Concordiensis - May 27, 2021

Concordiensis T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F U N I O N C O L L E G E S I N C E 1 8 7 7 Volume. CXLVIII, Issue XVIII

Thursday, May 27, 2021

concordiensis.com

“Take Back the Night” addressed issues of sexual abuse

By Hannah Monack Staff Writer

At 6:00 PM on May 20th, 2021, the Women’s Student Union (WSU) of Union College hosted a “Take back the Night” event to discuss issues of sexual assault and abusive relationships. The event began at the steps of the Schaffer Library with a series of speeches followed by a silent march to the field house and ended with a confidential Speak Out

in the field house where assault survivors shared their stories.

At 6:00 more than 50 students gathered at the steps of the schaffer library to listen to the women’s student union speak about issues of sexual assault and abuse. Members of WSU distributed t-shirts with the phrase “Take Back the Night” on them to the students at the event. The first speaker, Jackson Giammattei ’23, the vice president of WSU, thanked everyone for coming and informed the crowd that representatives from Wicker

Wellness were present if anyone needed their assistance.

Next, she introduced the secretary of WSU, Ayah Osman ’24, who spoke about the historical context for the event. According toAyah, “The phrase take back the night dates back to the 70s and has long been a rallying cry for victims to reclaim a space in which we are often made to feel unsafe”. She continues stating that Take Back the Night is now a non-profit organization which aims to help victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The foun-

dation was started in 2001 by Kate Koestener, the first woman in the US to come forward publicaly about her experience as a victim of on-campus date rape.

Next, the president of WSU, Marcy Forti ’22 spoke, calling students to action and urging them to support the victims of sexual assault and abuse. In her speech she said “Take back the night is a rallying call to members of the campus community that we as students will not stand for sexual assault and are commited to being advocates for

increased awareness and communication”. She urged students to support victims not simply by defending friends who are victims but also to call out friends when they do something wrong and to “call out injustice when you see it”. She also emphasized that “Black, brown, and LGBTQ individuals are especially at risk for sexual violence”. Finally, she urged students to show compassion for all our fellow human beings.

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Freedom of expression & academic freedom on campus

By Sydney Lewis co-News Editor

“A Presentation on Students’ Academic Freedom & Freedom of Expression at Union College ‘’ was hosted by Union’s Base Team (Bias, Awareness, Support and Education) on Wednesday, May 26. The team consists of Ryan Ribiero, Mary Simeoli J.D. and Christa Grant. Ribiero serves as the Director of Community Standards at Union and Christa Grant is the Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, Director of Intercultural Affairs and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. In addition, Simeoli is the Title IX Coordinator and the Interim Director of Equal Opportunity where she addresses non-discrimation

complaints against students and staff.

The Department of Constructive Engagement was mentioned within the panel as a resource for students and staff. The department “aims to broaden our perspectives on different issues and presents an opportunity for us to engage in meaningful conversations instead of debates.

Aligning with the College’s vision and strategic plan, the Constructive Engagement initiative provides the opportunity for every Union student to lead, to develop wisdom, empathy and courage.”

The panelists were asked questions by Grant that involved different forms of speech that can be interpreted in various ways based on the location of where they are said such as in a classroom setting versus dorm room.

The first question was framed as, “What are my freedom of speech rights as a student?”

Simeoli wanted to make the distinction between freedom of speech rights at a private institution like Union College versus public institutions that are seen as extensions of the government. Students have the same rights of expression that faculty and employees do.

Simeoli paraphrases a quote from the students rights case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School case as she said, “Students don’t leave their rights at the schoolhouse gates.”

Ribiero stressed that Union is an educational institution and said, “How we engage with others after Union is important...a lot [of these conversations] of this is opportunity to refine andhone your

Photo taken by Sydney Lewis, co-News Editor Discussion Panel perspective.” He mentioned asking the question of “What is the educational purpose of what is being talked about” in order to understand the conversation that is being held in the best light possible.

Students and faculty on

the call were asked to submit questions to Grant through the chat but no further questions than those provided were raised.

We’re beautiful on the inside, too

Opinions, page 3 Greek life during the pandemic

Sci Tech, page 5 Black fungus spreading in India

World, page 4 French allow transgender women in rugby

807 Union St., page 7 Sexual assault and alcohol violations

Sports, page 8 Athletes earn Liberty League Honors

News

Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Concordiensis

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UProgram hosts Glowcade event in fieldhouse on Saturday

By Dante Sasso Jr. Editor-in-Chief

On Saturday, May 22nd, Union College’s UProgram hosted an event titled “Glowcade.” This event featured several activities for students to do with friends in the Fieldhouse, lit very scarcely in order to preserve a “glow in the dark” sort of theme. Students were able to attend in different time slots between the hours of 8 PM and 12 AM. A total of 150 slots were available for students, with 116 signing up for the event.

