or months, fear has defined daily life on college campuses. Student activists have been subject to heavy police response at institutions like Emory University and Columbia University. Speech has been surveilled and expulsions are more common. As the 2024-2025 academic year comes to a close, a new fear is rising—deportation.
Over 1,800 international students and recent graduates at 280 colleges and universities lost their F-1 or J-1 visa status as of April 24 as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. In a major reversal, on April 25, the government announced it was restoring student statuses in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). No Davidson students had their status changed or their visas revoked, but the College is feeling the ripple effects of federal policy shift. In the close-knit campus community where students know administrators by their first names and share dinners with faculty at their homes, concern for stability and freedom of expression permeate. These fears have coalesced around calls for the removal of Leslie Grinage ‘03 from the Board of Trustees and demands for additional protections for international students.
Grinage, who began her four-year term on Jan. 1, 2025, is the vice president for campus life and student experience and dean of the college at Barnard College and previously served as associate dean of students at Davidson from 2016-2019. Grinage is an alumni trustee, which means she was elected by Davidson College alumni to serve on the Board. Calls for her removal from the Board of Trustees began after the arrest of nine individuals on Barnard’s campus during a pro-Palestinian sit-in at the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning on March 5, and an earlier sit-in at Grinage’s office in February where protesters advocated for the reinstatement of two students who’d been expelled for interrupting a class on Israel. “It’s a really strong visual and a really strong statement to have this person who was really publicly associated with extreme student repression and carceral violence against students, specifically at Columbia, [...] and she was the face of that,” a Davidson student, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear for their safety, said. “It is a huge symbolic move on Davidson’s part to say, ‘Okay, this person who has so publicly
been the face of this violent student repression for non-violent protest, we want her.’”
A petition calling for Grinage’s dismissal put together by an anonymous group, the Coalition of Davidson Alumni, also references the Trump administration’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a student activist at Columbia who advocated for Palestinian rights.
Barnard stands as an independent college for women with its own curriculum, faculty, admissions standards, graduation requirements, trustees, endowment and physical plant.
Although Barnard and Columbia have separate curriculum, faculty, trustees and endowments, Barnard describes itself as both an “independently accredited and incorporated educational institution as well as an official college of Columbia University.”
“We are concerned for the stability of the Davidson community, and especially for the safety of international and undocumented students whose legal status may be weaponized against them,” the Coalition writes. “As alumni of conscience with a vested interest in our alma mater, we intend to ensure these dystopian realities could never play out at Davidson College.”
Grinage’s office wrote they were “unable to accommodate” a request for interview/comment. The authors of the petition, which first appeared in March, argue that Grinage has proven herself “unfit” to protect Davidson College students and that her position on the Board is an “embarrassment and a detriment to the students, faculty, alumni and greater community of Davidson College.” Signatories of the petition, whose names are not published, pledge to withhold financial support from the College until Grinage is removed.
Sophia Ludt ‘25 is the president of the Center for Political Engagement. She believes Grinage is not the right person for the role of trustee.
“I think that it’s great to hire people that are experienced with other colleges,” Ludt said. “But I have a lot of concerns about what her role on campus would be, and that it’s just upholding the systems that have historically held down certain students.” Trustees and high-level college administrators are aware of the petition and broader concern regarding Grinage’s position on the Board. David Hall ‘84 is a trustee and chair of the governance and nominating committee for the Board. One of the committee’s responsibilities is nominating potential trustees.
“Members of the college shared some emails they received during the election and we are aware of the current petition,” Hall wrote over email. “We respect the opinions of our alumni and welcome their feedback. It is difficult, however, to respond to a petition that was started anonymously.”
Vice President for College Relations Eileen Keeley went on to say that a single trustee does not have that much power.
“They might have influence, they might have a voice, but a single trustee—she’s not on the executive committee,” Keeley said. “She’s a regular trustee attending meetings. She has a voice in those meetings, but she can’t decide anything on her own.”
The executive committee of the Board does have some powers that regular trustees do not have, including the authority to act for the full Board between scheduled meetings. However, members of the executive committee do not have the individual ability to change college policy. Vice President and General Council Sarah Phillips commented that the relationship between the administration and the Board is a collaborative one.
