Independent Student Journalism Since 1914
Head of Student Activities Mike Goode ‘83 retires after 32 years at the college
Jenna DeLucca ‘24 looks back on her time at Davidson, examining her early years
May 1, 2024
Cate Goodin ‘26 covers the Indigo Girls’ documentary screening and performance
The Yowl critiques faculty and staff fashion sense, previews summer trends
STELLA MACKLER ‘26 (SHE/HER)
MADELINE RICHARD ‘26 (SHE/HER)
CLAIRE KELLY ‘25 (SHE/HER)
Upwards of fifty people, including students and faculty, gathered peacefully on Chambers Lawn on Monday afternoon to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, direct attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and call for Davidson to divest their endowment from companies profiting off the Israel-Hamas war. The rally was organized by Cats for Global Peace, a studentrun organization that, according to their WildcatSync page, was established in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, following Hamas’s attack on October 7th.
This protest was one of the first to occur on Davidson’s campus since the beginning of the spring semester, as protests, rallies, and encampments continue to spread nationwide across college campuses.
“Our goals were to publicize our demands of divestment, garner attention from other students and faculty, and to protest in solidarity with other colleges and universities across the country who are striving for similar goals,” Elias Henderson ‘24 said. Henderson was one of the organizers of the walkout and a signature on the group’s letter to the president.
Lauren Collver ‘25, one of the Co-Presidents of Cats for Global Peace, opened the rally with a call for increased financial transparency from the college.
“Today, we are making the following demands of Davidson,” Collver said. “First, disclose. We demand increased disclosure and transparency of financial investments. The publicly available financial documents, 990 forms, and financial statements of the Trustees of Davidson College [...] do not include the corporations [the college] has invested in. We recognize disclosure is complicated [since] assets may be given to hedge funds where the college is not privy to where exactly the money is held.”
Protestors also advocated for the divestment of Davidson’s $1.3 billion endowment from companies profiting off the war in Gaza. Divestment requires that investors or institutions — like Davidson — sell their shares of companies that engage in practices that they perceive to be harmful. According to CNN, those calling for divestment often want that money to be reinvested in ways that they believe are more ethical. However, the implications of divestment are not just financial. Divestment is also intended to pressure companies and governments into changing their practices and policies.
Determining what institutions are invested in can be complicated. According to the Associated Press, many colleges manage their investments through hedge funds, investment banks, and other specialized firms. Externalizing these investments means that colleges often have minimal say over where their money is invested. In some cases, investments cannot even be made publicly available. Davidson’s investment portfolio is not public information, but Collver pointed out that there are other ways that Davidson could stop supporting companies that benefit financially from the war in Gaza.
“We begin our call for divestment with a call to cancel the Oracle Corporation contract,” Collver said.
The College partners with Oracle, a cloud and technology provider, to manage human resources, including budget reporting, hiring, and performance management. In an October 13, 2023
press release, the company reaffirmed its commitment to Israel and work with the Israeli government and announced the opening of a “new, highly secure underground cloud region in Jerusalem.” In a January 2024 visit to Israel, Oracle’s CEO Safra Catz, an Israeli American, said the company intended on doubling its investment in Israel with the opening of a second underground cloud center, according to the Times of Israel.
As Cats for Global Peace gathered on Monday with their list of demands for President Hicks, they echoed the message of many students that had their own gatherings across college campuses. As protests rise across college campuses, so have instances and accusations of antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian protestors, both at Davidson and around the country on campuses like Columbia and the University of Michigan, argue that Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people and that it is the protestors’ responsibility to keep the world’s attention. A common chant at these protests is “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” a reference to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and the land in which Israel lies. According to the Associated Press, many Palestinian activists say it is a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli statehood and open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians. Some Jewish people instead hear a demand for Israel’s destruction and see the protests as an attack on their identity.
In describing organizers’ intentions, Collver recognized the recent rise in antisemitism and encouraged attendees not to use harmful language.
“We urge you to join us today and every day in this collective responsibility of ensuring none of this dangerous language is applied in any conversation in the community,” Collver said.
Signs were posted on the pillars of Chambers saying “We condemn antisemitism, we condemn anti-Arab hate, we condemn all hate and war.” Collver referenced the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA) as their guiding document in determining speech that is and is not antisemitic. The JDA defines antisemitism as “discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).” The declaration includes
guidelines for identifying antisemitism, with nine focused specifically on determining whether speech on Israel and Palestine is antisemitic. In their speech, Collver pointed to guideline 12 of the declaration, which contends that, “It is not antisemitic to support arrangements that accord full equality to all inhabitants ‘between the river and the sea,’ whether in two states, a binational state, unitary democratic state, federal state, or in whatever form.”
“If they [today’s protestors] say ‘From the river to the sea,’ we are striving for equality for all in Palestine,” Collver said.
Some students did not agree with Collver’s or the JDA’s position.
“The walkout was opened with a preface that they would be chanting ‘From the river to the sea’ in a non-antisemitic way,” said Ilana Rapaport ‘25, a Jewish student who watched the walkout from the edge of Chambers Lawn. “I just think that phrase itself is inherently incredibly antisemitic. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have made it abundantly clear that Jews would not be allowed in a Palestinian state, and so by saying ‘From the river to the sea,’ people are essentially claiming that they want the Palestinian Authority to rule over all of the State of Israel. But where are the Jews supposed to go?”
Similarly to Israel’s war in Gaza, campus protests have furthered disagreement within the Jewish community. Co-President of Global Cats for Peace Judah Silverman ‘27 is Jewish and spoke during the walkout about how his Judaism has informed his advocacy.
“Today I want to talk about what it means to be Jewish in the face of genocide,” Silverman said. “My Jewish upbringing raised me to be conscious of genocide, to be cognizant of how the destruction of history, culture, academic institutions, hospitals and homes indicate deliberate ethnic cleansing. The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism states that it is not anti-semitic to support arrangements that accord full equality to all inhabitants between the river and the sea, [and] it is on these grounds I present myself in support of Palestine today.”
While Silverman argued that his Jewish identity and values served as a basis for his actions, Rapaport argued what she saw was an alienation of her identity.
“I feel incredibly empathetic towards all the innocent Palestinian civilians that are getting killed by the IDF,” Rapaport said. “I think it’s one thing to be Jewish and acknowledge that and another thing to be Jewish, and chant things like ‘From the river to the sea,’ which is calling for an isolation of the Jews from what we believe to be our homeland.”
As debates over free expression remain a prominent feature of these protests, and more generally within Davidson’s academic discourse, many students who attended the walkout felt as though it was important that they were making their voices heard.
“I’m glad that we’re doing this,” Bess Pridgen ‘24 — who attended the walkout — said. “I think that Davidson could be doing more and I hope that this will continue to expand.”
Henderson put the walkout in context with nationwide campus protests, and suggested a historical nature.
“I think it’s a real turning point for the political movements in our country,” Henderson said. “And we’re seeing how little respect the people in power have for normal people’s voices and activism and free speech and so I think this is going to be sort of a watermark moment where [...] it really demonstrates how little the people in power care about what normal people think. [...] I think these students are leading the charge on a lot of very important activism that is going to come with a political reckoning.”
MADELINE RICHARD ‘26
(SHE/HER)
CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF
West Davidson is on the other side of the tracks. Though that phrase is often used euphemistically, it accurately describes the geographic breakdown of the town of Davidson. The train tracks that parallel Main Street separate West Davidson, a historically Black and lower-income community, from the rest of the town, which is predominantly white and wealthy.
That train line is nearly dormant, yet it physically divides the Davidson community.
Many West Davidson residents are economically isolated from the rest of the town. According to a map from City Data, part of West Davidson has a poverty rate of about 17% while some other neighboords in Davidson — like the Hopewell neighorhood — have poverty rates that are about 1% or less. Some residents are concerned that they are being pushed out of an area where many of their families have lived for generations.
“Some citizens’ challenge is that they feel priced out,” lifelong Davidson resident Ruby Houston said. “As the town grows more wealthy, its businesses and shopping are not affordable
for lower- and middle-income people.”
