INSIDE: Honor Council report releases data, clarifies processes, emphasizes importance of integrity PAGE 7
Behind the scenes of the Interlibrary Loan system
DAVID ANDERSON MONTES LARA ’28 (HE/HIM)
Whether looking for online articles or physical copies, Davidson students are not limited to what is in the college library. Instead, they also have access to an online service called the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to expand their resources. From a novel in Virginia to a journal on the other side of the country, ILL allows students to request both digital and physical materials from other libraries and receive them with a quick turnaround.
Behind the system is Interlibrary Loan Coordinator Joe Gutekanst who has been running the system for three decades.
Once a request hits the system, Gutekanst sees it almost instantly. First, he checks if students can already access the source through Davidson, as sometimes the item is hidden within a database students do not think to search. Then Gutekanst reaches out to partner libraries around the world. Digital articles often arrive within hours and sometimes even minutes, through automated networks. Physical books move quickly, and most arrive within a few days. What feels like library magic on the student side is, behind the scenes, an efficient fast-cycle of request, sourc-
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Student
Activities Tax Council scrambles to limit fall funding requests
CLAIRE IRELAND ’28 (SHE/HER)
The Activities Tax Council is looking to reign in spending after years of over-allocating and a lack of oversight over their reserve fund. With outstanding mid-year budget requests from Davidson Outdoors and Quips and Cranks yet to be approved by the Student Government Association, reserves are at risk of dropping to around $70,000—the lowest it has been in years.
Student activities are funded by the ATC, a student-run body overseen by the Student Activities Of-
tour guides call for compensation after increased Saturday tours
WYATT GESSNER ’28 (HE/HIM)
New demand for Saturday tours and increased regimentation in the tour guide program is frustrating unpaid student volunteers. While the Office of Admission hopes to create a more structured system and improve the visitor experience, students said changes have made tour guiding more of a burden, escalating calls that they be paid for their work.
Tour guides are responsible for leading prospective students and families across campus. They share facts about Davidson as well as their experience applying to and attending the College. The Davidso-
nian obtained multiple emails and documents detailing current and past expectations and policies for tour guides in addition to student testimonials.
Documents and interviews indicate tour guides are expected to lead more tours than in previous years. Changes to expectations are frustrating to students, including Madeline Kleiner ’28, who was assigned four Saturday tours this semester and had to request coverage for two of them.
“When you get beyond the bounds of doing one [tour] a week, which is what I signed up to volunteer with, then that’s the point where I’m
fice. The majority of their funding comes from the $650 student activities fee collected annually from students which results in over $1.1 million in funds each year for clubs. Surplus funds are directed to the reserve fund to finance mid-year allocations. It is also used to support major one-time investments. After years of overallocations, the reserve is running out of money.
ATC’s budget balancing efforts mark the end of years of over-allocations designed to use up over $1.5 million in reserve funds accumulated during years disrupted by Covid-19. The ATC cut student organization budgets last spring,
which some organizations said has affected their operations.
According to ATC Chair Alex Chudzik ’26, reducing organizational budgets is necessary to stabilize the reserve. He aims to keep it at about $100,000.
“We’re in a position where we have [...] about $150,000 left in the reserve at this very moment in time,” Chudzik said. “We have a couple of the largest equipment requests still to be approved by SGA. After those, a rough estimate would leave us between $60,000$70,000.”
Top-six for Davidson at national Fed Challenge final round
GABRIEL RUSSNACHAMIE ’27 (HE/HIM)
D
avidson took home an honorable mention in the final round of the College Fed Challenge on Nov. 21 in Washington D.C. The competition is hosted by the Federal Reserve Board and Davidson’s team was one of six finalists out of 139 schools from 36 different states.
The Federal Reserve Challenge is a national competition where collegiate teams analyze economic conditions and present monetary policy recommendations to Federal Reserve officials.
This year, Pace University of New York won first place. Harvard College placed second and the University of California, Los Angeles placed third. Davidson received an honorable mention alongside the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago.
“Fed Challenge offers undergraduate students an opportunity to learn firsthand about monetary policy and the work of the Federal Reserve,” said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell in a press release by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “I thank these students for the dedication, creativity and analytical skills they
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Emily Schmitz ’28 on the ethics of AI use
Frank Howden ’26 and Sierra Koester ’28 rethink fast fashion Alex Thole ’28 on Davidson’s partnership with Under Armour David Anderson Montes Lara ’28 on Day With(out) Art Wyatt Gessner ’28 on Fall Arts Symposium Check
Volunteer tour guide Sylvia Cevallos ’28 leads a tour for prospective students. In the spring, she will be expected to lead one tour per week and three additional tours on Saturdays. Photo by Wyatt Gessner ’28.
The Activities Tax Council, a student-run organization overseen by the Student Activities Office, recommends budget allocations for all student groups to the Student Government Association. Photo by Aidan Marks ’27.
Depleted ATC reserve fund presents ongoing challenge for student organizations
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Problems arose when the ATC realized nobody had been keeping track of the reserve fund. “There was over allocation for about three to four years, and that number of over a million dollars was coming rapidly down, and no one was keeping track of it,” Chudzik said.
The lack of transparency even fueled speculation among ATC members about whether the reserve existed, according to a former ATC member. The ATC only found out how much money was left when Chudzik reached out to the Student Activities Office and Controller’s Office last spring. “The math is, we brought in $1.1 million in the fee, and we have $200,000 left,” Chudzik said.
That was before the ATC allocated funds for the fall equipment cycle.
After SGA approved smaller budgets for the Club Sports Council and other organizations, Chudzik said the reserve currently stands at just over $160,000. DO and Q&C requested $72,383 and $83,360, respectively, but the SGA vetoed those budget requests.