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Three Davidson seniors continue education through noteworthy scholarships
CLAIRE IRELAND ‘28 (SHE/HER) WEBSITE DESIGNER
CLAIRE KELLY ‘25 (SHE/HER) CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
As the semester comes to a close and another class of seniors look to graduate from Davidson next week, three standout members of the class of 2025 will head across the pond thanks to prestigious scholarships. Madeline Dierauf ‘25 has been named a Rhodes Scholar, and Grace McGuire ‘25 and Steve Mirabello ‘25 have been named W. Thomas Smith Scholars. Some might recognize McGuire for her comedic timing with her fellow improv members in Oops! or for her hosting skills for Union Board trivia this year. Others might have heard Dierauf play the fiddle in the Duke Family Performance Hall with her Appalachian folk band Wilder Flower and know Mirabello for his extensive work with The College Crisis Initiative or his ultimate frisbee skills. Their extracurricular and academic achievements speak for themselves, and these students will continue to add to their list of accomplishments in England. The Rhodes Scholarship is a fully funded, international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford. The Smith Scholarship, established by Tom Smith
‘48, funds all eligible expenses associated with a full-time graduate program in any field at a major university outside the United States for up to one year.
For Dierauf, her passion for both the fiddle and academics made up the heart of her application to the Rhodes Scholarship. An independent study with Professor of Religious Studies Dr. Anne Wills made clear that these two components of Dierauf’s identity held profound intersections and led her to pursue a masters in American studies and philosophical theology. “We just read a novel a week more or less, and they were all American novels from the 20th century [...] it got me thinking about regional or folk literature, and how that could be sort of similar [to the] emotional feel to music,” Dierauf said.
This interest in folk art compelled Dierauf to conduct research this past summer for Professor of English Dr. Hudson Vincent. Dierauf began to research the ballads that often accompanied the shipping of prisoners from England to the colonizing effort in the Americas. “I got to look at ballads about people who are being convicted of very minor crimes and sent from England to the Americas to help colonize. There are a lot of old broadside ballads about that because it tends to be sort of a folk form about lower class experiences,” Dierauf explained.
“That really helped me make my pitch for
these fellowships. [I want] to think about how being in England and having access to old ballad archives would be really valuable historically and also artistically, bringing together literature and the academic side with the full art side,” Dierauf said.
McGuire, whose mother and sister both pursued masters in the United Kingdom, is excited to carry on somewhat of a family tradition while also creating her own unique experiences at the University of Cambridge.
“My mom went to [Cambridge] for her masters so [...] when I was 12, we went to England and she said, ‘We have to go to Cambridge for a day’ and I remember being so in awe [...] As a 12-year-old, when people are like, ‘Where do you want to go to college?’
I’d always say, ‘Cambridge,’” McGuire described. “I keep joking, it’s kind of like going to Hogwarts.”
As a digital studies and art history double major, McGuire is excited to pursue her masters in digital humanities because of the versatility of the field. McGuire, whose art history thesis revolved around how AI labels pictures submitted by family and friends, has studied how art has adapted to the modern age.
“When we all started at Davidson, AI wasn’t a thing at all, and now we’re graduating and it’s more of a thing. I guess that’s what I think is super cool about the digital world, [it’s] that things are constantly evolving and developing
[...] [When] I think of what I’m going to do in ten years, I don’t think it is necessarily something that exists right now.”
For Mirabello, who will attend the London School of Economics to pursue a masters in philosophy and public policy, studying abroad is not unfamiliar territory. In the summer after his first year at Davidson, he went to France as part of a group investigation project and
Rallygoer holds up a handmade sign at an Immigrant Justice Coalition event earlier this semester. Photo by Alex Marron ‘27.
Madeline Dierauf ‘25 is a Rhodes Scholarship grantee. Photo provided by Madeline Dierauf ‘25.
Davidson to end partnership with Posse Scholars program
AIDAN MARKS ‘27 (HE/HIM) POLITICS EDITOR
Davidson College announced that it will end its partnership with The Posse Foundation on Friday, May 2, leading current Posse Scholars to reflect on their time with the program and causing some to speculate that the partnership has been heading toward a natural conclusion for years.
Evolving admissions priorities and strategies are the main reason for the decision, according to an email sent to scholars by Vice President and Dean of Admission & Financial Aid Christopher Gruber on May 2. In the decade since the first Posse cohort came to Davidson in 2015, “the landscape for higher education has changed drastically,” Gruber wrote. “We have increased our commitment to recruiting students for whom Davidson will be a transformational experience, particularly for students who are eligible for Pell Grants and for students who are the first in their family to
go to college.”
Davidson will continue to support the current cohorts of Posse Scholars on campus through the incoming Class of 2029. “For the scholars who remain on campus, and for those joining us in the fall, we are committed to providing the scholarship, mentoring, and resources that were promised to them and offering them an unparalleled educational experience,” Gruber wrote.
“We firmly believe in the Posse philosophy of building tight friendships between scholars, and their faculty and staff mentors — friendships that remain strong after graduation. The diversity of backgrounds and life experiences that [Posse scholars] bring to campus make Davidson a better place,” Gruber continued.
Posse Scholar and Senior Admission Fellow Simon Lau ‘25 emphasized that the decision is unrelated to the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion practices at colleges and universities, but rather something Davidson has been considering for a while.
