Maroon October 21, 2022 Issue

Students shine light on sexual violence

By Abigail Schmidt acschmid@my.loyno.edu

Under a pink sky, Melanie Crockett told dozens gathered outside of Loyola’s red brick about years of childhood sex abuse that followed her into her 20s.

Though Crockett, a member of the sex ual assault prevention and health edu cation department at Xavier University, stayed silent about her experience for most of her life, she said she recently de cided to speak out. She hopes to inspire others to do the same.

“College students can become vic tims at any given moment and need to be made aware that it is okay to speak up about it and against it,” Crockett said.

Crockett’s words echoed Oct. 18 at the city’s annual Take Back the Night event hosted by Loyola’s Women’s Re source Center. After speakers discussed instances of global sexual violence, at tendees lit candles together as a commu nity to stand as “light in the darkness” of sexual violence,” Crockett said.

They then marched through campus to Tulane University, where individual survivors there shared their stories and reminded those who were still struggling in the dark that they are not alone, and never at fault.

“Telling someone saved my life,”

Pomelo celebrates one year anniversary

Crockett said in her speech. “Speaking out started my healing process … and while I can’t say healing has been easy, it has been helpful.”

Crockett added that she is now mak ing it her mission to remove “the guilt, the blame, the shame, and the fear” that she and so many other victims of sexual and domestic violence have endured.

Take Back the Night, the oldest worldwide organization against sexu al violence, according to their website, brought out groups from Loyola Univer sity, Dillard University, Xavier Universi ty, among others to “stand in solidarity (with victims of sexual assault).” Accord ing to their website, the group does their part to “shatter the silence, stop the vio lence” and work to “end all forms of sex ual violence.”

After an opening prayer from Rev. Jus tin Daffron, S.J., Loyola’s interim univer sity president, speakers discussed issues from all over the world, such as hijabs in Iran, war crimes of rape in Russia, femi cide in South Africa, and flash mob pro tests in the United States.

Kaitlyn Hockenberger, a New Orleans Health Department domestic violence prevention specialist, said at the event that “(gender violence) is something that affects everybody.”

She said that her department,

which was one of many organizations tabling the event, connects community organizations with each other to edu cate people on domestic violence and sexual assault. She added that they put focus on resources for individuals who are impacted by these issues, and further work to put preventative measures in place. She said they teach about healthy relationships and appropriate ways to address and de-escalate problems.

Dualsupport, like the New Orleans Health Department, was another orga nization at the event, and is a nonprofit that works to educate young women on what manipulation and toxicity in re lationships look like. Sonjanita Jordan, Dualsupport’s CEO and founder, spoke at the event.

She said that her organization brings awareness to different manipulative tac tics that perpetrators of sexual and do mestic abuse typically use to make their victims feel “crazy.”

Jordan said that her goal is to help people know that, “when your heart’s been broken, you will make it through.”

Dualsupport provides “a shoulder to cry on” for those who are hurting, Jordan said.

NOPD lacks urgency; sexual assault victim speaks out

By Macie Batson mmbatson@loyno.edu @maciembats

It was October of 2019. A former Loyola student was out with her friends at a Halloween party when someone approached her and offered her a drink.

She accepted it and woke up on the party’s filthy bathroom floor two hours later to the sound of her friends pound ing on the door and finally barging in.

She’d been raped and needed to act fast. She removed her underwear and placed them in a bag as evidence. She climbed into a friend’s car and drove to the hospital, ready to talk to the New Orleans Police Department about every thing she didn’t even remember.

It’s been three years, and she hasn’t heard from law enforcement since.

“They say that murder takes your life, but rape takes your soul and leaves you alive,” the former Loyola student and sexual assault victim said.

The New Orleans Police Department has attempted to fight its dwindling number of officers by acquiring addi tional allocations, employing civilians, and ultimately downgrading some rape cases to non-emergencies. Citizens en raged by the change in police were fur ther outraged earlier this year when a New Orleans 2nd City Court constable in New Orleans ignored someone who reported a rape to him.

This year, nearly 100 calls to report rape have been quickly downgraded, according to The Times-Picayune. Survi vors are left waiting for police for hours, and they often leave before the police arrive.

“Gone on arrival”

Long wait times, along with NOPD reports filed as “gone on arrival,” have worried local politicians. Councilwom an Helena Moreno told WWL-TV she was concerned about the chance that these crimes may never be investigated, as well as worried about the emotional toll the delay has on rape victims.

Additionally, the NOPD said that 73,000 DNA samples, many of which are rape kits, sit backlogged in the Louisiana State Police crime lab. Because of these setbacks, many survivors who report sexual assault are left with uninvestigat ed and unsolved crimes.