After the SGA vetoed both initial proposals, the ATC whittled the requests down to $46,984 for DO and $48,000 for Q&C. That would leave the ATC with a reserve of between $60,000-$70,000, according to Chudzik. The SGA rejected that
like ‘you’re asking way more of us now,’” Kleiner said. “I would like to be paid for these extra hours that I didn’t initially commit to.”
to complete one 75-minute tour a week plus one additional Saturday tour per semester. This fall, students were initially asked to lead at least one Saturday tour, which are typi cally larger groups. After submitting their availability, they were assigned at least two or three. Tour guides re cruited for the spring semester will be required to lead at least three Sat urday tours. Current tour guides say they have yet to be officially notified of the change; it is unclear if they will also be asked to lead at least three Saturday tours.
four or more Saturday tours this semester. Students said that being
budget on Tuesday night. Budget proposals will continue to be reviewed and revised until the SGA passes budgets for both organizations.
Ideally, keeping the reserve at $100,000 allows the ATC to comfortably fund spur of the moment requests, such as if Mock Trial qualifies for nationals, or major investments, like the OLAS PASA House renovation. Now, however, Chudzik said cutting budgets to pad the reserve might not be worth the cost.
“In our current state of affairs, it’s a trade off,” Chudzik said. “It’s like, do we be happy that we have $100,000 sitting around to do something like [renovating the] OLAS PASA House, or do we survive and make sure everyone still has enough money to run and we can still cover good opportunities that arise?.’”
Chudzik said the ATC sought to reduce allocations equitably and avoid disproportionate cuts. Nevertheless, DO and Q&C face significant budget reductions.
Q&C were allocated $65,000 for FY2025 which allowed Davidson’s yearbook to return after a five-year hiatus. Budget requests for operational allocations are due in the spring and determine funding for the following fiscal year. Typically, Q&C would file their request during that time. This year, however, the ATC instructed Q&C to wait until
the fall, after they distributed yearbooks, so that funding could be determined based on Q&C’s success. That means Q&C has no budget for the current fiscal year until ATC passes a fall allocation.
Q&C’s initial request for just over $83,000 reflected what Editor in Chief Lanie Demarcay ’27 said was a successful return and ambitious goals for this year.
“We thought we would expand this year. We would do more pages, potentially do some sort of more things that warrant a bigger book. It costs more to get more pages and get longer,” Demarcay said.
Q&C’s budget request included $80,000 for printing costs. Traditionally, Q&C is free for first years and seniors. Cutting Q&C’s budget means they might have to print fewer copies and shorter books or require students to pay for them.
According to Demarcay, the ATC said that Q&C’s budget is being cut because they have insufficient funds and is not a reflection of the yearbook club’s work. “[ATC] were dealt a bad hand, and they are doing the best they can with it [...] I think we just both got unlucky in this situation,” Demarcay said.
DO’s initial equipment request for an additional $72,000 included funds for a revamped Outdoor Odyssey schedule.
Director of Davidson Outdoors
Katie Eggleston said DO hoped to expand Odyssey this summer.
“Typically we do three sessions of four crews each. This summer, we want to do two sessions of six crews each,” Eggleston said. “We’re requesting more boats, more coolers, that type of, all the things that we would need to expand by 33%.”
In addition to standard replacement requests for old equipment, DO also requested funds for new equipment to expand their accessibility programming.
“We’re requesting a boat and a lot of equipment specifically to be able to take people out to our high ropes course or out on climbing trips that require specific harnesses and specific haul systems to be able to make climbing and paddling more accessible sports,” Eggleston said.
However, after discussing with the ATC, DO’s proposed budget was pared down to $46,984. To make the cuts, DO scrapped their requests for accessible equipment. “We cut out pretty much all of the accessible programming,” Eggleston said.
“Instead of continuing to make reductions to allocations, we can boost what we’re taking in to then come to a more stable normal where we’re not having to continuously make reductions,” Chudzik said.
With the combination of a higher student activities fee and unused money returned to the ATC at the end of the spring semester, Chudzik expects the reserve to sit at about $100,000 by next fall.
Chudzik acknowledged that navigating the ATC’s “financial handcuffs” this year is a difficult reality for all organizations involved.
“It sucks. It really does. [Decreasing budgets,] it’s never a fun conversation. You know, these are people’s livelihoods and passions. Sitting there and having to say, hey, we don’t have the money to fund this’ is a tough position,” Chudzik said.
Instead, DO intends to emphasize accessibility in ways that don’t require technical equipment such as leading more day hikes and collaborating with the Davidson Disability Alliance according to Eggleston. DO and Q&C will continue revising their budget requests. Despite significant cuts, Eggleston is focused on the future. “There’s no hard feelings about cutting this equipment because it’ll hold us back one calendar year,” Eggleston said. In order to increase the reserve fund, Chudzik said the ATC plans to collaborate with the SGA this spring to increase the percentage of tuition that contributes to the Student Activities Fee. This increased percentage will be taken out of current tuition costs and will not be an added charge to students.
Going forward, students were asked to review new talking points, ing, before their tours. Students had to sign documents confirming they
As Kille and Ethridge adjust to their new roles, Kate Addison ’26 joined others in speaking highly of both. “I really like Elizabeth, and I really like Carol, and I think they’re doing a good job of trying to make this transition smooth,” Addison
sponsive to student feedback. This tive students and parents on tours. After hearing from guides who
tic tours, the office will revert back to the traditional combined tours in
Tour guides complain of increased workload, poor communication from admissions office
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asked to lead more tours has made the volunteer program feel like a job. Hays Craig ’28 is one of those students. The admissions office is “trying to make things a lot more strict and a lot more like a job,” Craig said. “I just feel like if you’re going to make it a lot more like a job, then pay us.” Davidson’s tour guide program is
through all of the talking points, please react to the email that I sent with a heart instead of a thumbs up,” Kille wrote. Craig was one of a few tour guides who added a heart reaction. “It just felt like [the office was] trying to trick me, and that’s not really what I want from a volunteer position where I’m giving my time to tell people how much I love this school,” Craig said.
“As much as we want our visitors to leave Davidson with positive experiences (and we’re continually gathering survey results from them), we also want our volunteer corps of tour guides to be happy and fulfilled through this role,” Kille wrote in an email to The Davidsonian.