“Working [in admissions], it’s apparent that
they weren’t too happy with some of the things that [have been happening with] the Posse Foundation [...] There was a lot of turnover in the Posse Foundation in recent years, which caused a lot of issues with certain policies,” Lau explained.
Posse Scholar Abi Brissett ‘26 thinks the administration noticed declining engagement over the past few years. “I know attendance [at Posse events] has been low [...] and I remember one of the Posse leaders saying it was really important for us to go this year, because Davidson was kind of starting to pay attention to how much of an impact Posse seemed to be having on the individual students,” Brissett said.
Current scholars emphasize the importance of supporting programs that expand opportunity for marginalized students. For many, Posse makes attending college out of state a possibility. “I had only considered going instate,” Lau said. “I really wanted to be in a new environment. I liked how Davidson was a smaller community, liberal arts school, and I never would have been able to do it if it
weren’t for Posse.”
Ultimately, the decision reminds Lau that programs like Posse are subject to change. “A lot of times, we just assume this is a program that’s going to be happening forever,” Lau said. “But I think the reality of it is, it’s so important to maintain relationships. Once you have something, it’s really important to cultivate and make sure that everything’s going well with it.”
Despite areas for improvement, Lau is grateful for his time as a Posse Scholar. “I’m really proud to be part of this community.”
As scholars grapple with the news, questions linger. In particular, some students wonder where funds currently earmarked for Posse will be reallocated. “It’s important to know where that money is going and how that’s going to affect future classes, and especially future class diversity,” Brissett said.
Students with questions should contact Associate Director of Admission and Director of Access Programs Marlene Arellano, according to Gruber’s email, who was not available for comment by print deadline.
Students push for campus reform, fear for undocumented and international students
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“It’s more like we are sharing information and coming up with a common goal or vision,” Phillips said. “It is usually after multiple meetings of conversation and iteration that we might bring a proposal to the Board for a formal vote.”
Still, Keely acknowledged the sense of fear among students stemming from what they feel Grinage may represent. However, she remained steadfast in her conviction that Grinage alone does not have outsized power or influence over the College.
“The fear, I get it,” Keeley said. “There are lots of things going on right now that are ramping up everyone’s anxiety, and so I get the reason why students may fear that something could happen here. I think it’s a misunderstanding of the role of trustees, and a single trustee doesn’t have that kind of power.”
Any change in Grinage’s position, much less removal from the Board, is unlikely. Trustees remain firm in their support for her.
“Leslie received overwhelming support during her election to the Board,” Hall said. “That support continues today. She is deeply committed to Davidson and brings a unique and highly valuable perspective to the Board.”
In conducting interviews for this story, several international students were not very familiar with Grinage nor the controversy surrounding her position on the Board of Trustees. However, they were acutely aware of the distinct and uncertain nature of their stability and future on Davidson’s campus.
“I’ve been watching the news about the context [at] Columbia, and I don’t want to say anything very strict because I don’t know the person in this position or what her context is, but I get scared,” an
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later returned to the country to spend a fall semester abroad in Paris. In the summer of 2024, he then ventured to Belfast, Ireland as part of a study abroad program with the educational studies department and, shortly after the program ended, used his stipend as a John M. Belk Scholar to study in Japan for a few weeks.
Much of Mirabello’s studies have centered around his interest in higher education policy, including his thesis for his philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) major. “What I argue is that the university is a really interesting case study for unionizations because you have a bunch of different types of employee groups all under one employer. You have faculty, you have various kinds of staff, various kinds of student workers. I look[ed] at the state of unionizations in higher education and then ran a model to try to predict the factors associated with universities experiencing unionization,” he described.
Mirabello is excited about the opportunity to further his own interests. “Most of the programs I applied to were more applied public policy programs, and this was a pretty unique program because it was philosophy and public policy. I was actually pretty sure I was going to [a] more applied [public policy program] until the last minute, [but] I talked to some of my advisors and [they encouraged] me to follow the program I felt most passionate about and let the rest take care of itself,” he said. Beyond the educational scope, these
international student, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear for their safety, said. “My initial reaction is to be scared when I see a relationship with Columbia, especially in being so favorable to not fight against Trump’s policies.”
Davidson has remained largely out of the spotlight in recent weeks, but student deportations have crept close to home. Six students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte recently had their visas restored after they were terminated by the government earlier in April.
“It has definitely made me rethink a lot about what it means for any international student to be in the U.S.,” the international student said. “Part of me was very grateful to Davidson because of the smaller school environment and not being so much in the media and having lower risk. When I was applying to schools I remember Columbia was also on my list. I was actually waitlisted from there. So it was a bit of a moment of like, ‘Oh my gosh, it could have been me.’”
