The Alestle, Vol. 76 No. 11

Education instructor receives honors from Fulbright Finland

Volleyball

The Cougars block an incoming ball during the final home game of the season against the University of Southern Indiana’s Screaming Eagles. | Winter Racine / The Alestle

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Dining services director addresses common questions

NICOLE BOYD opinion/online editor

Wondering when the Starbucks cart will open or why prices are going up in Dining Services? Find out more from Den nis Wobbe, the director of Dining Services.

Kaldi’s

Wobbe said there have been issues with the pipes for a long time where Kaldi’s used to be, often caused by hard water pressure bursting through the pipes.

“Right now it is non-operational and it would take a lot of work,” Wobbe said. “A lot of cabinetry got messed up, so we are on hold right now but looking at the possibilities of when that would come back and how it would come back online.”

Wobbe said when the space is opera tional again, they will look into what stu dents need and want, so it’s not currently clear if Kaldi’s will be brought back.

Lovejoy Starbucks Cart

Wobbe said they would love to have the Starbucks cart up as soon as they can, but right now their staff is down nearly 30 percent, so it makes more sense to use staff at the main location.

“We’re doing less than 80 people a day at [the] Starbucks cart in the li brary versus doing 800 to 900 in the MUC,” Wobbe said.

Wobbe said they are doing job inter views in the hopes of filling these positions.

Chicken shawarma

The chicken shawarma at Sammich es has been brought back after working

through staffing and supply issues. Wobbe said Student Government brought to Din ing Services’ attention that the halal op tion at Sammiches was gone, and they have since brought the shawarma back.

Price increases

Wobbe said supply chain issues have made this a challenging semester. He said when actually placing an order, a lot of things are unavailable, and about 1020 percent of items are missing from the truck when the order arrives. He said when equipment goes out, parts are on back order for six months to a year.

“I’ve been doing this for a long, long time. This is the most challenging time we’ve ever had,” Wobbe said.

Wobbe said food prices are up easily 10 percent if not 20 or 30.

Staffing issues

Wobbe said they are very short-staffed in the kitchens as the culinary lead of the main kitchen has been gone since June of last year, and other people in the kitchen went on medical leave. He said they cur rently have one chef for the main kitchen that does all of the catering and serves all the areas, including Head Start programs in East St. Louis and Cahokia.

“If you see some areas and think, ‘Why’s that one down?’ We’ve been pull ing people and training them in other ar eas and pretty much everybody in Dining Services has been working over in different areas,” Wobbe said. “The culinaries and everybody here, I just say kudos to them. It’s been a difficult time and they’ve really been doing well.”

11.05.22

A student ID was found in the Edwardsville Police Department.

11.06.22

A traffic accident with a deer was reported on Stadium Drive near South University Drive.

11.07.22

A wallet was found in Parking Lot A.

11.08.22

A parking pass was stolen from a car in Parking Lot F.

11.10.22

A weightlifting belt was stolen from a locker in the Student Fitness Center.

11.11.22

A wallet was found in the MUC. An eyewash station alarm was triggered in Science West. An officer arrived, and found the alarm had been triggered due to normal testing.

11.12.22

A traffic accident was reported on North Research Drive near North University Drive.

A traffic accident with a deer was also reported on East University Drive near South State Route 157.

11.14.22

A wallet was found in Cougar Village.

First-year student dies at 18

Freshman and aspiring criminal justice major Morgen Schroeder of Jerseyville, Illinois, died in his home last week from a lifelong condition.

Schroeder had battled epilep sy since he was 6 months old un til Thursday, when he died from an epileptic seizure.

Services for Schroeder were held earlier this week and he was buried at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cemetery in Jerseyville on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

LIV KRAUS reporter

Marti Elford, instructor for SIUE’s School of Education, was recently given the opportunity to travel to Finland after being rec ognized as a Fulbright Specialist.

The Fulbright Specialist Pro gram is dedicated to providing academics and professionals with the opportunity to complete a three-year term where they can complete projects designed by in stitutions around the world.

“Fulbright Finland has a great working relationship with the Fulbright organization in the United States and they try to in vite different people to come to Finland,” Elford said. “Priority is given to people who haven’t been here before, so that’s one of the reasons that I feel espe cially honored that I was invited back to Finland.”

Elford said a great part of Fulbright Finland is its dedication to promoting intellectual thought and education worldwide.

“Fulbright gets people out of their silos and helps us collaborate on a global stage and that can only be a good thing,” Elford said.

Elford said that Fulbright Specialists get the chance to travel and work on certain projects.

“As a Specialist, you can kind of bid on opportunities around the world, people post projects that they want support,” Elford said. “If you have an expertise in that area, then you can bid to go to that location and collaborate with the researchers or the faculty in that area.”

Elford was selected for her contributions to special education.

Elford said she became in terested in special education after teaching secondary physical edu cation, wellness and language arts for 25 years. She said she moved to Kansas to start working in reading intervention.