Data from Neilsberg, a market research company, reveals that Davidson has grown wealthy at a rapid rate in recent years. The median Davidson household income rose by 41.86% between 2010 and 2021, whereas the median household income across the United States increased by only 6.51% during that same period. Likewise, according to Redfin, a real estate company, the average price of a home in Davidson has risen by 73.5% between March 2019 and March 2024 compared to the national average increase of 47.8%.
Those changes have multiple causes. Former college archivist Jan Blodgett pointed out that
individuals moving to Davidson from pricier areas, like California and New York City, can drive up real estate prices.
“There are an awful lot of white people who are coming [...] who have lots of money and they need to spend it because of the way the laws work and taxes work,” Blodgett said. “You’ve got to spend a lot of money on a house since you sold it for a lot of money in California or New York [...] you’re going to pay more than you should for the property [in Davidson]. They [...] just keep tipping the scale in the direction of a salary homogenous, rich community.”
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James B. Duke Professor of Africana Studies Hilary Green explained that Davidson may also be becoming more expensive due to its geographic location and the expansion of the Charlotte metro area.
“Charlotte’s coming here, Lake Norman’s coming here, [so] our real estate prices are through the roof,” Green said. Davidson has a history of exploiting the Black community. According to a timeline published in the Davidson Journal, enslaved people built many of the first buildings on Davidson’s campus and the first several college presidents owned enslaved people. Blodgett emphasized that these patterns of exploitation persisted even after the Civil War, largely since Davidson was so rural and had minimal industry in the past. While neighboring Cornelius was a blue collar mill town and offered more economic opportunities, working there was not an option for many Black families.
“We’ve not had enough job opportunities in the town of Davidson outside of the college,” Blodgett said. “It’s forced [...] generations [of] African American families to work for the college for lower wages because transportation was an issue [...] I-77 didn’t exist until the seventies [...] [so] it was very expensive to have to try and work somewhere other than [Davidson].”
Not only did the town and college historically exploit Black individuals, they treated them as outsiders within their own town. According to Green, who studies race and campus history, town leadership often did not consider the Black community in their decision-making processes.
“When the college/town and mayor [were] deciding on decisions, [...] [black residents were] not even a thought in their mind,” Green said. However, she emphasized that this exclusion was not unique to Davidson. “Segregation was a way of life, it was instituted by law and Davidson was not doing anything different.”
The historical racial injustice in Davidson still impacts the geography of the town today. According to Green, many Black Davidson residents were relegated to “the worst possible environmental landscape.” For example, parts of West Davidson are vulnerable to flooding.
“The prime housing in Davidson has been around up on the upper land where it doesn’t flood,” Green said. “West Davidson [was developed] in the worst land that has poor drainage [and] poor infrastructure [...] when you have flooded areas like that, that means diseases, everything else, sewage, and disaster [...] if you’re standing in six inches of water, and that’s your front yard, that’s not safe.”
One of the areas of West Davidson that was most susceptible to flooding eventually became Roosevelt Wilson Park, which lies alongside Griffith Street and contains a small pond. According to Stories (Yet) to be Told — a grant initiative that operated between 2020 and 2022 and encouraged Davidson students to explore the legacy of race on campus — many of the Black individuals who lived where the park now exists were “forcibly” bought out by alumni investors who wanted to make Griffith Street more visually appealing. When that process occurred, former residents were left with limited housing options.
“When people had to leave [...] they were given no other options [or] places to go,” Green said. “There’s no affordable housing that’s built, and at that point, it was more roughly constructed housing.”
There have been some affordable housing initiatives in Davidson’s past, such as the construction of the Creekside Corner neighborhood in West Davidson. In 2001, longtime West Davidson resident Ralph Johnson donated his property to the Trustees of Davidson College on the condition that it would be used for affordable housing, according to News of Davidson. Many of the houses on this land were in irreparable condition, so the Davidson Housing Coalition (DHC), the local nonprofit that ultimately came into control over the land, rebuilt them in order to provide affordable housing options. DHC has continued to develop Creekside Corner over the past two decades, and according to its executive director Connie Wessner, now contains 23 rental units for individuals who make 80% or less of the median income. Despite these efforts, access to housing is still an issue within West Davidson.
“There is unequal access to housing in this community, and there has been for a very long time,” Wessner said. “The reasons that make it so continue to shift and evolve. But these are seeds that were planted generations and generations ago.”
Historical and contemporary factors have contributed to wealth disparities in modern Davidson, many of which are racial. According to City Data, the median per capita income for white individuals living in Davidson is $84,889, while the median per
capita income for Black Davidson residents is $40,646. That reality can create economic challenges across racial lines.
“[If] the majority of residents have higher incomes, then the businesses are based on things for higher income citizens,” Houston said. “When I walk uptown and buy things, I see [that] people that are lower and middle income mainly don’t participate in purchasing uptown, because things are usually not affordable.”
According to Houston, the increased cost of living in Davidson discourages many lower-income individuals from moving into the town in the first place.
“You [must have] money to come to Davidson,” Houston said. “People that work with the town or even with the College have said they can’t afford to live here.”
Salaries posted on the employment website Indeed for entry-level positions at Davidson College include the average dishwasher making $13.50 per hour according to nine reported salaries and the average service associate making $15.50 per hour according to seven reported salaries. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator, the hourly rate that an individual in Davidson with no children must earn to support themselves working full-time, or 2,080 hours per year, is $19.01.
Town Commissioner Tracy Mattison Brandon moved to West Davidson 15 years ago. Like Houston, she is concerned about lower-income individuals being priced out of Davidson, particularly considering the presence of investors within the community. Several investors and developers, including Taylor Morrison and Crescent Communities, currently own land in West Davidson according to Mecklenburg County land records.
“We have ‘investors’ who literally send out postcards [and] call residents trying to badger them into selling their property,” Mattison Brandon said. These efforts have affected her family personally. “We get the phone calls, we get the mail and we get people actually driving in our neighborhood looking at property.”
According to the Town of Davidson website, the town mandates that at least 12.5% of the housing stock in new developments with two or more residential units is affordable. Alternatively, they may pay fees to an affordable housing trust fund. That fee is currently $50,625 per unit.
Still, many feel that when investors purchase land in West Davidson, the neighborhood dynamics change both socially and economically.
“You kind of lose the feel for community because we have people in and out of those properties,” Mattison Brandon said.
Wessner elaborated on Mattison Brandon’s point, emphasizing that the presence of investors can decrease affordable housing and lead to what she calls “generational displacement.”
“An elder in the family passes on, and the family then sells the property to a developer [...] [that] can pay top dollar for that property,” Wessner said. “It then takes that piece of property, which has been an affordable home, and it takes it out of the inventory. If you’re going to offer top dollar for that piece of land, generally speaking, your goal there is not to keep that house as an affordable home.”
In Wessner’s mind, that displacement jeopardizes the community and character of Davidson as a whole.
“[Generational displacement] threatens to homogenize the neighborhood, it threatens to gentrify the neighborhood, it threatens the kind of open door accessibility that people in this town say they want,” Wessner said. “It eliminates a broader and broader and broader set of potential homeowners and renters, and
it limits it to a very narrow group of people at one very limited end of the spectrum [...] that’s what then begins to transform [...] the character of this town and that’s an enormous loss for all of us, no matter where you live.”
Several organizations exist to provide fnancial assistance in Davidson, which includes the West Davidson community. These include the Ada Jenkins Center, affordable housing through the Davidson Housing Coalition, tax relief from the Davidson Community Foundation, and home repair support from organizations like Habitat for Humanity, She Built This City, and Rebuilding Together Charlotte. However, some lower-income individuals hesitate to seek this outside assistance.
“The trust level is improving some but has a long way to go,” Houston said. “Some people feel like they’ve never had anything and they may not be eligible to get things and we must encourage others to make the effort to [...] get the help that they deserve.”
Historically, many Black individuals were told that they did not belong in Davidson or on the college campus, creating another barrier to seeking assistance.
“There’s a lot of instances in our past [where] if you are African American, and you crossed [onto Davidson College’s campus] and you weren’t an employee, you are getting called upon by the police [or] escorted out [or] harassed by students as not belonging,” Green said.