Undocumented students, and students with family members who are undocumented, are facing uncertainty as well. Luisa Guzman ‘26 founded the Immigrant Justice Coalition (IJC) this semester alongside Xaris Trigueros ‘28 and Elizabeth Corral ‘28 to create safe spaces and raise awareness as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and deportations continue to rise.
“There’s a really big fear among the student body right now for people that have family members that are undocumented,” Guzman said. “They’re scared that they’re going to come home and their family isn’t going to be there, and there’s nothing they can do about that from Davidson.”
IJC focuses on helping students find comfort and strength in shared experience.
“Community combats fear,” Trigueros said. “Persevering through
students are excited to explore their new home. McGuire, who received a Dean Rusk grant to study how comedy works in the United Kingdom during the summer of 2023, is excited to take her Davidson passions to Cambridge. “Cambridge has their own stand-up group called Footlights, so I’m excited about that,” she stated. “[It] is on the water, so they also have these boats called punts, and so you push them along the waterside. [...] University Challenge is also a trivia game show, and
fear by continuing to thrive, continuing to be good students, continuing to be good people and being together, that in itself combats fear. Obviously it’s still there, but community is the start of making people feel like they’re not alone.
Against the backdrop of anxiety, some students feel as though freedom of speech is no longer a right but a luxury that remains out of reach. In March, Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested and detained by ICE agents, allegedly in response to an op-ed she co-authored last year for the Tufts student newspaper addressing the ongoing war in Gaza.
“We have to be so much more careful,” Nhi Huynh ‘26 said. “My mom, she was sending me all these texts like, ‘Is everything okay there?’ She was telling me not to involve myself in any protests because even if I stand up for what I believe in, I might get deported. So just to be safe, even if you have an opinion, keep it to yourself. Don’t even stand up and say what you think, keep it to yourself for your own safety.”
Huynh, who is from Vietnam, and the other international student said that they’ve felt supported by the Office of International Student Engagement (ISE) but think more could be done at the administrative level.
“Summer housing applications have ended,” the anonymous international student said. “If tomorrow Trump decides to do a travel ban in a country that some of our international students are from, these people have nowhere to go. They have to stay on campus or they’re homeless. There’s no in between. So what I would like to see, and what I’ve seen people advocating for, is for a strong position from Davidson of ‘I’ve got you covered and if anything [...] happens, we will take care of you and you’re not going to be on the street.’”
it’s all people from different colleges like Cambridge and Oxford [and] other universities, so maybe I’ll try University Challenge too.”
Dierauf, too, foresees a couple of must-do activities. “When I think of England, I picture myself in the nosebleed seats at the [Royal Shakespeare Company] Playhouse [...] Also, I really want to go to the Cotswolds and hike,” Dierauf mused. She also stated that her fiddle practice will certainly figure into
her time in England. “I just have a feeling, knowing myself, that if I’m not playing pretty regularly with people and in public, I’ll be pretty bored and unhappy. I think I’ll have to find some sort of way to make that happen.” As these three students look back on their time at Davidson, they emphasized how their experience has prepared them well for what lies ahead. “I think the [intimate] nature of academics at Davidson makes me feel much better about entering graduate school [...] I feel like I’ve had at least some amount of exposure to true interdisciplinary work here that feels pretty unique to Davidson, so the mentorship and intense nature of humanity that Davidson has will be great preparations,” Dierauf stated.
Mirabello felt similarly. “I think one of the best things has been the close relationships with peers and faculty [...] having small class sizes and this kind of residential community where everybody’s learning from each other has definitely shaped me, and it’s something I’m going to try to recreate as much as I can, even at a bigger, more cosmopolitan university.”
McGuire also commented on the support she felt from the Davidson community throughout her application process. “I’ve had moments of gratitude, and I think something really special about Davidson professors [is] that they want the best for you. And I know you could say that about a lot of schools, but I think there’s just something truly special here,” she stated.
Steve Mirabello ‘25 in his element at a DUFF match. Photo provided by Steve Mirabello ‘25.
A young Grace McGuire ‘25 poses in front of Hogwarts in a Cambridge sweatshirt. Photo provided by Grace McGuire ‘25.
Sports
Men’s basketball navigates the ups and downs of transfer portal
The men’s basketball offseason has taken on a new sense of anticipation since the announcement of the Curry-Berman Fund in March. The eight-figure fund, dedicated entirely to men and women’s basketball, allows Davidson to compete with the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) spending of other NCAA Division I schools.
“One thing I tell folks is that [the CurryBerman Fund] is almost like the cost of doing business in order to just be competitive. That’s what it takes,” Davidson College Vice President and Director of Athletics Chris Clunie ‘06 said. “That still doesn’t guarantee success.”
Before Clunie returned to Davidson as a staff member, he worked for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was around professional basketball systems, which were focused on contract signing over commitment signing.