Students at the event were able to play a variety of games and do various activities, with a neon-light aesthetic persisting throughout the fieldhouse. These included bowling, foosball, roller skating, magnetic darts, bowling, ping pong, and cornhole. Students who attended were also handed glow sticks to wear and use to light the room as they traveled from activity to activity. Students who wanted to enter into the roller skating area were required to sign an electronic waiver. By signing this waiver, students exempted Union College from responsibility for any injuries that they may have obtained by roller skating.

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Last to speak was the guest speaker Rosemary Patterson, a visiting assistant professor of sociology here at Union College. Her speech focused on answering the question often asked of abuse victims, “Why do they stay?”. Firstly, she reminds the group that victims are 500 times more likely to be harmed by their abuser after they leave. This is because abusive relationships are not built on love but instead on power and control.

She goes on to define intimate partner violence as a series of acts which are “intentional and cause some time of harm to victims” and defines harm as being physical, emotional, financial, among many other things. The variety of ways that

This event marks one of the many in-person events that have been occurring during the spring term that have been held in-person. In previous terms, students saw very little in-person events being held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the few events held in-person over winter term was a “glow-in-the-dark mini-golf” event that was also held by UProgram. With the return of in-person classes in fall of 2021, students may be able to look forward to more events that allow for in-person activities.

Students who attended the event generally had positive feedback to give, with Eva Crowly ’24 saying “I had never roller skated before, so trying it for the first time was a lot of fun!” Hannah Monack ’23 stated that “the Glowcade event was a really great way to relax after a stressful week.

I was so happy to have an excuse to just hang out and goof around. Even though I thought rollerblading was terrifying, it was a really good night. I had a lot of fun destroying my friend at foosball as well.

Hope they run a similar event soon!” Sarah Wright ’23 stated “My favorite part was definitely roller skating. I had so much fun that my friend and I roller skated for about 2 hours and

were the last people to leave the floor. I was super sore for the next few days but it was so worth it!”

On Saturday, May 29th, UProgram will be hosting another in-person event for students to go to. The central activity this time will be laser tag, where students will be able to gather on the Richmond Lawn from 7 PM to 11 PM and play some games of laser tag. Unlike the Glowcade event, there is no signup necessary for a student to attend this event. This is likely due to the outdoor setting of the laser tag event requiring less COVID-19 restrictions. It is unknown currently if students in attendance will be able to participate without wearing masks, as the current Union guidelines allow students to be outside with masks regardless of vaccination status.

If students are interested in keeping track of events held

by UProgram, they can keep an eye on UProgram’s Instagram page for updates or check campus events emails in order to stay in the know.

harm can occur can make uncovering and understanding abuse much harder. Next she describes the phenomena of traumatic bonding and the cycle of abuse theory stating that abusers will cycle through periods of violence and periods of kindness keeping the victim disoriented and unable to see how bad their situation is. She states that on average, victims leave their abusers 7 times before they leave for good and urges us to be compassionate and understanding as they try to navigate a dangerous and complicated situation. She reminds the crowd that abuse does not occur immediately and often victims have become emotionally attached to their abusers before they show any violent tendencies. Finally, she warns about abuser’s use of power and control to keep victims in a relationship citing examples

of financial control, custody of children, and isolation from friends and family as common tactics that abusers will use.

She concludes by warning students that women of ages 18 to 24 are at a highest risk of being victims of abuse and urges students to be careful, mindful and supportive.

The event continued with a silent march to the field house led by the board of the WSU. When asked about the significance of the March, Marcy said “Our silence during the march represents the silence that many sexual assault survivors exist in before they are ready to share their stories.

The silent march is followed by the Speak Out, where we shatter the silence together”.

At the field house, students were invited to a confidential speak out where survivors and allies could safely share their experiences with sexual

Courtesy of Aileen Schatz Photo of Aileen Schatz, Director of First-Year Experience.

Past Concordiensis editions can be viewed at concordiensis.com/ virtual-newspapers or by scanning:

Hannah Monack ’23 | Concordiensis From left to right: Marcy Forti ’22, Kate Osterholtz ’21 , and Jackson Giammattei ’23 assault on campus.

Sarah Davenport

OPINIONS C

Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Concordiensis

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davenpos@union.edu

Reproductive rights: a topic that we should not debate

By Anna Zdunczyk Contributing Writer

There is no argument against claiming that the world, this past year and a half, has been in complete shambles.

Although the pandemic has been the topic of most of our news, it is not the only thing plaguing Americans. Political and social unrest/ injustice are arguably the second deadliest killers.

