3.30.16

DJ Khaled The snapchat superstar will perform on McDonough Field on Thursday. P. 8

Our Opinion

Free Speech Will Guide Us toVirtue

U

nlike the narrative spun by many on the national stage, the death of free expression on Emory’s campus is greatly exaggerated. The media’s attention was pervasive and reductive — it rendered the true historical complexities of this campus into a simple, dominant and incomplete story of hypersensitivity on college campuses.

Moreover, the national conversation transformed the Trump chalkings, and the resulting protests, into the failure of Emory as an institution. Emory’s seeming abandonment of the ideals embodied by the First Amendment

was wrongly emphasized by the media.

To clear the air, Emory has safeguards in place to protect speech that is content neutral.

The Respect for Open Expression Policy, which governs free expression at Emory, unapologetically protects the right of all members of the Emory community to freedom of speech. As a matter of fact, the current policy extends protections far beyond those granted by the First Amendment to individuals at public universities. The First Amendment only protects speech from state action, such as a university policy prohibiting certain viewpoints or placing

Continued on Page 9 With the legality of DraftKings and FanDuel in question, is Daily Bracket the future? P. 25 SPORTs:

City of En(light)enment

Student perspectives on the “Trump 2016” chalkings OPINION:

P. 12

EMORY LIFE: HOAP

addresses homelessness in the Greater Atlanta area by bringing speakers to campus. P. 18

Arts showcase illuminates student talent, celebrates moments of bravery and vulnerability.

Arts & Entertainment, P. 16

The Independent Student-Run Newspaper of Emory University Since 1919

VOL. 97 ISSUE 23 March 30, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS March 30, 2016 NEWS

NEWS

OPINION

4 bon appétit workers criticize changes

8 dj khaled to perform at dooley’s week concert

10 Our Opinion continued

6 price talks trump, conservatism on campus

8 police report

12 speech, not silencing, will stop donald trump

9 pan-asian summit promotes racial discussion

7 emory to host shakespeare’s first folio

13 why i protest

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

EMORY LIFE

SPORTS

14 emory arts showcase shines a light on student creativity

18 ‘HOAP’ing to impact perspective on campus

22 daily bracket: the ‘candy crush’ of fantasy sports

16 kendrick lamar continues to transform hip-hop with ‘untitled, unmastered.’

20 international festival and emory world cup bridges student communities

24 eagles sweep emory classic 25 emory goes 2-1 on homestead

17 ‘my big fat greek wedding 2’ is sappy and dull

21 doolino knows best

25 eagle exchange

Cover

Def Jam (top), Ruth Reyes, Photo Editor (Bottom Left), Jake Rosmarin Photography (Bottom Right)

photos courtesy of

EDITORIAL BOARD ZAK HUDAK | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JULIA MUNSLOW EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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News Editors Anwesha Guha Emily Sullivan Opinion Editor Brandon Wagner Sports Editor Jacob Durst

Senior Layout Editor Hayley Silverstein Social Media Editor Dana Youngentob Photo Editor Ruth Reyes

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Emory Life Editor Alisha Compton

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NEWS

ANWESHA GUHA AND EMILY SULLIVAN | EDITORS NAMRATA VERGHESE | ASST. EDITOR

Bon Appétit workers criticize changes

Lydia O’Neal | Associate Editor lmoneal@emory.edu

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on Appétit Management Company, a subsidiary of Compass Group USA, has made a name for itself as a fair trade food service and advocate for farmers’ rights. Its Emory University employees, however, paint a different picture of the company.

Nearly a year ago, Emory selected Bon Appétit to replace its then-food service contractor Sodexo, which faced Emory student protests based on alleged human rights abuses in 2011, as well as similar protests at other client schools, including Northwestern University (Ill.) early this year.

While some regarded the University’s food service swap as a triumph for workers’ rights, dining employees campus-wide beg to differ. Through dozens of interviews with food service employees across campus, the Wheel heard multiple complaints of Bon Appétit placing its business interests above the needs of its workers.

Employees Denied Shift Hours, Earn Same Hourly Wage 11 employees emphasized the financial stress they’ve endured under the new management as a result of the company reducing and limiting the hours their employees work while their hourly wages, the majority of which were $12.08 or $12.39 per hour, remained unchanged.

Under Sodexo, lower level employees could earn overtime payments of 1.5 times their regular hourly wage if they worked more than 40 hours in one week, as mandated by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. (Bon Appétit’s hourly workers’ wages start at $12.08 hourly, the University’s minimum wage, according to Senior Director of Emory Dining Dave Furhman.)

“With Sodexo, we got 40 hours [and] overtime,” one

Cox Hall deli worker, whose hours were reduced from 40 to 32 per week, said. “With Bon Appétit you can’t work 40 hours … We were promised more than that [by management].”

She added that most employees are allowed to work six or seven hours daily, rather than the usual eighthour day. A cook at Cox Hall was more frank: “They cut you off at 37 or 38 hours — they make sure nobody works overtime,” he said.

Many said that, with most of the staff working less hours, the number of employees working at a given time has decreased, leaving the same amount of work to fewer workers.

“It’s less staff working at one time, so we have to do double the work,” a Cox worker said. “They haven’t hired too many [new] people.”

The company said it has been working toward finding the optimal number of staff members, and has hired new employees who weren’t former Sodexo workers, laid off six of them and rehired three of those six over the course of the year.

All but several of the employees, one of whom was satisfied with the company’s management and others who served in management positions, quoted in this article asked that the Wheel protect their identity for fear of repercussions in the workplace. After about a month of the Wheel’s reporting, these managers declined to comment, preferring to speak through a Bon Appétit communications representative.

“We don’t allow overtime of any fashion,” Barris Foust, an assistant manager at the Dobbs Market, said in an interview with the Wheel. “We are stewards over Emory’s money, not Bon Appétit’s.”

He added that the contractor has “two major expenses: food and service,” and that the latter had been adjusted at the beginning of this semester by way of cuts to the number of hours that these hourly workers had worked previously.

Employees said they saw cuts to their hours across the board. According to Foust, managers were ordered to cut 1,200 hours collectively at the beginning of the semester. Several staff members from Cox confirmed that they had heard of this target, though about 600 of those hours were to be cut specifically from Bon Appétit’s campus catering service, they said. The company and Furhman deny that there was any specific target for overall reductions in employees’ hours. Still, Foust and several other employees said the opposite.

Foust added that, while some former Sodexo employees got to keep their full 40 hours during the previous and current semesters, “if there’s no need for them to have 40 hours, that’ll get changed [by the company’s management and human resources].”

Employees can work overtime only in special cases of emergency shift coverage, such as when another employee is fired or can’t come to work, Foust said.

The company tries to give its full-time employees 40 hours per week, but must also focus on “balancing the needs of our business,” according to Bon Appétit Communications Director Bonnie Powell. She added that those who don’t follow timeclock policies — namely, strict rules against overtime without a manager’s approval — face “disciplinary action,” such as a write-up, which may reduce the number of hours an employee can work when schedules are changed.

Cox General Manager Julie Mulisano, who began working on campus after Bon Appétit became Emory’s food service contractor last spring, attributed the lack of overtime allowance to cost-cutting while also working to provide staff with “a sustainable lifestyle.”

“It is more expensive to run a fresh food program,” she said, when asked about the company’s strict overtime policy. “We don’t run overtime as a common weekly practice.”

Bon Appétit Resident District Manager Nadeem Siddiqui, whom the Wheel interviewed along with Mulisa-

03.30.16 xx.xx.2015 no, agreed. “You want to run a business with responsibility,” he said. “You want to keep a competitive pricing based on what business is like.”

In addition to no longer having the ability to work overtime, employees said their hours and work locations were shifted on short notice without the company having consulted them beforehand.

Georgia’s Labor Code mandates that “an employee shall be notified about any change in the shift schedule 10 days ahead of time,” with the exception of cases of “extreme business necessity.”

Employees maintained that the company announced their new schedules and, for most workers, their reduced hours, by posting them on a bulletin board at a Jan. 7 staff orientation meeting — four days before they would begin work.

“They just changed everyone’s schedules without asking,” said the Cox deli employee whose hours dropped from 40 to 32.

One floor worker at Cox Hall who said he worked 32 hours per week last semester said he returned in January to find that he had lost about one-third of his hours.

“I’m a full-time employee, but I’m only working 21 hours per week,” he said, adding that he “stepped up to ask and got it changed.”

An employee at Dobbs Market in a similar situation, who worked 40 hours for Sodexo and has been working on campus for the past three years, lamented the loss of one-third of his biweekly paycheck — from $1,200 to $800 — as a result of his reduced hours. He added that he had had to get a second job to stay afloat, and he wasn’t the only one doing so, according to several other employees’ accounts.

5 When his hours were changed, he told the Wheel, not only had they been reduced, but they also had been shifted from morning to evening after winter break, overlapping with the hours he worked for his second job.

“I kept telling them I couldn’t work at night because I had another job,” he said, adding that the managers to whom he spoke said his schedule change was due to his lack of seniority. He said that he was permitted to work in the mornings again a couple of weeks ago, after he was forced to quit his second job in order to continue working the hours that Bon Appétit had assigned him.

Bon Appétit’s managers “try to accommodate employee preferences and balance their needs whenever possible,” according to Powell. Seniority helps determine who is granted the most hours, Foust said. Consultation of the employees before their shifts are adjusted, however, is “not an everyday thing,” he said.

The Costs of ‘Transition’ When asked about the company’s budget, especially as it may relate to cuts in employees’ weekly hours, neither Powell, who communicated with the Wheel on behalf of the company’s management, nor Furhman agreed to provide information regarding Bon Appétit’s finances.

According to Furhman, Bon Appétit’s labor and food costs, which he said “fluctuate from season to season,” are higher than those of Sodexo.

The company has been working to check these costs by cooking smaller batches of food to reduce waste, Furhman wrote in an email to the Wheel. He added that the company saw a recent spike in food purchases, allowing the University to keep meal plan prices con-

Emory students and community members order food in Cox Hall. | All photos by melissa DeFrank, Staff

sistent.

While some employees felt that the company’s use of real food for displays and decorations at Cox and Dobbs Market as a waste of food and money, former Dobbs Market Vegan Station Cook Caoidad Bernard, who said she worked in food service at Christie’s Auction House in New York before coming to Emory, praised Bon Appétit’s fresher options.

“I like when things are fresh; that’s what Bon Appétit is doing,” Bernard said.

Mulisano said that while cuts in overtime are a necessary way to keep costs of fresh food in check the company is “always going to be heavy on managers.”

“We open, we bring managers in from everywhere,” she said, echoing employees who noted a spike in the number of managers working simultaneously at each dining location. Bon Appétit hired these additional managers in large numbers and often temporarily as a way “to assist in the transition,” according to Furhman.

According to Powell, Bon Appétit hired five managers who worked under Sodexo, promoted two hourly employees to managerial positions, brought in 14 managers from other company locations and hired another 18. They have so far laid off one.

After laying off six newly-hired employees and rehiring three of them, Powell wrote, the company is still working to “find the right balance of giving the people we have on staff enough hours without impacting service, while also being fiscally responsible.” The layoffs were a result of “seasonal or other busi-

ness needs,” and such layoffs and rehires happen occasionally “as needs continue to change,” she added.