“When I saw how important strategic teaching was and how the University of Kansas in par ticular, was instrumental in really promoting strategic instruction, I wanted to know more about that,” Elford said.

Elford said she was inter ested in how special educators implement different strategies

to help students.

“What I noticed in public school was that teachers knew their content very well, but they needed support from special ed ucators to make sure that that content was accessible to all stu dents,” Elford said. “I wanted to know about those strategies and how to really support the inclu sion of all students in classrooms.”

Elford said her path to be

coming a Fulbright Specialist started years ago, when she was a PhD candidate at the University of Kansas. Elford said she showed some visiting scholars her Virtual Professional Practice Lab.

“These Finnish scholars saw this laboratory, and they saw the kind of feedback that I was giv ing to the students and we had a very lively and interesting con versation,” Elford said. “That

was the foundation for some future conversations.”

Eford said a couple years lat er, one of the scholars who visited her university reached out to her and encouraged her to apply to become a Fulbright Specialist.

“What that meant was going to the Fulbright website, reading all the criteria, getting my curric ulum vitae up to snuff, asking for people to give me reference letters

and basically entering that com petition to become a Fulbright Specialist,” Elford said.

Elford was then select ed as a Fulbright Specialist and was flown out to Helsin ki, Finland for three weeks to assist on projects relating to improving special education.

“I’ve really enjoyed get ting to explore it a little bit more this time, this is my sec ond visit to the city, but the last time I was here I lived in a dif ferent city and worked at a dif ferent university, so this is my first time to really get to explore Helsinki,” Elford said.

Elford said during her vis it she will be collaborating with the University of Helsinki faculty on video supervision and teacher preparation.

“It’s something I’ve been doing for a while, but they’re just beginning to explore and so that’s one of the reasons that they invited me,” Elford said.

Elford said one of the first things she did upon arriving to Finland was attend a conference that acted as a collaborative ven ture between the Ministry of Ed ucation in Finland, and different corporate partners, and countries all over the world who want to employ the Finnish education model in their countries.

“Getting to talk to people from Kuwait, Mozambique, Ken ya and Peru, and talk to them about how Finnish education is being used in their location was really interesting,” Elford said.

Elford said the confer ence was a great opportunity to gain insight on other coun tries’ education models and network with others.

“Looking at how different non-government organizations or businesses are partnering with Finland and with these oth er countries to make education better for places that are devel oping, that was really exciting,” Elford said. “As a result, I made some additional connections for me professionally.”

Elford said being a Ful bright Specialist has taught her new ways to help improve the education system.

“What I learned in Fin land can benefit SIUE, so these collaborative partnerships help promote education worldwide,” Elford said.

Marti Elford was recently recognized by the Fulbright Finland Foundation, an organization focused on Finnish-American research. | Photo courtesy of Illinois Business Journal

The Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with our online edition Nov. 29 and in print Dec. 1.

contact the editor: lifestyles@alestlelive.com 650-3527

On-campus disability awareness group to hold panel for National Epilepsy Awareness Month

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Epilepsy affects 3.4 million Amer icans, according to the CDC, and SIUE will mark National Epilepsy Aware ness Month with a program led by New Horizons.

Students who have experienced seizures in a campaign to educate the public about seizures and dispel com mon – and potentially harmful – myths around epilepsy.

Madalynn McKenzie said the idea be hind the panel is to provide an opportunity for people to ask questions about epilepsy in an open format. McKenzie, a member of New Horizons and graduate assistant in the Inclusive Excellence, Education, and Development Hub, is one of the panelists who will be leading the discussion.

“The purpose of the panel is for peo ple to share their personal experiences ei ther with epilepsy or with non-epileptic seizures, like what I have, because typically the experiences are similar,” she said.

McKenzie said she has psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, often abbreviated as PNES — a condition often misdiag nosed as epilepsy.

“Mine are actually caused by extreme psychological distress,” McKenzie said. “[They are] stress-induced, like if there’s a lot going on in my life.”

While epilepsy is often hereditary, McKenzie said seizures are not necessarily a purely genetic phenomenon.

“Often it’s a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, or major trauma,” McK enzie said.

Emily Milano, president of New Horizons, will coordinate the panel and introduce the speakers. Milano said she does not experience seizures, but has friends who do.

“I actually know several people who have either epileptic or non-epileptic sei zures, and last year I had two friends with

in the same month have a seizure,” Milano said. “Nobody knew what to do.”

Milano said she got the idea for the seizure awareness panels while speaking with people who have epilepsy and voiced their wishes for harmful misconceptions about epilepsy to be dispelled.

“There’s still a lot of people out there who still believe the old myths that could hurt them,” Milano said. “I figured the best way to have the general public learn about that is to have people who actually experience seizures to tell them.”

New Horizons’ seizure awareness campaign has been in the works for a few months, but comes in the wake of the recent death of SIUE freshman Morgen Ryan Schroeder. Schroeder’s obituary states that he died of an epileptic seizure on Nov. 3. McKenzie and Milano both ex pressed their desire to mention Schroeder during the panels.