While the College is working to reconcile its history through the Commission on Race and Slavery, the memory of discrimination still permeates race relations in the town today. According to Green, Black employees had to go through specific entrances to their place of employment during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. This was true on Davidson’s campus as well, and some Black individuals still navigate through campus in that same way that they were once required to.
“Those who remember that wall [...] come in from Concord Road to the stadium, because they [used to have to come] in that way,” Green said. “They’re not coming into Chambers from across our grass in the front, they’re coming in from the side [...] the Jim Crow era logics are still shaping how some people view your campus and where they feel they’re comfortable walking in without harassment.”
West Davidson grapples with intertwined historical, structural, and contemporary challenges, and according to Wessner, addressing these issues rather than ignoring them is crucial for the community.
“Systemically, there’s a lot [...] of advantage baked into the system for [white individuals] and a lot of disadvantage baked into the system for people that look like most of the residents of the West Side,” Wessner said. “If we don’t all acknowledge that and try to address that moving forward, then the problems we have here are going to be perpetuated.”
Wessner is aware of the difficulties facing West Davidson, and relies on community organizing to address these injustices.
“There’s [...] a long-standing history in this town of acknowledging those inequities and various efforts to try to address them, some successful some not, and the quality of those responses continues to develop over time,” Wessner said. “There is no question that we are fighting against the tide [of gentrification] [...] but the fact that at least we have been engaged on the issue has been what kept the door from slamming shut a long time ago.”
Like Wessner, Houston feels that collaboration is imperative for the town’s future.
“Some live day to day with missing resources in their family lives,” Houston said. “We have to work together as a town and a community and churches to help people realize what help is available.”
Mattison Brandon also values this cooperation and tries to foster it through her role as Town Commissioner.
“We’re trying to restore that [sense of community], and one of the ways that we started to approach this is by having monthly [West Davidson] neighborhood meetings [starting in 2022],” Mattison Brandon said. “It has caused us to grow closer in unity and to understand some of the issues in terms of what we can do about them as residents, and how we can collaborate with other organizations in the town to address some of these issues in the neighborhood.”
Houston reiterated her faith in the West Davidson community and believes that they can work together to overcome the difficulties they experience.
“We always rise above our circumstances. We figure out how to make it work for our families,” Houston said. “In spite of our challenges, there’s a lot of very, very smart people in this community. However, we have to figure out more ways to provide the resources to help others. We band together [...] it’s like lessons from the geese — when one goose falls by the wayside, we must line up and get behind them and pick them up in this community.”
ANNA NIEPOLD ‘26
(SHE/HER)When students walk through the front door of Chambers, they will see the Davidson Honor Code
displayed on the walls. “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized information regarding this work, I have followed and will continue to observe all regulations regarding it, and I am unaware of any violation of the Honor Code by others,” it reads. Many professors utilize the Honor
Code through self-scheduled and take-home exams and the 2023-2024 Campus Tour Guide manual describes some of the tangible academic benefits of the Honor Code as “unproctored tests, closed-book and closed-note take-home tests, and self-scheduled final exams.”
As students prepare to depart campus, many will have to stay until at least Friday, May 3, to take in-person exams at the self-scheduled exam center in Chambers. Students whose professors assign finals through the exam center will travel to Chambers at one of the ten time periods offered alongside other students and proctors.
The train line that runs through Davidson is a physical divider of the town. Photo by Madeline Richard.Director of the Alvarez College Union and Student Activities Mike Goode ‘83 will retire from Davidson College at the end of the 2023-24 school year. After working at Davidson for 32 years, Goode leaves behind a legacy both as a student and a faculty member.
Goode has been involved with the College Union since his days as a student. His job involved making handmade posters, selling tickets for pop films, and working in the game room. “My work-study job was in the College Union and my volunteer work was in the College Union, so I kind of fell in love with the kind of stuff we were doing,” Goode said.
After earning a Masters of Education in College Student Services Administration at Oregon State University, Goode worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“My first job out of grad school was working at UNC Chapel Hill and their Union,” Goode said. “Their Union, at least at the time, was not unlike Davidson’s Union, because we have an outsized college Union program. [...] Nobody was doing the kind of stuff that we were doing.”
In 1992, Goode came to Davidson to attend the funeral service for C. Smaw Smith Sr. ‘39, the College Union’s first director who retired the same year Goode graduated from Davidson. Then-director William Brown ‘70 offered Goode a job six months later.
“I came because William said we’ll be building a new Union within the next five years and this would be a good thing for you to be a part of,” Goode said.
In 1999, Goode became the Davidson Outdoors Assistant Director. Then, in July 2017, he accepted his current position as Director of the College Union.
When asked to describe what his job entails, Goode recalled a conversation he had as a student with then-Director of the University of Louisville College Union at a conference for college union employees.
“He told me one thing that I have really held on to. He said, ‘one: my job is to hire the best people possible. Second: [...] is
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According to an email sent to students using the exam center this spring by Assistant Registrar for Advising and Curricular Support Rebecca Barrowe on April 17, over 50 classes will utilize the center this semester.
The exam center exists as an alternative to takehome exams, in which students are bound to the Honor Code. Some students perceive professors instituting proctored exams as undermining communal trust in the Honor Code.
“I think that there has definitely been an increase in in-person and specifically in in-class exams, which I think definitely shows decreasing faith in the Honor Code among faculty and staff,” noted
Mike Goode has been involved with various aspects of Davidson since his time as a student. Photo by Davidson College.
to do my best to get them the resources they need to do their jobs. And the third thing is to keep other people at the university off their backs so they can actually do their jobs,’” Goode said.
To President of the Student Government Association Connor Hines ‘26, Goode’s institutional knowledge and familiarity with Davidson is an advantage. “At a core level, he was in our shoes at one point in time,” Hines said. “In his professional career, he’s been here for so long. He understands the campus culture we have here and how Davidson is exceptional in a lot of ways.”
Hines works often with Goode, and sees the effort that Goode puts into SGA conversations.
“Whenever [SGA] would have questions for him, it would always be situated within the context of how things have been
Mary Molloy Blackstock ‘26. “It’s disheartening to see these changes.”
Blackstock’s family are Davidson alumni, and she said that the culture of trust was something she expected coming into Davidson.
“I feel as though [the Honor Code] is a really fundamental part of the Davidson community” stated Blackstock. “I grew up hearing about [the Honor Code]; my dad went to Davidson and my grandfather went to Davidson, and so, it was ingrained in me from a very young age that there is a certain Honor Code.”
Recently elected Honor Council Chair Mary Gray Speakman ‘25 highlighted modern challenges to Davidson’s Honor Code.
“I think we’re at a crossroads really with the Honor Code [...] I also think with computers and post-Covid, trust has definitely [...] been broken,” Speakman said.“I think ultimately trust would look like completely believing in the spirit of the Honor Code, but I don’t know if we’re there right now.”
Upon his arrival at Davidson, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History John Wertheimer was encouraged to learn about the Honor Code.
“When I first arrived here, I was thrilled about the Honor Code and it sounded great,” he said.
Now, Wertheimer favors in-person exams, particularly due to his experience with a student who violated the Honor Code during Wertheimer’s early teaching years.
“My first year [...] a student who is indistinguishable from other students, except for being on a sports team [...] had a sports-related
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Burglary Offenses: Breaking or Entering Vehicle
04/28/24 12:38 Larceny Offenses: Misdemeanor Larceny Little Library, Further Investigation
done in the past—which is not to say that he’s keeping you locked down to how things are done in the past, but just to give that perspective that we students [...] don’t have [...] which is very helpful,” Hines said.
When he does not offer his perspective, Goode asks questions to better learn about students’ goals.
“My job is to ask questions and not put up with stuff that I think is lazy thinking, period,” Goode said. “That means that people are not gonna like me but I’m okay with it, because that’s the work we’re in here.”
Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life
Walter Snipes thinks this perspective is part of what makes Goode good at his job. “
He’s going to ask some difficult questions and he’s going to own where he is with it. He’s not going to [...] feel like he has to go along to get along,” Snipes said.
Goode recognizes that he has become a scapegoat for unpopular decisions around campus. Most recently, students on the anonymous social media platform Yik Yak accused Goode of orchestrating a crackdown on Armfield apartment parties. Goode had no involvement.