On the same feedback form where tour guides talked about their issues with the split tours, however, multiple students wrote that they thought
they should be paid. Clara Benko ’28 and Craig said that feedback was never addressed.
Addison predicted that an influx of new tour guides and juniors returning from abroad in the spring will alleviate workload pressures on this semester’s group. Not everyone thinks it will be a perfect solution.
“[Even with more tour guides] I think we’d run into the problem where a lot of the tour guides view the position differently than the admissions office,” Craig said.
Davidson touts the benefits of a volunteer-based tour guide system.
“The first and foremost rationale [of not paying tour guides] is that an unpaid program draws out current Davidson students that are most genuinely excited and prideful of our institution and community,” Kille wrote.
Current guides disagreed that paying students would bias them.
Addison recognized that her volunteer status might build credibility among skeptical parents. “But at the same time, I work really hard to represent my school in a really nice, eloquent way, and I go to info sessions and stuff like that, so it would be nice to be paid,” Addison said.
Benko, who led four Saturday tours this fall, said getting paid would not make a difference. “I would say the same things regardless of whether or not I was being paid just because I still want to give a good tour,” Benko said.
Admissions staff expressed concerns that paying tour guides would attract applicants who are motivated by financial gain rather than appreciation for the College. The selection process includes an application and group interview in which candidates
are screened for enthusiasm among many other qualifications. This fall, 57 students applied to be tour guides. The office selected 42. “This year, we received a record number of applications for the position, resulting in the Tour Guide Selection Team ultimately making some difficult decisions and declining more applicants than usual,” Kille wrote.
Benko compared giving tours to her paid position as an Assistant Teacher (AT) for French 101. “The level of work I do for tour guiding and the commitment feels more stressful than being an AT,” Benko said.
The Office of Admission also employs paid Senior Admission Fellows. Leading tours is not part of their role, but they are trained to lead tours in case they have to fill in for a guide on short notice. When they do, according to four fellows, they get paid.
“[Davidson] kind of brags about [not paying tour guides], and I don’t feel like that’s something to be bragging about,” Benko said. “From the perception I’ve gotten on tours, the visitors also don’t really think it’s super really cool that we don’t get paid.”
Two tour guides recalled being offered tips by prospective parents, which they turned down.
The Davidsonian interviewed four tour guides for this story. All four said they would like to be paid. Nevertheless, they all expressed appreciation for Kille and said they enjoy the work.
“The tour was a big part of the reason I came to Davidson, so I do want to give other people a really good experience,” Benko said.
Students said communication from the admissions office has felt more job-like this semester. Photo by Aidan Marks ’27.
Features 3
Interlibrary Loan brings worlds of literature to Davidson
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ing and shipping happening across the world every day that Gutekast guides Davidson through.
Students submit requests through an online form that routes everything to the ILL team. “We process it there,” Gutekanst said. “We’re looking to supply the item as soon as we can, whether that be from other libraries or sources that Davidson has or elsewhere.”
ILL was created in 1917 by the American Library Association.
James Simon, assistant director of collections and discovery at Davidson’s library, said it has since become a foundation of library operations.
“ILL is one of the earliest forms of cooperation that libraries had ever entered into. This goes back to the early 20th century [...] libraries always developed agreements where they could share books on request,” Simon said.
Most materials are exchanged at no cost. Davidson also belongs to
rapid-lending networks that speed up deliveries. Simon sees this century-old system as the backbone of how Davidson approaches lending today, guiding a culture where sharing resources is not just practical but expected.
Part of Simons’ role is determining what content to buy for Davidson’s library.ILL enhances that process.
“We consider ILL to be one tool among many that we use to help provide the resources to the students, faculty and staff ,” Simon said. When deciding what to acquire for Davidson’s library Simon’s team splits the request into multiple paths: something Davidson already owns, something it could buy long-term or something best borrowed temporarily. “When we decide to purchase something [..] it’s something that will have use beyond just a single use,” Simon said.
ILL use has increased over time.
Gutekanst said that in the past month alone, the library handled 1,200 requests, a volume he described as unimaginable when he first started.
Politics
“When I started, it would be a phenomenal month, a period of time maybe two months worth.”
According to Simon, 670 students used ILL last academic year. That is about one third of the student population.
Gutekanst thinks that word of mouth and reliability contribute to ILL’s rise in popularity. “Faculty now do promote it, and I’m so grateful,” Gutekanst said. “Once folks know that they can get what they need in a timely fashion […] they’re more likely to request something.”
For Sophia Cimballa ’26, an English and History double major, ILL has become essential to her upper-level coursework. “I’m writing a history Capstone paper and an English thesis, and so I’m just always sort of finding different books and citations,” Cimballa said.
Cimballa also lauded the system’s efficiency. She said she has not waited longer than a week for an ILL request. “I’ve had a couple of quick email exchanges with [Gutenkast] and he’s definitely helpful in terms of the different articles and things that he finds,” Cimballa said.
Gutekanst sees more change ahead, including a move to more open source systems. He is especially interested in efforts to extend access to communities without reliable systems. “There’s talk of even providing things to some sort of education for refugees,” Gutekanst said. After thirty years, his enthusiasm has not dimmed. Before returning to steadily flowing requests, he added one final line with a grin. “I’m waiting for your first request.”
Davidson awarded honorable mention in College Fed Challenge finals
demonstrated as they grappled with real-world economic challenges.”
Davidson began competing in the challenge in 2024 after a 16-year hiatus. Last year, the team comprised an informal group of students who met on weekday evenings to prepare for the competition. They made it to the semifinal round in the Richmond Federal Reserve District.
This year, the economics faculty selected members after a competitive application process. Ten students were chosen to participate and enrolled in ECO 386: Federal Reserve Challenge, taught by Associate Professor of Economics Caleb Stroup.
Participating in the challenge is an academically rigorous and time-consuming process. Work began in August, when members began pre-
paring a video presentation for submission to Federal Reserve economists. The presentation included an analysis of current economic conditions, a forecast of financial indicators, an assessment of economic risks and a recommendation for future monetary policy decisions. The team gathered economic data, read economic research papers and used macroeconomic theory to develop a recommendation for the future path
of US monetary policy.