“I’m thinking about what would be the most appropriate thing to do,” Milano said. “I want to address it.”

Milano said the panelists will touch on many of the most common miscon ceptions about seizures and explain what to do properly in the event someone has a seizure.

“The big one would definitely be holding somebody down when they’re having a seizure,” Milano said. “A lot of people believe you should hold the per son down while they’re seizing. A lot of people have heard that you’re sup posed to literally straddle the person and hold them down while they’re seizing, which is dangerous because they could break something.”

Milano said another common myth is that keeping a person’s head still is helpful in the midst of a seizure, but this too can lead to serious injury.

“The best thing to do is to get them on their side, and nobody really knows that,” Milano said. “A lot of people actu ally think that’s harmful.”

McKenzie said one thing she plans to talk about is the variation of types of seizures.

“[Seizures are] more common than you would think, and there are different types of seizures,” McKenzie said. “When you think of seizures, oftentimes people picture grand mal seizures.”

The National Library of Medicine says that only 25% of epileptic seizures are grand mal, or tonic-clonic seizures. Grand mal seizures often include very visible symptoms, including muscle convulsions,

loss of consciousness, and confusion.

“[For] a lot of people, their seizures don’t look like what you’d think,” Milano said. “Definitely some people start seizing and it looks like the movies, but not all sei zures look like that. A lot of people don’t understand how serious the condition is.”

The panel will take place From 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 in the University Club Room.

For more information on siezure and epilepsy, visit the Epilepsy Foundation’s website.

November Goshen Showcase to feature string duets

I’ve seen in a while.”

Samantha Malt and Hannah McCauley put their duet skills together in a two-hour pub lic performance in November’s Goshen Showcase.

Maddie Schurman, a mem ber of the Campus Activities Board, said Goshen Showcase is an opportunity for students to listen to and appreciate the mu sical talents of other students on campus.

“It’s based on tryouts,” Schurman said. “Not just any student can do it, but they can either submit a video or come to in-person tryouts.”

Schurman also said the potential performers are scored on a rubric that evalu ates performance quality and relevance to students.

“A few of our past perfor mances have been vocalists,” Schurman said. “This year we have our first instrumentalists

Malt and McCauley, both freshmen and string instrumen talists, said they only recently be gan practicing together.

“I heard of [the Goshen Showcase] through some of our music professors,” McCauley said. “We just thought it’d be kind of fun to audition just to see if we can get in.”

Despite having only be gun practicing last month, Malt and McCauley both have years of experience with their respective instruments.

“I started playing in fourth grade,” McCauley said. “As part of the elementary school, every body took strings, and I chose the viola and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Malt said she began on vio lin, but switched to cello when her school’s music education program allowed students to pick their own instruments.

“We’re from neighboring

school districts, but we’d never met each other,” Malt said.

McCauley said she and Malt began practicing togeth er in October once their audi tion was accepted. For both of them, this sort of ensemble was a new frontier.

“I’ve played in some quartets before, but I’ve never done duets that have not been school-relat ed,” McCauley said.

When practicing and pre paring for their performance, Malt and McCauley have no set drill they run through, instead letting the music take control of their practice.

“We don’t really have much of a routine,” Malt said. “I got most of the music from my high school orchestra teacher, because she had a bunch of books of du ets. So we have practiced that by just playing through the duets and selecting which songs we liked the best out of those.”

Malt also said she and Mc

Cauley searched online for piec es outside the genre of classical music for some variety, adding Christmas music and a series of jigs to their repertoire.

“Whenever we’re practic ing, we’ll run through it, but then we’ll reverse hard sec tions, or parts that kind of fell apart or didn’t quite work,” McCauley said.

Schurman said the Campus Activities Board is hoping to make Goshen Showcase a month ly occurrence instead of one which occurs every other month.

Michelle Cartagena, who is in charge of organizing and hosting the showcase and events such as movie and karaoke nights, said there are plans in the works to enhance Goshen Showcase.

“Spring semester there’s go ing to be a couple changes, but they’re going to be good chang es,” Cartagena said.

Schurman said the Campus Activities Board often keeps in

touch with the performers after their two hours in the limelight, sometimes calling them back to ask if they want to perform again.

“It’s almost like they have a secret,” Schurman said. “It’s so cool to know that, be cause they’re so special and they’re so talented.”

Schurman said the show case functions both to expose students to music they may not traditionally listen to, as well as give students with musical talents a chance to show off their talents to the student body.

“It’s so cool to see people’s families come out for it,” Schur man said. “We’ve had the per formers’ parents come, they’ve brought flowers, their professors will come and watch them … They just light up so big when they see their supporters come.”

McCauley and Malt both said they are already looking for ward to another opportunity to perform together again.