A Cox supervisor said she’s still trying to transition, as well — to her new duties, which she described as more like those of a regular employee, limits on her ability to earn overtime, managers’ behavior toward her and her coworkers and the loss of unemployment pay during the breaks.

For spring break, staff spent a day or two cleaning at the start and tail end of the week, according to Powell. All salaried managers continued working, as Bon Appétit held two “culinary training sessions.”

“We’re going to be off for spring break with no pay, [and] they’re just now telling us,” the Cox supervisor said on Feb. 26, expressing her frustration with the fact that the managers will be able to keep working. A co-worker confirmed that the staff were informed of this on the said date, about a week before spring break.

“We never had to go through this with Sodexo,” the supervisor said. “I’m just now getting back on my feet from Christmas break.”

A week after spring break, she said her situation was becoming increasingly dire: with fewer hours and no way to compensate for her loss of unemployment pay between semesters, the supervisor said she was behind on her bills and feared her car would soon be repossessed.

“It seems like I will never get back on track,” she said. “I’m looking for another job, because I can’t keep living like this.”

NEWS

Emory to host

Shakespeare’s First Folio Lauren Balotin | Staff Writer lauren.paige.balotin@emory.edu

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eginning next week, Emory will sponsor events to usher in a new exhibition entitled “First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare” — the original collection of William Shakespeare’s plays coming to the Michael C. Carlos Museum from Nov. 5 to Dec. 11.

In honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Folger Shakespeare Library (Folger) is presenting a copy of the First Folio, which dates back to 1623, in one venue in each state, an extremely rare and unique opportunity, according to Professor of English and Co-director of Emory’s Year of Shakespeare Sheila T. Cavanagh.

Emory will host the folio for Georgia.

“This is one of the most significant books that exist in the world,” Cavanagh said. “If we didn’t have the First Folio, we wouldn’t have copies of many of Shakespeare’s plays.”

Emory was also eager to become involved with the process, according to Cavanagh, who began planning for the First Folio’s arrival several years ago through a “highly competitive” application process that considered factors including security, temperature and humidity.

Applicants were also judged based upon their programming ideas. Emory has arranged discussions, exhibits, festivals and theatrical performances to meet these demands. These events are collectively referred to as the “Year of Shakespeare.”

Robert W. Woodruff Library Ex-

hibitions Manager Kathryn V. Dixson noted how collaborative the programming process was and she cited the First Folio as the “anchor” to tie each individual exhibit together. “[The exhibits and events] come from a lot of different angles, sometimes in ways that people don’t really expect,” Dixson said. “There are many unexpected inroads to it.”

One exhibit entitled “Plants Are Set Before Us: Shakespeare’s Natural Worlds” will examine the role of plants as symbolic objects in the stories of Shakespeare, using materials from the Emory University Herbarium. This exhibit will run from May 16 through June 26.

“Dispatched in Post: The Bard on Cards,” another exhibit running in the summer, will showcase a collection of postcards that illustrate significant scenes from Shakespeare’s works.

Emory Professor of English Harry Rusche will provide the 19th and 20th century postcards, of which there are approximately 1,000, according to Laney Graduate School student Justin Shaw.

The postcards will appeal to many audiences, including those interested in social justice, according to Shaw. The exhibit will depict how important women were as theater managers and playwrights during Shakespeare’s time, particularly in making theater a “great equalizer.”

He also emphasized the importance of Rusche’s collection of postcards to the exhibits: as a popular form of communication during

Shakespeare’s time, postcards made Shakespeare a household name, and his works became accessible to everyone, not just the elite class.

“These were living, breathing people,” Shaw said. “It’s really interesting to see living proof of a very real form of communication.”

Cavanagh also hopes the “Year of Shakespeare” will have interconnections that will “appeal to as many constituencies in the University as possible,” citing collaborations with actress and director Kelly Hunter, who introduces autistic children to Shakespeare, to relate to the disability studies community.

Cavanagh also noted that there will be storytellers leading family workshops, a Shakespeare Association of America meeting and a book discussion series at the Carlos Museum.

As the director of the World Shakespeare Project and the Fulbright-Global Shakespeare Centre Distinguished Chair for 2015-2016, Cavanagh also pushes discussion about Shakespeare with students and faculty internationally. She is excited to brainstorm literary projects that can appeal to such diverse audiences.

The programs and events will also aim to allow students to connect with the folio firsthand.

Theater Emory will run performances from March 31 through April 10 in the Mary Gray Munroe Theater of both all-male and allfemale versions of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” It will also host a Shakespeare Anniversary Celebra-

tion on April 23 in areas outside the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, a 12-hour festival incorporating performances and discussions of the plays.

“To me, it seems as though this is a really great opportunity to use Shakespeare as a way to engage Atlanta with Emory and to get students and faculty thinking about Shakespeare in ways that hadn’t previously been thought about before,” Cavanagh said.

Oxford College of Emory will also have the opportunity to experience the “Year of Shakespeare” through a sampler of these exhibits on the Oxford campus, according to Dixson.

“The exhibits will show the significance of preserving [Shakespeare’s] works and give people the opportunity to see how he’s part of our language, our expression,” Dixson said.

Emory Libraries is also in the process of planning other exhibits for 2016 and early 2017, including “A Goodly Commodity: Shakespeare in Popular Culture,” which will examine the shift of Shakespeare from being a symbol of popular culture during his own life to a symbol of the literary elite today; “Othello: The Moor Speaks,” which will draw upon archival materials from the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library to present how Shakespeare’s plays promoted African American actors and reflected upon the idea of racism; and “Shakespeare’s Artists’ Books,” which will examine bookmaking as a medium for artistic expression.

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Price talks Trump, conservatism on campus Joseph Asaro | Contributing Writer joseph.asaro@emory.edu

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nited States Congressman Tom Price said that he supports conservative voices on campus but does not support Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump when he addressed the Emory community Thursday, March 24.

“We’re going through a crazy time in our society about what’s able to be discussed without people either getting offended or suing,” Price said. “The times conservatives have been shut down on campus, I find it disturbing.”

Emory College Republicans invited Price, who is the chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives and works closely with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Price represents Georgia’s sixth district, which is based in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. He also completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Emory University.

Amidst the attention currently on Emory, this event provided students with the opportunity to engage with a representative on a variety of issues, including conservatism on college campuses. A police officer attended the event to ensure the protection of the students and Price.

Price began his talk by explaining how his passion for the medical field allowed him to get involved in politics and eventually landed him a leadership role in Congress. He asked that audience members address him by his first name. The conversation carried out was very engaging, as students were able to ask several questions. Most of the questions that students asked concerned either Price’s experiences as chairman of the Budget Committee or explaining the importance of engaging with all sides when addressing issues. Price explained said that how bipartisanship is often a struggle: each party has a different opinion on government spending.

The tone of the event shifted when students began to pose questions about the current presidential election, the results of which Price said will prove crucial to both the budget and to the United States’ future. When asked about Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Price said that he does not believe Trump to be a reasonable candidate for office. Price

supported his claim by highlighting Trump’s inexperience and added that he has an “empty policy vessel” and is “dangerous for politics and the economy.”

Price said that he supported Marco Rubio and voted for the Florida senator prior to his withdrawal from the presidential race.

One student asked why the party leadership has not rounded up support for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign so as to hinder Trump’s ability to win the nomination. “Endorsements don’t help much,” Price said, adding that the idea of endorsements irritates him because people should make their own decisions. Price said that he believes that Americans are capable of making their own decisions and that there are reasons why people choose for whom they will vote.

Another student in the audience asked Price to comment on the Trump “chalking incident” that occurred last week on Emory’s campus. Price said that the response is what drew the most attention and added that although students may not agree with conservative voices on campus, they must listen.

Toward the end of the talk, a student asked how a conservative at Emory or another institution can work to end discrimination and embrace their conservative ideals with their peers.

“When having discussion on political issues, if you get out of the weeds and get to principle and you start there, then you will probably find more common ground,” Price said. “When you start with principle, you will have more agreement with folks.”

After the event, Emory College Republicans Copresident and College junior Nick Kovalenko commended Price on his outlook. “Price is a tremendous individual and accomplished in the political and medical fields,” Kovalenko said. “It truly is an honor [to host him].”

Emory College Republicans’ other Co-president and College senior Amelia Sims agreed and said that it was great to have a “substantial, in-depth policy discussion without delving into historic political candidate talk.”

“When having discussion on political issues, if you get out of the weeds and get to principle and you start there, then you will probably find more common ground.”

— Tom Price, United States Congressman and chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives

Congressman Tom Price speaks to students at Emory College Republicans event. | Joseph Asaro, Contributing Writer

NEWS

DJ Khaled to perform at Dooley’s Week Concert Emily Sullivan | News Editor emily.sullivan@emory.edu

D

Photo courtesy of Def Jam

J Khaled will perform at Emory on Thursday, April 7 at 8 p.m., according to Student Programming Council (SPC) Co-band Party Chair and Goizueta Business School senior Max Mayblum.

SPC members teased the performance on Monday night, hanging posters and large keys within the Dobbs University Center (DUC). SPC released Khaled’s name today at 8 p.m. through a Facebook post.

Mayblum said that he worked directly with Khaled’s agency, United Talent Agency, over the month of February to negotiate a contract for the Thursday performance. The negotiation began slightly after that with The Chainsmokers’ agency, Mayblum said, and was more prolonged because of the “hype” currently surrounding Khaled. He

POLICE REPORT The crime report is a selection of police-related incidences that have directly affected the Emory community in the prior week.

Compiled by Brandon Fuhr | Digital Editor brandon.spencer.fuhr@emory.edu

On March 22 at 7:11 p.m., Emory Police Department (EPD) responded to a call regarding suspicious activity at Clairmont Tower. A student said that she had been hanging out with a friend; when the friend gathered his belongings and left, the student realized that one of her room keys was missing. The student had her locks changed later that evening.

Between March 24 and March 26, EPD received numerous reports of financial transaction fraud linked to accounts of individuals affiliated with the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Multiple students reported that fraudulent transactions were made through their accounts on the Uber app and on a variety of websites including zsook.com, norton.com, cupid.com, strawberry.com and dominos. com. The case has been assigned to an

investigator.

On March 24 at 6:23 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding a theft at Woodruff Library. A student said that he had left his location in the library every 30 minutes to smoke and when he returned, his Beats Solo2 headphones, valued at $140, were stolen. The case has been assigned to an investigator.

On March 24 at 6:23 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding a suspicious package on Burlington Road. Officers determined that the package was an empty cardboard box.

On March 26 at 1:24 a.m., EPD responded to a noise complaint at 18 Eagle Row. Officers met with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity president, who said he would lower the music coming from the house.

added that Khaled is a new client of United Talent Agency.

Mayblum, Co-band Party Chair and College senior Julia Baker, SPC Advisor and Assistant Director of the Emory Integrity Project Rebecca Shetty and SPC President and College senior Genevieve Roth announced on Thursday, March 24 to the rest of SPC that Khaled would perform. “Everyone was jumping up and down,” Mayblum said.