Now, the College is shifting toward what he calls a “pro-type model” of managing studentathletes. This system includes the new addition of a manager dedicated solely to overseeing basketball operations for Davidson, a role filled by Austin Buntz, the new assistant athletic director for basketball development and general manager.
“Austin oversees the revenue share for both
programs, and I work closely with him to establish what our roster looks like from a financial perspective,” Clunie said. “He’s in it every day. He works very closely with the men’s and women’s basketball teams and he does a great job.”
While the financial construction of the roster is in the hands of Clunie and Buntz, the responsibility of building the on-court roster rests in the hands of the men’s basketball coaching staff, led by Head Coach Matt McKillop ‘06, who is heading into his fourth season at the helm. This offseason has already proven to be more difficult than those in the past, thanks to the transfer portal, a challenge that is not lost on the Davidson athletics staff.
According to McKillop, the transfer game begins long before the offseason.
“Transferring is more prevalent in college basketball. At some point in the year, players are getting contacted by agents, by coaches from other teams, by third parties, by their former high school or [Amateur Athletic Union] AAU coaches. It’s happening everywhere, and the seed is being planted for the idea of not remaining where you are. I don’t know how to navigate that, and I know a lot of coaches in the country are struggling with that. It impacts performance and it impacts the team’s ability to win,” McKillop said.
When asked if he had ever seen the portal
this pertinent at Davidson, Clunie’s answer was simple: “Absolutely not. It’s just different. We never had to worry about it before. Rules were different when I was playing, and three or four years ago, [a player] could transfer once, and they still had to sit out a year. And then [the rule changed] and a player could transfer one time and be immediately eligible. Now players can transfer as many times as they want, as long as they’re eligible. The amount of transfers, and the frequency with which kids do transfer, is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. This is brand new territory.”
Davidson men’s basketball lost four players to the portal this offseason: junior Reed Bailey, the Atlantic 10 scoring leader and most improved player, along with Riccardo Ghedini ‘25, and sophomores Bobby Durkin and Mike Loughnane. While much of the focus has been on the players shipping out, the ‘Cats have been quietly building with new additions.
“A month ago, we didn’t have any idea what our team would look like next year,” McKillop said. “Once we got through some of the tough waters, we found ourselves pretty excited about what we believe our team will look like next year.”
Per NCAA recruiting regulations, Davidson is not allowed to confirm nor speak about any players who have committed to the basketball team—whether via transfer portal or out of
high school—until those players have officially signed.
According to verbalcommits.com, six players have verbally committed to play for Davidson. High school senior guards Devin Brown, out of Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio, and R.J. Greer, out of Springboro High School in Springboro, Ohio, make up the incoming freshman class. The remaining four additions are all sophomores, acquired via the transfer portal: guard Sam Brown from the University of Pennsylvania, guard Parker Freidrichsen from Wake Forest University, forward JaQualon Roberts from Vanderbilt University and forward Josh Scovens from Army West Point.
“A different season begins the second the last season ends. It’s tough to think that way, but I have to find ways to remind myself that this is a very fun job,” McKillop said, addressing the fluctuation of college basketball. “This is as good as it gets. Among all the head coaches in the country, I have a different outlook on [recruitment] because of my sense of pride in Davidson and my belief in how we do things, and my belief in how this community revolves around so many values that shape who people are once they move on from Davidson. We hope that [the student-athletes] have the experiences that I had as a player and that our staff had as players and students here at Davidson.”
Teachman ‘28 thrashes javelin competition at A-10 championships
NATHAN STEWART ‘25 (HE/HIM)
There is a clear pressure on anyone who enters an Atlantic 10 (A-10) championship atop their event’s leaderboard, and even more so when that athlete is a freshman. This pressure was hardly apparent on the face of stoic javelin thrower John Teachman ‘28, nor when he secured himself the conference title on his first throw. Teachman landed a distance of 63.34 meters, earning him a gold medal as well as a mark nearly three meters farther than the second place finisher. The Davidsonian sat down with the soft-spoken athlete, whose prowess is all too often obscured by his humility.
Q: Congrats on the first place finish! Could you talk about the competition and the meet overall?
Teachman: The competition for javelin, specifically, was better than I thought it would be, because if you look at last year, Chris [Thompson ‘27] threw 51 [meters] and got third place. But then if you look at this year, you had to throw over 60 to get top three. And the top three people were all freshmen, which just shows that the A-10 was recruiting better javelin throwers because they saw it was a weak spot.
Q: How did you feel approaching your first throw, and what were the emotions like afterward?
Teachman: Approaching my first throw, I felt calm, ready and in control. I knew I was ready because I put in all the work beforehand, and after the throw I just felt excited and relieved, and I knew I pretty much had the competition in the bag at that point.
Q: You have a very calm, almost indifferent demeanor. Is this something you practice or something that comes naturally?
