times 29 Work without ___ 30 Mr., in Munich 32 Alternative to Twinkies 35 Citi Field contest 37 Cardinal’s rival 38 Avocado’s middle 39 Descriptive nickname 41 “The Simpsons” barkeep 42 Horace and others 44 Goes every which way 46 W. Hemisphere pact 47 Scandinavian goddess of fate 48 Brazil’s soccer legend 49 Bellybutton variety 51 Unskilled worker 53 “Stop” or “Yield” 55 It ended Nov. 11, 1918 57 Cocoa container 58 Item laid at Eco House 59 Gawky adolescent boy 64 Beluga or shad yield 65 “Akira”’s movie genre 66 Davis who played Thelma 67 “It’s so-o-o cold!”

68 Big blast of the ‘50s 69 Op-ed piece

Down

1 “Fantasia” frame

2 China’s Chou En-___ 3 Parenthesis shape

4 Caribbean island

5 Ad hoc oater group 6 Polynesian staple food

7 1998 animated bug film 8 Like “American Beauty”

9 Kanga and Roo creator 10 “Butterflies ___ Free”

11 Ding-a-ling 12 Sandwichy cookie since 1912

13 H.S. math class 18 “If you play your cards right”

22 Destitute

23 “Can you legally __ public lands?

24 Brooklyn band with “Each One Teach One”

25 Quibbler over trifles 26 Automatic introduction?

28 Debt markers 31 “It’s b-a-a-c-k!” fashion

33 “Becket” actor Peter 34 Job ___ (one circulating a

resume) 36 Give hints about 37 Mark Twain, for one 40 Deliver, as a pitch 43 “Star Trek” phaser option 45 Farthest orbital points 47 Trainee, often ANSWERS TO LAST 50 Reply to “Don’t tell anyone!”

52 Move a bit CROSSWORD! 53 Many a Bosnian LIFETIME OF 54 Stravinsky or Sikorsky 56 Some PCs LEARNING 59 “A likely story!”

60 Admit, with “in” 61 “For ___ a jolly good fellow” 62 “... sat ___ tuffet” 63 “Fantastic!”

Main Street Series: Escape 109

S

tephen Rust’s mother always used to tell him that “if nobody’s having fun, create the fun.” The owner and game master of Escape 109 on Main Street has been doing just that since March of 2018. Growing up around Lake Norman, Rust and his family fell in love with escape rooms and, when an opportunity arose to bring this love to Davidson, Rust jumped at the chance.

For the uninitiated, escape rooms task people with, well, escaping a room through various puzzles and riddles. A one hour time limit is almost always in effect, forcing those trapped inside into frenzied collaboration or a shouting match with (no longer close) family and friends. Part of my interview with Rust took place while a family of four was inside one of the two available rooms. When they walked in, Rust was quick to greet them and gave a rehearsed spiel.

Charismatic and disarming, Rust told his guests the basics and made sure to emphasize that they were free to leave if needed with the line: “you want to get out, give us a shout” before taking them inside “Road Trip.” “[Road Trip]’s about a family vacation that goes wrong, like the Griswolds in a sense. And that’s kind of what our family was when we went on these vacations, something was always going crazy.” Rust clearly sees his childhood in the Griswolds, the famous family from the “Christmas Vacation” film starring Chevy Chase, and he mentioned that his family even had their very own Griswold-type in the form of Rust’s uncle.

“He was my Uncle Monkey… we called him that because he was always monkeying around, he was always creating a fun time.”

In order to successfully escape Road Trip, players have to get Grandma to her 100th birthday celebration at her favorite place. Shenanigans ensue, and it is up to the group to get everything back on track. “Being challenging but still familyfriendly is something hard that we had to do,” Rust said. “But when I wrote Road Trip, [I knew] it was going to be great because as a family, we had a lot of fun playing these games.

You got a lot of games like I Spy, Connect Four, crossword puzzles, the license plate game. Just things that again, we played on road trips.”

Rust’s personal touch is what really sets Escape 109 apart

BEN PEAKE ‘25 (HE/HIM)

from other escape rooms. Road Trip includes pictures of Rust’s real family, and he loves that he gets to share a part of himself with each guest.

The other available escape room, “Derailed,” speaks to Rust’s commitment to honoring the history that surrounded him as he grew up. In this room, players have to repair the train tracks at the old Davidson Train Depot before bandits steal the next valuable shipment of goods. In order to create it, Rust went to a train museum with his sister and did substantial research at the Davidson Public Library. “It was finding the history about these trains and how they impacted the area… and what they did to help build Davidson,” Rust said. “It’s really crazy how much of an impact they did have on this side of town. So when I was doing that, I started… really making it true to the fact of if… a train enthusiast comes in here, they’re not going to be like ‘this is false information.’” Both of Rust’s parents were teachers, so he tries to make all of his rooms as educational as possible. Derailed even contains a little diagram of old Davidson that (spoiler alert) is a puzzle itself.

Creating and building an escape room is a long process, and Rust originally didn’t have much of a desire for the creative side of it. “I’m more of a hands-on builder. That’s what my job was. But over the years, I’ve grown to find the creative genius behind making these.” Rust is currently in the middle of creating a new room, Candyland. It has taken him one year just to write and design it, and it will take him a month to take down one of his existing rooms and install the new one.

Watching him monitor the family of four as they worked through Road Trip gave me insight into the way Rust’s mind works. He’s sporadic, and constantly moving in three different directions. “[Candyland] was a game I had designed in my brain, and I’ve fully figured out how I want it to play. And I walked into [Road Trip] and it made total sense to me.”

Rust is constantly thinking about games, and this manifests in the flowchart he creates for each room. It’s sprawling, and while every group starts in the same place, how they each get to the end can look vastly different. “I have a linear process: A, B, C, D to Z. But I don’t want [players] to play A, B, C, D all the way to the end, I want you to go to A, open D, bring that back to A, to find G, to play at B, right? That just makes it

more fun. Because again, people can do things out of order.”

The impact of Rust’s work? Aside from fun, Rust loves to see the effect that his escape rooms can have on the local community, especially kids. “I was once at a dinner party with my wife… and there was a kid there… He saw a ripple in the water and he goes: ‘Hey dad, look! There goes Normie, the Lake Norman monster.’” Rust questioned the kid about how he knew Normie, to which the kid talked excitedly about an escape room he did with his family in Davidson about the Lake Norman monster that propelled him to want to search for the elusive creature. It was one of Escape 109’s past rooms.

“They don’t even know that they were talking to the owner and designer of that game… it was really humbling to hear that from somebody and really be like, alright, this is the path now.” Rust wants to foster that sense of wonder, which is why he gives unlimited hints to his guests to maximize the fun.

Some don’t use them or even need them, but the goal is for everyone to feel like a winner.

If you successfully escape, players have the option to write their name on any of the waiting room walls as a written testament to their triumph. Hundreds of names in all sorts of colors cover the space, giving Escape 109 a cozy, community feel. Here’s to hoping that the walls continue to be scribbled on for years to come.

Some of the victors of Rust’s escape rooms. Photo by Ben Peake.

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