As for the rest of the community, Mayblum said that, regardless of the circumstances, there will be those students who are “outspoken, happy [or] upset.”

He said that SPC’s goal remains to ensure that every student finds programs and performances that they will enjoy over the course of this year’s Dooley’s Week.

Campus Life was notified.

On March 27 at 2:00 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding broken bottles in the parking lot behind the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity house at 17 Eagle Row. Officers also discovered broken bottles on the baseball field. Officers attempted to meet with the fraternity chapter president, but he could not be located. Officers met with another member of the fraternity, who said that they would clean up the area. Campus Life was notified.

On March 27 at 4:12 a.m., EPD responded to a phone call made by a disoriented individual who had been at Emory University Hospital. The individual claimed that there was a bomb inside the Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB).

Officers met with the caller, who had been in the emergency room prior to making the phone call. The HSRB was searched, but officers did not locate anything suspicious; officers were led to believe that the information the individual had provided was inaccurate.

On March 27 at 2:52 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding an underage individual under the influence of alcohol at Hopkins Residence Hall. When officers arrived on the scene, the female student had been shaking and vomiting for an hour and a half.

The student had been drinking at a party at an unknown off-campus location earlier in the evening. The individual was transported to Emory University Hospital. Campus Life was notified.

On March 27 at 8:17 p.m., EPD responded to a call regarding a hit-and-run that occurred at the intersection of Clifton Road and Eagle Row. A driver was traveling south on Clifton Road and waiting for a pedestrian to cross the crosswalk when his vehicle was hit from behind, according to the driver who was hit and whose rear bumper was damaged. The other vehicle then accelerated and continued south on Clifton Road. The case has been turned over to an investigator.

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Pan-Asian Summit promotes racial discussions Doris Zhou | Contributing Writer doris.zhou@emory.edu

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embers of the Emory community came together in panels and workshops to discuss Pan-Asian societal challenges in the second annual Pan-Asian Experience (APEX) Summit on Saturday, March 26.

Arranged by Goizueta Business School junior Wendy Ye, College junior Pratyusha Mutyala and the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services, the APEX Summit attempted to “unite the Emory community as well as various PanAsian communities on campus to discuss the broader concepts of an Asian identity,” according to the conference’s website. Students and staff discussed their perspectives as individuals who identify as Pan-Asian, which includes Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians and people having origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent, according to the website.

Many audience members detailed their experiences of race issues in American society, expressing their discontent with racial bias and lack of activism.

“We’re not fighting for people to accommodate us but for us to be included in this equity,” College junior Molly Zhu said. “We are simply asking for representation and awareness that we are here.”

Zhu joined Associate Director of Outreach at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology Jane Yang, Assistant Vice President and Director of CAPS Wanda Collins, College senior and Founder of the Leadership Experience Advising Program (LEAP) Jae Lee and College junior Mirandy Li, co-founder of Black and Asian Solidarity at Emory, to lead the panel.

Yang, who opened the conference, discussed the history of Asian activism in the United States, her experience with student activism at Emory in the 1990s and the value of finding allies for activism outside of the Pan-Asian community.

She described how issues pertaining to Asians are thought of as only “[the Asian] community’s problems” and are not discussed outside of the community.

A keynote address by Allen Gee, professor of

English and Creative Writing at Georgia College and author of the award-winning essay collection My Chinese-America, spoke on a range of topics, including his experiences growing up as a Chinese-American child in New York in the 1960s to the current state of race relations in the U.S. He also discussed current issues and recent incidents affecting Asian-Americans, such as the Peter Liang case, biases against AsianAmericans in Ivy League college admissions and a recent incident during which Ivan Tsang, an Asian student at the University of South California, was subjected to racial slurs and had eggs thrown at him. Gee called for greater activism to resolve these issues.

“We’re not fighting for people to accommodate us but for us to be included in this equity. We are simply asking for representation and awareness that we are here.”

— Molly Zhu, College junior Yang agreed, describing the societal pressure on Asians to assimilate to American society, and yet Asians are still seen as perpetual foreigners by many.

An audience member, surnamed Kim, addressed these “positive” biases by saying that Asians are often considered to be “superior” at everything and that being Asian gives her “instant credit” in the finance world.

College junior Jonathan Chay countered the assumption that being Asian confers some sort of superiority or advantage. He said that he had felt the need to “whitewash” his resume, explaining that “when minorities support their own groups [through extracurricular activities], they are seen as biased.”

He also criticized the East Asian-centric view of Pan-Asian issues from his perspective as a Cambodian-American.

“My mom works as an assembler, my father works as an assembler … when you say that there’s an Asian superiority … you take this group that suffers from poverty and a lack of access to education, and you sweep us under the rug, because we’re not at the standards of East Asians.”

Phong Le, another member of the executive board and a College freshman, described his experience tutoring a small group of VietnameseAmericans, many of whom had difficulty with math. When asked about their difficulty, many students’ response was that it was because they were a “bad Asian,” as opposed to saying that they were bad at math because they were better at something else.

Zhu described the pervasive stereotyping and lack of representation of Asians in media, as well as how being stereotyped as a model minority makes people consider Asians’ issues as less serious than those of other minority groups. Likewise, Lee said that “there is a lack of awareness that we have issues in the first place.”

“The seriousness of these issues requires a lifetime of work,” Gee said. “Do something. Do anything.”

Others were skeptical of the event, questioning its “core purpose.” Although the organizers did welcome non-Asian students to the event and made a point of doing so in promotions, flyers and the Facebook event for the summit, few non-Asians showed up to the event.

“Why are we preaching to the choir?” one audience member asked. “Why are we not inviting the white community of Emory, and why are they not present?”

Zhu agreed that there was a need to reach out to more non-Asians. She suggested a way to reach out would be to bring up problems faced by the Pan-Asian community in daily conversation.

Regardless, College junior Lotus Chen expressed her support for the goals of the conference.

“I think the most important thing I learned today was that even within a community, you can have extremely different perspectives, some of which aren’t correct or healthy, and it’s really important to continue to educate,” Chen said.

OPINION

BRANDON WAGNER | EDITOR

Our Opinion

Justice and speech linked intrinsically from page 1 ... burdensome restrictions, while the Respect for Open Expression Policy holds all community members to the same standard.

However, unlike the First Amendment, the current policy has not been tried and tested. There is a potential for misuse in the fundamental lack of clarity of the current policy, due to its infancy.

Thus far, the Committee for Open Expression has done commendable work responding to controversial campus events in order to elaborate on the meaning of the policy.

Yet, there is much work to be done to ensure a change in committee membership or administrative leadership would not allow for drastic shifts in the forms of expression that are protected. Of particular importance is to draw clear lines for all community members as to what forms of expression are barred by the policy.

The most notable example of such uncertainties is the policies prohibiting speech that is harassing in nature. Harassment has different connotations in different contexts to different people. A change in committee membership leaves open the potential for a change in interpretation.

The community requires unwavering commitment by current and all future administrations to the Respect for Open Expression Policy, as anything vague and undefined may chill unpopular speech or further the dominance of majority view.

The beauty of speech resides in its ability to facilitate thoughtful and open dialogue. That dialogue has allowed engagement with history and context at Emory. It is through free dialogue that the narratives of others can be understood. Wellprotected open expression is what enables the sharing of lived experiences and the sharing of very real grievances that students of color face.

Understanding that relationship between open expression and the conversation about racism allows us to understand the conversation that our community is having about this incident.

However, this discussion about freedom of expression has a tendency to overshadow the necessary conversations that are happening and that require our attention to inequality and grievances.

It is clear that there is a tangible divide over the state of race on this campus. Yet in reading

the national story, there is no understanding of the very real history of racism at this school. The frustrations of students of color are the product of an accumulation of regular incidents on our campus, the stress that comes with being a minority on a campus that is predominantly white and the fact that this institution only in relatively recent memory allowed their participation.

In this lights, it becomes vital to understand that this issue is a part of a much larger conversation that needs to be had. Intent cannot be assumed on the part of these protesters; there are too many individuals searching for too many different things to grasp and attack any single issue.

But there is one thing heard loud and clear from all of them: “Listen to us, hear what we have to say.”

Our students have experienced their university president refer to the Three-Fifths Compromise as a model of mutual concession. They have watched their peers on a campus TV comedy calling for the use of “lynching, tarring, feathering and cross burning.” Along with the cumulation of these experiences, students have also brought national conversations to our campus to advocate for the advancement of students and faculty of color through the list of demands and through the Racial Justice Retreat earlier this semester. No single incident can be understood without the context of the history of Emory’s racial climate and the national conversations by which they are being affected and in which they are participating.

Because of the lived experiences of students of color, incidents that may seem race-neutral to some are heavily racialized to minorities. Regardless of one’s political stance, the name Trump alone to some Americans has come to evoke fear and embody racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and hate. This was seen in two separate recent incidents at high school basketball games where the audiences chanted “Trump 2016” and held signs with Trump’s face to intimidate the opposing teams which were heavily Hispanic and Latinx.

There are also numerous examples of violence at Trump rallies, many of which were directed toward minorities. To deny that this candidate is a symbol of hate to some would be turning a blind

eye to the current political climate and minimizing the damage done to marginalized groups.

Freedom of expression is a tool that is important in changing the world, but it can simultaneously spread messages of hate. Despite this ugly truth, there cannot be a suspension of the free expression of those who seek to discuss. In the hindrance of free speech, power is taken from ordinary people and given to those who are already powerful, allowing them to decide who can say what and to perpetuate the status quo. Freedom of expression is vital; through freedom of expression, activists are able to protest and challenge what they see to be wrong. It is because of activists that the Emory community is able to participate in difficult and complex conversations, such as the state of race on this campus.

It is through a strong sense of freedom of expression that the the necessary and tough conversations can go from invested groups to popular discourse and move toward healing the divide this issue has highlighted. Beneficial and responsible engagement requires speech that understands the other side and does not seek to silence nor divide.

That is how any community must responsibly utilize this power. We must listen as well as speak.

This can be done only if proper and responsible policies are ensured that protect the speech of our students, our faculty and our staff no matter which way the wind may blow. Protecting these mechanisms for the future so this community can continue to engage with the most pertinent issues is key to ensuring not only the ever-forward march of progress but also to protecting the perpetual search for truth that is at the heart of academic pursuit. Let us continue to participate in dialogue and challenge the world we live in.

As students, we endeavor not only to develop our practical knowledge and political views before graduation; we strive also to cultivate our moral beliefs. Meaningful discussion can exist only in the presence of open expression — and we can grow as thinkers, as citizens and as humans with not only the allowance but the encouragement of that discourse.

It is not merely the fate of the country that relies on free speech; our virtue is contingent on it.

The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s editorial board.

No staff member involved in reporting or news coverage of related events participated in deliberations.

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Peter Witzig | College Senior Duluth, Minnesota

W

hat happened when Black student protesters blocked traffic last semester as they sought to call eyes and ears to the deaths of fellow Black citizens slain in the streets of our hometowns? Confusion, fear — What’s going on? Why are “they” so angry? — or the ugly, cold shoulder of apathy. And what happened when the name of the racist presidential candidate was chalked around campus in a way that left little room for dialogue and response? Some protested, many balked. Still others — some from outside our campus — heaped on ridicule.