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor

After a long string of dis appointing Marvel movies, “Black Panther: Wakanda For ever” is a movie that can stand alone, honoring T’Challa while allowing the powerful wom en of Wakanda to make the story their own.

After King T’Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman) passes away, other countries see an opportu nity to manipulate Wakanda into giving up their vibranium. When a group of scientists are myste riously attacked upon discover ing vibranium in the ocean, the Wakandans must confront the new entity behind the attack, and decide whether to join forces with them or wage war.

In addition to the difficult political choices she must face, Shuri (Letitia Wright) is strug gling to grieve for her brother because she is so angry – a factor that affects her decision-making. The film explores the power of grief, whether for a loved one or one’s people and homeland, and how people can deal with it pro ductively or destructively.

Wakanda and the newly-dis covered people have much in common relating to coloniza tion and the need to protect their own, and could be the most powerful alliance in the world if it were not for ideological differ ences and generationally-instilled defensiveness. Instead, they may destroy one another.

The film is driven by inter esting, likable women, without the infantilizing “girl power” shtick that Marvel has typically been so fond of. I realized several minutes into one fight scene that there were three women fighting off countless opponents, with out any attention being called to their gender and no pandering one-liners. They were just pow erful fighters who happened to be women.

The leading women also had considerable character develop ment. Shuri transforms from “a child who scoffs at tradition” to a leader who moves her nation forward without sacrificing its values. Queen Ramonda (Ange la Bassett), while always regal, is overtaken with emotion at times and makes decisions her husband would have disagreed

Sigma Gamma Rho hosts disco roller skating event

EMILY STERZINGER editor-in-chief

To celebrate their centenni al founder’s week, Sigma Gam ma Rho hosted a disco-themed roller skating night at the YMCA Meyer Center.

Ashley Perry, a junior pre-pharmacy major from Chica go, is the secretary and treasur er of the Gamma Beta chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho, SIUE’s chapter. She detailed other events that occurred over Founder’s Week, including “Trap Zumba,” “Aux Cord Wars” and “Meet the Poodles.” The name of the event “Meet the Poodles” alludes to the sorority’s mascot, the French toy poodle.

“We’re just looking forward to seeing a lot of people come out and support us for our founder’s week,” Perry said. “Since it’s our centennial, we only turn 100 once, so we’re looking for a lot of support.”

Alum Aureon Hopkins of Tulsa, Oklahoma said that Founder’s Week is about cel ebrating the founding of the organization.

“It’s just honoring the founders that started the whole organization and it’s just a week

full of fun events that we just do every year,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins said she enjoyed roller skating at the event, a skill which she had picked up 6 months ago.

“It was more so a therapeu tic thing for me that I just grew to love,” Hopkins said.

The music throughout the night wasn’t limited to dis co. It varied from classics such as “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond to more contempo rary pop songs like “Cuff It” by Beyoncé.

Corynn Patton, a freshman business major from Atlanta, said her family is a part of Sigma Gamma Rho.

“I’m looking forward to having fun, skating with my friends and learning more about the sorority,” Patton said.

Hopkins said she came out to skate and support her organization.

“I just want everyone to en joy tonight and feel free and float on wheels,” Hopkins said.

The event was held at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16.

For more information on SIUE’s chapter of Sigma Gam ma Rho, visit their Instagram or their Twitter.

with. Okoye is still a strong fighter, but we also see her crack jokes and cry.

The film also managed to advance the storyline set forward by “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and set the stage for the next movie without sacrific ing too much time or muddying the plot.

This is exactly what Marvel movies should be: movies that can stand on their own as part of a larger story. I did not walk away feeling confused about what’s to come, but satisfied with the movie I’d just seen and excited for the next. It was also nice to get a break from the outer space conflicts.

Studios

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is easily one of the best Marvel movies since “Avengers: Endgame,” if not one of the best Marvel movies of all time. It has a plot based in reality, an antihe ro with understandable motives, engaging characters and the right amount of action. You just might want to bring tissues.

| via Marvel

| Damian Morris / The Alestle

The Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with our online edition Nov. 29 in print Dec. 1.

EMILY STERZINGER Editor-in-Chief

GABRIEL BRADY Managing Editor

FRANCESCA BOSTON Lifestyles Editor

BRANDON WELLS Sports Editor

DAMIAN MORRIS Multimedia Editor

NICOLE BOYD Online/Opinion Editor

O’LOUGHLIN Graphics Manager

DONALD JANA HAMADE AUDREY O’RENIC Copy Editors

TAMMY MERRETT Program Director

UDIT NALUKALA Circulation Manager

HAVE A COMMENT?

OPINION

view

WINTER RACINE CHLOE WOLFE Photographers

Let us know! opinion@alestlelive.com Campus Box 1167 Edwardsville, IL. 62026-1167

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY:

The editors, staff and publishers of The Alestle believe in the free exchange of ideas, concerns and opinions and will publish as many letters as possible.