Teachman: It mostly comes naturally. But I do try to make sure I have that demeanor, because I know if I’m tense, I can
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perform worse, and when I’m more relaxed, I tend to perform better. It just comes more easily that way.
Q: Going off that, what’s the most you’ve ever celebrated a throw, where you can let that demeanor drop a little bit?
Teachman: It’s been a while. The last time I fully celebrated [...] was my sophomore year in high school when I just threw a huge PR [personal record], and I jumped up and down in joy. I’m looking to have another good throw later this season at regionals, hopefully, where I can celebrate as well.
Q: Where do you get your motivation? Who, or what, inspires you?
Teachman: It mostly comes from my family. I get a lot of motivation from my older brother. He excels academically, and I try to work as hard as he does and put that into my athletics. But I also get a lot of motivation from my parents. They’ve always motivated me to try my best with everything I do and just be the best I can be.
Q: Speaking of being the best you can be, how many times have you broken the school record this year?
Teachman: So far, I’ve broken it twice, but I hope to break it again.
Q: How has training and competing at Davidson differed from your years in high school?
Teachman: The biggest difference is that in high school, we— the whole team—came together as a group, and we all warmed up together and practiced together. Here at Davidson, all the throwers practice [separately], so because of that, we’re able to bond more [as an event group] than we did in high school. And the quality of practice is higher because of that.
Q: Will you remind me how fast your mile time is? You’re fast enough to be a distance runner at some schools, right?
Teachman: I actually almost became a distance runner here. I was looking into doing both distance running and javelin, but
Baseball Standings
I decided not to because you can’t excel at both. You can’t be good at both at the same time. But my mile time is 4:30.
Q: What was your favorite memory of the season?
Teachman: It’s not a grand occasion or anything, but I was injured all throughout my senior year of high school and this fall as well. So finally hearing that the injury was healed and getting to practice and knowing that I can go into the season without being worried about my back [was the highlight].
Q: Who’s your favorite redheaded athlete?
Teachman: Okay, I only know one professional, and it’s Andy Dalton, and it’s not like I really like him, he’s just the only redheaded professional athlete I know. My younger brother is [also] a redhead, and he’s a high-school athlete.
Q: What do you like to do outside of track, or what might readers be surprised to know about you?
Teachman: I don’t know if this is surprising, but I played baseball throughout high school as well. So I did cross country, track and baseball. I also play the violin. I played it from sixth grade all the way through senior year of high school.
Q: If you could only watch three movies for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Teachman: Hmm. Definitely “Interstellar,” because that one’s really entertaining and interesting. Then probably a funny, animated one. I used to really like “Megamind.” And then probably some other funny one like “Despicable Me.” Teachman will compete in High Point University’s Dani Palooza Last Chance Meet on May 18 before throwing at the NCAA Division I Championships first round, which begins ten days later. Tune in once more on June 19-20 for the USA Track & Field U20 Championships, where Teachman hopes to secure a U20 World Championships berth and represent the
Arts and Entertainment 6
ART 300 curates “Shades of Separation: Women in the Grey Area”
ROSE CECCHI ‘27 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER
This spring, students in Dr. John Corso-Esquivel’s Art 300: Critical Theory for Visual Studies course had the unique opportunity to display their own original work in a new exhibition entitled “Shades of Separation: Women in the Grey Area.” On May 1, the exhibit opened in the Missy Boaz Woodward ‘73 Atrium in the Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center. More than just an art exhibit, this group’s show is the culmination of a semester’s deep dive into critical art theory.
Art 300 is a required methods course for all art history majors. The course delves into a wide range of theory and facilitates the “discussion and application of the work of Marx and Freud, semiotics and linguistics, as well as intersecting accounts of gender, sexuality, race, postcolonial and disability studies” according to an exhibit press release created by the students.
The class offers the benefits of practical artistic application in the form of an exhibit that uses select works from the Van Every/ Smith Gallery Collection. “It’s one of the real advantages of being at a small college,” Corso-Esquivel said. “Our students have the rare opportunity to work directly with artworks from the collection to curate and present a pop-up exhibition.”
The process of creating the exhibit was a semester-long endeavor. “It was so fun to work all together, especially on a project with so many components—everyone played such an important role from exhibition design to reception planning to project managing!” Caroline Ewing ‘26 said. Ewing was one of the fifteen students in the course, all of whom collaborated on the curation of the exhibition. “Each classmate took on a role so that we could emulate the process of curating and installing an actual art exhibition. We became social media managers, curators, caterers and project managers,” Alex French ‘25, another member of Corso-Esquivel’s class, stated.
Ella Grace Dunn ‘26 believed that this project paired well with the seminar. “I really enjoyed getting to foster academic discussions and debates throughout this process, and it made everyone’s understanding of our class materials more effective.”