The stakes are high. We must all do better.

How can we? We can take more opportunities to step outside the lines. We can, and should, break more laws, especially when they disturb our moral consciences. I am speaking of conscientious civil disobedience. In the face of so much misunderstanding and misinterpretation of campus protest — willful or otherwise — I will continue to stand up for what my conscience tells me is just.

I raise my voice in the interest of a stranger, more questioning, freer Emory. I stand with all others who possess the courage to speak — those protesting white supremacy, imperial occupation in Palestine, homophobia, the patriarchy, anti-immigrant sentiment, anti-semitism, transphobia, capitalism and classism, militarism, 21st century colonialism and the list, unfortunately, goes on.

These structures manifest themselves in the smallest orders of my daily life, and I have the right — no, the responsibility — to question their authority, to question the pundits who write and imply that we should keep quiet, to question the faculty who, I hope, perceive my societal and cultural critiques with positive sentiment and to question even the signs that tell me to stay off the grass.

What are we afraid of? Strange looks? My ability to look squarely back at myself matters more. To lose friends? Camaraderie within myself will last me a lifetime. To

neglect our studies? Humankind is our study. To miss out on a career path, an eventual payoff for staying in line? I find no spiritual satisfaction in punching a clock. Are we afraid we will not get laid if we have too many opinions? Well, I have a lot of those and seem to be doing alright (thank you very much, Clay Travis). I believe our fears and doubts can be overcome with a dose of courage.

So that is why I step into public spaces with a megaphone in my hand and poems on my tongue. To me, poetry itself is not the protest — it is Art —but the act of public Art can be disruptive.

It reminds us to imagine alternatives to life as it is.

I am the first to admit what I can do is only a small act of breaking social laws, but I feel left with few other options in a place that tolerates so little aberrance. Besides, if one can no longer read poetry out loud on a college campus, what is the point of a college campus?

Only a semester ago, I studied in two Latin American countries — Nicaragua and Cuba — where student power played a crucial role in the reshaping of entire social orders. We, the students of North America, can rise to the same occasion. I call especially on all artists — poets, dancers, singers, visual artists, playwrights, novelists and musicians — to join me in filling public spaces with possibilities for a different future.

Just for a moment, picture 14,000 university students on Emory’s Quad, fists and voices raised in unison. They could ask for whatever they wanted — a change in direction for a new generation, a change of direction only we can dream of. How about 7,000? 2,000?

But really, we don’t need the University to empower us, although it is always to our mutual benefit when it does. Student power is already ours; we have only to lose it or underuse it.

Stay in line, be this way, queue up. That is the strong undercurrent of our culture here at Emory and beyond. Too strong. My attitude? I doth protest.

I raise my voice in the interest of a stranger, more questioning, freer Emory.

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3/30/16 1:53 AM

OPINION Tyler Zelinger | College Junior

T

Commack, New York

his has been an interesting week for Emory University. A campus-wide email sent out by University President James Wagner addressed a vigorous campus debate, in which the principles of free speech and the rights of marginalized students to feel safe on campus have butted heads repeatedly. This debate has not been limited to Emory’s campus. Simply searching “Emory Trump chalk” on Google will yield various news sources of varying credibility weighing in on the discussion.

I would like to start this discussion by making two statements. First of all, I am unequivocally opposed to a Donald Trump presidency, as I believe there are few things that could possibly be more detrimental to American society than electing such an intolerant demagogue into our nation’s highest office. Second of all, one of those few things I consider to be more dangerous than a Trump presidency is the institutional stifling of free speech.

I do not intend to follow the lead of the many online publications demeaning the protestors themselves.

I will not waste my time — or your time — by making meaningless, insulting claims that people are babies or whiners or that these protesters are oversensitive. I will advocate for their right to protest the Trump chalkings as adamantly as I believe in the chalker’s right to political expression. The simple fact that I, or anyone else, disagree with the protestors does not detract from their right to demonstrate.

This freedom, however, is a two-way street. The very same principles and rights that allow the protesters to storm into the Administration Building and demand to meet with the president of our University guarantee the Trump chalker his or her right to advocate for the political candidate of his or her choosing.

What I take issue with, then, is not the protest itself, but the fact that the emotional state or political opinions of a one group of protesters on campus have been institutionally verified as superior to the political beliefs or emotions of another student. This is not inclusivity in any sense of the word. Instead, a failed attempt

by University officials to placate a small group of protesters has devolved into a torrent of media derision aimed at Emory University.

The main issue at hand in these discussions is how the Trump chalkings have been interpreted as opposed to the physical messages themselves. On one side, students interpret the graffiti as political speech that ought to be protected regardless of the boorish and offensive nature of the candidate it endorses. On the other side,

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marginalized groups on campus interpret the proTrump graffiti as a direct threat against them. These individuals, as far as I can tell, believe the graffiti is representative of larger problems in American society — problems they consider to be evident in Trump’s recent rise to frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. I count myself among the former crowd and will seek to explain why I feel this way through addressing some of the concerns expressed by the latter group.

First and foremost, many people in the second camp feel that the chalkings do not constitute political expression. They believe that the goal of these messages was not to advocate for a candidate but to create fear and anger in the student body. This is an argument I reject. Nobody can possibly know the motivations of the chalker(s), save for the chalker(s) themselves. To dismiss political opinion based on one’s interpretation of it as offensive or inflammatory, regardless of how justified those interpretations may be, is to make an assumption that is unverifiable.

Further, this argument is hypocritical when viewed alongside the statements made by many who support the protesters. As the media firestorm has rained down upon Emory University over the past few days, many of those who supported the protesters have expressed that they feel the coverage is incomplete — people were not truly protesting in fear of chalk; they were motivated by deep-seated concerns born of a lifetime of experience.

To argue that the media coverage suffers as a result of not understanding the protesters while at the same time making assumptions about the motives of the chalker in order to justify silencing them is hypocritical. Just as the media presumably does not know or understand the motivations of the protestors, neither do the protesters know or understand the motivations of the chalker.

If this lack of understanding has caused the media’s reactions to be simplistic, over-exaggerated and insulting, then it has had the same effect on the angry and emotional reactions of those who have reacted most strongly against the chalkings.

Another popular argument is that the chalkings were done under the cover of night and thus are not a political demonstration but rather a targeted and covert attack on the marginalized groups of this campus. Why, people ask, would someone write these messages in such a way, intentionally concealing themselves, if all they sought to do was express their political opinions?

This, I believe, is an argument that has already been defeated by those who constructed it in the first place. Look no further than the words of those who most strongly align themselves with the protestors and find statements full of hatred, vitriol and disgust for the

person who wrote the pro-Trump messages.

Though these individuals may believe their indignation to be righteous, it is fundamentally still indignation. I would argue that it is quite possible that those individuals wrote these messages at night because they feared for their safety, and these emotionally driven and insultheavy reactions have convinced me that the author(s) would have been correct in making that assumption.

Finally, there is the argument that to support Trump is not political speech but rather a moral wrong, simply due to the fact that one is aligning themselves with a candidate widely believed to be racist, sexist, xenophobic or some negative “-ist” of one’s choosing. A proTrump opinion, by this logic, is not a political one, but a racist one. This is the argument that seems to be the most widely believed by those who think the University’s reaction was justified. It’s also the belief I consider to be the most dangerous.

Like it or not, supporting Donald Trump is a political opinion. He is a political figure and, though it pains me to say it, quite a successful one as of late. If people wish to support him, we cannot condemn them for doing so. Disagree with them, argue against them incessantly on every public forum to which you have access and, most importantly of all, fight them in the voting booths come the national election. But do not seek to silence them. Your right to be offended, regardless of how justified you may feel in having that reaction is, does not, will not and should not detract from the rights of the individual who offended you.

We cannot know the chalker(s) motivations, and we cannot dismiss their right to political speech based on emotional arguments made by those whom the speech offends.

The battle against Trump this November, should he win the nomination, will be one of the most important political events in this country’s history. It is a battle in which those of us at Emory who oppose his rhetoric must fight constantly. It will not, however, be won by silencing his protesters.

Other politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama and even Marco Rubio have welcomed those who disagree with them at their rallies. They let them stay. They are confident not in their ability to suppress those whose views clash with their own but in their ability to debate them and defeat them in the public forum. The only candidate who feels insecure enough in their own beliefs to encourage the silencing of protesters is Trump.

Trump does this because he knows his ideas hold no argumentative weight. They are emotional, based on building anger and fear. He cloaks himself in these emotions to disguise his glaring inadequacies. The most powerful weapons against this man will be the rights to political speech and open dialogue that he seeks to eliminate at his own rallies. I urge those who truly oppose him not to push for those rights to be called into question here; rather, call on the university to make it clear that Emory is a safe haven for students to express political opinions regardless of affiliation.

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An ex-editor’s take on Trump, chalk and the media Stephen Fowler | College Senior

F

ollowing last week’s uproar surrounding the chalkings of apparent support for Donald Trump across campus and the ensuing protests, I was simultaneously amazed and disheartened by how things became both inside and outside our institutional walls. Much of the coverage and conversation shifted from dialogue to vitriol and became misguided and misunderstood in the blink of an eye.

Mindless name-calling is nothing new in regards to politics (and Millennials and colleges and free speech, etc.), but the devolution of the interaction between protesters, the administration and the general populace hit an all time low with such evidenced behavior.

Specifically, I am disheartened to see a newfound antagonism between the student activists, leaders and the newspaper that has, in my time especially, strived to tell all the stories of those within its community.

Across social media, I have seen recurring messages of boycotting the Wheel.

Student leaders of prominent organizations have advocated blocking and refusing to give information to reporters and have participated in what amounts to cyberbullying of Wheel staff members past and present.

Yet, as I sat last week and looked at the clusterfuck that was my personal Facebook status about the Trump chalkings, where my frustration with an issue of free speech and journalistic access had quickly descended into a chaos of racially-steeped attacks and buzzword-filled diatribe, I realized something.

When it comes to protesters, outside observers and everyone in between understanding and dealing with the media, we’re doomed from the start.

For the past two-and-a-half years, I have had the privilege of serving the Emory community as a member of The Emory Wheel.

Within the Wheel, I’ve served in roles

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McDonough, Georgia focused on Greek Life, Campus Life, toplevel University administration, Student Life and, eventually, had the privilege of serving on the executive board as the Executive Digital Editor.

The stories I have told over time have been important to me as well as to those who read them because they often provided access and insight into a complete, accurate story of sides that often go unheard in mainstream society.

I’ve covered wide-ranging segments of our community, from theology students protesting the recognition of an alleged anti-gay pastor and swastikas on a historically-Jewish fraternity house to Ebola and its safety relative to campus and the traditions and histories surrounding the new member intake process of historically black and multicultural Greek organizations, with a dedication to and focus on telling these otherwise unheard stories with accuracy and depth.

Yet just as the real world cares little for individual safety and security (see: any internet comment section ever), much of what society thinks of as so-called “journalism” in the real world cares not for disclaimers about accuracy, biases and ethics going into what it writes.

Media literacy is at an all time low, with sites ranging from college-oriented “news” like The Tab and Odyssey Online to partisan-slanted pages like Breitbart News Network or Vox increasingly serving as a primary source of information for most of the country.