Recent talk about the repealment of Roe v. Wade is currently in the spotlight. On Monday, May 17th, The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear argument in a high profile case involving the Mississippi law that challenges the right to abortion: a ban on abortion

after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

This is about two months earlier than Roe and subsequent rulings allow.

The Supreme Court will either align itself with upholding and protecting constitutional rights or a lack of credibility in unraveling nearly half a century worth of precedent in reproductive and women’s rights.

Following the nomination of justice Amy Coney Barret, the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization also threatens to overturn Roe v.

Wade. The passing of severe abortion restrictions will open up the doors for other state’s legisature to follow it’s terrifying lead.

The case, which will be heard in October, will take place just over a year since the death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The acceptance of these laws disregards female choices, freedoms, and the meaningful work of RBG which supported reproductive rights, including strongly upholding the access to safe and legal abortions as a constitional right.

I think creating and sustaining conversations about these current events are crucial over the next few months, and it is important to understand the status of Roe v.

Wade and access to abortions is affected if the Mississippi 15 week ban is take effect and what the political environment could become if Biden were to decide to pack the court and increase pro-reproductive rights justices.

Courtesy of FiveThirtyEight The recent U.S. Supreme Court case could rewrite Roe v.

Wade

Joining Greek life in times of isolation and distancing

By Kelley Dolan Contributing Writer

Here comes the most cliche sentence you’ll ever hear- “I never thought I would join a sorority”. But it’s true. I never saw myself being in Greek life and I had no desire to try it.

My friends were interested in recruitment so I decided to join in on the experience and I can honestly say it was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had.

I participated in recruitment for my sorority, Sigma Delta Tau (SDT), in September of 2020, or in other words, peak COVID-19 era. Restrictions for COVID-19 were so severe we weren’t even allowed to eat food indoors. So, my first and only thought about doing re-

cruitment was ‘How the heck is this going to work?’

It was Zoom central: four hours per night online for three nights straight. I met so many people and keeping them straight in my head was an immense challenge.

I was interviewed by each of the sororities in what felt like lightning speed rounds, trying to keep conversations going with upperclassmen I’ve never met before: a stressful and anxiety inducing experience to say the least. However, I plastered a smile on my face, buckled down, and made my way through.

After hours of being sorted through, I finally found my home in SDT. From there, we had six weeks of New Member Education. Normally, this would be when I would get to know all of my new sisters, but with COVID-19, it was impos-

sible to do so in-person. Although our organization tried their best for the new members to get to know each other, talking to someone through a screen isn’t exactly the best way to create meaningful friendships.

Despite this temporary lack of connection among the sorority, towards the end of the winter term, I excitedly started to recognize faces and those faces started to recognize me.

Although we hit a few bumps in the road in terms of dealing with COVID-19, I have finally gotten to become friends with some of the other members. It took months longer than I anticipated, but with more ways to safely hang out, I now have many more opportunities to truly experience the camaraderie and friendship that comes with being a part of my sorority.

Like I said before, I never saw myself as being a part of Greek life. However, with COVID-19, my sorority has been the most amazing way to meet people. It is amazing to see new faces and smiles again in the flesh, as this was

so widely absent from early life during the pandemic.

I am truly thankful that In a time where feeling isolated is more common than ever, SDT has allowed me to not feel so alone and reassure me that Union is my home.

Concordiensis Vol. CXLIV, Issue XVIII, May 27, 2021 Dante Sasso Jr. Editor-in-Chief

Megan Brown, News Editor Sydney Lewis, News Editor Ariel Cooper, 807 Editor Isabelle Yee, Sports Editor Kari Kimball, Sci/Tech Editor concordiensis.com Email: concordiensis@union.edu Office: 406 Reamer Campus Center

Sarah Davenport, Opinions Editor Chris Doyle, World/Business Editor Trey Everett, Photo Editor Mail: Concordiensis Box 2577 807 Union Street

Do you have something you want to say? The Concordiensis is now accepting Letters to the Editor. Share your thoughts about campus, news, trends, or anything you want to write about!

All letters should be sent to sassod@union.edu. They should be less than 250 words in length and must include the writers full name and email address. Any letters longer than 250 words may be edited for length, word choice and accuracy.

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Chris Doyle

World / Business Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Concordiensis

doylec@union.edu

Chile’s new Constitutional Convention: what’s changed?

By Chris Doyle World and Business Editor

From May 15 to 16, the people of Chile voted for the delegates of their constitutional convention. The election had been scheduled for April, but was delayed at the request of President Sebastián Piñera due to the coronavirus. Of the 155 delegates, the supermajority were from leftist political lists or liberal independents, while the right-wing coalition—Vamos por Chile—only won 37 seats (24%). A twothirds majority is required to pass any motions that will be included in the new constitution. The results will hinder

conservative opposition to the progressive changes the left wants.