The exhibit’s provocative title was also a group effort. “We had a full class brainstorm and all presented different theme ideas. A lot of them had to do with the theory on [female] artists that we had read [about], and we landed on this one. The theme went through a lot of development, though, as almost every class we had to focalize its aims,” Cate Goodin ‘26, another student involved in the project, said. The exhibit itself is centered around a reflection on the male and female gaze in society, specifically “depicting the peripheral area to which society relegates women, referred to as the ‘grey area,’” according to the press release.
The show itself features the works of Barbara Morgan, Andy Warhol, Stephen Brigidi, Anne Noggle, André Kertész and Isabel Bishop. The curation process was lengthy, and students contributed significant time into the selection of the featured pieces. “On top of having to find the best art pieces to convey our message, we frequently reconsidered artwork choices due to various complications, whether that be unavailability of artworks, physical constraints or problematic biographical information,” Ewing said. The project focused on two works: Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” and Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock’s “Critical Stereotypes.” The curation process also included the thoughtful placement of the selected pieces, which told a story in itself. “Warhol’s ‘Mary Lee [Fleischmann] and Belinda’ displays the confinement of the female subject into domestic spaces. We chose to pair it with ‘Unidentified Men’ in order to demonstrate the stark contrast of male autonomy and female containment,” Brooke Rascoe ‘26 highlighted.
The exhibit provides the Davidson community with an exciting experience to engage with the work of their peers. “It was so amazing to witness how creative and knowledgeable Davidson art students are,” Violet Calkin ‘26 said. “The body of work they selected and their analyses were so sophisticated and impressive.”
Others in the class appreciated how their peers can truly share their knowledge and passion with their community. “It was really satisfying seeing the final exhibition and having some friends at the reception. My friends loved reading the exhibit label I wrote about the pair of Warhol photographs. It is exciting to know this exhibition will be up for a few months and other community members have access to it,” class participant Victoria Spadacenta ‘27 said. Practical applications, like this exhibit, give students real world experience within their education and help them become more confident in their abilities for the future. The exhibit remains open to all students until early fall 2025.
Rose Cecchi ‘27 is a biology major from McLean, VA and can be reached for comment at rocecchi@davidson.edu.
Student artists prepare for first-ever Davidson Arts Residency
This summer, the Davidson Arts Residency will be hosting its first group of Davidson students interested in furthering their artistic endeavors. The program is interdisciplinary and will provide a collaborative space for student artists across a wide range of artistic mediums, from visual art, performers, writers, musicians and film. Chair of Theatre Anita Tripathi and Chair & Associate Professor of Dance Alison Bory will be the program mentors for the program’s first summer. The program strives to follow flexible yet structured schedules to allow students to work freely on refining their projects while also receiving constructive feedback from mentors and peers.
The program will focus on encouraging crossdisciplinary collaboration and experimentation to prepare students for long-term artistic success. They hope “participants emerge as not only better artists but also as impactful contributors to their communities,” according to the Davidson College website. The program will take place from May 19 to July 25 here on campus.
Sarah Catalano ‘26 will be participating in the program this summer with a focus on the performing arts, specifically the circus arts and clowning. Catalano is excited to expand her unique and cherished art form during the program. “I started learning this art form as a kid and joined a performance troupe when I was 11, and I’m excited to develop some material that’s fully my own.”
She has briefly been able to explore her love for performing within the Davidson theatre
department but has mainly only been able to explore the circus arts off campus. “I’ve been in a couple of small performances, but mostly have been doing creative work behind the scenes. But I still do circus when I’m home for breaks— over winter break this year I was a clown in the Circus Arts Conservatory’s Marvelous Miraculous Circus Machine, a program attended by hundreds of 4th and 5th graders to learn about physics through professional circus acts and a gigantic cause-and-effect machine,” Catalano shared. Her goal for the program is to “look more closely at my artistic practice, which has been part of my life for so long that I sometimes risk taking it for granted. I also think clowns are uniquely positioned to examine certain norms or assumptions in a very gentle and thoughtful way, and to offer people a sort of freedom through humor” and to “not just to develop [my] own comedy material that will be useful if I end up entering circus arts after college, but also to practice inviting people to
laugh, to risk looking silly and to climb out of their seats and into the ring.”
Belle Staley ‘26 is participating in the program to find a space to explore her painting past the hubbub of her classes and biology labs. “This summer, I really wanted—and dare I be too romantic—to travel inside my mind versus outside of it. I think art and the creation of art can really make you feel as raw as travel can,” Staley shared. “It’s all about ripping back certain beliefs and assumptions and situations we put ourselves in for the chance to understand something larger.”
Staley, an avid traveler and backpacker, feels inspired by her experiences traveling while creating her art pieces. “I am a painter. I think I would put myself into the ‘surrealist’ genre when I look at my paintings now, but I’m not sure how my style will evolve this summer.”