The former Loyola student said she is outraged by the NOPD’s decision to downgrade rape and that she believes it demonstrates that the department does not care about survivors.

“It shows a lack of respect for the thousands of people whose rape test kits have been backlogged,” she said. “It shows that the people who are sworn to serve and protect, aren’t going to protect you in possibly the scariest and most vul nerable moment of your life.”

The Loyola alumnus said her rape kit is yet to be tested, though she said that the NOPD was first very responsive, tak ing in her evidence as well as all of the details of her case.

State Senate race heats up

Cross country preview

For a greater LoyoLa

Students gather in the Loyola Horseshoe parking lot to honor surviviors of sexual assualt at the Take Back the Night event on Oct. 18. The event is organized by the worldwide organization against sexual assault. Gabrielle Korein/The Maroon

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School denies presence of mold in res halls

By Maggie Lewis mblewis@my.loyno.edu

Emma Harlan has struggled with con tinual illness since the beginning of last year – her first semester at Loyola. She’s had trouble breathing, and she random ly gets dizzy throughout the day. She’s “sick all the time,” she said, and it is diffi cult for her to function during class time. She said she is not learning as well as she could be.

Harlan blames the symptoms on a black residue she’s found throughout her space in Buddig Hall. Other students have found it in their rooms, too.

Students are calling it mold, but Chris Rice, Loyola’s director of residential life, said that no mold was found on campus after professionals inspected the build ing earlier this semester.

One student, who wished to remain anonymous due to contract require ments with Loyola’s Student Govern ment Association, said that there were spots of mold all over their Buddig Hall bathroom. The worst of these “moldy” areas was on the bathroom door, which the room’s residents call their “mold door.”

The student said that the room's res idents cleaned the door weekly, but the black residue continually came back.

Miles Ainsworth, a sophomore graph ic design student, also said that he has had issues with the residue in his room. He said that, while it has not caused health issues in his case, it is continuous ly inconvenient to clean and be around.

None of these students have reported any of the issues because they said they fear they will not be taken seriously.

Harlan said that she feels as though residential life at Loyola “needs to han dle more things with more efficiency and respect,” and that she feels that “mold is handled how most things are handled by res life.”

This feeling was echoed by the anon ymous source. They said that they have

never reported the mold since they “know that the situation is dismissed.”

The source added that they feel as though they are “being gaslighted” about the mold in their dorm room. They asked that the situation be “taken more seri ously.”

Chris Rice said that, as far as he knows, the issues that students have ex perienced have nothing to do with mold.

“There could be several reasons why people are experiencing cold-like symp toms in the residence hall,” he said.

He said that these reasons likely have

to do with seasonal allergies, stress or ad justing to community living, as opposed to the presence of mold in the residential halls.

Rice suggested that all students facing issues such as these notify residential life so that the situation can be assessed. He

LUPD accused of ignoring student safety

By Ava Acharya aaachary@my.loyno.edu @avaallene

After leaving Loyola’s Mercy Hall on Sept. 28, history sophomore Lily Brous sard said that they were shocked to see a powerline behind the building near Cal houn Street burst into flames. Broussard said they were even more shocked at the Loyola University Police Department’s

response to the situation as, they said, the officers seemed unconcerned about student safety.

Although the fire that Broussard witnessed extinguished itself almost immediately, eight days later, on Oct. 6, Loyola sent an alert to students that said that a live electrical line was on the ground near the hall. The alert advised students to avoid the area between Cal houn and LaSalle streets, close to Mercy

Hall. An alert sent out fifty minutes later informed students that classes in Mercy Hall had been canceled for the rest of the day due to concerns associated with the line.

Loyola deputy chief of police Daniel Spangler said that the specific powerline lo cation behind Mercy Hall has previously had similar issues. He said that in all previ ous instances both Entergy and the New Orleans Fire Department were contact ed. He said that he did not know the spe cific steps previously taken in regards to the powerline.

Broussard reached out to The Ma roon after receiving this alert because they felt that, as the situation became more dangerous, the officer’s actions seemed more unprofessional.

Broussard said that their interaction with the officers made them feel like they were being talked down to.

“(The officers) were just being pretty condescending to me and acting like I didn’t know anything,” they said.

Broussard said that the officers seemed unconcerned about the fire they witnessed. They said this made them feel like a risk to student safety was ignored.

Broussard added that the officers seemed more concerned about whether

or not Broussard was a student, rather than addressing the issue at hand.

Spangler said that while officers may need to take some one’s information in order to properly document the situa tion, it was “not real ly” necessary in this case.

“I certainly do not want anyone having negative interactions with my officers,” Spangler said. In response to Broussard’s concerns, he said that behavior which might have seemed “condescending” may have been the officers’ attempts to control a high-stress situation.