Providing a recommendation for monetary policy can be difficult due to changing macroeconomic conditions throughout the challenge period and competing views on economic theory, leading to disagreements among students. This isn’t unique to college students; even professional economists disagree about the right path for monetary policy.
“There’s not a single correct viewpoint on Fed policy,” Stroup wrote. “That’s why it’s so important for the team to challenge each other and grapple with competing perspectives.”
Davidson was one of 18 schools to advance to the semifinal round, a virtual Q&A. During this part of the challenge, economists at the Federal Reserve asked the teams questions about current economic conditions, economic theory, and how artificial intelligence could impact inflation and labor markets.
“We spent hours refining our arguments, anticipating policy questions, and running mock Q&A,” said Will Bacdayan ‘26, a two-time team member.
Valeriia Kruzhkova ‘26 was responsible for designing the economic growth portion of the presentation. “We spent a lot of late nights debating what to leave out and how to phrase our risk assessment,” she said.
Davidson won the Richmond Federal Reserve District title, defeating colleges from across the region before reaching the national competition. The Richmond Federal Reserve district includes colleges in the Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia, most of West Virginia and Washington, D.C. While runner-ups were not announced publicly, The Davidsonian confirmed through social media that Wake Forest University in North Carolina was a semi-finalist
that Davidson defeated to reach the top spot.
The stakes were high during the national competition, where Davidson’s team delivered their presentation to economists at the Federal Reserve. Afterwards, they had to answer questions about monetary policy from multiple economists during a 15-minute Q&A. Among the questions this year, members of the Davidson team were asked about “r*” (pronounced “r-star”), the neutral real interest rate in the economy. The team worked quickly, answering the questions before time ran out.
Team members found the experience rewarding and exciting. Ben Patte ‘26 was a presenter for the team. “Few, if any, classes within the Economics major offer the opportunity to learn by doing, and I’m grateful to have had this experience,” Patte said.
Though nine of the 10 members of this year’s team are graduating, the Federal Reserve Challenge will return in 2026 with a new group, according to Stroup, who will teach\ the course each fall. The spring application process will be competitive so that a “small group of ambitious students prepared to learn and grow together is selected,” Stroup wrote.
Bacdayan is excited about the resources built up for future teams. “I think there’s real momentum for the Fed Challenge at Davidson. We’ve helped create a foundation so that future teams won’t have to start from scratch,” he said.
John Cooper ‘27, the only non-graduating member of this year’s team, said he hopes to compete for the third time next year. “We’ve learned several valuable lessons from this year, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity next year to do even better,” Cooper said.
Davidson students pose with Federal Reserve economists. Front: Will Bacdayan ’26. Back, left to right: Jackson Strelo ’26, Youngju Han ’26, Eli Naughton ’26, Valeriia Kruzhkova ’26, Lucas George ’26, Ben Patte ’26 and John Cooper ’27. Photo courtesy of Caleb Stroup.
Davidson’s new Library Annex houses the College’s books. If Davidson’s nearly 300,000 volume collection is not enough, the ILL system lets students and faculty borrow books from around the world. Photo by Aidan Marks ’27.
Perspectives
AI Ethics—but not the Honor Council kind
According to a recent survey of U.S. college students, 90% report using AI. Conversations and debates about AI on campus demonstrate that Davidson is part of this growing trend.
Although many of us value AI’s efficiency and creative capacity, few consider the process that begins after we submit an AI query. That oversight comes with a price: outside of our Davidson bubble, our AI use negatively impacts the global environment and communities alike. As we debate the ethics of AI use on campus, we must also consider its impact beyond Davidson’s walls.
So what happens when you ask AI a question? As soon as you submit a query to an AI model, it breaks your question into small chunks of letters. It converts those chunks into numerical patterns, then searches for similar patterns across all the material it can access, such as web pages on the Internet. Word by word, it uses those patterns to predict the best response to your question. Suddenly, you’ve got an answer. Easy, right? But that easy answer comes with costs, and even if you’re not paying those costs, the world around you is. AI’s research-and-response process requires
physical hardware in order to work. This hardware is housed in facilities called data centers, and they have a harmful impact on the environment. According to one report, data centers were the 11th-largest electricity consumer in the world in 2022, right after the nation of France. They’re projected to reach 5th on the list of world energy users by next year, placing them between Japan and Russia. Yes, you read that right: data centers’ energy use is comparable to that of entire nations! That heavy consumption is a major problem for our global environment because industrial energy use almost always relies on fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide emissions and destabilize our increasingly fragile climate.
A data center’s environmental impact extends far beyond its energy use. Centers can consume as much water in a single day as a city of 50,000 people. Their construction process requires hazardous materials that are not usually sustainably sourced, and training an AI model—or rather, exposing it to information so it is ready for public use—can produce as much carbon dioxide as 600 flights from New York to San Francisco.
These statistics are a major source of alarm for experts and governments around the world, who are sounding the climate alarm in response to their concerns about AI. UN-
ESCO and the UN Environment Programme, for example, urge governments and AI corporations to regulate their AI use. However, AI companies frequently ignore these calls for environmental action by keeping their energy consumption private. As a result, their full impact is unclear and difficult to limit.
So, who does AI directly impact? Data centers inflict the most direct harm on the environment surrounding them, disproportionately impacting nearby communities. For example, when AI data centers use energy from local grids, electricity bills become more expensive for people living nearby. Centers also compete with nearby residents who rely on the same water sources. Data centers’ electronic waste can be hazardous for local communities, and the local air pollution they cause may even increase premature deaths nearby. These disproportionate impacts on people living near data centers are, without a doubt, a major environmental and ethical concern.
We have a choice: we can cause further harm to the environment and humans through our use of AI, or we can fight back. AI experts Sasha Luccioni and Jon Ippolito offer several suggestions to help you consume less energy through your personal AI use. For example, you can tell chatbots to stop generating new content as soon as they’ve provided an answer,
Fool or cool? Rethinking fast fashion at Davidson
that leach harmful chemicals and microplastics into surrounding waterways.