“I get roasted on Yik Yak and stuff and [...] sure, if you need somebody to get mad at, I can be that person,” Goode said.
“He becomes the default person when in reality the rest of the office is very involved in those things [student activities decisions]. He kind of takes the heat for us without complaint,”
Associate Director of Student Activities Emily Eisenstadt said. Eisenstadt will replace Goode next year as the Director of the Alvarez College Union and Student Activities.
Whether offering guidance on an SGA proposal to allow injured students to use golf carts on campus, pulling late nights to run a complicated algorithm for eating house placement day, or advising the Activities Tax Council on student organization budgets, Mike Goode has played a key role in ensuring the success of student life at Davidson.
“In a role as pivotal as his to student life, it would be hard for anyone in their four years to have not interacted with him in some way and I think in those interactions, you see just how great of a guy he is and how much he cares for this community,” Hines said.
reason not to be able to attend an in-class test,” Wertheimer said. “The student asked to bring the test with them and take it during downtime at their sporting event. Well, I hadn’t been trained about the Honor Code so ‘sure,’ and the student would sign the Honor Code with the time begun and the time ended. And that happened and the students submitted the test, and the student I counted wrote about twice as many words as the other students. I mean, it’s an egregious violation of the rules.”
Wertheimer believes that the best way to assess students is through in-person exams. In his mind, the communal experience of in-person exams encourages students to adhere to the Honor Code.
“People are inherently flawed, I believe, but they strive to be good and [...] I think that the in-person exam, in my experience, is one that has kind of a strong socialization element,” Wertheimer said.
Visiting Professor of Art History Dr. Trinity Martinez has also had a change of heart on the Honor Code since she began teaching at Davidson in 2022.
“There was a sort of fantasy that no one would cheat, no one would plagiarize,” Martinez said. Martinez has discovered some “cheating and plagiarism” at the College and is concerned about the potential opportunities to cheat presented by take-home exams.
“The issue that I have with taking the test virtually outside of the classroom where I can not proctor it is that I [fear] that students will use
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**Contact Campus Police for more information.
their phones or a second monitor or take the test with other students.”
Martinez believes that on-paper tests are the ideal way of assessing students. However, she has turned to using Moodle and the Respondus Lockdown Browser to administer tests so she can keep up with the grading of all three of her classes.
“If I had the time, I certainly would have printed off the tests,” Martinez said. “Even with Moodle and Respondus, I still don’t feel totally confident that students will not cheat.”
However, she maintains that the majority of her students appear to work with integrity.
“I’ve got some instances myself where things have not been cited or paraphrased, which is troublesome,” Martinez said. “That is a problem. But you know, it’s very few and far between. That makes me very, very happy. And you know, nothing’s ever going to be 100% ideal anywhere.”
As students enter into the exam period, Speakman encourages students not to take advantage of the trust placed in them by the College and acknowledges that the Honor Code can be difficult to ensure.
“It’s hard because the main way you can ensure no one will cheat is through in-person exams,” Speakman said. “We say the Honor Code has all these provisions [...] and so I think either, professors have to decide to fully trust and know that [...] there’s always going to be some breaking of that trust when you put that much trust [into students].”
ELHAM SAID ‘25 (SHE/HER)
As a student at Davidson College, I’ve noticed how social media profoundly influences the campus community and our day-to-day lives. It’s become an integral part of how we connect, share ideas, and stay informed about campus events and issues. On platforms like Facebook or Twitter, it’s easy to gravitate toward groups or pages that align with our viewpoints, creating echo chambers where alternative perspectives are seldom encountered. These sites only take the posts with the most interactions or “likes’’ to be exposed to more people. This has the obvious problem of only promoting the already held beliefs within the group.
There is another compounding effect in that the posts that are more likely to get “likes’’ are usually made to be the most digestible. Such posts are often short, which makes it difficult to give precise and critical thoughts on a topic. According to the 2015 study “Echo Chambers on Facebook,” posts are also very likely to contain fallacies that easily trick the mind into believing them. Once these fallacious arguments are seen many times, it can be difficult to convince people that they are wrong. This, in
turn, makes social media a breeding ground for lies as other groups share these defective viewpoints to convince themselves that their own views are correct. This phenomenon is particularly relevant on a college campus, where diverse opinions should be valued and encouraged.
Misinformation is another challenge we face, greatly impacting the Davidson experience. Whether it is a false news story during an election cycle or an unsubstantiated health claim, the unchecked spread of misinformation can have real-world consequences, especially in a close-knit community like Davidson College. The unchecked spread of misinformation represents a significant challenge within the realm of social media, including platforms like Yik Yak. Yik Yak, a platform for anonymous posting, exemplifies how people can write whatever they want and cause drama. Instances abound of false or misleading information easily gaining traction on these platforms through the click of a button, such as upvoting. The rapid dissemination of such content underscores the potential harm wrought by the unchecked proliferation of unverified information within online communities.
On a personal level, within the context of college life at Davidson, I’ve noticed how excessive social
media use can significantly impact mental health. The pressure to compare our lives to others’ carefully curated online personas can lead to heightened feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, especially when navigating the challenges of being on our own in college, living in dorms, and adjusting to new academic and social environments. It’s a stark reminder that while social media offers connectivity, it also presents risks to our well-being, magnified by the newfound independence and responsibilities that come with college life.
As we grapple with these challenges, it’s crucial that we cultivate a more mindful approach to social media usage. By actively seeking out diverse perspectives, critically evaluating information, and prioritizing mental health, we can harness the potential of social media for positive social change.
In the context of Davidson College, where intellectual curiosity and open discourse are central values, it’s imperative to address the impact of social media on our campus community. One measure Davidson could take is to implement educational programs or workshops focusing on media literacy and critical thinking skills, helping students discern between credible information and misinformation. Additionally, establishing
NOAH LANDAU ‘25 (HE/HIM), WILL ZHU ‘25 (HE/HIM), TIM LEE ‘27 (HE/HIM)
As anthropogenic climate change has increased awareness of non-renewable energy consumption, solar panel utilization has become an alternative and cost-efficient option for energy generation. As of 2019, energy from solar panels is cheaper to utilize and implement per kWh (kilowatt hours) compared to coal, oil, and gas. Institutions, corporations, and governments have opted to create subsidy programs or climate action plans to reach carbon neutrality or net zero, which reflects an effort to be more cognizant of our energy consumption and carbon emissions. Examples of current climate action plans (CAPs) include the Paris Climate Agreement, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Davidson’s current climate action plan. A large component of our CAP includes a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the solar energy project Sebree II. Sebree II is a joint project with Davidson College, Elon University, Wake Forest University, Dickinson College, Haverford College, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College, and Swarthmore College. Each organization is actively working to address climate change in ways appropriate to their campus and geographical context. Through the Sebree II project, Davidson College will achieve the goal of reducing total emissions by 50% by 2026, which includes all scope 2 emissions. Scope 2 emissions are defined as emissions from electricity generation, steam, heat, or cooling. The Davidson CAP, updated in 2021, builds nearterm strategies in the context of a previously-set goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. This project brings us one step closer to that goal. Sebree II is an approximately 1300-acre solar farm project soon to be built in
Sebree, Kentucky. The project was strategically placed in a “dirtier” grid, predominantly powered by coal. This project allows multiple local residents and landowners to retain land control while also financially benefiting from the lease payment for 20 years. In addition, this location was chosen due to the lack of vegetation in the area, eliminating the need to clear land for the solar field.
Upon completion, this solar farm is projected to bring ample amounts of renewable energy into Kentucky’s electrical grid, powering the equivalent of 3,670 homes. This endeavor marks a significant step towards achieving Davidson’s sustainability goals. Spearheaded by NextEra Energy, a leading renewable energy developer, this project highlights a collective commitment to environmental innovation. Other successes by NextEra Energy include a 3.75 MW (megawatt) solar array over a former clay mine in Selkirk, NY. Their previous successes bring us hope that this project will provide a safe and reliable stream of energy.