“Nonetheless, I would certainly ex tend my apology to the student who felt they were treated unprofessionally by my officers,” he said.

Broussard said that they contacted both LUPD and the fire department and was assured by LUPD that their office would call Entergy to sort out the sit uation. Broussard said that when they drove past this same area about thirty minutes after reporting the fire on Sept. 28, they did not see officers or any other officials on the scene.

According to Spangler, LUPD did contact Entergy, and a Loyola officer stayed at the scene until it was deemed safe.

further suggested that students reach out to the University Counseling Cen ter available on campus to help manage their stress.

NIGHT: Students shine a light on sexual violence

She added that they give community to individuals recovering from sexual vi olence in order to let them know they are not alone in what they are going through.

Loyola’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority’s philanthropy project is domestic vio lence prevention and awareness, ac cording to the sorority’s vice president of philanthropy, Maggie Jaunet.

Like her fellow Alpha Chi Omega members, Jaunet said that she is working toward educating not just women, but everyone on “advocating for survivors,” “calling out perpetrators,” and standing up for those affected by sexual and do mestic violence.

“We’re all so young and we’re all en tering the world at full speed right now, especially in college,” Jaunet said. She discussed the importance of helping people “feel safe and go about intimate relationships in safe and healthy ways.”

Students sit in Loyola’s Residential Quad on Oct. 13, 2022. Students living in these on-campus residential halls have complained about seeing mold and mildew in their dorms. Nadir Benslimane/The Maroon.

Loyola’s Mercy Hall is pictured on the corner of LaSalle and Calhoun Streets on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. A wire from a transformer had fallen, canceling classes for the day. Jacob L’Hommedieu/ The Maroon

Continued from page 1“(The officers) were just being pretty conde scending to me”

— Lily Broussard History Sophomore at Loyola

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"From our heart to your plate"

Pomelo celebrates 1-year anniversary

By Macie Batson mmbatson@my.loyno.edu

When Loyola business professor Frankie Weinberg is not in the classroom teaching students, he is putting his busi ness knowledge to use at his Magazine Street restaurant Pomelo, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

The Uptown boutique cafe prides it self on serving authentic and exotic Thai comfort food and opened on Magazine Street in November of 2021.

Pomelo, owned by Weinberg and his wife Chef Aom Srisuk, opened its doors after Long Chim, the previous Thai restaurant in their little Uptown space, closed the previous summer.

Last Saturday, the pair celebrated their restaurant's first anniversary with an open house including some of their finest dishes, which they said highlight their food to the fullest extent.

Srisuk and Weinberg said they want ed to create a space where customers felt comfortable to gather with close friends and family, drawing inspiration from Sri suk's travels around Thailand and mem ories of home cooking with her Thai fam ily, the duo said.

“My largest motivation was to support Aom,” Weinberg said. “But it has also been such a fantastic way to become more embedded in our great commu nity.”

Weinberg has worked at integrating his Loyola life and his restaurant, as they have made their way onto the universi ty's vendor list, meaning they are acces sible for catering for any Loyola-associ ated organization.

Weinberg and Srisuk also hired sev eral college students onto Pomelo’s cu linary team, including a considerable number of Loyola students who have taken Weinberg’s classes.

Accounting junior and Pomelo serv er Dani Milazzo said that she decided to apply after taking one of Weinberg’s classes where he would talk about Pom elo all the time.

“I’ve been with Pomelo since day one,” Milazzo said. “When he mentioned they were hiring, I gave him my resume, and the rest is history.”

Milazzo said that the restaurant has always been accommodating with flex ibility and hours due to her status as a full-time student and that she enjoys working with the close-knit team that Pomelo has built.

Weinberg credits Srisuk for balanc ing all of the classic Thai flavors, such as spicy, sour, salty, and umami, and for developing meals that allow restau rant-goers to appreciate each of these characteristics.

“I love Aom's expression ‘from our heart to your plate,’” Weinberg said.

With classic Thai dishes like chicken massaman curry and khao soi (curry noodle soup), Pomelo strives to create a new and fresh assortment of the cuisine that owners Weinberg and Srisuk enjoy to eat and serve to family and friends.

“It turns out our community has been craving these balanced yet unique fla vors,” Weinberg said.

Srisuk hopes that Pomelo will be come a favorite, no-brainer choice for people looking for tasty and fresh home-cooking style meals.

“New Orleans is really a foodie city, so my food could be something fun and novel for the local New Orleans commu nity and our visitors,” she said.

Weinberg wants every diner to feel as if they've stepped into the house of a Thai friend, and he wants the restaurant to re main a vital destination for community, comfort, and adventure all wrapped up in one bite.