Imagine this: you’re trying to up your fashion game at F. You look into your closet only to find that your clothes are boring, unflattering, or just plain outdated. You decide to do some online shopping, but everything is quite expensive and not targeted towards anyone under forty. You end up on a cheap, convenient website like Shein or Temu. A nice going-out top for under $10 in your favorite color? What a score! With one click, you’ve purchased it and won’t think about it until it arrives.
But that single purchase comes with a hidden cost: enough water to fill around 871 bathtubs, not to mention the carbon emissions and energy. Multiply that by millions of consumers, and clothes cost more than just the money we pay.
Fast fashion is an industry in which brands like Shein, Zara, and Temu produce tons of cheap, trendy clothing as quickly as possible, pressuring consumers to replace their wardrobes constantly. In return, consumers throw out clothing items after wearing them only seven to ten times on average.
Fast fashion contributes 8-10% of global carbon emissions, a share higher than aviation and shipping combined. The industry also consumes 79 trillion liters of water annually. In 2024, the world bought 132 million metric tons of clothing, 80% of which ended up in landfills. These landfills, often located in developing countries, are filled with garments
The industry also carries a devastating human cost. Nearly 40 million workers, many of them children, work long hours in unsafe conditions for little to no pay to produce the cheap, low-quality clothing. One textile worker at a Shein production facility in southern China stated, “I work every day from 8 in the morning to 10:30 at night and take one day off each month. I can’t afford any more days off because it costs too much.” His terrifying story represents those of countless others who will never get the chance to speak out.
This isn’t meant to be a guilt trip. The responsibility ultimately falls on the fashion industry, but consumers should not turn a blind eye to the ethical problems of fast fashion. By making small tweaks in our fashion consumption, we can make meaningful changes.
A reader might ask, “What do I do if I’m broke and sustainable clothes are expensive?”
Budgets are real, and it wouldn’t be right to preach about sustainable fashion without acknowledging the fact that some people do come from a higher place of privilege. However, in the long run, fast fashion isn’t the cheaper option.
Estimates say that every American Gen-zer spends $767 a year on fast fashion. If you buy a high-quality, $50 top you love and wear often, you’ll get more wear for your money and help protect the Earth.
Sustainability doesn’t have to be expensive. Davidson students don’t need to shop at expensive “eco-friendly” stores to make a difference. Try thrift stores such as Goodwill, Plato’s Closet, or Uptown Cheapskate. Lula Bell’s also offers a free-store event on campus
once a semester. You might want to contribute to these efforts by donating your old clothes to a local thrift store or charity. If you prefer online shopping, consider exploring thrifting sites such as Poshmark or Depop. If you have the means, buy from sustainable providers such as Pact, Tentree, and Known Supply.
Additionally, you can repair your clothes instead of replacing them. Davidson Arts & Creative Engagement hosts sewing workshops. If you lose a button or a sweater gets a tear, you can learn to fix it at one of those, rather than tossing the whole item.
Also, try vintage! Why buy a Shein knockoff of a decades-old design when you can find the real thing at a thrift store? The material is better, it’ll last longer, and it’s cooler!
Fast Fashion produces thousands of items each week and consumers buy them, believing the clothes are their style. However, because these items are produced based on current trends, they ultimately produce sameness. Originality stands out. Before buying something new, pause and ask yourself: Is this re-
consolidate your requests instead of using multiple queries, use images made by humans instead of AI, and turn off the automatic AI results that appear in a search (if your browser allows). You can also protect your data and save energy at the same time by turning off features that allow chatbots to save your search history.
Truly minimizing AI’s environmental impact will require governments and corporations to regulate AI and promote transparent and efficient energy use. We can and should advocate for those changes, but right now they are far from being actualized. In their absence, our personal decisions about AI use raise ethical questions just as important as our debates about AI in the classroom. It’s up to us to answer thoughtfully.
Emily Schmitz is an English and Environmental Studies double major from Charlottesville, VA. She can be reached for comment at emschmitz@davidson.edu.
ally my style, or is it just what’s trending right now? Focus on building quality, sustainable wardrobe pieces that feel authentic to you. This isn’t a call to never buy new clothes again. We’re only asking for you to pause before clicking “buy now” and think: Will I wear this consistently? Could I thrift or repair instead? Small shifts matter. Collective shifts matter more. Fast fashion may be global, but so is its impact. At a school like Davidson that prides itself on sustainability and social justice, the way we choose to shop reflects the values we care about. Your closet doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be you.
Frank Howden is a Computer Science major from Asheville, NC. He can be reached for comment at frhowden@davidson.edu.
Sierra Koester is a Environmental Studies and Political Science double major from Albuquerque, NM. She can be reached for comment at sikoester@davidson.edu.
FRANK HOWDEN ’26 (HE/HIM) SIERRA KOESTER ’28 (SHE/HER)
EMILY SCHMITZ ’28 (SHE/HER)
Sports
Following Curry’s departure, Davidson to reevaluate decade-long Under Armour partnership in July 2026
Davidson College athletics have been sponsored by Under Armour since 2016. A decade later, following prominent alumni Stephen Curry’s recent departure from the brand, that partnership could soon come to an end.
In a Nov. 13 press release, Under Armour announced plans for the sportswear company to separate from Stephen Curry and the Curry Brand. Curry signed with Under Armour in 2013. The pair launched the Curry Brand in 2020.
“Under Armour believed in me early in my career and gave me the space to build something much bigger and more impactful than a shoe. I’ll always be grateful for that,” Curry said in an Under Armour press release announcing his departure.
“Curry Brand was created to change the game for good and over the past 5 years, we successfully changed the game for kids, for communities, and for basketball. What Curry Brand stands for, what I stand for and my commitment to that mission will never change, it’s only growing stronger. I’m excited for a future that’s focused on aggressive growth with a continued commitment to keep showing up for the next generation.”