Chile’s current constitution is descended from the 1980 charter that legitimized the Junta of Augusto Pinochet, who seized power after a USbacked coup that killed the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. His rule was marked by the torture, killings, and dissapearings of opposition. It’s estimated that roughly 3000 people died, and tens of thousands more were tortured, detained, or forced into exile. The other side of his rule were a series of economic reforms that privatized all essential aspects of the state including social security, healthcare, and natural resources. The legacies of

these market policies are still enshrined in Chile’s current constitution, which has created entrenched inequalities.

This is what inspired the 2019 protests that forced the government down the path of constitutional reform. “The problem with this neoliberal system is it turns everything we really value into commodities,” said Amaya Alvez, a law professor and activist who won a convention seat as a member of the leftist Apruebo Dignitad list. “Education is a commodity. Healthcare is a commodity. You only have health coverage if you have money. If you don’t have money you die. Period.” Alvez’s expertise is water rights, and the current law gives exclusive ownership to the private

sector. Other pressing issues going into the convention include the status of Chile’s indigenous population (12.7%), which have never been recognized by any of the historical constitutions of the nation.

“They’ve never, ever been recognized at the constitutional level.” Alvez—who is half indigenous or “Mestiza”— spoke of the prominent racism in Chilean society against native people. “White is good.

You ought to be white. When I call myself brown or Mestiza, people get upset.” Areas with a dominant indigenous population have been subjugated to heavy police presence and conflict with locals, which Alvez described as a “civil war”.

The makeup of the assembly will include roughly 50%

women from across the political spectrum, a first for a constitutional convention.There will be 17 seats reserved for indigenous people. Alvez did not run for one of those reserved seats, indicating there will be more than that set figure. The new constitution must include a democratic republic, respect for previous treaties, and settled legal cases cannot be relitigated. Deliberations will begin at the inaugural session occurring between mid-June and July 1. The convention will have nine to 12 months to draft a document that will be put to another referendum in 2022.

French Rugby Federation allows transgender women to play

By Jing Chen Staff Writer

The executive board of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) voted unanimously in favor of allowing transgender women to play in domestic competitions. This decision contradicts World Rubgy’s 2020 ban on transgender women participating in international games for safety reasons. World Rugby’s governing body said in a 45 page statement last year that “safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing against trans women in contact rugby.” Further-

more—according to the New York Times—World Rugby officials believed that transgender women could cause severe injuries against other female athletes because of their biological and physiological advantages developed before hormonal treatment.

World Rugby said in its statement that this interdiction applies only to contact rugby at the international level as “national unions have jurisdiction at domestic level.”

Despite the distinction, this ban has been met with disagreement from national rugby unions and individual players. According to NBC News, rugby organizations in New Zealand, England, Canada, and the U.S. have opposed

the ban because it violates their ideologies of inclusivity and diversity in rugby. These countries will continue allowing transgender players to participate in domestic competitions, according to New York Times.

Transgender players like Grace McKenzie have described the rule as a “slap in the face” and assures that “we’re not dominating the sport. We’re not taking away opportunities from cis[gender] athletes.” In the face of opposition, the policy remains effective for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, according to New York Times.

Serge Simon—vice-presi-

dent of the FFR—claimed that “rugby is an inclusive, sharing sport, without distinction of sex, gender, origin, or religion. It is important to allow all our members to practice their passion while respecting everyone’s rights.” The president of the Anti-Discrimination and Equal Treatment Commission praises that the move is a “unique and major step forward” because “the fight to root the LGBT+ community out of secrecy is essential, but now it must be won.”

The FFR declares that to compete domestically, the transgender woman in the process of transitioning should verify that she has been under treatment for at least 12 months, and that her

testosterone level does not exceed a certain threshold.

Those who have completed their transition are allowed to play without restrictions. According to CNN, the FFR is the first national sports federation in France that allows transgender women to play at elite levels.

It is not just in rugby that trans athletes have found the support and courage needed to feel included despite their gender identities. According to CNN, after Sapir Berman— who plays for the Israel Football Association—came out as transgender in May 2021, the Association tweeted “Sapir, we are proud to do it with you.”

60-Second News

Tax increase on Colombian population create a new rise in discontent and protests turning violent

Nigeria’s army chief, General Ibrahim Attahiru, was killed in a plane crash over the state of Kaduna

125000 teachers have been arrested in Myanmar for resisting the military coup

Kari Kimball

Sci/Tech

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kimballk@union.edu

Communicative brain implants turn thoughts into writing

By Olivia Egan Staff Writer

The ability to communicate is valuable to how humans survive. According to Science News, scientists have been searching for a way to allow these people to regain a way to communicate with the outside world through the use of electroids within a paralyzed man’s brain.