Through the PPA, Davidson ensures the longevity of the project and, in exchange, receives Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). A REC represents 1 MWh (megawatt hour) of clean electricity purchased from the grid, replacing 1 MWh consumed from non-renewable sources. The acquisition of RECs allows participating universities to effectively counterbalance emissions in their annual carbon accounting process. While the generated electricity doesn’t directly power the campus, receiving RECs equivalent to energy consumption reduces the college’s emissions by 40% on paper. This collaborative effort not only advances environmental objectives but also promotes economic growth and community development.
While the Sebree II project will greatly benefit the overall reduction in scope 2 emissions, the direct connection between the project itself and the College is far removed. It may seem like an attempt to offload responsibility, however, there are many reasons why this choice has been made by the College. One reason is land availability. The solar project is massive,
JENNA DELUCCA ‘24 (SHE/HER)
As my time at Davidson begins to end, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve done with my time here, how much I’ve grown, and how things have changed. One goal I have before I graduate is to write an article for The Davidsonian (so here we find ourselves). I thought a reflection of the lessons from my experience from beginning college in fall 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to now would be a unique contribution. My class is now the last class at Davidson to have experienced the year of weekly testing, contact tracing, and navigating the unknown where most classes were online and a gathering of any sort was strongly prohibited. I’m going to try to paint the picture for the majority of you who may be unaware of how things worked. Before moving into my freshman dorm, I spit into a cup and mailed it in a FedEx box as my preliminary COVID-19 test. We were told to move in through a tiered system so less people were mingling at the same time in hallways. Some people chose to remain
completely remote from campus at home, meaning some of my classmates were halfway around the world. For most of my classes, I rolled out of bed, got dressed for the day, and then went to my desk to join a Zoom. Living on campus meant we were all tested 1-2 times a week. I carried around stickers in my backpack that had my name and DOB so I was always ready for my assigned weekly testing time (aka the weekly nasal passage cleaning, which posed to be especially helpful during allergy season). Being on campus also meant that every morning I needed to complete a quiz of how I was feeling for the day regarding any possible symptoms I may be experiencing; in order to enter Commons and get my to-go box for food, I needed to show my “green dot.” Saying you had no symptoms gave you a green dot for the day, allowing you to eat at Commons and move around campus. If you had the sniffles, it gave you a yellow dot, told you to minimize movement around campus, and monitor yourself. Finally, stating on this symptom quiz that you had a cough and sore throat gave you a red dot and told you to immediately call the health center. You always had to wear a mask, even in the hallway when going to the
guidelines or policies for responsible social media use, including guidelines for clubs and organizations on how to disseminate information accurately and responsibly, could help promote a healthier online environment. Furthermore, fostering more in-person interactions and community building activities on campus could reduce reliance on social media for connection. Davidson can further leverage social media for good by continuing its effective use of platforms to disseminate important information about campus events, dining services, and club activities. This demonstrates how social media can be harnessed positively to enhance communication and community engagement within the Davidson College environment.
Reflecting on my own experiences, I see how social media can both enlighten and confine us, much like Plato’s allegory of the cave. It’s a reminder that while social media offers glimpses of the world beyond our immediate surroundings, it also has the power to shape our perceptions in ways that may not always align with reality.
and to replicate a similar project on campus, the college would need the equivalent of 13 ecological preserves’ worth of land. In addition, Duke Energy regulations make on-site electricity generation more complicated. Previously, Duke Energy restricted a property to 1 MW of electricity generated on site, now increased to 3 MW. Unfortunately, Davidson College would not be able to eliminate our scope 2 emissions with only 3 MW of electricity generated on campus. Even with a maximum of 3 MW, this would only reduce campus electrical demand by 17%.
To maintain Davidson’s goals and appearance as an institution that believes in carbon neutrality, a new solar project has been proposed on the Baker parking lot. The Baker Solar Project stands to encompass a solar canopy over preexisting parking spaces. Not only could this project provide shade, but it has the potential to single-handedly provide 7% of Davidson College’s energy needs. As much as we love the hot asphalt of a vacant parking lot, utilizing this space for solar energy is the sustainable and cool thing to do. As this project would be located on an existing parking lot, long-term maintenance concerns often associated with rooftop installations would be limited. Specifically, the project would generate just over 1 MW of electricity, far below the cap set by Duke Energy. Another benefit beyond energy generation and car shading would include EV charging stations that would provide clean energy for electric vehicles.
Overall, the combination of the Sebree II project and the Baker Solar Project will provide the next step toward reaching our sustainability and carbon neutrality goals by 2050. While progress still needs to be made by everyone to reduce, and eventually eliminate, our scope 1 and 3 emissions, these innovations cast an illuminating path toward a solar-powered future.
This piece was written by students in the course ENV 380: Conveying Environmental Science to Diverse Audiences.
restroom or sitting on Chambers Lawn.
Some of my Pandemic Conclusions include: 1) Don’t try to play Uno in the middle of the 3rd Belk hallway floor during a pandemic - they’ll break it up (we will never know who won that large game...).
2) The Class of 2024 Honor Code signatures are in different colors and don’t fill all the pages, but that just gives it extra ~character~ (not that we were searching for some extra spice, but I guess we’ll take it). 3) They say time flies, but I say time flies in a pandemic.
Compared to this time of uncertainty, it’s been amazing to watch a once desolate campus become a vibrant one within just a few years. And during this time of the rebuilding of a community, I’ve had many experiences that have helped shape the trajectory of my life moving forward. I’m grateful for all the connections I have made in this time.
As an experienced ‘elder,’ here are some of my words of wisdom: 1) While you may think you know who you are when you start here, you don’t. It will take time. 2) You don’t have to be besties with everyone you meet, but always be willing to wave and say “Hey, how are you?” to those you do get to
know. 3) Make sure you truly enjoy what you devote your time to here. Time is precious. 4) Get involved early because you don’t know where it may lead you. 5) Build genuine connections by making time for the ones who honestly care about you. 6) And, of course, have fun (but please be safe as well) - enjoy this experience because this is the only time where all your friends and resources will be within a tenminute walk of you.
While things may seem difficult at the moment, it will get better. I never thought I’d see the day where we gather in large groups again following COVID, but here we are, celebrating with each other at parties, Frolics, and an upcoming graduation.
Thank you to everyone involved in this journey with me (both good and bad) for helping me learn who I am and what I’m capable of. It certainly was not easy (literal blood, sweat, and tears were involved). To my fellow class of 2024 members, we made it, even when everything was so uncertain in our beginning; continue to persevere and change the world for the better. If we can make it through a pandemic during a major life transition, then we can definitely make it through anything.
‘24
(HE/HIM) FORMER SPORTS EDITORDavidson’s track and field team is gearing up for the Atlantic 10 Championships this weekend after impressive meets the past two weeks at three events. The weekend of April 19th, the men’s team traveled to two different locations: Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina (USC). Two stunning performances from Jayden Smith ‘25 and Grahm Breiter ‘25 highlighted the weekend, both of them impressing ahead of the biggest weekend of the year.
Smith had been battling a hamstring injury dating back to the end of the winter season at the Boston Invitational, where he stumbled over the finish line. Smith spoke about the injury in February.
“I ended up just falling across the line, basically [...] It’s essentially just me going over the last hurdle,” Smith said. “Then my body kind of just, barrel rolls onto the floor across the line.”
Despite getting injured on the last hurdle, Smith won the race but was not able to compete in the final. He said that the injury was more a problem when trying to get over the hurdles: “I could run, I could still sprint [...] but I couldn’t lift my leg over the hurdle.”
He sat out the Atlantic 10 Championships for winter track and “took things slow” coming into the spring. Warming up for the outdoor season, Smith ran in a 100 meter race, a race he has not
Dparticipated in since 7th grade.
Smith remarked on how important USC meets mean to him: it was where everything began to “shift” when he competed there his freshman year. He had never broken the 14 second barrier in the hurdle race until that race and finished the event with a 13.54 second final in 2022. This season, despite his leg injury, Smith made the trip to South Carolina and almost beat his personal record on the 110M hurdles with a time of 13.46 seconds, earning him first in the event. He admitted that his leg may not be fully healthy despite his stellar time at South Carolina.
“I feel like there’s some work to be done, but I’m definitely in a better place than I was at that point,” Smith said.