Curry has not made public whether he will sign with another shoe brand. Since the announcement, the four time NBA champion has continued to wear Curry Brand shoes in regular season games for the Golden State Warriors. However, Curry has represented other shoe brands in warm-ups, including pairs of Kobe Bryant’s signature Nike shoe and Shaquille O’Neal’s signature Reebok shoe.
Curry signed with Nike upon entering the NBA in 2009 after wearing Nike apparel for three years at Davidson. Nike famously botched a pitch meeting for Curry to re-sign with the company in the 2013 offseason, which led to Curry signing with Under Armour.
Curry was already extremely popular for his uncanny three-point shooting ability, but had not yet garnered superstar recognition. Curry went on to win his first NBA championship
and the Most Valuable Player award in 2015. He cemented his status as an all-time great by becoming the first player in NBA history to be unanimously voted MVP in 2016, helping the Warriors win an NBA record 73 regular season games. He also led the Warriors to NBA titles in 2017, 2018, and 2022.
When Davidson signed with Under Armour in March 2016, former Vice President of Sports Marketing and Sponsorships at Under Armour Ryan Kuehl cited Davidson’s connection to the company. “Davidson holds a special place in the Under Armour story, as the alma mater of one of our top athletes, Stephen Curry,” Kuehl said. “We are thrilled to continue that story and outfit the Wildcats student-athletes and community in Under Armour for many years to come.”
Curry was publicly supportive of Davidson’s decision to partner with Under Armour. “I take great pride in my Alma Mater,” Curry said in Davidson’s announcement. “Davidson is such a key part of my history and journey to the NBA and I’m thrilled that they have joined the Under Armour family.”
Davidson College Athletic Director Chris Clunie confirmed Curry’s role in Davidson switching sponsors
from Nike to Under Armour in 2016.
“Steph was involved in that. He was the big reason for the flip,” Clunie said. “He wanted Davidson to represent.”
When asked if he thought Curry still wanted Davidson to represent him, Clunie admitted that it was possible but insisted that Davidson would not determine Curry’s next brand deal.
“At the end of the day, what [Curry] is doing is not going to be driven by [Davidson]. Even if we were to factor into whatever’s next, the decision of where he’s going to go is not going to be driven by Davidson.”
Clunie played for the Davidson men’s basketball team from 2003 to 2006—the year before Curry’s freshman season for the Wildcats.
After graduating, Clunie spent a decade working for the San Antonio Spurs before serving as the NBA’s director for international basketball operations. In 2018, he returned to Davidson as athletic director. Clunie was a four year teammate of Head Men’s Basketball Coach Matt McKillop. Clunie, McKillop and Curry were all coached by Bob McKillop, Matt’s father. Bob McKillop held the head coaching position before his son from 1989 until retiring in 2022.
Clunie and the McKillop family have maintained a positive relationship with Curry since his time at Davidson. Curry was named assistant general manager for Davidson men’s basketball earlier this year.
Clunie said that he received a “heads up” from Curry before the news of his separation from Under Armour was made public, but indicated that they had not otherwise discussed brand partnerships.
“[Davidson] didn’t play a role. We had nothing to do with it. That was all Steph, Thirty Ink, his team and his negotiations,” Clunie said.
Thirty Ink is a collective housing all of Curry’s business entities, such as Curry Academy and Under Rated. Thirty Ink is partnered with Curry Brand.
Curry’s separation from Under Armour opens the door for Davidson to explore other brand sponsorships. Davidson’s contract with Under Armour expires on June 30, 2026. By next academic year, Davidson could represent a different company. However, Clunie and the athletic department are focused on the present.
“We’re still Under Armour through June 30, so we will figure out pretty soon what our next course of action is. It doesn’t really change anything for us right now. Through June 30
Men’s Basketball Standings
we’re fully on board [with Under Armour], but there is an opportunity and likely there will be some exploration as to what could happen next,” Clunie said.
Clunie also said that he and the athletic department are unable to think ahead for contractual reasons. Should Davidson follow in Curry’s footsteps, possible options for future contracts include returning to partnership with Nike or signing a contract with a different sportswear company. Davidson could also opt to renegotiate with Under Armour.
Now that Curry Brand is separate from Under Armour, Davidson could pursue a greater relationship with Curry Brand individually. Davidson’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have worn Curry Brand gear since the 2020-2021 season. If Curry Brand expanded into other sports, Davidson could make some of its other athletic programs Curry Brand sponsored. This kind of deal has been reached before in college athletics: the University of North Carolina’s basketball and football teams are sponsored by Air Jordan, Michael Jordan’s brand.
Clunie discussed the possibility of Curry Brand building itself as a standalone entity.
“[Curry] has the ability to do anything, which is kind of cool. The Curry Brand and just his starpower are tremendous—the brand, fanbase and social media platform that he’s built. He’s also done great work in the community, it’s not just been him as a basketball player. I think that all leads to how his brand has expanded.”
Davidson students, coaches and fans will have to wait until the College’s current contract with Under Armour expires. Despite speculation that Curry’s decision may be a telltale sign of what the future holds for Davidson, for the moment, much is left up in the air.
“So much of [Curry’s decision] is not driven by Davidson,” Clunie reaffirmed. “We may end up being a part moving forward, but as of right now, we’re focused on being good partners and finishing out our deal [with Under Armour]. Then, we’ll see where the chips lie.”
Women’s Basketball Standings
Stephen Curry matches up against Josh Scovens ’27 during a Bay Area mini camp in July. Photo courtesy of @ davidsonbasketball on Instagram.
Arts & Entertainment
Day With(out) Art: Remembrance of AIDS Epidemic
DAVID ANDERSON
MONTES LARA ’28
(HE/HIM)
Walking around campus early this week, many noticed that sculpture works had been covered by large pieces of cloth. Plensa’s figure, the cluster of ten by Abakanowicz and pieces in the sculpture garden were all suddenly hidden. Each year, Davidson joins museums such as the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and other academic institutions across the country for Day With(out) Art, a coordinated effort to raise awareness about AIDS and recognize the contributions of artists affected by the disease.