The subject, a 65-year old paralyzed man, had two different grids of electrodes implanted into the surface of his brain to read and decode the activity that controls hand and finger movements. Despite being paralyzed from the neck

down, the man was able to formulate letter writing neural patterns by imagining writing.

One of their focuses was on how the brain interpreted the pen movements that the person needed to make to draw the shape of the letter. Scientists worked to reconstruct the characters by decoding the average neural activity, and discovered that the brain converted the letters to a coded format. While the timing varied across the trial, most likely due to the speed at which the man was writing, a majority of the neural activity was strong.

The next step was converting the signals and producing letters sentences. Using a deep-learning network that is commonly used to

interpret data for tasks such as speech recognition and language translation, the researchers turned the neural activity into a set of different probabilities that gave the likelihood of a character being written. These were used to get rid of false characters that were accidentally picked up by the electroids.

The network also had to be trained to detect the specific systems found in a sentence. They formatted the speech recognition programs to be able to interpret information that wasn’t given by the test. For example, the time in which the letters in a given sequence were written.

Then there was the matter of the characters. Distinguish-

ing between upper and lowercase lettering is a feature that the technology has yet to be able to achieve, so they chose to limit the study to 31 total characters. This set included the 26 lower-case letters as well as various punctuation such as question marks and commas. They also chose characters to represent full stops and spaces to make the distinct sentences more clear.

Overall, the hard work paid off and the tests were a success. The man was able to write approximately 15 words, or 90 characters, per minute.

His thought to text system worked very well, and his brain was able to easily convert his pictured writing into actual text on a screen. How-

ever, this type of communication is still in very early stages of development, and will need more improvements before being a widespread form of communication for those without the ability to speak.

What is this ‘black fungus’ disease spreading in India?

By Kartik Nath Staff Writer

India, the country with the second highest population in the world, is suffering from a massive second surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

India’s hospital and healthcare system is buried under extreme demand for resources such as oxygen to treat COVID-19 cases and prevent deaths. As if the spread of a pervasive virus isn’t enough to devastate the population, doctors in India are tracking a new illness called mucormycosis, a ‘black fungus’ fungal infection that has appeared after treatment of COVID-19 cases.

Compounding the spread of mucormycosis is a short-

age of antifungal drugs such as amphotericin B and liposomal injections that are used to treat the disease. According to a The Guardian article on May 21st, there have been 7,200 ‘black fungus’ cases and 219 deaths reported.

According to the CDC, mucormycosis is a rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes.

These fungi persist in wet environments, such as soil, leaves, compost piles, or rotten wood.

People come into contact with the fungus by inhaling the fungal spores, which are small fungal particles that allow fungi to reproduce. Once someone inhales the fungal spores, the fungi can attack the respiratory system, lungs, brain, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and other organs through the bloodstream. Ac-

cording to a statement from the Indian Health Ministry on May 14th, the disease starts as a “skin infection in the air pockets located behind our forehead, nose, cheekbones, and in between the eyes and teeth…leads to blackening or discoloration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing of blood”.

Dr. Hemant Thacker, a consultant physician and cardiometabolic specialist at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, told CNN that “mucormycosis travels by invading the blood vessels…compromise the circulation to the distal organs, and this produces necrosis”. The necrosis causes the tissue to become black, thus the name ‘black fungus’.

COVID-19 patients are susceptible to getting the

‘black fungus’ because it attacks the immune system, and treatment drugs also suppress the immune system to help the body fight the virus.

According to BBC, steroid treatment reduces inflammation in the lungs for COVID-19 and helps suppress a heightened immune response but can reduce immunity and increase blood sugar levels.

The Indian Health Ministry has hypothesized that patients that are receiving oxygen therapy in the intensive care units that have humidifiers may have heightened exposure to moisture, and thus be exposed to fungal infection. Antifungal medications such as amphotericin B are being used to treat the infection, as a six-week regiment of the medication is needed to recover. Surgeries of

the upper jaw and eye have been done for some patients to remove the dead tissue.

Dr. Akshay Nair, an eye surgeon in Mumbai, told BBC that he had to remove a patient’s eye to stop the infection from spreading further through the body. So, India is facing an upsurge in COVID-19 cases and the spread of this black fungus, so it is up to the federal and state governments to execute a rapid response to these outbreaks.

Brain implants are usually powered by magnetic energy.

The cost of brain implants range from $35,000 to $100,000.

60-Second Sci/Tech

Brain implants are usually placed on the surface of the brain.