“Pomelo provides a nostalgic taste of Thailand to those who've had the pleasure of visiting and eating their way through the kingdom and a delightful first taste for those who haven't yet had as much exposure to this delicious cui sine,” he said.

State representatives race to advocate for representation and active voting

By Jackie Galli jegalli@my.loyno.edu @jackie_galli

Representatives Royce Duplessis and Mandie Landry will appear on the ballot in coming weeks to fill the district 5 state Senate seat vacated by Karen Carter Pe terson. District 5 encompasses much of Central City, Broadmoor, the Warehouse District, Treme and part of Uptown, which includes Loyola, Xavier, and Tu lane University campuses.

Both Duplessis and Landry are run ning as Democrats to win the seat in the district, one of the few consistently blue districts in the state of Louisiana, which has a strong Republican majority in the legislature. The candidates have similar views on the most critical issues affect ing voters and almost identical voting records in the state legislature. Both candidates were quick to counter these similarities with the ways in which they are set apart, namely in their experience and leadership styles.

Peterson’s resignation, which cited depression and a gambling addiction as the causes, had left the seat vacant since April this year. Peterson plead guilty to one count of wire fraud just four months after her resignation, in what the Justice Department referred to as a seven year scheme to defraud donors.

Duplessis currently serves as Louisi ana State Representative for District 93, and Landry serves as Louisiana State Representative for District 91.

The candidates debated on WDSU Oct. 17 and highlighted reproductive rights and equal representation as major issues focused on in this race.

Equal Representation

Duplessis emphasized how he has al ways stressed equal representation.

“My campaign is really not about me, it’s about the people,” Duplessis told The Maroon. “My campaign represents ev eryone.”

During Monday night's televised

debate on WDSU, Duplessis said that, along with encouragement from com munity members, is what pushed him to run.

“The Legislative Black Caucus for which I am a proud member of, said we have fought hard for equal represen tation, and you have been an effective leader, and we need you to run for this seat,” Duplessis said.

As of this year, 23% of the state Senate is Black and 12.8% are women, while the 2020 Census data indicates the state is 33.1% Black and gender distribution be ing roughly 50% women.

Landry said in her opening statement during the debate that District 91, which she represents, is incredibly diverse.

“When I was elected in 2019, the dis trict was and is majority female and ma jority African-American voters,” she said. “I knocked on doors. I met people. They trusted me. They liked me. They voted for me. They believed in me.”

Landry’s campaign website said that growing up in a working-class family and

being the first in her family to graduate from college has helped her uniquely understand and fix the district’s issues.

“A lot of the reason I ran in the first place is because we need more everyday people running,” Landry told The Ma roon. “I think the city and the state are not going to change if we keep electing politicians.”

The state underwent a redistricting this year which sought to accurately di vide political districts for state house and senate seats in response to demographic changes. Despite Black people making up more than one third of the State’s population, the Republican state legisla ture voted to limit Black representation to a single Black majority district.

Duplessis said he fought alongside his fellow members of the Black caucus to increase the number of majority Black resident districts in an attempt to create more equal representation.

“It certainly favored incumbency,” Duplessis said in a press club meeting following the redistricting. “We have one

third of the population African-Amer ican in this state, but two-thirds of the prison population is African-American. We can get into a whole other conver sation about that, but I think it is all con nected.”

Women’s Health

Landry said the issue of women’s health and reproductive rights are of crucial importance.

Louisiana has some of the most strin gent laws regarding abortion access and high maternal mortality rates in the country, according to the Louisiana De partment of Health.

Pregnancy-related deaths also un equally affect women across racial lines. According to the health department’s maternal-mortality review for 2017 to 2019, Black women are over two times more likely in Louisiana to die in a preg nancy related death than white women.

Pomelo owners Aom Srisuk and Frankie Weinberg stand outside their restaurant on Magazine street. Weinberg is a Loyola professor and has helped many students get their first job in the restaurant industry over the last year. Patrick Hamilton/The Maroon

The annual Bootique sale enhances imagination

By Kloe Witt kgwitt@my.loyno.edu

The Loyno costume shop has taken out their sewing kits to stitch togeth er costumes perfect for the upcoming spooky season to be sold at their annual Bootique Sale on Oct. 27.

Psychology senior Adele Colson, who helped organize the event this year, said she is excited for the department's cre ations that will be appearing this year and what the sale will do for the costume shop.

“We take a lot of old pieces we aren’t using or things donated by local theater companies and we upcycle them into costumes we can sell. And then all of that raises money for the costume shop, which is connected with the theater arts and dance department,” she said.

The Bootique sale consists of items that students who work in the shop have complete control over designing and creating.

“Unlike a show where you have to do something to a set standard, the Boot ique sale is whatever we want. So we see a piece and then it’s just our vision of what we think we could do with that piece,” Colson said.