Winning the 110M hurdles is not the only goal for Smith this season. Looking ahead to the Atlantic 10 Championships, Smith looks forward to getting a “wind-legal time” that will qualify him for the Olympic Trials–he qualified for the U.S Championships last year. He remarked about the benchmark he would have to get in order to reach the Olympic Trials.
“I need to go below the time of 13.5, which I’ve done, but it has to be wind-legal,” Smith said.
The junior’s ambitions do not stop there, either.
“I think my utmost paramount goal is, and although it’s kind of far-fetched, I want to try and achieve it. I want to be an NCAA champion.”
Smith currently sits sixth in the east region right now with his hurdle time, just .08 seconds behind the top runner.
The other standout runner of the weekend
was Breiter, who earned Atlantic 10 Men’s Track Performer of the Week for his first place victory in the steeplechase. He ranked fifth in the Atlantic 10 coming into the Wake Forest Invitational but now owns the fastest time with 8:53.74. This time was 13 seconds faster than anyone in the Atlantic 10, and the conference’s fastest time since 2016.
Breiter talked about his mindset going into the race.
“I feel like going into it, try and take the pressure off yourself as much as you can,” Breiter said. He added that “steeplechase is not a race for the faint-hearted, it’s a bit of a grind [...] it is a hardnosed race compared to the other ones, a type of physicality that some other races don’t.”
Breiter mentioned that a key to the mindset heading into Atlantic 10 Championships is “instilling confidence” in himself and his teammates, and that the coaches have been all about “buy-in.” Before his race, his coach told him “to kind of go out a little slower and move up,” which ended up being an excellent strategy. Breiter said he trusts the experience of his coach, Andrew Allden, and trusts that “he knows track a lot better than we do.”
Lastly, Breiter could not help but mention his teammate’s accomplishment when questioned about his first Track Performer of the Week title.
“That was cool,” Breiter said. “It had never happened before [...] I want to thank my teammate Jayden for letting me win it because he put up a top four time in the NCAA so I think he kind of forgoed it to let me get one. Appreciate
Jayden for that.”
Breiter and Smith were not the only two who impressed. A big weekend came from Megan Burkholder ‘24, who tied her personal record of 3.90m for the pole vault. She spoke about the feeling when she completed the pole vault.
“That was the most exciting jump I’ve ever done in my life,” Burkholder said. “I’ve been looking at that number for a really long time.”
Burkholder said she had failed at previous events trying to hit the 3.90m pole vault height. Her practice and technique recently has been what has led to her success.
“[I have been] trying to run fast and hit all of the right positions to have the pieces kind of fall into place and that’s built to this.”
Finally, as the entirety of Davidson track and field finishes up their season and Davidson seniors like Burkholder end their career, they look to finish the season on a high note in Fairfax this weekend. Burkholder had a good sentiment when leaving the interview, reflecting on her career before the championship.
“I am really excited to do it. A little bit sad. It’s been like 10 years of my life is about to come to a close. I’ll probably never do it again. So just getting to feel that feeling of weightlessness and like just literally being launched in the air one more time, I am looking forward to that.”
‘26 (HE/HIM)
avidson College Stadium, the new athletic complex that is made up of Field 76 and Game Changers Field House, opened to student-athletes during the college’s spring break in early March. Fans filled the stands for the first time on March 20, as women’s lacrosse defeated VCU 18-7 in the inaugural competition on Field 76 after making the midseason transition from Richardson Stadium. The energy was palpable that night, and it has continued to make an impact as the team remains hot. Attacker Julianne Carey ‘24 has taken note of how the stadium has facilitated the improved environment for games.
“The addition of the big digital scoreboard has been incredible,” Carey said. “When the starting lineup is called and when people score goals our faces show up on the screen. We also had a really cool hype up video created this year and that was displayed on the screen as well.”
The football team held their annual spring game exactly a month later, on April 20. The intrasquad competition was preceded by a stadium dedication ceremony and an open practice.
they didn’t necessarily have access to in the previous athletic weight room.
“We love the added versatility with the new equipment in the new gym. We can do more exercises and are able to do a lot more regarding lift training. The increased number of racks allows us more space to lift while other teams are also working
and some people had to share lockers because our team is so big. Now, we have a bigger locker room where everyone gets their own big locker,” she shared.
In addition to the updated setup and equipment that fit the team’s goals more precisely, there are also entirely new features that are not going unnoticed or unused.
“The new facility is great,” said TJ Magee ‘26, who started nine games at cornerback in 2023 and led the team with 6 pass break ups. “The new features prepare us to be our best both on and off the field. I think the new stadium will attract a bigger crowd and make it great for home games next season,” he added.
Football is not the only out-of-season team who is already benefiting from the new facility. Other squads, including baseball, have already noticed offerings in the Game Changers Field House
out. Additionally, the amount of space lets us comfortably move around and get to where we need to be,” explained outfielder Hunter Anderson ‘24.
Carey made similar points about both the weight room and lacrosse’s new locker room. “Our locker room before was smaller
“The nutrition station is crucial to our recovery, and with more resources available, it is much easier for us to keep our bodies in the best shape possible…the large turf area in the new gym gives us more room for agility training and speedwork, as well as having a great space to roll out, stretch, and warm up to prime our bodies for such intense workout sessions,” Anderson said.
While student-athletes are undoubtedly making the most of the facility, the move from Richardson Stadium has actually offered a new opportunity for non-Division I students: access to the weight room that was formerly restricted to varsity student-athletes.
“As someone who is rehabbing their shoulder, having a more easy availability for all sorts of equipment has helped me feel less stressed about the injury. I don’t have to worry about waiting for a bench to open since there are numerous other weights and exercises available for me,” shared Aaron Argo ‘26, one of many students who have explored the newly available space.
Many were against it when announced, but the opening of the Davidson College Stadium has made a positive impact on inseason and out-of-season student-athletes and teams enjoying the on-field environment and up-to-date amenities inside the facility, along with students who were previously limited to smaller and less well-stocked weight rooms.
OCATE GOODIN ‘26
SHE/HER
SECTION CO-EDITOR
ver winter break I was going through a box of my mom’s old Davidson keepsakes. She had a binder with her thesis, Union Board fliers, an old keychain, and then I pulled out a bright pink ticket for an Indigo Girls concert. Dated Friday, January 26th, 1990, the Indigo Girls were set to play in Love Auditorium thanks to the Concert Committee. I was in awe; she barely remembered that she even went to the concert. Immediately impressed by Davidson’s concert record–in my mom’s memory or not–I smiled at the little scrap of history.
I took a photo of the ticket stub and texted my friends, as we often do when we see old Davidson memorabilia or connections. Even pre-Barbie movie, most of us enjoyed a drive to “Closer to Fine.” And though I would never claim to be a fan to the same level as those in the 1980s and 1990s, quite a few Indigo Girls songs have made their way into my college music rotation. Back on campus in January 2024, I started to hear whisperings that the Indigo Girls were coming back to perform–one of those serendipitous full-circle moments. So, I texted my mom. And come Friday, the 26th, though this time in April 2024, the Indigo Girls took the stage at Davidson again. Love Auditorium may not exist anymore in our updated student Union, but the new football field more than took its place as the venue. The concert was not the only Indigo Girls event on campus, though.
On Thursday, April 25th, students, and particularly those whose professors added the Indigo Girls to their syllabi, were able to attend the documentary screening of It’s Only Life After All. The film, directed by Alexandria Bombach (who uses they/ she pronouns), chronicles the duo of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers in their development as artists and activists. Growing up in Georgia, Ray and Saliers formed their band in high school before parting ways for college. They both found their way back to Atlanta, though, when they ended up transferring to Emory University. Bombach’s film stitches contemporary interviews with footage from the past. Ray and her friends always had a camcorder on them, which led to a trove of video and audio recordings throughout their careers.
On Friday afternoon I ran into Bombach as they were walking by the Union Board Indigo Girls “tailgate.” Amidst glitter tattoos, sunglasses decorating, and the soundcheck carrying across campus, Bombach detailed their inspiration for the film and reflected on its both retrospective and forward-looking nature.
“That was something I was most excited about with this film and it was the biggest challenge,” Bombach said. “Having to hold all these things at the same time and make sense of them […] felt like writing a novel, where you’re trying to make these connections […] without even explicitly or didactically saying them.”