Brain implants are usually attached to the cortex.

Most brain implants can last up to six years before needing to be replaced.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

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Courtesy of Trey Everett ’22 | Concordiensis Students around the Nott celebrating Carnival with CaribSA (Left), and students posing for a photo outside of Schaffer Library during CaribSA’s Carnival event (Right).

NOTICES

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On April 29, 2021, The Concordiensis published an article titled “Union participates in national sexual assault survey.” In this article, we refferred to Mary Simeoli as the “Interim Title IX Coordinator.” This is factually incorrect; Simeoli’s actual position is the full-time Title IX Coordinator and Interim Director of Equal Opportunity.

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CRIME & FIRE LOG 05/21/21 - 05/27/21

05/21/21 10:03 a.m. Theft from unlocked tool box - occurred between 11 p.m. 5/20 and 9 a.m. 5/21. Open Investigation.

Union Ave. 05/22/21 12:14 a.m. Alcohol violation - underage possession. Referred to Campus Judicial. Fox House.

05/23/21 7:57 a.m. Vandalism to college owned vehicle - time of occurrence unknown. Open Investigation. Achilles Rink Lot. 7:25 p.m. Vandalism / graffiti to building - time of occurrence unknown. Open Investigation. Fox House exterior.

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Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Concordiensis

Ariel Cooper

coopera2@union.edu

Sexual assault and alcohol violations at Union College

By Alexandra Appel Emeritus Editor-in-Chief

By the numbers, sexual assault and alcohol violations have dramatically decreased this past year at Union College. There have been two reports of stalking, one of sexual assault and four alcohol violations were reported in the Concordiensis’ Crime and Fire Log this scholastic year. In comparison, during 2019 there were two reports of stalking, 12 reports of rape, one report of domestic violence, one report of fondling, and 292 alcohol and drug violations, according to the College’s Clery Act report.

The Clery Act tallies reports that were made in the year 2019, so some of those alleged rapes may have occurred in prior years. It is common for people to delay reporting acts of sexual violence, including rape and dating violence, according to Title IX Coordinator Mary

Simeoli. The reported sexual assault happened on October 30, and was about an alleged assault that happened that term.

There are many reasons people wait long periods of time to make reports, including fear of being doubted, according to associate professor of psychology at University of West Virginia Karen Weiss told “The Journalist’s Resource.” Lauren Wilson— an associate professor of psychology at University of Mary Washington—found that over 60% of women who had been raped did not recognize their assault for what it was in the immediate aftermath, in her 2015 study, “Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of Unacknowledged Rape.”

“The College’s report volume has been down in general, including both Title IX-related and unrelated reports since COVID. With restrictions on social events, requirements related to social distancing, and shift in the number of students living on-campus is

likely to have an impact on conduct,” Simeoli wrote in an email interview. “[There has also been] a general increase in people paying attention to what other people are doing (For example, are the people around me wearing masks?

Do I know the person trying to follow me in the building?)”

This past year, the College has enforced social distancing policies that limit the number of people who can congregate in a space. For most of the year, students were only allowed to have one “guest,” or a person who lived outside of their residence hall, in their room. Recently, this rule changed, but students are still encouraged to limit gatherings in residential halls to four people.

Around the world, domestic violence increased during the past year, according to a study by the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (IJMHN). In the United States, reports of domestic violence have increased by 21% to 35%, the study found.

The IJMHN stated that there are many contributing factors to this increase, including an increase in alcohol consumption and a limited access to resources for abuse victims which are caused by lockdowns.

Among college students, there has been an increase in reported rapes and sexual assaults. Like the rise of domestic violences, this may be caused by an increase in drinking and decreased access to resources, Research and Evaluation Specialist at International Center for Research on Women Elizabeth Anderson, Professor in the College of Public Health at the University of Arizona (UA) Mary Koss and the inaugural director of the UA Consortium on Gender-Based Violence Elise Lopez speculated in an article on Ms. Magazine.

“Students have the right to pursue formal adjudication of off-campus gender-based misconduct by students or College community members including sexual assault, ha-

rassment, and intimate partner violence through the College’s Gender-based Misconduct Policy and the Procedures for the Resolution of Reports of Gender-based Misconduct Against Students,” Simeoli wrote. “Students also have the right to pursue alternative resolution or request interim remedies or support services when reporting off-campus conduct.”

“In 2019, one of the major themes of President Harris’ Convocation address was how the College was going to respond to sexual assault and related issues on campus. In addition, other strategic initiatives such as the Union College Committee on Safety and Education were developed at that time,” Simeoli stated.