Theater arts senior and designer for the sale, Roger Bouche, said he enjoys

The Weekend Howl

the creativity allowed through designing for the sale.

“It's very important because it gives us a lot of creative freedom more than we would usually get per se in produc tion,” Bouche said.

Bouche said the sale will have a wide variety of costumes from the different designers' imagination as they create new and unique concepts.

“We can turn (the costumes) into whatever we want so the concept is re ally completely up to us. I mean there's some costumes that are based off of pop-culture references and then there's some that we just make up,” Bouche said.

Unlike in previous years, Colson said that the upcoming sale will have more inclusive costume choices in order to ex pand the students they can reach.

“We have from extra small to two ex tra large. So we have a large range of siz es. That’s something we have been work ing on. In the past, there just hasn’t been enough size inclusivity,” Colson said. “I think clothing is something that is very expressive and unique and individual. We are trying to build a community that cultivates that.”

Grace Smith, senior theater arts ma jor and a designer for the sale, said the costume shop will also be sticking to us ing sustainable materials.

“We’ve just been taking pre-existing pieces and using our imagination for what to create,” Smith said.

Both Smith and Bouche see the Loy no Costume Shop as an essential part of Loyola’s campus, and one definitely worth supporting through the sale.

Colson encouraged students to come to the sale. She said that the costumes will be available right in time for Hallow een, she said.

“Students who come to the sale are gonna get handmade, beautiful cos tumes for fifty dollars and under,” Colson said.

REVIEW: Shmoo and Felix Rabito light up the stage

By Abigail Schmidt acshmid@loyno.edu

Music industry senior, Teddy Tietze and Tulane medical student Felix Rabi to spent a Tuesday night this fall in the French Quarter opening for Juice and Flipturn in their “Shadowglow” tour.

Tietze and Rabito were the perfect match for Flipturn’s live energy. Going from the album to the live performance was like being pulled into the story of the “Shadowglow” album as the main char acter.

“Shadowglow,” Flipturn’s first fulllength album, is a bildungsroman for the modern sixteen-to-twenty-something. A wiser, older sister to their bouncy 2018 EP "Citrona", "Shadowglow" takes on the same theme of growing up and tackles some of Gen Z’s most paramount anxiet ies. From climate change in “Take Care” to healthcare in “Whales,” this record covers its bases for the panoply of issues this generation is inheriting, wrapped in gut-wrenching love ballads and trippy guitar solos.

Tietze rolled out the red carpet for the show with his zig-zaggy, jazzed-up trumpet as Rabito’s gritty vocals give the modern listener a little sample bite of ev ery era of New Orleans music. His raw, raspy vocals and guitar and keys skills matched Tietze’s trumpet beautifully.

As a New Orleans native, Rabito al ways loved music but never grew up around the performance scene that the city is known for, he told The Maroon. Af ter “playing around and jamming” with longtime friend Wyatt Pinto, a music in dustry studies senior at Loyola Universi ty New Orleans, he got into local gigs and now creates his own music, he said.

“I love the Loyola music community,” Rabito said.

This was also how he found Tietze, a music industry studies senior and trum

pet player for the show.

“I have to thank Loyola,” Tietze said, who also plays guitar and sings, about the show.

Connections he made through the school and the city together helped him get into a solo career under the moniker, Shmoo.

He said he was eager to get out of the school music scene and pursue a career on his own, to which he is already off to a successful start.

The two musicians have made their way through the fais do-do scene, de spite Rabito wanting nothing to do with the music industry. He will lead shows for thousands with no problem, but his plans are in the medical field.

“The reason I love music is because it's like giving dignity to vulnerability and experience. Everyone I know who writes songs has been through something or felt something, and music gives a place to not only meet that vulnerability but make it strong. I thought, ‘what’s a career that’s kind of like this?’ and I was thinking about it being my job every day to wake up and meet people who are sick and struggling and show them nonjudge ment and respect, and be able to help them. That seems like punk rock as f---,” Rabito said.

Rabito and Tietze’s respective med ical and musical passions work well together, and the crowd-hyping, jumpup-and-down anthems and sweet love songs they played together are perfect products of the jazzy extravagance of New Orleans. 10/10 experience overall.

Foods to Eat Shows to See Booze to Drink Culture

Pho at Mint Modern Vietnamese on Freret Street, is the perfect dish to welcome the fall weather. This traditional Vietnam ese soup has delicious flavorful broth, meat and vegetables.

The brunch at Satsuma on Maple Street is an excellent way to fight off the Sunday scaries. With lots of trendy options like vegan breakfast items, it will fulfill all your breakfast desires.