Letters may be submitted at The Alestle office: Morris University Center, Room 0311 e-mail: opinion@alestlelive.com

All hard copy letters should be typed and double-spaced. Letters should be no longer than 500 words. Include phone number, signature, class rank and major.

We reserve the right to edit letter for grammar and content. Care will be taken to ensure that the letter’s message is not lost or altered.

Letters to the editor will not be printed anonymously except under extreme circumstances. We reserve the right to reject letters.

The name Alestle is an acronym derived from the names of the three campus locations of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville: Alton, East St. Louis and Edwardsville.

The Alestle is published on Thursdays in print and on Tuesdays online during the fall and spring semesters. A print edition is available every other Wednesday during summer semesters.

For more information, call 618-650-3528.

For advertising, email advertising@alestlelive.com.

Share your thoughts: opinion@alestlelive.com 650-3527

Cougar Controversies

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

ROLLS:

Questions go up at 10 a.m. every Monday on Twitter: @TheAlestle

Elon Musk doesn’t know a thing about citizen journalism

THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

For those who aren’t active on Twitter, you may be missing out on some extremely chaotic times. Businessman Elon Musk now has ownership of Twitter. He’s made many changes already, including changing the rules for verification. Instead of an internal decision at Twitter, Musk proposed charging $20 a month for verification checkmarks. However, after a tweet from author Stephen King mocked the idea, Musk replied and lowered the cost to $8.

Since any person could pay $8 for verification, there were instances of individuals creating accounts and posing as different companies, attempting to make the account look somewhat believable and posting patently false information that would damage the company’s image. Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly lost

$15 billion in stock value because of one of these accounts promising free insulin, weapons company Lockheed Martin had to deny rumors they were no longer selling weapons to the U.S. or Israel and Musk’s own company, Tesla, was a victim of this too.

These giant companies are actually losing money through the stock market purely because of the actions of individual people, but there are some people getting caught in the crossfire of all this chaos. In those tweets where Musk tried to negotiate with King about the cost of verification, Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono replied and expressed his concern for the new decision to make Twitter users pay to be verified.

“For a lot of journalists in Africa, verification has helped us to not fall victim to State tactics to use our names to spread propaganda. I have been to jail three times inside six months for expos-

ing corruption,” Chin’ono said. “Few African journalists will afford the U.S. $20.”

Despite this clear concern expressed by Chin’ono and other journalists, Musk said his plans for Twitter will make it better for independent journalists, or as he calls them, citizen journalists. However, we disagree, as do journalists such as Emily Bell, a professor of journalism at Columbia University. In an article for the Columbia Journalism Review, she said Musk’s past shows how he will damage the use of Twitter for all journalists. She says New York Times journalist John M. Broder took a test drive in a Tesla Model S for an article he wrote and experienced backlash from Musk.

“Documenting his dreary trip between Newark, Delaware and New Haven, Connecticut, Broder logged his battery and charging problems with the electric wonder-car,” Bell wrote. “The response was a furious blog post

from Tesla founder Musk claiming that the data Tesla harvested from the drive suggested a deliberate attempt to sabotage the car for a ‘salacious story.’”

Although Broder’s test drive was analyzed and proven to be completely valid, as well as his article, Musk still immediately took criticism of his company and work personally and tried to smear the press. Public figures insulting the press already do enough to damage journalism, but this is especially the case for Musk, whose fans are intensely devoted to defending him.

There is no way to take Twitter from Elon immediately, but one way to address the problem is to be careful about where you get your news. Twitter became so popular for journalists because of its accessibility to readers. If actual newspaper websites were the primary place of readership, they wouldn’t have to rely on Twitter like they currently do.

Mandatory sentences hinder rehabilitation, overcrowd prisons

MORRIS multimedia editor

Overcrowded prisons, high repeat offenders and a lack of proper rehabilitation for inmates are complex issues with no single solution. However, removing set sentencing lengths is a vital place to start.

Determinate sentencing is a jail or prison sentence with a mandatory length. Sentences also cannot be changed by any parole board or any other agency. Long-running, tough-on-crime rhetoric supports such sentencing, but it has proven ineffective in reducing repeat offense rates — recidivism.

According to a study highlighted in “American Corrections: Concepts and Controversies 2nd Edition,” the U.S. imprisonment rate increased by 427 percent from 1970 to 2008 due to the combination of determinate sentencing, the political push in the 1980s for mandatory incarcer-

ation for some crimes and President Richard Nixon’s “War on Drugs.’’ In this same time frame, the U.S. only had a 56 percent increase in overall population based on data from the United States Census Bureau. This represents the largest surge in incarceration rates the U.S. has seen.

This tough-on-crime method has failed to address prison overcrowding and recidivism rates, along with the cost for both of these. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study, 62 percent of released state prisoners were rearrested within three years, and 71 percent within five. According to the Concordance Institute for Advancing Social Justice, despite the often cited cost of corrections being $80 million, these costs can span as high as $1 trillion when accounting for unreported costs.