Gone are the days of the importance placed on reading newspapers — national juggernauts like The Washington Post and The New York Times are no longer important to most people, let alone one’s local paper.

Because there is so much information out there on the internet, the chances of you only reading sites, views and opinions with which you agree are growing higher and higher. Instead of editorial pages filled with many ideas, we have

created echo chambers with exteriors that are simultaneously extremely sensitive and impervious to penetration by outside viewpoints.

With so much of the “journalism” that people see on a daily basis spreading opinions, falsehoods and just plain ol’ differing opinions, it is no surprise that there is a healthy skepticism of the accuracy and unbiased nature of anything and everything that comes out.

Most people don’t realize the inherent slant or biases that come through outlets such as these — or that these outlets really don’t care about impartiality or context or even getting all the facts straight because of the monetary bottom line they aim to serve.

Take for example Fox Sports columnist Clay Travis. Despite having multiple degrees for which I am sure he was required to take some sort of writing class, his attempt at discussing the Trump chalk situation (in which said repeatedly that he “murders” and “kills” the protestors with his words), his expletive-laced fumble of an opinion piece provides as much newsworthiness, context and insight as a food review of a burger joint by a vegetarian.

Yet, understandably, the protestors and other students of the University are upset at this characterization of our school and its attendees, and when taken outside of the context of what it is — a glorified sports columnist who waxes poetics about whatever he feels that he’s qualified to talk about — it’s very easy and understandable, then, to not to want to engage with anyone who wants to tell your story.

In most cases, it is very easy for these ill-trained, unconcerned-with-ethicsand-impartiality outlets to miss things or mess them up.

However, there are still newspapers — newspaper being the key here — that are still fighting the good fight for truthful, far-reaching coverage of all communities, especially those that have histori-

cally been underrepresented and stifled on its pages.

The Wheel is one of those.

It’s not perfect by any means. But much progress has been made. That progress cannot take place, however, if an open line of communication fails to exist between the storytellers and those with stories to be told.

The men and women on the newspaper staff work tirelessly around the clock (literally) to report these stories and catch every bit of context and nuance that is available to them.

It is unreasonable not to want to engage with coverage and reporting in the newspaper and lambast the lack of coverage in the same breath. It is also unreasonable to parade around mistakes that are made without working with the writers and editors to learn from issues to better serve the community.

A common refrain that I have heard is that students of color are “tired of having to educate the masses” about the macroand micro-aggressions they are faced with on a daily basis.

While that is certainly true and something that I can never experience personally as someone with privilege, history tells us that progress does not rest on the backs of the ignorant. The Wheel and other newspapers are some of the more powerful teaching tools at the disposal for those both educating and being educated.

Let the opinion pages be your lecture hall, let your powerful stories, words and insights be your lesson plan and let the world be your students.

Throughout all of this bitterness, confusion and misinformation, this week has reaffirmed three things for me: One, the role of open expression and the freedom to have civil discourse is important now more than ever; two, media literacy is terrible today and the root of much discontent; and three, never, ever read the comments on any story.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HANNAH CONWAY | EDITOR

Emory Arts Showcase shines a light on student creativity Lucy Barr | Contributing Writer lucy.barr@emory.edu

O

nly two years ago, the Emory Arts Showcase was held in a White Hall classroom. This year, on March 19, it was a multi-room production taking up the entirety of Cox Ballroom, even turning the hallway into an art gallery with the free prints and business cards of student artists.

Hosted by Emory Arts Underground, the show featured over 70 student artists and performers, including dancers, musicians, poets and more.

One of the most memorable performances from the night was a duo arrangement of Ludovico Einaudi’s “Nuvole Bianche” by College juniors Nathaniel Sawyer and Daun Kwag.

As the lights dimmed, white words were projected onto a black screen behind them. Their piece, entitled “What is Essential,” consisted of Sawyer’s musical arrangement, which he performed on piano, Kwag on violin and speakers who read written words aloud. The projected words on the screen behind him disclosed Sawyer’s feelings of being unseen — even when he passes by friends and peers. Rather than looking deeper, their eyes sweep over him and merely soak up the superficial. These feelings clearly resonated with the audience, as friends began to fold into one another, and the soft sounds of sniffles slowly spread around the room. The

concluding lines projected served as an impetus for the speakers to follow, expressing that not only is Sawyer unseen, but that he is also guilty of not looking into others, as well. As an audience member, I came to recognize that I, too, am guilty of looking through strangers, cautious not to invade their space, but through this, I inadvertently fail to acknowledge their existence.

As Sawyer continued playing, speakers stood up to share their respective experiences in regards to feeling unseen by peers, and the audience of strangers began to examine the personal weight that comes with hidden feelings. A basket of tealights was then passed around, and as audience members flicked them on, “The City of En(light)enment” truly embodied its name by embracing the raw and intimate community it formed. As incredible as it is to bear witness to the infinite complexity and depth that is within all of us by nature of our humanness, it is also incredible to share one’s vulnerability and bravery.

It seems that too often, amidst pre-professionalism, the competitiveness and drive of students at Emory overshadow their souls. The purpose of events such as The City of Enlightenment is to showcase the diverse talents of the Emory community and give performers an outlet to display their creativity.

Only a College freshman (“You’re a freshman?” College junior, executive board member of Emory Arts Underground and emcee Bethany Studnicky couldn’t help but question from the sidelines as he shyly introduced himself to an already affectionate crowd) and performing without the usual comforts of his guitar, Jamariel Hobbs gave a standout performance.

Between being a member of the a capella group AHANA, performing at the Media, Literature and Arts Outreach (MLAO) house’s Rock the Row and winning second place at a competition earlier this

15

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The classical fusion dance team Savera performs.

Trickanometry (TNT) performs at the Emory Arts Showcase. | All Photos Courtesy of Jake Rosmarin

year held in Harland Cinema, he has delivered memorable solos on campus throughout the year. This time, singing Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down” with a voice even more beautiful than he is, Hobbs enraptured his audience and, at one point, his emotional delivery of the lines, “Can I lay by your side,” received an eager, “Yes!” from one of his (many) swooning fans. This was followed by a consensus of giggles and murmurs.

Trickanometry (TNT), the superstar hip-hop dance group at Emory, also no stranger to adoring groupies, killed it with

a Grease-themed performance. The boys dressed like greasers with tight jeans, white tee-shirts and slicked back hair. The performance began with my personal favorite choreography by College junior Torrian Robertson. Simulating a car, coinciding with their theme, TNT exploded, adding to the upbeat energy.

Later on, actual goose bumps prickled on my arms as College sophomore Tejal Pandharpurkar showed off her incredible vocal range singing “Sun Raha Hai,” a traditional Indian song. This definitely came in as one of my favorite performances of the night, and though this is not uncommon for me, I teared up, captivated by her enthralling performance.

The performances included several styles and genres of dance, music and poetry.

The acts didn’t follow a clear order, beginning with a hip-hop dance battle and transitioning into an acoustic cover of an alternative song.

College sophomores Aidan Williams and Sara Frank sing together.

These stark contrasts showcased the incredible diversity and range of talents at Emory. At the end of the programmed events, the final performers, rappers boregard, starpav, sid worthy, continued performing, saying that the event was over but they were going to stay and if people wanted to get up and dance and stay with them, they were welcome to do so.

As the executive board cleaned up and the majority of the audience slowly shuffled out, boregard, starpav, sid worthy continued performing as though the room were still full. The 40 or so people who stayed didn’t seem to notice that the rest of the room was becoming bare around them. This is the spirit of the Emory Underground Art Show.

These events are put on to celebrate and shine a light on the true essence of students that lay behind their majors. It is a credit to the passion and dedication of students that events like Emory Arts Underground Showcase come to exist and grow.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Kendrick Lamar continues to transform hip-hop with

‘untitled unmastered.’

Santiago Bolanos | Contributing Writer jose.santiago.bolanos@emory.edu

Courtesy of Kendrick Lamar

K

endrick Lamar’s latest album, untitled unmastered. was released on March 4 as a follow-up to the rapper’s landmark album To Pimp a Butterfly (TPAB). “There’s no way that he is releasing something else,” I thought, as I read the news about Lamar’s surprise eight-track project. The unforeseen release of the album made me skeptical about the project — I hadn’t even begun to get over the brilliance and complexity of TPAB released nearly a year prior. Was Lamar already over it? How did he have time to create something else after TPAB? How did he maintain his inspiration after releasing TPAB? And, of course, is untitled unmastered. going to be anywhere near as exceptional as probably the most relevant hip hop album of the decade?

Upon listening to untitled unmastered., any initial skepticism about the album’s release is replaced by a sense of gratification. untitled isn’t a new project rushed in its release to help Lamar stay relevant. Rather, it’s an extension of TPAB, almost like the album’s b-sides. The album includes a collection of eight untitled and unmastered tracks — hence the name — left over from TPAB. The tracks on untitled unmastered. are consistent both sonically and thematically with TPAB. Lamar grapples with some of the same issues: violence, mass incarceration, discrimination and race.

On the opening track, “untitled 01,” Lamar reiterates the spiritual themes that reside in his music. In the song, he engages in a dialogue with God, telling him that he “made To Pimp a Butterfly for [him]” and says that God told him to “use his vocals to save mankind,” concluding, “I guess I’m running in place trying to make it to church.”

The album is also a sonic extension of TPAB. This is especially evident in tracks like “untitled 05” and “untitled 02” where he raps to both a jazz drum loop and

a crazed synthesized trumpet melody, hallmarks of the sound he pioneered on TPAB. The track titles on untitled unmastered. consist of a track number and a date that is a probable indicator of when the track was cut.

The date, as well as the dialogue on the second part of “untitled 07,” when Lamar is rehearsing the lyrics and melody for “untitled 04,” indicate that these tracks, with the exception of the first part of “untitled 07,” were all recorded during the TPAB sessions in 2014.

leased as singles, tracks like “untitled 08” and the first part of “untitled 07” might’ve gotten radio play. They’re similar to “i,” the first single off TPAB in which Lamar was quick to alter into a low-fi live version interrupted by spectators and himself upon the album’s release — in that sense, they seem like songs that Lamar wouldn’t want to be identified with because of their catchiness or likeability.

If untitled unmastered. had been titled and mastered upon its release, the album might’ve been a hit, if not because of the more pop palatable songs like “untitled

... it’s almost as if fame and attention are superfluous to a man whose music has already sparked a national conversation about race.

However, the tracks on untitled unmastered. don’t feel recycled or reused at all. Rather, they feel like a well-orchestrated continuation of TPAB with cohesive themes and structures. The album is grounded on simplicity and straightforwardness — it employs interesting melodies, presents engaging lyrics and boasts welldeveloped themes. The songs on untitled unmastered. feel purposefully unfinished to retain a sense of directness and purity.

The album’s simplicity, however, does not translate well into a single format. Some of the songs on the album seem brief or have low impact. Without knowing the album’s context, people might think the songs lack the grandeur of previous Lamar tracks (see “Money Trees,” “King Kunta” or “Alright”).