Steve Lacy is coming to the Orpheum Theater on Oct. 24. The up and coming R&B artist is expected to put on a melodic and powerful show you cannot miss.

The American Folk Rock duo, Indigo Girls will be playing at Tipitina’s uptown on Oct. 25. The Atlanta natives are bringing a piece of the Peach State to the Crescent City.

The Right Place/Wrong Time is The Peacock Room’s version of the viral espres so martini. They combine vodka, coffee, coconut cream and cacao to create the per fect drink for a late night out.

The Peachy Keen at The Vintage on Magazine Street is a great cocktail to end the summer season. Reminisce on your summer memories with this bourbon, peach, and mint combination.

The Tremé Fall festival is Saturday, Oct. 22. The Tremé fall festival is a showcase of Tremé culture, from live music to food ven dors, and art shows, opening with the sec ond line parade.

Oktoberfest is back this weekend. Get a chance to experience German and Eu ropean culture with this festival's offerings of traditional food, music, and art, taking place all weekend in Bayou St. John.

Film • Arts • Food • Music • Leisure • Nightlife

Sophomore Emma Velasquez adjusts a costume based on Panic from Disney’s Hercules for the upcoming Bootique Sale on Oct. 27. The event is organized by the Loyno Costume Shop. Sophia Maxim/The Maroon

Music industry senior Teddy Tietze and Tulane Medical student Felix Rabito open for Flipturn at Toulouse Theater on Sept. 27, 2022. The two make the perfect duo. Abigail Schmidt/The Maroon

Cross country plans on come back

By Kloe Witt kgwitt@my.loyno.edu

The Wolf Pack cross country team will have their first official season meet Oct. 22 in Huntsville, Alabama, according to the team’s coach, Geoffery Masanet. Al though they have run this season, this upcoming competition will be more than just practice for the team.

The runners have geared their prac tices so far to trying out where each member works best, Masanet said, and the team will put their practices to the test in the competition this weekend.

Masanet is hopeful looking forward to the rest of the season as the team is re turning from battling unexpected factors influencing their performance.

“We’re going to be better in the end because we are coming off of injuries or sickness so we’re building on top of that,” Masanet said.

These aren’t the only setbacks the team has been facing. Masanet also said that training new freshmen for college level athletics is also influencing their team’s performance.

Even with the setbacks, the team is still holding strong, Masanet said. Ma sanet said he is trying to keep a positive attitude towards the season ahead of them.

“I’m really just hoping things will come together in a couple of weeks where we see some performances that

Women's tennis is #serving

By Abby Barlow aebarlow@my.loyno.edu

The Wolf Pack women’s tennis team had a successful tournament at the championship for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association with both teams winning their matches.

For one of the first times in Loyola tennis history, there were multiple qual ifiers for the tournament this year, said Head Coach Matt Llewellyn.

“Considering only two seasons ago we had our first qualifier in school his tory play this event, having two teams qualify was a huge success. To show up with four women who proved they can play with anyone in the country showed our progress and trajec tory as a program on the rise,” Llewellyn said.

The Wolf Pack had two doubles teams at the ITA cup.

Lucy Carpenter and Fati ma Vasquez went 2-1 at the tournament, winning against Union College in straight sets with scores of 7-5 and 6-3, according

give us an idea that we may be a top three team in the conference, if things were to go well,” Massanet said.

Senior runner, Madisyn Acosta, said she has high expectations for the team this season. Acosta has been running for the team since her freshman year and qualified to run at nationals last year.

“Some predictions that I have for the rest of the season is earning a spot at na tionals and for our girls team to place the highest we have ever placed at confer ence,” Acosta said.

As the season begins for her final year on the team, Acosta said she has high ex pectations for herself and the team.

“I am looking forward to running a personal record that is faster than my record last season while also having the rest of the girls team to also run personal records there as well,” Acosta said.

WHAT'S UP NEXTWHAT YOU MISSED

Volleyball grows streak to six wins

The Women's volleyball team hosted the Mobile Rams and won 3-0 on Oct. 15, marking their 6th consecutive win.

E-sports smashes South ern Miss

On Oct. 14 the e-sports live streamed their tough match in Super Smash Bros. against southern Miss, winning 2-1.

OCT. 22 AT 7:45 A.M.

Cross Country at UAH Invitational

OCT. 22 AT 1 P.M. Volleyball at Taladega University

Women's cross country in a race stand neck and neck with runners from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette during a race earlier this season. Cross country coach Geoffery Masanet said he has high hopes for the rest of the season. Courtesy of Wolf Pack Athletics

SENATE: State representatives race to advocate for representation and active voting

from

Landry’s campaign website said that during her career as an attorney, she has represented one of the state’s last three abortion clinics, an In-Vitro Fertilization Clinic, and people seeking abortions.