Further, determinate sentencing fails to account for what an inmate will do after release. In a 2006 Stanford paper written by

Sean Hayes, he states that in the 1970s, “the only individuals lobbying against the change to the determinate system were prison officials.” He references several California cases where violent offenders were let out early due to determinate sentencing and committed even worse offenses after release.

On the other end of the spectrum, those with life sentences are often the ones that run prison gangs as they have no incentive to not continue a life of crime given they’ll spend the remainder of their lives in prison. This has a snowball effect though increasing criminal behavior in other inmates, as shown in a National Geographic documentary on prison gangs.

Most states have now shifted to a primarily indeterminate sentencing system, which gives a minimum and maximum sentence length to those convicted of a crime. While still running some of the same risks in that having a

set minimum may lead to holding an inmate longer than necessary, this is a major step up from determinate sentencing.

Indeterminate sentencing’s largest benefit is that it gives inmates more incentive to seek out treatment. The quicker they’re effectively treated and evaluated as ready to reintegrate into society, the quicker they can leave prison. It also makes them less likely to be released at a time they are still likely to reoffend and addresses the financial costs of holding inmates in overcrowded prisons.

Moving away from the tough-on-crime mentality that has been so prevalent for so many years is the best way to begin addressing the massive rates of incarceration within the U.S. While there will never be a perfect system, nor is this the only change that needs to take place within the criminal justice system, it is a key change in shifting the culture toward a more effective rehabilitation model for prisoners.

DAMIAN

KIRSTEN

ELIZABETH

AMINA SEHIC

ANGIE TROUT Offi ce Manager

DARNELL DYLAN HEMBROUGH LIV KRAUS AHMAD LATHAN Reporters

EMILY STERZINGER editor in chief

Alton-based band Accidentally on Pur pose recently released their debut single, Perfectly Imperfect.

Accidentally on Purpose is a band of five musicians: Alex Cole on rhythm guitar, Carter Noble on lead guitar, Hen ry Bush on drums, Jacob Pullen on bass and Fox Pullen on keyboard, vocals and composition.

Through this playlist, the band shared with us their thoughts behind the songs that inspired them as a band.

‘Supper’s Ready,’ Genesis

“I added the first song, which is also the most important song, ‘Supper’s Ready’ by Genesis,” Noble said. “I think we can at least agree that it might be the best song.”

Fox Pullen referred to the song as a “masterwork.”

‘Starless,’ King Crimson

“We’re working on our [extend ed play,] which is kind of more of our

pop-rock-indie stuff, and then we have a progressive album in the works for after that which we’re hoping to put out next year,” Fox Pullen said. “Most of the songs are done, but not recorded.”

‘Homeworld (The Ladder),’ Yes

“My favorite song that I put on there is ‘Homeworld,’ because it’s from this lesser known Yes album that a lot of the older fans don’t like but a lot of the newer fans seem to like, and I’m one of the newer fans,” Fox Pullen said. “It came out the year I was born, so I decided to listen to it.”

‘Evil Friends,’ Portugal. The Man

“The thing with us as a band is that there are five of us and we have very different influences, so to come to an agreement on something is to just make a bunch of parts to a song,” Bush said. “We can’t agree on a short song, so we’ll all have ideas and the song just keeps getting longer and longer.”

‘Dogs,’ Pink Floyd

“‘Dogs’ represents much more of what we’re about,” Noble said. “‘Dogs’ is more of a microcosm of everything we do as a band. It has the long song, the polit

ical lyrics, the sick keyboard parts and the guitar harmony.”

‘The Beagle Has Landed,’ Thor Axe “We took that from another local band called Thor Axe,” Noble said, in reference to a joke he cracked about being the first chair in guitar. “They have three guitar players, and they’re obviously first, second and third chair guitar.”

‘A Salesman’s Guide to Non-Existence,’ Thank You Scientist

“Thank You Scientist is probably one personal influence for me; me and Alex definitely agree on that band, that’s a band we both like a lot,” Bush said.

‘Close to the Edge,’ Yes

“[My favorite] is probably ‘Close to the Edge,’” Jacob Pullen said. “I don’t know, it’s like the song that got me into long, weird music.”

Fox Pullen said seeing the song played live was a highlight of his life.

‘Vortex,’ Jinjer

“Everybody has different Lego kits and we’re putting them all into one build, and it’s great,” Fox Pullen said, referring to the

h r sc pe

LINDA C. BLACK HOROSCOPES: NOVEMBER 17

group’s varying influences.

‘Bike,’ Pink Floyd

Noble said Bike was a personal favorite Pink Floyd song of his.

“Bike gives us weird noises and funny lyrics,” Jacob Pullen said.

‘The Distance,’ CAKE

“The song that’s coming out next is gonna be very CAKE,” Bush said.

Accidentally on Purpose’s next single, “Theory,” will have trumpet and trombone in it, which resembles the band CAKE.