Listeners must listen to the whole project to gauge the album’s full effect. However, if they had been re-

08,” then because of the simple fact that at Lamar’s stratospheric level of fame, everything he releases is likely to be a hit.

I respect Lamar’s choice to downplay the release of this album. He could’ve released something like Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo, a highly publicized, unfinished album with a few hits, but instead opted to release a straightforward set of tracks that at no point claim to be finished — a result of the creative bomb that was TPAB — for whoever chooses to enjoy them. untitled unmastered. gives listeners an insight into Lamar’s creative process and gives fans more to chew on while he continues to transform hip hop. untitled unmastered. speaks to Lamar’s commitment to his art — it’s almost as if fame and attention are superfluous to a man whose music has already sparked a national conversation about race.

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‘MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2’

is sappy and dull

Vikrant Nallaparaju | Film Critic vikrant.nallaparaju@emory.edu

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

A

s I settled into my seat to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, I thought, “What am I doing here?” Looking around the theater, I noticed that I was the only person who came without a date and one of the few people under the age of 25. At that moment, an undeniable truth dawned on me — what I am about to watch is a film that just isn’t for me, the 20-year-old college student wishing he were watching 10 Cloverfield Lane in the theater next door.

Romantic comedies, especially ones of the most boilerplate variety, are meant to reassure viewers that their own relationships are intact and can survive any ordeal, just like the relationships between the characters.

Such films are harmless date night fodder and are usually forgotten soon after the viewers leave the theater, making this 14-years-later sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) all the more baffling. Unfortunately, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is just 94 minutes of overly mushy sentimentality, stretching a one-

note premise that wasn’t funny to begin with.

The start of this film takes place roughly 14 years after the first film ended. Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is living with her husband, Ian Miller (John Corbett), and 17-year-old daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris).

Toula is your stereotypical helicopter parent, constantly trying to be involved in every aspect of her daughter’s school and social life. In addition to dealing with her daughter wanting to go to an out-of-state college to get away from her clingy family, Toula must contend with her eccentric family, who all live on the same street as her.

When her father, Gus (Michael Constantine), realizes that a priest never signed Gus and Maria’s wedding certificate, his wife Maria (Lainie Kazan) is eager to throw the proper wedding that she never had.

However, when the wedding planner quits, the entire family must band together to save the wedding.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 wants to work on two levels: a nostalgic reunion for the audience and a more raunchy update to the sitcom-esque original. Unfortunately, the film suffers from the same problems that its spiritual predecessor, American Reunion, did in its own attempt to answer the “Hey, I wonder what those characters are up to now!” question.

These characters have no depth to them beyond mere stereotypes (try making a drinking game every time someone claims the Greeks invented something), and it’s clear that on the other side of the kitschy Greek cultural references, Vardalos has nothing to work with in terms of comedic material.

Jokes such as Toula’s nephew carving the Parthenon out of soap and her brother bribing a college representative with fresh steaks are so on the nose that I found myself wincing rather than laughing.

In essence, the crux of the film’s comedy is centered around the idea of “Hey, that concept, object or person is Greek!” which feels like the movie wants to get to a punch line without actually setting up the joke beforehand.

Furthermore, the premise feels less like a logical extension of the first film and more like a cheap repetition of the original film’s themes. The entire first film was spent validating intercultural relationships and following your heart, yet this second film treads that same path that was already beaten once the first film got to it.

It’s the law of diminishing returns in effect and, rather than crafting a good story, only raises more questions. If Gus accepted Toula’s marriage to Ian, why is he so gung-ho to marry Paris off to another Greek boy? Why are Toula and Ian

pressuring Paris to stay in Chicago for college so they can keep an eye on her?

It doesn’t make sense, and any conflict in the film feels painfully forced when most of these issues should have been resolved in the first film.

While juggling multiple subplots in a film isn’t inherently a bad thing, the film doesn’t seem capable of finding balance, often resolving conflicts unceremoniously before rushing to the next scene.

Toula and Ian’s attempts to spend more time together are interrupted with Paris’s boy troubles, which is then interrupted

by Gus and Maria’s disagreements over how the marriage should be planned. It feels very jumbled.

The fact that all of these plots are resolved in one plot point during the climax feels very much like the filmmakers realized that they bit off more than they could chew.

On a performance level, the acting ranges from hammy to passable. Andrea Martin gives the best performance of the film as Toula’s innuendo spewing Aunt Voula, clearly reveling in the opportunity to play such an over-the-top character.

John Stamos pops up in a cameo role as a local news reporter, and with all the Greek actors showing up in the film, I wonder why Tina Fey or Zach Galifianakis didn’t get called in.

It’s strange to see the Oscar-nominated, highest grossing romantic comedy that was My Big Fat Greek Wedding be followed by a sequel that is so vapid and unengaging.

There’s really no substance to this movie, and while I’m sure hardcore fans will find much to enjoy in this film, it’s a slog to sit through if you aren’t already invested in these characters.

I’ll raise a hearty “nopa!” to seeing this one again.

Grade: D-

EMORY LIFE

ALISHA COMPTON | EDITOR

‘HOAP’ ing Emory club provides a medium for those who have experienced homelessness to share their stories with students.

Alisha Compton | Emory Life Editor alisha.bhatia.compton@emory.edu

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Gateway Center employee Bill Smith shares his story with Emory Students at one of HOAP’s Hear My Story events. | Courtesy of Gateway Center Faces of Homelessness Speaker ’s Bureau

n March 17, Smith came to speak to University students and share his personal account of homelessness. In foster care since he was sixmonths-old, Bill Smith is a survivor of sexual assault and watched his older brother commit suicide before the age of ten.

Smith was able to share his story because of the work of Emory’s Homeless Outreach and Awareness Project (HOAP). According to Co-president of HOAP and Goizueta Business School junior Paula Cheng, HOAP aims to break a lot of the stigmas and stereotypes surrounding homelessness and people experiencing homelessness. The organization also hopes to personalize individuals’ experiences with homelessness and instill a more interpersonal understanding in the Emory community.

HOAP’s Hear My Story events give students the opportunity to hear personal accounts of homelessness.

The individuals who come to speak are those the organization has built a relationship with over time or those who Director of Community Relation and Volunteer Services for the Gateway Center Bec Cranford helps them to connect with.

At 24, Smith moved to Lexington, Va. on the promise

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to impact perspective on campus of a job. He began experiencing homelessness after the loss of this opportunity.

“There were days it felt good, because homelessness can be addictive,” Smith said. “It’s addictive because you don’t have to do anything, but then you don’t know how to get out.”

Smith’s unique perspective when it comes to homelessness is exemplary of the perspectives HOAP aims to share.

Smith moved to Charlotte, N.C. years later and found the church that he says saved him. As a member of the church, Smith began volunteering with organizations such as United Way. “I realized that I had a voice and could be a voice for the homeless,” Smith said.

Smith has not been homeless since 2007 and now works for Gateway Center. According to gatewayctr. org, the official mission of Gateway Center is to provide a supportive and compassionate setting where individuals can receive the tools, programs and services they need to end their homelessness. Gateway Center aims to do this through partnerships with like-minded individuals, service agencies and business, civic and faith community leaders.

“Bill Smith is an advocate and a true activist for people who are experiencing homelessness. And that’s birthed out of his own lived experience as well as his deep rooted faith,” Cranford said. “Over the past four years, he has just grown in compassion and has continued to do great work in Atlanta.”

Smith is one of the many people who have experienced homelessness and has spoken to university students through HOAP. “The first event I went to was actually really similar to the one that we just had a couple weeks ago. It’s called a Hear My Story event,” Cheng said. “I just remember hearing a veteran come in and talk about his whole life experience. It was really powerful, and that’s just how I got plugged into [HOAP].”

In addition to the Hear My Story events, HOAP does on-campus activities, such as pairing with Em-

ory’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) for the RHA Spring Festival, as well as off campus activities, such as morning outreaches. For these morning outreaches, HOAP partners with United Way and Gateway Center, among others. Students go out into the streets to invite people experiencing homelessness to come and stay in certain shelters that they have or housing that they may offer.

“I realized that I had a voice and could be a voice for the homeless.”

—Bill Smith, Gateway Center employee The organization has also participated in programs like Homelessness Counts for which members went out and surveyed people on the streets in order to help with data collection on those experiencing homelessness.

“In the future, I would like to see HOAP just grow a lot more,” Cheng said. “We’re definitely a really small organization and don’t really have the resources or just the voice to be a strong presence on campus, but maybe partnering with Volunteer Emory more or other organizations [can] grow [HOAP’s] mission and reach around Emory.”

Cheng believes that it is really easy to get caught up

in the hustle and bustle of college life, but that hearing the stories of those who have experienced homelessness can serve as a refreshing perspective for University students.

“HOAP just reminds you that your role as a college student isn’t just on the college campus. You have a responsibility to not only learn from school, but also from other people and other experiences and really make an impact outside of the community.”

One way HOAP impacts the community is through one-on-one aid. According to Cheng, Fun Town is the site of an old white-only abandoned amusement park where many people who are experiencing homelessness now live. She described the organization’s relationship to the area and a man who is currently experiencing homelessness in it.

“Emory HOAP has a relationship with one individual named Joe who lives there and through generations of the executive board, we’ve kept in contact with him, and we just go and visit him and talk to him,” Cheng said. “Last week, we went and put up a tarp and brought him some food and just talked to him and helped him with small things that he needed help with, because he’s a 70-year-old man living by himself.

We can help an individual person rather than an organization, which I think is cool.”

Cheng grew up in Atlanta, so she has grown up seeing the dichotomy of the suburbs and downtown Atlanta, where homelessness is particularly prevalent.

According to United Way of Greater Atlanta’s website, each year, there are approximately 2,100 homeless people in Greater Atlanta. One of the many lessons Cheng has taken away from HOAP is how to treat those who are experiencing homelessness. Don’t avert your eyes, don’t ignore them and don’t pretend like they don’t exist. Instead, just say, “Hello” and make eye contact or be friendly. Cheng says that these small gestures make a really big difference.

“When you approach homeless folks, you ought to treat them the way you want to be treated,” Smith said.

“Never try to undiginify a person.”

EMORY LIFE International Festival and

Emory W rld Cup

bridges student communities Michelle Lou | Asst. Copy Chief michelle.ann.lou@emory.edu

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n Friday, April 1 from 6 to 9 p.m., the third annual International Festival and Emory World Cup will take place on McDonough Field. Hoping to bring together the Emory community to celebrate the campus’ incredible cultural diversity, the event will incorporate international foods, musical and dance performances, giveaways and a soccer tournament, according to the Office of International Student Life’s (OISL) website.

“... having cross-cultural relationships and a level of understanding about each other builds strong, open-minded students who can cooperate and make a positive impact on campus.”

—Jennie Sun, College junior and member of the advisory board of OISL that planned the International Festival

Last year, over 700 people attended, in addition to the 24 co-ed soccer teams that participated in the tournament, according to the event’s website. There were also numerous musical and dance groups, as well as over 30 organizations representing various global identities.

The event hopes to continue the previous level of turnout this year.

Student groups including Taiwanese American Student Association (TASA), German Culture Club, Brazilian Student Association (BRASA) and Emory Students for Israel are just several of the 22 organizations that will host tables. Additional organizations are expected to

sign up to participate as the date of the event approaches.