Louisiana has never elected a person who has represented an abortion clinic to state office, and according to her web site, Landry is the only pro-choice wom an in state legislature.

Duplessis told The Maroon that re productive rights are something he cares about personally.

His campaign website features a vid eo of his mother, Hedy Duplessis, retell ing the story of how her grandmother almost died during a self-induced coathanger abortion.

Duplessis said in the video, “what happened to my great-grandmother will continue to happen until the rights of women are restored.”

He also worked to establish the Lou isiana Maternal Mental Health Task Force which seeks to advance educa tion, treatment, and services relating to maternal mental health.

ASSAULT: NOPD lacks urgency; sexual assault victim speaks out

Continued from page 1

“I understand that with over 300,000 people living in the metro area alone, and not remotely enough police to han dle that amount of people in the first place, that it could take some time.” she said.

However, she claimed that two weeks after her incident, she called and found out that her rape kit had not been tested yet. She added that every few weeks she would call to get an update, but after two months, the NOPD stopped answering her calls. She felt that her case had been pushed to the back burner.

“My sexual assault was never solved, and my rapist is still out and about, prob ably living life as if nothing had ever hap pened,” she said.

“Green light to all predators”

As a result of her interactions with the NOPD, the former Loyola student said she feels unsafe in New Orleans and is unsure who to turn to in an emergency.

“The NOPD should have never an nounced that they were not going to move forward with rape investigations anymore,” she said. “That gave a green light to all predators that they can do whatever they want to, and there will be little repercussions, and nobody to an swer to for their crimes.”

Last July, a deputy constable for the New Orleans city court resigned after be ing accused of failing to intervene when a witness informed him a woman was being raped, according to a statement from the constable for 2nd City Court, Edwin Shorty.

According to later investigation, the deputy was on a private security detail in the French Quarter when he was ap proached. After staying in his vehicle for several minutes, the deputy then walked away from the area. The deputy provided no explanation for his conduct, accord ing to Shorty.

“The deputy story infuriated me, but it was not surprising due to the inaction of the NOPD in my case,” the former Loyola student said. “I could not imagine being the witness, having seen such a horrific act take place and going to the person who is supposed to serve and protect,

and being ignored.”

“Egregious failure”

Rae Taylor, chair of Loyola's Crimi nology and Justice Department, said she feels that the deputy's actions that night violated the police officer standard of conduct.

“The officer who failed to respond committed egregious failure to protect, which is central to his work in law en forcement, regardless of whether he was in an off duty enforcement role on that night,” Taylor said.

Taylor is a member of Crime Survi vors Nola, a group that reports on crime statistics, police issues and shares re sources for survivors in New Orleans.

On their Instagram, Crime Survivors posted a report by the Sexual Violence Response Advisory Committee that stated the NOPD sex crimes unit cleared only 5% of sexual assault cases in 2021.

“Imagine what it’s like to survive sex ual violence, call police to report it (of ten placing your own safety at risk), talk about it with strangers, endure a forensic exam… and then realize there’s a 90% chance your case will never be solved,” the Crime Survivors Instagram post said.

Taylor added that reducing crime and successfully meeting the needs of crime survivors requires a systems approach, where each system performs with integ rity.

“With so many problems within the police department, so much conflict within and across the various agencies and with individuals elected to office, we see that the effect of this is skyrocketing crime and abysmal responses to crime and crime survivors,” Taylor said.

The New Orleans Police Department was contacted through email in late Sep tember on the subject. They had not re sponded to requests for comment as of Oct. 19, 2022.

Landry worked for over a year to ex pand Medicaid for new mothers from 60 days to one year postpartum with her 2021 legislation, according to her campaign website. This piece of legis lation made Louisiana the first state in the country to enact this new policy, she said.

Styles of Leadership

Landry and Duplessis characterize their leadership styles differently, which may be a pivotal factor for voters decid ing between the two New Orleans Dem ocrats.

Landry told The Maroon she is okay with making the hard vote.

“Starting a conversation is the point,” Landry told The Maroon. “Our styles are very different, I stick my neck out for people.”

She said in the debate on WDSU that she has been successful working across the aisle.

“You have to pick and choose your battles, and you have to know when to compromise,” she said during the de bate.

Duplessis said he emphasizes work ing with both sides as a “coalition build er.”

During the debate on WDSU, Duples sis said, “if you can’t work well with Re publicans, it’s really hard to get anything passed with the state legislature.”

A Message to Young Voters

Landry told The Maroon that voting is more important than ever.

“I have a ton of college students on my staff,” she said. “I wish we had more young people, not even just running for office, but getting involved in cam paigns.”

Landry said young people want pro gressive leaders who represent them. Landry said she worked almost entire ly with high school students for her bill that sought to ban conversion therapy in Louisiana, the first of its kind in the state.