“It’s our second song about ‘The X-Files,’” Noble said, referring to “Theory.” “Second written, first released song about ‘The X-Files,’ and it has some great horn parts in it.”

‘So American,’ Portugal. The Man

“If we’re picking one word, ‘Infectious’ is a good one,” said Bush, referring to “Per fectly Imperfect.” “I feel like it was kind of designed to be catchy, from the ground up.”

The band’s next performance will be Friday, Nov. 18 at Riverbend Records in Godfrey, Illinois.

For more information on the band, vis it linktr.ee/accidentallyonpurpose.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)

Today is an 8 — You’re in the center of the buzz. Enjoy a three-week social phase, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Share resources, data and connections. Accomplish great things together.

PISCES (Feb. 19 - March 20)

Mercury entering Sagittarius today launches a three-week professional growth phase. Let others know what you want. What you say impacts your career directly.

ARIES (March 21 - April 19)

Today is an 8 — Physical action gets results. Travel conditions improve over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Sagittarius, so expand your territory. Enjoy philosophical inquiries.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20)

Today is a 7 — Enjoy fun and games. Set long-range financial targets. Communication gets lucrative over three weeks, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Wheel, deal and sign contracts.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Today is a 7 — Pull for the home team. Ignore petty stuff and collaborate with your partner. Irritations could disrupt things if you let them. Rely on each other.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

Today is an 8 — Grow by learning from experts with your work, health and fitness, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Create and discover efficiencies and solutions for three weeks.

LEO (July 23 - Aug. 22)

Today is a 9 — Use your persuasive charms. You’re especially expressive, artistic and creative, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Share your passion. Invent fun and romance in conversation.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22)

Today is a 9 — Nurture yourself with domestic improvements. Over three weeks, with Mercury in Sagittarius, focus on household renovation. Uncover forgotten treasures. Invent a new purpose for old stuff.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)

Today is a 7 — Relax in peaceful settings. Begin a three-week intensive study phase, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Indulge curiosity. Investigate assumptions. Write reports. Consider ethics and consequences.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)

Today is an 8 — Collaborate for lucrative team results. Cash flow velocity rises over three weeks, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Buy, sell and barter. Monitor to keep balances positive.

SAGITARIUS (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)

Today is a 9 — Your influence is rising. You have an advantage, with Mercury in your sign for three weeks. Ask for what you want. Listen for solutions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)

Today is a 7 — Explore possibilities. Start a three-week philosophical and spiritual phase, with Mercury in Sagittarius. Secrets get revealed. Discover hidden wonders. Illuminate compassion, beauty and joy.

sports

The Alestle will be on break next week, but will be back with our online edition Nov.

29 and in print Dec. 1

Volleyball team topples USI, goes on to championship

BRANDON WELLS sports editor

Last weekend’s tourna ment pitted the Cougars and the University of Southern In diana Screaming Eagles with an overpowering victory the first day and neck and neck victory the second.

In Friday’s game, the Cou gars ended up beating the Eagles 3-1.

With an impressive vig or, the Cougars started off the game strong with two kills right off-the-bat. Sophomore middle blocker Priscilla Jones of Austin, Texas, scored the first kill of the game. This was the start of her strong performance the rest of the game.

After the first two kills of the first set, the Eagles attempt ed to catch up which resulted in a back-to-back fight throughout the first set. Sophomore out side hitter Sydney Hummert of Quincy, Illinois also scored four kills, giving USI a run for their money with the rest of the team in a 5 point lead at 25-17.

The second set of the match started out a bit rough for the Cougars with USI taking the lead by two points. The Cou gars quickly caught up after the start, taking the lead and carry ing it for the rest of the set with efforts from Jones, Hummert and senior middle blocker Jessi ca Vineyard of Preston, Idaho. This and further sets established them as top scorers on the team in terms of kills.

The second set ended sim ilarly to the first with SIUE maintaining the same point total at 25-21.

The third set of the match proved to be different, with SIUE taking the lead initially, but losing it fast as USI kept pushing and pushing, maintaining a lead throughout the rest of the set de spite efforts from the whole team to catch up.

The third set of the match ended with the Eagles’ first win at 25-23.

Sophomore

The first quarter opened with Eastern Michigan displaying their strength and the Cougars faltering slightly, ending it with a score of 6-12.

Early in the second quarter, a strong defense knocked the ball out of Eastern Michigan’s hands. However, they were still able to score 3 points on the rebound.

After a short timeout, the game continued with a very strong defense from junior guard Niya Danfort that sent Eastern Michigan back down the court.

Thanks to baskets from se nior guard Mikayla Kinnard and freshman guard Macy Silvey, the score was brought to 14-31 at 4:40 as the Cougars began to fight back.

Showing off her skills as a se nior on the team, forward Ajulu Thatha scored a basket, and al though SIUE missed a pass that opened up Eastern Michigan for an easy basket, Thatha knocked the ball out of the air.

The first half of the game was over, with the score at 18-37.