The Office of Title IX, Schenectady Planned Parenthood and the Schenectady YWCA all offer resources for students who have experienced sexual assault, other forms of sexual violence and domestic abuse.

Union College’s Woman of the Week: Leanne Torres ’21

By Jackson Giammattei Staff Writer

Woman of the Week: Leanne Torres, Student Nominated By: Aleks Szumilo Nomination: Leanne has been a part of Women’s Union for four full years, literally, since the first meeting in the fall of her freshman year until her senior spring.

She has had a position every single year including being the President during her sophomore and junior years.

Her dedication to the club inspires me everyday to do what I’m passionate about. She has led multiple huge events but

my favorite memory is her setting up 100+ chairs for Denim Day all by herself.

What are your proudest accomplishments?

My proudest accomplishment has to be serving as president of Women’s Union and directing the vagina monologues. It was and still is so amazing to see women from all different backgrounds come together to support and uplift each other and I am happy that I get to be a part of that.

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about a lot of things, some of them being human rights activism and the power of education. I truly believe that education is the key to a more accepting and inclusive society.

Who do you look up to?

My sister and my mother are the people who I look up to the most. They’ve taught me everything I know and have always encouraged me to be unapologetically myself.

They’ve paved the way and opened so many doors for me and I just hope I can be half the women that they are.

What does being a woman at Union mean to you?

Being a woman at Union to me means being unapologetic and driven. Many times I have found myself in a classroom where I am the only woman/person of color and that puts a lot of pressure on a person. But we push through all the insecurities and stereotypes that follow us just to be our truest self. Being a woman on campus is not always easy

Leanne Torres ’21 but constantly seeing all the other amazing women that are on this campus thrive definitely shapes and inspires me to do the same.

Courtesy of Women’s Union

8

C Sports

Isabelle Yee

Thursday, May 27, 2021 | Concordiensis

yeei@union.edu

Athletes showcase research at Steinmetz Symposium

By Isabelle Yee Sports Editor

37 student-athletes presented their work below are the titled pieces, more information can be found on The Steinmetz Symposium website.

Marina Angelopoulos ’21 (Crew):“A MaterClass in Gardening: How my Minerva Exploration Grant Cultivated a Love for Gardening”, and “The Digital Yuan and BeiDou Satellite System: China’s Increasing Structural Power in an Interdependent World” Amanda Ashmen ’21 (Soccer, Track/Field): “Athletic Recovery Device”. David Bates ’21 (Cross-country, Track/ Field) and Laura Wind ’21 (Field Hockey): “Improved Orthopedic Drill System”. Erika Bonnist ’21 (Lacrosse): “The Future of Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Industry”.

Megan Brown ’21 (Tennis): “Comparing the Attitudes of

Presidents Towards the Press & the Media”. Jonathan Caputo ’21 (Cross-country, Track/ Field): “Effects of Bounding Tree Complexity on Immersion in a Virtual Environment”.

Kevin Chaimowitz ’21 (Baseball):“Synergies & Stocks: An Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions on longrun Stock performance”. Colin Czerpak ’21 (Cross-country, Track/Field): “Surface Roughness Characterization of Additive Manufacture Ti6AI4V”.

Ryan Ehrets ’21 (Football, Track/Field): “Modeling Direct-Expansion Solar-Assisted Heat Pumps” IreLee Ferguson ’21 (Basketball): “Neuropsychological impact for youth diagnoses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): In-home neuro-exergaming”.. Coco Francis ’21 (Ice Hockey), and Lara Atalay ’21 (Volleyball): “Development of a Pediatric Pulse Oximeter for Low Resource Areas” Lindsay Gerrato ’21 (Lacrosse): “The Resilience of

Entertainment Over Business Cycles” Darion Hanson, former member of the Men’s Hockey team, “Political Alienation in the United States Among Racial and Class Configurations”.

Grace Heiting ’22 (Ice Hockey, Lacrosse): “Effects of Oxygen on Jump performance and Lactate Production in the America Locust”.Quinn Helmig ’21 (Lacrosse): “Are ESG Ratings Associated with Firm Performance and Corporate Green Bond Issuance?” Henry Kahl ’22 (Soccer): “Aristotle’s De Anima”.

Jack Koch ’21 (Baseball) “Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer Behavior in Retail Stores”. Troy Kohler ’21 (Soccer) and Kendall Rogoff ’21 (Softball): “Utilizing Child Restraint Systems for Infant Transport in Ambulances” Georgia Mraz ’21 (Soccer): “Follow-up Observations of NASA’s transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Exoplanet Candidates Using the

Union College and EI Sauce Observatories” Jenny Mutch ’21 (Crew): “Provenance” Chris O’Brien ’21 (Baseball): “Flow Interactions Between Two 2D Roguhness Elements in Close Proximity”.