Day With(out) Art was started in 1989 in response to a worsening worldwide AIDS crisis. It also coincided with the World Health Orga-
nization’s second World AIDS Day. In 1998, Day With(out) Art stylized into its current name from Day Without Art to show a change from only mourning to programming regarding artists with HIV and AIDS.
Lia Newman, director and curator of Davidson’s Van Every|Smith Galleries, explained that the idea of Day Without Art was to take art out of the public eye, reminding them of what had been lost during the epidemic.
“It was created by artists that were interested in bringing awareness to the AIDS crisis, and part of the way that they wanted to do that was basically eliminating art [...] because so many artists or folks in the creative community were dying of HIV or AIDS,” Newman said.
Each year, Newman and the Galleries team select works across campus to cover. This year, they covered “The Group of Ten” outside E.H. Little Library, “Waves III” sur-
rounded by flowers near chambers and the three main sculptures in the Belk Visual Arts Center, among other works on campus. Newman explained that some sculptures, like Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture SG (1) in front of the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center, are simply too large to cover. The College also avoids shrouding pieces when artists express particular concerns. “We also try to make sure that the artists are aware that we do it, because we do not want to put a message on top of their work,” Newman said.
The shrouding’s effect is hard to miss. Students walking around campus see familiar sights covered. Sculptures in the garden become silhouettes. What is missing becomes the point. Newman believes this silence and disruption matters on a college campus where the collective memory of the epidemic has faded. “You [students] were not alive at the height of the AIDS crisis,” Newman said.
For years, this programming has been a cross-departmental effort with Davidson Arts and Creative Engagement being an active participant. Co-sponsor and DACE Director Sherry Nelson helps Newman continue the tradition on campus. Looking at the covered sculptures, Nelson said the intention is to prompt viewers to imagine the artistic world that could have existed but did not. “If there was no art, this is what it would be like,” Nelson said.
Day With(out) Art at Davidson is not limited to what disappears. It also includes the Visual AIDS Annual Day With(out) Art film screening, a series of short films commissioned each year from artists around the globe. The screening offers another way for audiences to engage with the continued global impact of HIV
and AIDS through artistic expression.
While the Galleries and DACE both helped display the artistic side of Day With(out) Art, the Visual AIDS Annual Day With(out) Art film screening was also connected to health education and campus wellbeing initiatives at Davidson. At the film screening, student health advisers presented information regarding HIV/AIDS within Davidson and its surrounding communities.
Saeran Dewar ’28, a student health adviser, said their team was invited “to come and give a brief overview of just HIV, AIDS and resources on campus related to safer sex.” Dewar noted that the shrouded art itself often sparks curiosity in ways traditional programming might not. “A lot of people initially do not know what that is or what it is for,” Dewar said. “Then that kind of sparks those conversations of like, oh, it is actually World AIDS Day.”
Dewar said the screening depicted AIDS’ impact around the globe in a meaningful way. “AIDS shows up in different people’s lives all around the world,” she said.
The films also highlighted global approaches to harm reduction, a series of strategies that reduce negative consequences of substance use without requiring abstinence. Examples range from community outreach to the establishment of safe injection sites leading to lower HIV/ AIDS rates.
As sculptures are hidden and films are shown, a Day With(out) Art showcases to communities what the AIDS epidemic has taken and how it continues to affect our world. For one day every year, Davidson’s campus serves as a memorial to lives lost and art that could have been. “It is really drawing attention, and I want to say mourning in a sense the art that we have lost,” Nelson said.
2025 Fall Arts Symposium celebrates the arts at Davidson
WYATT GESSNER ’28
(HE/HIM)
Artists, art historians and more descended on the Visual Arts Center atrium for the 2025 Fall Art Symposium on Tuesday. The event featured senior art history majors presenting their thesis and capstone topics, senior studio art majors showing their portfolios and collaborative painting for visitors.
The event was sponsored by the Davidson Art Department, Friends of the Arts and the Van Every|Smith Galleries.
Gibby Heiser ’26, a senior art history major, presented on her thesis about ancient Sasanian seal stones.
The Sasanian Empire ruled in and around modern day Iraq from 224 to 651 AD. Despite being only slightly bigger than a fingernail, the stones were etched with an incredible detail that fascinated Heiser.
Heiser credits Assistant Professor of Art Lyla Halsted ’14 for her love of the topic, which started when Heiser wrote a paper for Halsted’s
The Evil Eye course. “I just kind of fell in love,” Heiser said. “I just think they’re the coolest things.”
Across the room, students present-
ed their final projects from Halsted’s Female Sultans class, which covers women in power throughout Islamic history. Auguste Reboussin ’26 focused on Aisha al-Hurra and Sayyida al-Hurra, who lived during the end of the Islamic Andalusian Period in Spain, and their erroneous depictions by later European writers.
“I go into more of an anthropological discussion, because I’m not an art history major [...] I’m going to get into the idea of orientalism and fetishization of ‘the other,’ and how a lot of these perceptions are not per-
ceptions or depictions they would have created themselves,” Reboussin said.
Upstairs, senior studio art majors opened their doors to visitors. Every senior studio art major is given a room in the VAC to develop their pieces. On Tuesday, outsiders got the rare chance to view the senior’s creative enclaves, where the artists work on pieces that will compose their final portfolio.
The artists use a variety of mediums for their portfolios, including oil paint, sculpture and acrylic paint
on a variety of surfaces.
Visitors themselves also got an opportunity to paint and engage with each other’s pieces. In a studio classroom, students and professors painted various flowers native to North Carolina. Once finished, the visitors placed their works on a wall. From there, other visitors were encouraged to paint on the finished works. A poster reminded the collaborators to “build on what’s already there–engage with a previous student’s work.”
Jaume Plensa’s “Waves III” covered by black cloth for Day With(out) Art.
Photo by David Anderson Montes Lara ’28.
Left: Gibby Heiser ’26 poses with a poster of seal stones, the topic of her art history thesis. Right: Visitors work on collaborative paintings. Photos by Wyatt Gessner ’28.