The third quarter opened with Danfort scoring SIUE one point at the foul line, and a strong

The last set of the match proved to be the Cougars’ most successful one, with them quickly taking the lead and keep ing it that way despite efforts by

sports in brief

defense from Thatha that led to the same exact situation for East ern Michigan.

As the third quarter wrapped up, junior forward Madison Webb scored a basket, Silvey kept the energy up with a 3 and Danfort got the team another two at the foul line. Finally, just before the last minute of the quarter, fresh man forward Destine Duckworth scored a 3 and Kinnard scored an other basket. The score was 38-53 and there was one quarter left.

Eastern Michigan’s lead had decreased between the second and third quarters, and SIUE was prepared to keep shrink

the Eagles to catch up.

Jones, Hummert and sopho more outside hitter Julia Treichel of Brookfield, Wisconsin, led the charge against the Eagles.

The Eagles struggled throughout this entire set, with the highest point streak of the set leaving them behind by 6 points overall. Thai proved to be a trend for the entire set, with a complete Cougar domination leaving the ending score at 25-15.

The second game of the tournament started off with hon oring the Cougars’ seniors as it was the last game they’ll be play ing on their home court.

The game began with the Eagles taking the lead by 3 points before the Cougars could score. The Eagles kept the lead for the majority of the first set until the score eventually tied 8-8 where the teams went back and forth, Hummert and Treichel leading the Cougars with powerful kills.

The first set stayed evenly matched for a few plays after wards, but the Cougars ham mered down on their oppo nents, ending with a 6 point lead at 25-19.

The Second set stayed even ly matched throughout, with the Cougars and Eagles fighting to take the lead with every play. Hummert, Treichel and Jones all fought hard against the Eagles who struck back from the first set with much more aggression.

With the aid of redshirt junior middle blocker Savannah Christian of Washington, Mis souri, and Vineyard, the Cougars fought back against the Eagles until eventually succumbing to the Eagles, ending the first set with the first loss of the match at 29-27.

The third set of the match started off strong with a kill from Treichel, but the Eagles were still coming after the Cougars and fought to keep it even for a large portion of the set. Hummert and Jones hammered down on the Eagles, but they hammered right back until the teams eventually tied at 8-8, where the Cougars began to take the lead until the Eagles couldn’t keep up anymore.

The third set ended in a Cougar victory at 25-19.

The fourth set of the match

started off well for the Cougars with a good lead, but it didn’t take long for the Eagles to catch up and start to fight back and go back and forth with the Cougars.

The set saw a tough fight for both sides with the score even tually ending the set with a USI win at 25-23 forcing the match to go into a fifth set.

With a last win for the se niors in mind, the Cougars gave the last set as much as they could, securing a lead early on and keep ing the Eagles at bay while giv ing a strong performance for the entire team.

The set ended with a game winning kill from Christian, who was the third top scorer in kills for the match. This marked the end of the set as an SIUE win, 15-10.

“We went out with a kill. Running out on the court, knowing that that was our last point with our seniors was just a really full-circle moment,” Tre ichel said.

For both games, Hum mert said she believes the team performed well with their overpass kills.

Head coach Kendall Pau lus said the tournament against USI went well, even though the second game was more of a strug gle due to the second set.

“We’ve been trying to im prove our blocking and our digs per set, ‘’ Paulus said. “We did a good job of that last night, which I think allowed us to have more control throughout the en tire game. Tonight we lost some of that control [and] I thought we were a little bit slow to make reads, our hands were slow to get over the net.”

Paulus said going into the conference championship game against UT Martin this Thursday, she wants to try and keep up the momentum, but that the close proximity of the next game and potential following games make it difficult to work out anything the team still needs to work on.

“Knowing that you’re going into every game thinking it could be the last — I’m hoping that that is enough of something to get our blood flowing and ready to make moves,” Paulus said.

ing it. Duckworth opened the fourth quarter with a replay from moments before with another 3. However, due to a strong de fense from Eastern Michigan, the basket was put under review by the referees.

The basket was fine, and Duckworth was given two shots at the foul line which she made, bringing it to 45-53.

With five minutes left, the disheartened audience regained excitement. Senior guard K.K. Rodriguez smoothly weaved through the Eastern Michigan defenses for a basket, and Danfort got another point at the foul line.

SIUE followed an Eastern Mich igan point up with a basket, and a timeout. There were 58 seconds left on the clock, and the score was 58-70.

After the game continued, SIUE called another timeout at 31 seconds. But, this time, when the game returned, the team scored a basket. At 26 sec onds another SIUE timeout was called, and it was followed by a second basket.

After the second basket, how ever, Eastern Michigan gained possession of the ball, and waited out the timer, ending the game with a score of 62-70.

defensive specialist Gabi Andrade of Oswego, Illinois serves the ball to the USI Screaming Eagles in this Nov. 12 game. | Winter Racine / The Alestle

GABRIEL BRADY managing editor