Annie O’Donnell ’21 (Swim and Dive, Track and Field): “Design of a Sectioned Warming Device to Prevent Perioperative Hypothermia”. Joey Palko ’21 (Baseball): “Developing Prediction Models for Kidney Stone Disease” Ryan Puglisi ’22 (Lacrosse): “Design Project to improve union Catalytic Aerogel Testbed”.

Jeremy Rausch ’21 (Soccer): “Comparing Giants: Evaluating Military-Civil Integration Strategies in the United States and People’s Republic of China”. Will Sirmon ’21 (Football, Track and Field): “Democracy in Peril: Examining the Resurgence of Facism and the Radical Right in Europe” Alice Sperry ’21 (Crew): “The Association Among Executive Functioning: Self-Effi-

cacy and ADHD with Attitudes Towards Online Learning” Abby Stack ’21 (Field Hockey): “Disillusioning the Sacred Sector: How the White Savior Complex, Mother Teresa’s Misleading Legacy, and Nonprofits Complicate the Effectiveness of Charity Work”.

Juls Sweet ’21 (Golf): “An Analysis of Option Set Size and Option Presentation Style on Consumer Choice and Perception” and “The Association Between Attachment Style and Decision Making Style”.

Brennan Taylor ’21 (Soccer), John Germinerio ’21 (Football), Matt Georgiades ’21 (Lacrosse) “The Laryngeal-Modular Skin Retractor”.

Matt Toy ’21 (Baseball): “The Effect of AI Implementation on Total Factor Productivity”.

Kaylee Velasquez ’21 (Volleyball): “Isotopic paleo-climate record of MIS 2 to MIS 4 through Andean speleothem proxy analysis”. Conor Willsie ’21 (Soccer): “Chaos-Based Coffee Can Radar”.

Spring sport athletes earn Liberty League Honors

By Connor Cepiel Contributing Writer

Union College boasts of a number of All-Liberty League selections in this 2021 spring athletic season. In a season with a lot of cancellations, especially early in the spring, Union can be very proud that it was able to finish all of its seasons. In the past week, the Liberty League has been announcing All-Conference awards and team, and this is how the Dutchmen and Dutchwomen faired.

The Union Women’s Golf team had three all-league selections, all of which being on the second team. The selections included Junior Kiara Beckham ’22, sophomore Colleen Buckley ’23, and sophomore Alexandra Cymbal ’23, The golf season was highlighted by second place finish by Alexandra Cymbal at the Liberty League championships.

The Union Men’s Crew team had two of its members honored by the Liberty League.

Sophomore coxswain MIles Ackerman ’23 was named to the All-Conference first team after leading the team to a fourth place finish at the Liberty League Championships.

First year Giani DiGennaro ’24 was selected to the All-Conference second team as a member of the varsity 4 boat that finished first at the Liberty League Championships.

The women’s team matched the men’s team with two selections of its own, senior Alice Sperry ’21 and junior Amelia Roth ’22. Sperry and Roth were both members of the varsity 8 boat that placed fifth at the competitive league championships.

Union College Softball had two of its members recognized by the Liberty League including sophomore Karson Saunders ’23, a second team all-conference performer, and Anna Zdunczyk ’23, an honor-

able mention. Saunders and Zdunczyk were sold in the outfield and led the team in batting average, hitting .347 and .339, respectively.

Union’s Baseball team was proud to have six of its members recognized as All-Conference performers. Seniors Colin Kelly ’21 and Jack Koch ’21 hit .418 and .400 respectively to earn a spot on the Liberty League first team. Union’s ace, Junior James Salemme ’22, was also recognized as a first team performer after going 4-1 with a 4.98 ERA and 51 strikeouts.

Senior Matt Toy ’21 and sophomore Ben Mlavsky ’23 were named to the Liberty League second team solid season. Toy hit .415 with three home runs. Mlavsky was 4-0 with a 4.38 ERA. Finally, senior Joey Palko ’21 was named an honorable mention after hitting .397 with nine multi-hit games.

First-year Joey Korongy ’24 and senior Dante Scott ’21 led the Union College Track

Liberty League logo. and Field team in the Liberty League East Championships.

Korongy dominated the short distance and jumping events to earn himself title of track performer of the meet while Scott was named the Field Athlete of the Meet after winning performances in the long jump and triple jump.

Allison Malatesta ’24, Alayna

Courtesy of the Liberty Leauge

Gibson ’24, Glory Moncion Allen ’24 and Kasey McGerald ’24 were the four Union College first years that shattered the Union College 4x800 record by more than 14 seconds to place second at the AARTFC’s, an accomplishment which highlighted the Union women’s track and field season.