Time passes with many backwards glances in the film. A recent interview of Ray or Saliers often segued into a scene of a concert in the nineties or social and political context. An ever-evolving television screen, first set against 1960s wallpaper, eventually matures into a sticker-laden TV set of the early aughts. Bombach used extensive archival footage and edited for two years, “really wanting to have context in there.”
Bombach had more to incorporate than just video footage. Throughout the whole film, Indigo Girls songs wove into the story.
“It took a lot of work to figure out what songs should go where,” Bombach said. “I very naively made a list of my favorite songs [but realized] that’s not how that’s going to work.”
By the middle of the film, the beat of “Closer to Fine” started to rise, and there was a collective smile in the audience.
“‘Closer to Fine’ in the middle just feels appropriate because they don’t get famous until the middle of the film, and [it’s the] most iconic song they have, arguably,” said Bombach. In that vein, they continued, “Really a lot of the songs speak to whatever the scene speaks to tonally or literally in terms of activism or whatever it is.”
Even more so than the two years editing, this documentary has been a long time coming. Bombach met the group in the fall of 2017, when a friend suggested that they go to their concert.
“I was just, like crying, listening to their music,” Bombach recalled. “I’ve loved their music since I was twelve. I went backstage, met Emily [Saliers] and had this one-on-one conversation with her that was really powerful. I immediately felt so seen and heard by her, which is a cool experience to have with someone who just got offstage and has a lot of people to talk to.”
They expanded on why that moment meant so much.
“For her to give the time and space…for me in that moment was pretty profound,” Bombach said.
Bombach also began to wonder why they had not seen an Indigo Girls documentary before. As the documentary highlights, “[the band] had always said no to everyone because they were worried
about being pigeon-holed into this ‘lesbian-icon-only-that’ kind of view into their lives.” However, Ray and Saliers had heard about Bombach’s other films and really appreciated–and trusted them–with the activism angle.
After scenes from early-day club gigs, sold out shows, and marches and grassroot organizations, the final scene of the documentary ends in a dressing room. Bombach reflected on this closing decision.
“They’re still touring, selling out shows everywhere, this is not what you would call a sunset film,” Bombach said. “So for me I wanted it to be more about an emotional education [...] I feel like they have so much to offer us as mentors and a part of queerhistory and activism-history. So, I wanted to bring more of that stuff in. And that final scene, I remember when I was filming it, I was like this is everything.”
That message permeates the final scene, when Saliers chats with the makeup artist as they both acknowledge the kindness in each other.
“In so many ways that’s the thesis of the film. Being in right relationship with yourself and your community is definitely the thesis,” Bombach emphasized. “It’s this last thing to grab you. This is actually what we’re talking about.”
James K. Batten Professor of English, Emily Drew ‘04, then had the opportunity to moderate a Q&A with Ray, Saliers, and Bombach in the Duke Family Performance Hall. Drew reflected on her role the next day.
“I was honored to have the opportunity to do that, and that the school trusted me to have that conversation with two women who are not only important to the Davidson community […] but to the broader community and the public discourse around LGBTQAI rights,” Drew said.
From discussions on the documentary to the current environments on university campuses, the conversation, as Drew acknowledged, “went a little deeper and into some new territory based on what’s going on in the news right now.” As always, the deepening of the conversation is all an interviewer can ask for. Drew remarked, “We only had around 25 minutes; I could have talked to them for five hours.”
But the campus didn’t have to say goodbye to the Indigo Girls just yet. The next day, students, fans, and alums started to fill the newly opened Field 76 for the Friday concert. In the January 31st, 1990 issue of The Davidsonian, the Indigo Girls’ visit to
Davidson took the front page. Amy Ray, interviewed for that article, stated, “Once people get to know who you are, they listen… it felt really positive,” in response to how the student reaction differed from an unenthusiastic, “kind of rude” crowd at Davidson three years prior. Ray and Saliers chatted with the crowd at Friday’s performance, explaining their connection to Davidson and how it was either their third or fourth time back–there’s been some debate. But there’s no question of the spirit in the crowd this time around.
At college themselves in the mid-eighties, Ray and Saliers were practically peers with the Davidson students when they performed in 1987 and 1990. And the message from the duo and their songs rang just as true to those original members of the crowd, current Davidson students, and everyone in-between. My friends and I danced with an alum going on her 25th reunion who remembered her freshman “third Rich” experience like it was yesterday. Old friends reunited to visit Davidson and swayed their arms to “The Power of Two.” And the crowd shouted “How long ‘til my soul gets it right/Can any human being ever reach that kind of light” in the chorus of “Galileo.” No matter if you heard the Indigo Girls for the first time back in ‘87 or just learned the tune that night, the crowd was suspended in the timelessness of their message. I doubt anyone had “reached that kind of light,” even if they’d been working on it for over thirty years. There is something about the music that is so quintessentially college yet so entirely timeless.
Of course the crowd belted out “Closer to Fine” as I clung to my friends and wondered if we’d similarly be back here in twenty-five years. But it was a night of reunion, whether official or not. A reunion of the Indigo Girls to Davidson, of friends with each other, and the feeling of finding oneself.
I walked down the new stadium steps to a new vantage point of campus, as cars filed out onto Main Street. I knew my dorm was only a five minute walk away, and I walked it a little less rushed than usual. A lot of things change, but a lot of things return. And maybe the Indigo Girls will be back for the 4th (or is it 5th?) time in the future. So hold onto your ticket stubs and maybe hum a tune from the memories.
Cate Goodin ‘26 (she/her) is an English and Art History double major from McLean, VA and can be reached for comment at cagoodin@davidson.edu.
Director Alexandria Bombach and Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls sit for a Q&A session following the screening of Bombach’s documentary It’s Only Life After All, with Professor of English Emily Drew Photo by Zach Mordan.Across
1 County law enforcement chiefs
9 Cringes
15 “This is perfect for me!” 16 Affirmation
17 Hourly charge alternative
18 Menu item at a steakhouse
19 Professor Clark, who taught religion and sculpted gnomes
20 “In ___” (actually)
21 Fostered through heredity as traits
22 Number on a scale (abbr.)
23 “Meet the Press” group
25 “I’m ___ here!”
28 Former baseball bigwig Bud
30 Clear out, as from a battle zone, briefly
34 Outlooks from doctors
36 ___ by (agree to)
37 Something to go off on
38 Dodgers manager from 19791996
40 Taken together
41 They’re on the left in books
43 “Merry old” king
44 Bank robbery
45 Took an Uber, say
46 Production in the Barber Theater
48 Airport-sked abbr.
50 Social party
53 Precious
55 36th pres.
58 Snow-colored, in Spain
59 “The ___ driving machine” (BMW tagline)
61 Number on a scale
62 Without ambiguity
63 Think too much (about)
64 Like the last person in after curfew
Down 1 Prepare, as flour
2 Angel feature
3 Ball-shaped cheese
4 “Baloney!”
5 Discount rack abbr.
6 Has for dinner
7 “If the shoe ___, ...”
8 D.C.P.C feature
9 Giving a darn
10 Like Bo Peep’s flock
11 “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” instrument
12 Antique pitcher
13 “Big Mouth” Martha
14 Snow glider 22 Bee’s figure-eight flight pattern
24 Airplane walkways
25 Fiber-___
26 Heavenly, in combos
27 Harmonic and melodic
29 Hold in high ___
31 August-September sign
32 “With no sugar ___”
33 “Knock it off!”
35 “___ blu, dipinto di...” (“Volare” lyrics)
36 Cleopatra’s snake
39 Aardvark
42 Railroad bridge
44 Annoy persistently
47 Alternatives to potatoes
49 Chord with three tones
50 “Peek-___!”
51 Blow, as one’s lines
52 They might be aroar in Belk Arena
54 Former Connecticut governor Grasso
55 Netlike fabric
56 A/C measures
57 “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” singer Joan
60 Diagnostic aid, for short
BEN PEAKE ‘25 (HE/HIM)
While classes are over and Frolics 2023 is in the rearview mirror, next year’s Union Board President Davis Varnado ‘25 is taking time to reflect, despite his excitement about what the next two semesters will bring.