Sculptures across campus were covered in red and black cloth. Photos by David Anderson Montes Lara ’28.
Living Davidson
Honor Council: Letter to the Davidson Community
Upon starting their academic career at Davidson, each community member pledged themselves to the following: “I hereby commit myself to following the Davidson College Honor Code. I will not lie about College business, cheat or steal while I am a student here, nor will I tolerate these actions on the part of others.”
This code supports the academic and social strength of our campus, fostering an exceptional depth of connection among community members and creating a breadth of personal and professional opportunities for students far beyond their time at Davidson. And yet, despite the centrality of the code to the campus community, discourse frequently centers around questions of whether or not the code is “still alive,” undoubtedly prompted by the rapid and robust rise of AI.
The current Honor Council Leadership team seeks to reinforce trust in the Honor Code through process transparency, increased discourse and community engagement. As a part of this effort, we decided to internally collect and publish data surrounding case reports, the first time
dent with an Honor Code violation.
There are two avenues through which this process can proceed if the student is charged: a hearing or a mutual resolution. In hearings, six honor council representatives determine responsibility, in the case of a student that declines to admit responsibility, as well as the appropriate accountability plan. There are two defense advisors present to advocate for the student and their rights as well as two student solicitors who advocate for the community and the Code.
A newer, less familiar, option available is a mutual resolution.
The College adopted this process at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year as means of increasing restorative practices within the Council. This resolutory pathway is available to the student if they have not been charged with a previous violation, they admit to the present charge and the reporting professor agrees to it.
A mutual resolution consists of a meeting between the professor, the student, one of the chairs, one defense advisor and one student solicitor. The Honor Council representatives facilitate a conversation to gain insight into the context surrounding
ability to utilize their pass/fail option for that course.
In the past, accountability plans typically consisted of a F in the course and withdrawals in the offending student’s other courses. While suspension is still used in cases where individuals have been found responsible for multiple violations, the plans now reflect a move
such detail and context has been accessible to the student body. Our hope is that making this information public will increase productive conversations about academic integrity while reducing misconceptions about Honor Council practices and outcomes.
The Council received 44 reports of Honor Code violations between Apr. 15 and Dec. 2. Data collection began when current leadership began their term in April. These reports are handled depending on the type of violation, number of previous offenses and evidence provided by the reporting party. Student Solicitors will then determine if there is sufficient evidence to formally charge the stu-
the violation and determine what outcome is warranted.
Unlike the traditional hearing process, mutual resolutions give the reporting party a voice in creating the accountability plan rather than it being an entirely student governed decision. Since the implementation of this process, the Council has seen an increase in reports, the majority of which are resolved via mutual resolution when available. We have also noted that different processes yield different outcomes, but most involve a component that impacts the student’s grade.
Most of the cases result in either a failing grade on the assignment or in the course as a whole and a reflection letter to the Dean of Students or professor of the course in which the violation took place. Many cases also include a campus referral to AADR, the writing center, office hours, or counseling services. In all cases, the violation is noted on a student’s disciplinary record. Students charged with a violation lose their
for more restorative processes. Restorative practices address the violation while simultaneously reinforcing campus values of integrity and honesty. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Business Ethics Education found that punitive systems isolate violations from community
Unauthorized use of A.I. on course assignments have generated questions regarding authentic authorship and academic integrity, a concern reflected in the accompanying data. While this use can be worrisome, it is important to remember that this is not the first time the educational landscape has faced a novel technology. As with any new technology, it will take time to learn to ethically utilize AI.
We have found ourselves in the middle of this learning period, as students and professors alike grapple with the place generative AI does, or does not, have in the classroom. As such, the Honor Council has become tasked with managing an incredibly dynamic caseload compared to previous years.
While the increase in cases initially comes across as concerning, we want to dispel any notions that suggest the Honor Code is failing.
that we as students have (take-home tests and quizzes, self-scheduled exams, trust from faculty) we encourage you all to report violations of the code to the Honor Council. In aiming to invest into our community we all need to hold each other accountable.
values and have been shown to be ineffective in deterring further academic dishonesty (Riley and Little, 2024). While grade changes in the course and other assignments are still a large component of accountability plans, there are several other components often included in the plans that are intended to address the community and Code in addition to the individual. These tailored accountability plans allow students to reflect on their actions and repair relationships with professors.
If anything, the process is working.
The fact that professors and students continue to report to the Honor Council illustrates the trust in campus practices. It is evident that community members want to support the vitality of the Honor Code, and we hope our transparency supports this devotion.
This Honor Code process is one of mutual respect with not just our peers but our faculty. We are so grateful for faculty’s commitment to the code and we want to encourage them to continue to use it. With that we also encourage faculty to trust the process and place more faith in the Council’s decisions.
To the students, part of the code you all so dutifully signed states “and I am unaware of any violation of the Honor Code by others.” To restore faith in the Honor Code and maintain/regain many of privileges
We implore each of you to reflect on the opportunities this campus and college has and continues to provide to you because of the Honor Code. Our process is not punitive in nature. It is not meant to be scary or secretive. It is merely a means by which we attempt to uphold the values of the community. Cherishing the process of learning and the struggle that sometimes accompanies it is far more rewarding than violating the code in the name of a good grade. We have made it a priority of ours to not just react to violations of the honor code but be proactive in maintaining its presence as a pillar of our beloved community. When we lose sight of the responsibility we have to one another, we dim the spirit of the Code and the community upon which it stands. We hope that as you continue at Davidson, you too become increasingly committed to upholding the code.
Sincerely,
Davidson College’s Honor Council Leadership
Maggie Woodward, Chair
Lily Radtke, Vice Chair
John Endres, Student Solicitor
Greer Levy, Student Solicitor
James Rose, Student Solicitor
Andrew Tashie, Student Solicitor
Sofia Cimballa, Defense Advisor
Thomas Crough, Defense Advisor
Eliza McGee, Defense Advisor
Cole Mooney, Defense Advisor