College junior Stellina Lee will host a table for service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO) at the event.

“I resonate strongly with celebrating cultural diversity since I am an international student,” Lee said. “I have felt that embracing my own identity while learning and celebrating different perspectives has been one of the best parts of my Emory experience.”

College junior Jennie Sun is a member of the advisory board of OISL that planned the International Festival.

“I believe it is important for Emory to celebrate cultural diversity, because having cross-cultural relationships and a level of understanding about each other builds strong, open-minded students who can cooperate and make a positive impact on our campus,” Sun said.

The soccer matches will be featured in the middle of McDonough Field, with multiple student-run tables surrounding the soccer competition. Each soccer team will be composed of four players, and there must be at least one male player and at least one female player on each co-ed team. Because soccer is a sport that is popular not only among Emory community members but also internationally, the event is “physically centered” around the soccer competition, according to OISL’s website. “[Events like this can] bring awareness, deepen understanding and open minds to the beauty that is found in other cultures,” Director of International Student Life Natalie Cruz said. “Through this event, you truly can explore the world at Emory.”

In case of rain, the event will be relocated to the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC) gym.

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Doolino knows best

Dear Doolino, I need some real advice. I’m a freshman, and I know everyone says I have time to decide what I want to do with my life, but I have to declare my major next year. My interests vary from science to history. I know that what I study will play a large role in how I impact the world, and I just don’t want to make the wrong decision.

Sincerely, Undecided

Dear Undecided, There’s a Latin aphorism by (or rather, most commonly attributed to) Sir Francis Bacon that I think is particularly relevant in college: “sciencia potentia est.” It translates to “knowledge is power.”

I love this quote because it expresses why we spend a stupid amount of money to get “educated.”

It’s important to note that Sir Francis Bacon does not specify that “science is power” or “history is power” or “literature is power,” though I’m sure that all of those assertions have been made in the past. He did not put a blanket of superiority over one subject — he simply understood that the act of feeding one’s hungry, cognitive appetite is more important than what you feed that aforementioned cognitive, hungry appetite. ‘Cause Bacon was a beast who didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of him. Feed yourself with crap, or perhaps bacon. It doesn’t matter, as long you’re feeding yourself.

Turns out, there’s a reason why everyone says you have time to decide what you want to do with your life. College is a becoming, and quite frankly, most freshmen are not yet equipped with the right perspective and self-awareness to know exactly what they want to study — to be even more frank, most seniors don’t even know what they truly want to study, either. And I’m not talking about the seniors as in the people three years older than you that are preparing to walk across the graduation stage in May. I’m talking about the dudes keeling over, collecting their Social Security checks, still unsure if what they studied in college was the right decision.

But seriously, I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to relish in the process. It doesn’t really matter what you end up majoring in in college. To be able to walk from a class titled “Cancer Biology and Oncenes” to “East Asia in the Revolution” within 15 minutes is a beautiful thing, emblematic of your desire to be a well-rounded person that wishes to impact the world. Your major is not the be-all end-all. Wishing to impact the world is, however. Ask everyone in the alumni directory — science majors and history majors alike.

I’m also here to tell you that your interests of study — science and history — are not as binary as you think they are. Turns out, there many famous figures who studied both history and science and still made a big impact on the world. One in particular that I can think of is a man that lived in the sixteenth century who both formulated the scientific method and was a member of Parliament.

His name was Sir Francis Bacon. And he was a beast.

With love, Doolino Dear Doolino, Oh, the room search. I’m a freshman and I had a great housing registration time, but the website wouldn’t let me register — shocker, I know. I’m supposed to live in Woodruff next year, but the mere idea of the trek from there to campus is too much to bear. My current roommate said I could share her single in Harris. Housing said

that if we wanted to do this that they would put a second bed in there, but is it worth it? Do I sacrifice distance or space?

Sincerely, Dorm Debater Dear Dorm Debater, Let me lay out your options clearly: (A) Live in Woodruff with a new roommate, who may or may not try to kill you in your sleep. Indulge in guilt-inducing, greasy WoodRec food until 1 a.m., have Lullwater as your backyard and live in fairly large suite-style rooms with private bathrooms. However, your commute is to Siberia. Like, seriously, Woodruff to main campus may as well be the trip from Moscow to Siberia. You may want to consider investing in a moped, unicycle or Barbie Jeep.

(B) Live in Harris with someone you’re already comfortable with, but risk ruining that friendship because you’ve never had to deal with that person in such a tiny space. Positive: if you’re naked and they barge into the room, your friend, rather than a random roommate, won’t flip out at you. As a skeleton who is almost perpetually naked, trust me, this is a huge issue. Negative: you’ll be naked a lot more and probably forget to wear clothes in places where it is socially unacceptable to be naked. Trust me, you’ve never experienced embarrassment if you’ve never been naked for a group presentation.

You say that the opportunity costs of these two situations are distance and space.

But, I think the opportunity costs are time and friendship. I cast my vote for option A. It’s already hard to navigate friendships in college. It’s going to be even harder if you don’t give yourself the space to navigate that friendship.

If you don’t care about that friendship, though — I would not care about said friendship because I’m an un-sentient skeleton — then go ahead and live in Harris and hang out with your bestie. Honestly, nothing is better than waking up in the morning next to your messof-a-roommate, dying from his or her stench, then wondering why you agreed to live with a friend in the first place. Seriously. Try it.

With love, Doolino

SPORTS

JACOB DURST | EDITOR

Daily Bracket:

The ‘Candy Crush’ of Fantasy Sports

Courtesy of Daily Bracket

Avery Yang | Asst. Sports Editor

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ahyang2@emory.edu

here’s gambling, there’s sports and then there’s sports gambling. The two go together like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The beginnings of the hobby, if you want to call it that, were modest. Throughout history, people have wagered on outcomes between competitors. Commodus, along with other Roman emperors such as Augustus and Nero, were notorious gamblers — Commodus once went bankrupt and decided to turn his palace into a casino that offered bets on chariot races and gladiator bouts to make back the money to repay his debts.

It worked. While gambling was, and is largely still, illegal, everyone from the upper crust to the poor gambled on sporting events.

Nowadays, people have gotten a bit more sophisticated with their betting. As opposed to simply choosing who would die in a gladiator match, we now have measures like the point spread, the overunder, the money line and hundreds of variations of sports gambling that add nuances to the hobby. One of these variations includes a relatively new, but increasingly popular advent: daily fantasy sports.

With the newfound successes of daily fantasy sports outlets such as FanDuel and DraftKings, and through the subsequent legal issues that have threatened the new genre, thousands have attempt-

ed to find their own nuances within the niche, including Wheel alumnus and 2015 Emory graduate Jacob Eisenberg and his employer, Daily Bracket.

Eisenberg is the vice president of strategy and partnerships with Daily Bracket, an app that debuted in late 2014 that emerged from the boom in popularity of the daily fantasy sports genre.

Daily Bracket isn’t quite sports gambling, according to Eisenberg. As he calls it, it is “sports engagement,” the future of sports gambling. He considers it “what sports gambling would be in a utopian society.” At its purest form, the only gambling you’re doing is the engagement you’re putting into the app; you can play every aspect of the game without putting any money into it.

With about 70,000 daily users today, up from 5,000 daily players just over a year ago, Daily Bracket is one of the fastest growing sports apps available. Despite the fancy and somewhat ambiguous job title, Eisenberg’s job is relatively straightforward: on a day to day basis, he oversees the partners in the app store that offer prizes for winnings, he writes and edits anywhere from three to five of the game previews for the next day and he thinks of new ideas to improve the app and increase user satisfaction.

Daily Bracket’s premise is simple; in fact, it is targeted towards the most casual of sport fans. One is given five sports

games that are happening on a given day; it could be anything from hockey to football, basketball to baseball, and you simply choose the winner of each of the five games. If you manage to choose correctly on three out of the five games, then you advance on your streak, measured in amount of days, for a potential million dollars.

However, the app sometimes offers prop bets in place of a game selection.

The prop bet will consist of either a one way or another prediction of a player’s performance or a comparison of statistics between two unrelated games or events.

The app gives the player the option to pitch them an idea that fits this mold.

three out of the five matchups correctly yields you 25 cents, four straight days yields you $1, eight straight days yields you $3, 12 straight days yields $10, 16 straight days yields $40, 20 straight days yields $125, 30 straight days yields you $1,000, 40 straight days yields $10,000 and the jackpot of it all: 60 straight days wins you $1,000,000.

However, winning the million is not as easy as you may think. Eisenberg concedes that no one has, or will ever, win the million-dollar prize.

“The odds of winning the million dollars is essentially 1: 1.15e+23,” Eisenberg said. “I don’t think it’s likely anyone will ever get there.”

“The odds of winning the million dollars is essentially 1: 1.15e+23. I don’t think it’s likely anyone will ever get there.”

— Jacob Eisenberg For instance, the prop bet on March 26 was “Perry Ellis 21 points or over, or 20 points or less?” Ellis scored four points that night.

An example of another option was “Donald Trump’s poll points in South Carolina vs. Klay Thompson’s threepoint percentage.” These options, when user-submitted, are called Cinco 5’s.

As your streak gets longer, you accumulate a currency called BracketBucks, which you can exchange for the exclusive discounts or various goods the companies that partner with Daily Bracket provide. You can stop your streak at any time to cash out, thereby requiring you to start your streak over again, but leaving you to reap the rewards.

Every day you refuse to cash out and rather attempt to continue your streak, you risk whatever reward you may have earned thus far.

As your streak gets larger, you pick up smaller, incrementally larger bonuses.

For instance, two straight days of picking

“No one will ever win the million dollar prize,” Co-founder Jake Sutker corroborated.

To couple with the feature aspect of their app, Daily Bracket also provides another way to play: Daily Lineup. Daily Lineup budgets you a 15 point “salary cap” to spread across five different games that may encompass all four of the major American sports — baseball, basketball, football and hockey. The app provides you five players from each game, and each player is attached with a point value from one to five that you must pick. You pick one player from each game that is provided, for a total of five players, while staying below or at the 15-point salary cap.

The trick is to choose who you think may over perform their point value, then pick the most optimum lineup with the limited amount of “points” that you are allotted. Points are scored by players in a way that reduces complexity, for instance: only points, rebounds and assists are cal-

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03.30.16 culated for basketball, only touchdowns, yards, and interceptions are calculated for football and so on.

With its appeal to the common man, it is evident why the app has garnered universal praise and following. However, as Jay Caspian Kang argues in his article in The New York Times about daily fantasy sports, it is evident that DraftKings and FanDuel, though advertised for the casual sports fan, really only reward the hardcore player who is able to make hundreds of entries a day, not the 9 to 5-er who follows his hometown teams.

DraftKings and FanDuel knowingly take money away from the casual sports fan. What makes Daily Bracket any different?

“We are completely independent from any other daily fantasy sport app that is out there,” Eisenberg said. “As Kang said, you can not play FanDuel or DraftKings continuously for free and enjoy the experience. We are trying to create something that has not been created before, and we are trying to make

Daily Bracket offers two main forms of play: Daily Bracket (Above) and Daily Lineup (Below). Daily Bracket allows you to pick five different bets. Picking three out of five daily extends your streak. If your streak makes it to 60, then you can cash it in for $1 million.