“I think [Frolics] went better than I feel like anyone expected,” said Varnado. “And I think both of the boards, so the current and future boards, did an amazing job running it, building the show and making it happen.” According to Varnado, the Union Board does so much work behind the scenes that people don’t get to see, so it can be difficult to understand how much planning truly goes into making the weekend special for students. “[We’ve] been planning it for months. And what’s also interesting is [that] things don’t always go the way you planned.” Flexibility is required, and Varnado said that none of the months-long planning he mentioned took into account the concert that featured Briston Maroney and Del Water Gap, which is its own separate entity in the process.Varnado, who spent his sophomore year on the Union Board as the Special Programming Chair, was a natural fit for the presidency. In order to become president, you have to be on the Union Board for at least a year. While Varnado joked that he was the only person on campus that met that requirement and wanted the job, giving him the opportunity to run unopposed, his resume speaks for itself. Varnado noted a Murder Mystery Party, a bonsai-making event, and a slew of food trucks as just a few of the events he organized on campus. Once he was elected president, Varnado immediately got to work on crafting the future board with his vice president, Bennett (Bea) Middendorf ‘25. After the interview process was done, Varnado said that his favorite Union Board tradition is cold-calling the students who got a position. “[It’s a] fun surprise and welcome in. And then [...] we did a retreat a few weeks ago, making sure all board members know each other, really building the community, which is so important to the board.” Varnado’s initial goal for next year? Simply spreading the word. “My first big goal for next year is creating innovative publicity. I think that’s been somewhat of an issue with our events [...] And students know about the big ones: they know about Fall Fling, they know about Frolics and Winterfest, but we do so many other smaller events throughout the year that we really try to publicize. [They] just don’t get any student attraction, even though they’re super interesting and super fun. So I think Bea and I have been looking at ways to really change and really try to make sure all of our events reach the right audience.” The Union Board also wants to solidify recent traditions like Humans vs. Zombies and bring them back year-to-year, keeping them alive for students who may not have gotten the chance to experience them yet. When asked about what he wants his legacy to be, Varnado never once brought attention to himself. “My job next year will just really be to make sure [the board] keeps on being energized and invested in it [...] And I think any time any event is at all successful, that’ll feel like I’m leaving my legacy here.”
CFIJI Goes Away for Formal. Party Scene Unaffected. Page Beta Male
Irreverent student journalism since 2004. Castigat Ridendo Mores.
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ulture and art are some of the most important parts of the newspaper, as it allows people to distract themselves from global problems. This yowl writer wants to bring dignity, culture, and beauty back to the yowl, which is why I shall be giving my humble review of a pop culture film. I chose my first film for the review by looking at the search history on my roommate’s computer. I had seen him watching something attentively but, in a testament to the shame of culture, he turned it off before I could get a proper look. To bring confidence and pride back into indie films that bring important themes and emotions to their audience I have decided to look at the film “A Day in You”. It started simple enough with a family ordering pizza. The dialogue was a tad trite and the actors a little stale, none the less I could tell there was tension and suspense in the air. It was a blended family which was immediately compelling to me, as I feel the human trope of finding belonging and new love despite obstacles to be profound. The discussion on the broken family washing machine provided some conflict, but it was beginning to be clear that this film’s plot was distracted and not entirely fleshed out as if it was rushing to the climax. I dreaded that this cinema escapade would promise me a long satisfying climax, however, I knew deep down the climax would be quick and unfulfilling leaving me
underwhelmed. The family’s daughter went to the door to pay the delivery boy. She was appalled to find he had brought her the extra sausage pizza, which I felt was an important scene as this film had finally decided to take a stance on something. This scene was a champion for the environmental movement as she refused to pay for the pizza. From this point onward the film took a very different turn. The delivery boy used his charisma, edge, and general male manipular vibe to seduce the daughter, which was a shock and felt like a departure from the character. This scene reminded me of my first night at F. To my dismay, the rest of the film continued like this. Each character began to make decisions that I felt did not further the plot at all and was truly unbelievable. The conflict had no stakes. How does someone get stuck in a washing machine??? The one redeeming quality was just the love between family members. It was a bit extreme for my taste but art films are art films, and I have to accept that visionary filmmakers need to push the envelope to reach the full extent of what art can teach us about the human soul. I recommend this film for a lonely night when you must feel love transcend all boundaries. I think the director Steele Ryder and the main actress Amber Blaze put their all into this production for Velvet Whispers production. Thank you ppga for recommending this film to me. I rate it a 6/9.
• Go to the beach!
• Go to the mountains!
It’s time for us to finally say goodbye for the rest of the school year. In order for us to be more inclusive, we’re going to bid adieu in multiple languages so that we can equally offend everyone instead of just FIJI. Please memorize this list as we all know you still need to complete your language credit.
• Frat Bro – Fist bump to bro hug
• Pick Me Girl – Tee hee (unironically)
• College President – A Davidson education fosters humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds. Students flourish in our distinctively supportive community, where peers and mentors act with integrity and embrace academic rigor. We strive to create an environment where students are anchored by relationships and experiences—connections that cultivate curiosity, empathy and intellectual bravery.
• Simlish – Dag Dag
• Klingon – Qapla
• Elvish – Amin mela lle
• Dothraki – Fonas chek
• Vulcan – Dif-tor heh smusma
• Valyrian – Skoros morghot
• Welsh – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
• Furbish – Bye-Bye
• Minionese – Poopaye Bello
• Futurama Alienese – Shklee!
• Wookiee – Rrharr
• Dwarvish – Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
• WALT – sings you a six minute long song
• Libs – construction noises
• House of Anubis – Sabuna? Sabuna!
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Dealing with Your Drinking Habits Now That You’ve Left College
Davidson seniors have been hit with a stunning realization that’s crept in after the last week of partying on campus before quiet hours kick in: this is the last time it’s socially acceptable to act and drink like this. Nevermind the fear of your closest friends scattering across the country and never being in the same room again, forcing your bonds with your dearest companions to slowly transition to becoming only messages on your phone and memories in your heart, what about not being able to go out at school again?
It turns out that when you tell people in the real world that you intend to drink 10 to 12 light beers and stand in a single apartment with strangers, your co-workers will tell you that this “sounds like a bad time” and “doesn’t seem particularly enjoyable”. The looks you receive upon describing your weekend plans of housing an entire 40oz followed in quick succession by a Four Loko will inform you that the Sidewalk Slammer tradition is not normalized at all in the real world. How can you possibly justify your decision to start drinking from pitchers of beer at a coffee shop starting at 2 pm if you’re still on the clock? The good news is you can likely still find unfocused and overcrowded bar trivia on a Wednesday in essentially any major city, so you can at least replicate the preeminent social event for Davidson. Otherwise you will have to be something worse than just a graduated adult: A responsible adult. However, leaving campus isn’t all bad: at least you won’t have to pretend to enjoy acapella, let alone 4 different acapella groups.
• Go to your weird relatives’ house for a summer cookout that your parents dragged you to
• Quit drinking (it’s so easy—this is my fourth time!)
• While we’re at it, smoking too (the plug keeps calling my name)
• Watch the masses flock to the Bahamas while you have $3 to your name Scroll past your ex’s Italy pics for the fourth time
• Text Davidson situationship until they stop responding in June for some reason
• Become trapped in your parents’ house again as if you haven’t been living by yourself for years
• Maybe see your grandma? She misses you. If only she didn’t live 15 feet underground.
• Go to a music festival and stand in line for beer for 2 hours
• Work for Lord Business from the Lego Movie™ for $0 an hour
• Have an awkward lunch with high school friend
• Use college grants to traffick arms and drugs internationally
• Buy a bucket
• Go back to hometown. Remember why you left said hometown.
• Figure out post grad... maybe?
“I’ve never lost a New York Times crossword or a shotgun.”
- a FIJI said that about someone who had said that previously
Best VMC Presentations: - Binge Drinking and Quality of Life Are Positively Correlated - Effects of Commons Food on the Digestive System - Silence and Stigma in the Mime Community
Note: The Yowl is a satirical supplement to The Davidsonian Hence, nothing in it should be taken as truth.