She hopes this experience will be an outlet for her to explore whatever interests her creatively.
“I’m kind of obsessed with pink—pink skies, pink lakes, pink zebras, [now] yellow is starting to itch my brain—but who knows!”
Annabel Semans ‘26 is interested in exploring her songwriting abilities this summer through the program. “I heard about this program thanks to an advertisement by the music department,” she shared. Semans has been heavily involved with the music scene on campus during her time at Davidson but hopes the program offers her a unique perspective by encouraging crossdisciplinary collaboration. “My residency will be focused on music—specifically songwriting! I can’t wait to see what kinds of fresh perspectives and inspiration I’ll get from the other residents of different disciplines.” Through her residency this summer, Semans wants to use the time to really hone her craft and take the time to really delve into the process. “I’d like to strive for proliferation over perfection. Devotion to songwriting has always felt like a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ for me, and now I’ll finally have the time to dive in headfirst.” The flexibility and time the program offers is exciting for artists like Semans, as “getting to establish a full-fledged daily practice is a truly rare opportunity for many artists.” It is evident that this program will help foster creativity through a diverse range of artistic disciplines at Davidson and it will be exciting to see what students create through this opportunity. Hopefully, this program will become a recurring experience in the arts at Davidson, fostering an opportunity for students to explore their artistic interests and talents, no matter how niche, outside the classroom.
is an English major from Atlanta, GA and can be reached for comment at joswain@davidson.edu.
Josie Swain ‘27
JOSIE SWAIN ‘27
The Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center displays original student work for Art 300: Critical Theory for Visual Studies. Photo by Heidi McGannon ‘26.
Ella Grace Dunn ‘26 stands inside her class’s exhibit in the Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center. Photo by Cate Goodin ‘26.
Belle Staley ‘26 paints on a study abroad trip to Cambodia. Photo from Belle Staley ‘26 Instagram.
Sarah Catalano ‘26 clowns around. Photo from Sarah Catalano ‘26.
Living Davidson
Tell me about your summer break plans and I’ll give you a final meal on campus!
My dear readers… Oh how I will miss all three of you over this long summer break! I do hope that you will be able to make some decisions without these quizzes. I mean, what will you do without me there to make totally not random connections about your life and future? Wither away, I’m sure. But we don’t have to worry about that quite yet, as I am still here to be your guardian angel! Just tell me a little bit about your plans for your long summer without me and I’ll tell you what you should get for your last meal on campus this semester!
What would you say is your main activity planned for this summer?
What year are you?
A - Freshman! And you don’t get why everyone is so stressed about summer plans. You’re just excited to go home and see your mom.
B - Junior. You barely have time to take this three-minute quiz, to be honest.
C - Sophomore!
D - Senior (and you DON’T want to talk about it).
How excited are you for the semester to be over?
A - Not excited at all—you’re going to miss your friends so much!
B - You’re somehow both incredibly excited to be done with finals and also dreading the summer you signed up for. It’s a vicious cycle.
C - SO EXCITED! Beach, here you come.
D - Wait, you have HOW much time left in college????
A - Trying to recover from the school year.
B - Anything you can do that’ll look good on your resume.
C - Taking classes.
D - Traveling… If you can find a cheap flight, that is.
How much time will you be spending at home this summer?
A - More than half.
B - None, to your chagrin.
C - A couple of weeks.
D - Either a few days or you’ll be there indefinitely. Your summer plans are still a little up in the air.
Mostly A’s: Wildcat Den: A yummy option and a nice break from Commons meals that you’ve most likely been consuming way too much of. This will keep you excited to come back next semester and continue to look for ways to avoid a Commons meal!
Mostly B’s: Qdoba: A kind of last hurrah that will get your stomach as upset as the rest of you already is. About time it catches up!
Mostly C’s: Davis Café: A nice middle ground where you can find something a little cheaper (since you’re most definitely out of dining dollars), but still decent enough to carry you through the rest of finals.
Dig and Burrow
Mostly D’s: Commons: I mean, you kind of have to. Build yourself a meal only you have figured out how to make after years of suffering through tilapia and similar horrors. Despite this, you’ll realize you’re going to miss this place. A lot.
Ali Fitzgerald ‘04 is an artist who has been featured in publications like the New Yorker and The New York Times. This is an installment from a new comic titled “Dig and Burrow” for altweeklies. According to Fitzgerald, it is meant to satirize our fraught times.
It has been an honor and a privilege to bring the news to you this academic year. We hope that you continue to support independent journalism and look to The Davidsonian as a place for editorially independent and reliable news. We are grateful to have called this place home for the past four years.
Sincerely, Ben Peake ‘25 & Claire Kelly ‘25 Co-Editors-in-Chief