Playing Daily Lineup lets you compete for BracketBucks. BracketBucks are reedemable for a variety of prizes on the app, ranging from novelty jerseys to gift cards and headphones. | Jacob Durst, Sports Editor

With the current legal grey area that the industry has had to deal with, Daily Bracket has had to change their business practices to mold to the recent climate, and thus distance themselves from the very practices that have gotten other daily fantasy sports services into hot water.

“We are very conscientious of the law,” Eisenberg said. “My mother is a judge, and my dad is a lawyer.

You would not believe how many things we’ve had to hold ourselves back on due to the ambiguity of the law.”

Daily Bracket has recently restricted the inputting of money onto the app in New York, Illinois and Nevada, states where the legality of services like FanDuel and DraftKings have come into question.

Despite the legal hurdles and changing landscape that Daily Bracket has had to deal with, they have kept their optimism high.

“We have a committed community that loves our app […] it’s honestly never been more optimistic

“What we’re trying to do by creating this community and eagerness to open up the app every day is to be the Candy Crush of daily fantasy sports.”

— Jacob Eisenberg it the number one consumer item to add to sports fan engagement.

“FanDuel and DraftKings paved the way for the model of giving the average fan a vested interest in watching a sporting event — we are expanding that tenfold to make it a no-risk, ideal opportunity to have a vested interest in a given sporting event.”

Eisenberg and the team from Daily Bracket also acknowledged the difference in advertising between their app and the big boys. DraftKings and FanDuel spent more than a combined $200 million on advertising in the first ten months of 2015, according to Kang, compared to the few thousand dollars Daily Bracket has spent in advertising since their inception.

“We are not trying to compete directly with DraftKings and Fanduel,” Eisenberg said. “Our company’s business is entirely different. We are reliant on [the process of] users playing, users making money and then users telling their friends by word of mouth that they won money by inputting nothing but their time We value your friend’s word more than an advertiser’s word.”

The difference between Daily Bracket and DraftKings or FanDuel is an important distinction to be made. DraftKings and FanDuel, as the figureheads for the entire daily fantasy sport movement, are currently dealing with major issues regarding the legality of their games.

than it has been now,” Eisenberg said.

“We continue to grow by the day and our retention rate is anywhere from 60 to 70 percent — meaning there is a 60 to 70 percent chance that a new user will play again next week.” With the rise of the “second screen” phenomenon — the idea that today’s fans who are watching a sporting event are increasingly multitasking on a handheld device of some sort — apps like Daily Bracket face an extremely lucrative opportunity for advertising and live-stream revenues in the future.

“I think this is what the future of this app really is,” Eisenberg said. “The opportunity to talk with fans watching the game across the country through our app is an unlimited concept. As our technological efficiencies grow, such as our in-game features, this will only continue to expand our app.

“For instance, as you’re watching a Hawks game, a pop up on our app may say: ‘Who’s going to make the next three pointer?’ And you type in Kyle Korver and, if you are correct, you win 1,000 BracketBucks, stuff like that.”

The sports world has come to acknowledge that the demand for interactive sports engagement has never been higher.

“What we’re trying to do by creating this community and eagerness to open up the app every day,” Eisenberg said, “is to be the Candy Crush of daily fantasy sports.”

SPORTS

Eagles Sweep Emory Classic Women score 209, men score 109 on way to pair of first place finishes

Jacob Durst | Sports Editor jacob.j.durst@emory.edu

Junior Ian McIsaac (Left) was one of the team members in the group that won the 4x400m relay. Senior Jacob Siegel (Right) winds up to throw the shot during the Emory Classic. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

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he Emory track and field teams competed in the second meet of the outdoor season last weekend when they hosted the Emory Classic. Both the men’s and women’s teams took first place at the meet, thanks to a series of strong individual performances as well as five victories in the relay events.

Head Coach John Curtin was pleased with not only the team’s finishes, but also the large number of personal bests recorded by Emory athletes during the meet.

“The performances were really good overall, and we saw maybe 10 or 11 personal bests out there,” Curtin said. “We’ve had a bunch [in] the last two weeks, and PRs in March don’t usually happen. Typically, they come later in the season when they the kids are peaking for postseason. They have really taken first two home meets head on, and I am thrilled with what we have seen so far.”

The men’s team beat visiting Hope College (Mich.) by 13 points to take first place, partly due to four individual first place finishes as well as two victories in relay events. Sophomore Max Brown won the 1500m run with a time of 3:58.79, and junior Michael McBane’s time of 15:22.29 in the 5000m run was also good enough for the top spot. The 4x400m relay team of senior Spencer Koh, juniors Kyle Veator and Ian McIsaac and sophomore Daniel Pietsch took first place with a time of 3:21.62. Brown and McIsaac were also a part of the winning 4x800m team, also consisting of senior Josh Traynelis and sophomore Robert Wilhelm III. Sophomore Benjamin Rogin claimed second and third place in the 110m and 400m hurdles with times of 15.49 and 55.68, respectively.

The men’s team performed well in field events, as Koh won the pole vault with a mark of 4.00m to mark his second victory of the weekend. Senior Jacob Seigel won the discus with a distance of 43.65m, building on

his win from last week at the Emory Invitational. Freshman Zachary Lembersky placed second in the discus with a throw of 39.25m, which Curtin called “excellent.”

The women’s team cruised to a victory, scoring 76 more points than the next closest team, Jacksonville State University (Ala.).

The team won three individual events and swept the three relay events. The sophomore trio of Erica Goldman, Megan Waples and Abigail Hotaling won the 400m dash, 5000m run and 3000m steeplechase,

“Right now, we have more depth than we have ever had, and in the running events we are especially deep. The strength of this group fosters competition within the team. It tells you we have a good, deep group, and a team needs depth. No team gets through a season unscathed from injury, and we will need quality people to step in.”

—Head Coach John Curtin

respectively. Sophomore Gabrielle Stravach finished third in the 1500m run with a time of 4:42.61. Emory took second and third in the 10,000m run thanks to senior Aileen Rivell and junior Sophie Cemaj, who finished with times of 38:32.55 and 39:13.35, respectively.

Cemaj’s performance was good for a personal best.

“I was pretty happy with my performance,” Cemaj said. “While I didn’t have the best second half of the race, I think with more training and a second race I can fix that and hopefully be competitive for our conference meet.”

The women’s team was dominant in all three of their relay events. The 4x100m team of senior Alexandra Aiello, sophomore Julia Levanthal and freshmen Dilys Osei and Dani Brand won with a time of 48.75. Osei and Levanthal were also a part of the 4x400m team, which posted a time of 3:53.94. The other two members of the 4x400m team were freshman Arianna Newhouse and sophomore Erica Goldman. Finally, the 4x800m team of junior Alexa Youn, freshmen Kayla O’Shea and Radhika Shah and Williamson won with a time of 9:22.54.

Curtin was “blown away” by O’Shea’s performance at the meet.

“Kayla [O’Shea] has completely blown away her performances in high school,” Curtin said. “She is running at an entirely different level and made improvements in 800m that are unheard of.”

Curtin also spoke about the depth of the team, especially in running events, that is exhibited in strong relay performances and why this depth is important as the season progresses.

“Right now, we have more depth than we have ever had, and in the running events we are especially deep,” Curtin said. “The strength of this group fosters competition within the team. It tells you we have a good, deep group, and a team needs depth. No team gets through a season unscathed from injury, and we will need quality people to step in.”

The Emory men’s and women’s track and field teams will continue their season next weekend when they travel to High Point University (N.C.) to compete in the Vertklasse Meet on April 1 and 2.

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03.30.16

Emory Goes 2-1 on Homestand Jacob Durst | Sports Editor jacob.j.durst@emory.edu

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ver the course of the past weekend, Emory’s baseball team played games against Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago (Ill.) and LaGrange College (Ga.). Emory defeated MIT 5-4 and UChicago 15-4 but fell to LaGrange 5-0.

Against MIT, Emory prevailed in the eleventh inning 5-4. Junior pitcher Jackson Weeg got the start and went six solid innings. Weeg struck out six and allowed three runs, with only one of them earned. He was relieved by junior Luke Emmet, who threw two innings and allowed an unearned run.

Junior Kyle Monk came on afterwards and got the win after throwing three scoreless innings. The win was Monk’s first of the season.

At the plate, junior designated hitter Brian Hernandez and senior second baseman Dylan Eisner helped the Eagles nab the win. Hernandez went two for five with a triple and a pair of key RBIs, while Eisner went three for four with two runs and a walk.

“Brian [Hernandez]’s been hot all year, but what’s really been great about his play is his hitting in the clutch,” Head Coach Mike Twardoski said.

Emory took on UChicago next and won 15-4. Sophomore shortstop Nick Chambers finished the game two for three with three RBIs and a double. Hernandez had a monster game, going four for five with four RBIs and a run scored.

Senior pitcher Paul Merolla got the start for the Eagles. Merolla struggled, allowing 10 hits and four runs in four and two-thirds innings. He was relieved by Emmet, who ended up getting the win; he threw three and one-third perfect innings while striking six on the way there.

In the Eagles’ final game of the weekend, they took on the LaGrange College Panthers. Emory was unable to get the bats going, falling 5-0. Junior pitcher Hans Hansen got the start and threw a solid game, going seven innings and allowing four runs.

However, at the plate, nothing seemed to go right.

The Eagles scattered nine hits, all of them singles, and were unable to put up a run. Junior left fielder Wilson Morgan was the only Eagle who finished the game with multiple hits (two). Emory also struck out as many times as they got hits (nine).

E

agle xchange Williams at Emory

Women’s Tennis Wednesday, 30 March 2016 3 p.m.

Junior pitcher Kyle Monk earned the win against MIT following a three inning relief appearance. | Courtesy of Emory Athleticsww

Twardoski credited LaGrange pitcher Eric Morell for his great outing (nine innings pitched, no runs allowed, nine strikeouts), but still felt that Emory just played poorly.

The win against UChicago was Twardoski’s 500th victory in his career. He joins Emory’s volleyball team’s Jenny McDowell, softball’s Penny Siquieros and former men’s tennis Head Coach Don Schroer as the fourth coach in the school’s history to reach the 500 win plateau. He is the 39th active coach in NCAA D-III to reach the same milestone.

When asked about the accomplishment, Twardoski was quick to give credit to his staff and players over the years.

“I feel a little embarrassed calling it my accomplishment,” Twardoski said. “I’ve had a great staff and great players. I consider [the wins] Emory’s wins.”

After the weekend, Emory now stands with a 20-7 record on the year. The team will travel to take on Birmingham-Southern University (Ala.) on Tuesday, March 29.

According to Twardoski, the energy the team brings will be the key to the game, adding that the game starts with the pitching staff. Weeg (4-0, 1.07 ERA) will get the start for Emory.

Emory at Georgia Highland Softball Saturday, 2 April 2016 1 p.m.

Maryville at Emory Baseball Saturday, 2 April 2016 3 p.m.

Emory at Georgia Gwinnett Men’s Tennis Tuesday, 5 April 2016 2 p.m.