Duplessis urged young voters to get informed and get engaged.

“People of color are under-represent ed,” Duplessis said. “Young people need to fight for the representation they de serve.”

Photo of Royce Duplessis courtesy of the Duplessis campaign.

Photo of Mandie Landry courtesy of the Landry campaign.

Dr. Norman C. Francis reminds us to lift up our heroes

Loyola renamed Carrollton Hall to the Blanche and Norman C. Francis Family Hall.

Graduating in 1955, Dr. Francis is one of the first two Black graduates of the College of Law. He served for 47 years as president of Xavier University of Louisiana – the nation’s only historical ly Black, Catholic university. The Fran cis Family home on Xavier’s campus held legendary status as a welcoming place for generations of students who received warmth, encouragement and love as they shared meals with Norman, Blanche, and their six children.

It is our hope that the residents of Francis Family Hall will create a home where all are welcome and will find a place of belonging as Xavier students always did in the midst of the Francis Family home.

Renaming Loyola’s largest residence hall is especially important since Dr. Francis did not find a home of belonging as a student at Loyola because our resi dence halls were not yet integrated.

He allowed this difficult reality to drive him to work with other Loyola stu dents and faculty to strive for the fuller integration of Loyola at every level. Their successes demonstrate what a group of diverse students and their mentors can do when they work together to pursue justice.

These formative experiences of Loyola friends working for the good helped shape Dr. Francis as a legend ary civil rights leader, advising eight U.S. presidential administrations on civil rights and education. He received our nation’s highest civilian honor, the Pres idential Medal of Freedom, for his mer

itorious contributions to the promotion of our democracy.

The Francis name displayed prom inently on campus will serve as a re minder to us all that the work for justice and reconciliation in our beloved New

Orleans and nation is not over. It is our shared responsibility to continue the work of Dr. Norman C. Francis and other heroes on whose legacies we rest.

Let’s take time this week to look into our community to acknowledge those

individuals making a difference through actions big and small. Let’s give thanks for those laboring courageously and creatively to transform Loyola and the world for the good. Let’s celebrate the Francis Family and all the heroes in our

midst who encourage and challenge us to use our own gifts and talents to create a more just and humane world.

Deflating the Patriarchy Passion vs. Fangirling

for going all out over their teams, yet fans of artists, mostly women, get called “cra zy fangirls” for supporting said artist.

Swift or Selena Gomez.

If you see a person who spends mon ey to go to every New Orleans Saints game, has decor for the team in their home, whose happiness depends on the final numbers of the latest Sunday game, you’d probably say this person is a “pas sionate fan.”

When you see someone who is full of Harry Styles merchandise, spends mon ey to see every concert they possibly can, who’s fully convinced their life changed when Harry’s House dropped, you’d probably see this person as a “crazy fan,” and you most likely even tagged “girl” along with it at the end, without a gender being specified.

The truth is, this is a sexist ideal that is so deeply rooted many people don’t even realize they have it. Sports fans, specifically men, get called passionate

It’s ironic, really, since a study pub lished in the Quarterly Journal of Eco nomics found that domestic violence rates rose by 10% whenever a football team experiences an “upset losses'' (when a home team was expected to win by four or more points but loses) and this percentage increases during more “important games,” like playoff’s or rival ry. But these fans are just passionate?

It’s sad. These fans are passionate, but a woman simply being a fan of an artist makes her “crazy?” Wouldn’t it make sense for these to be reversed? The cra zier one of the two should be the one in flicting harm on others, right?

But that isn’t how it’s seen. Women have always been known as the ones who are “crazy” or “over dramatic,” but when men do the exact same thing, it’s okay. It’s idolized, even.

This misogynistic idea isn’t just seen in the passionate vs. fangirling sense. It’s also witnessed with men being able to support a popular team without criti cism from others yet women are seen as “basic” for liking certain artists like Taylor

The bottom line is that it’s okay if men do it, but not women. It’s upsetting that this is still the idea. Misogyny may not be an issue that is seen in everyday society anymore but clearly, it is still an issue. It is still a fight. It is still a challenge many women face and when we bite down on these small issues, we can help to solve the bigger ones.

So how can we help solve this issue? What steps can we take?

The first thing that needs to be done is for people to stop referring to normal fans as crazy, period. It isn’t a word to be thrown around on someone who is simply passionate about a topic or per son, no matter the gender. It’s harmful to many different people and commu nities.

Secondly, stop with the criticism of what women enjoy! Let women enjoy what they do without judgment in front of others. It doesn’t matter if it’s “basic” or “boring.”

These issues may seem small to some but they’re important. They’re examples of modern day misogyny in everyday life, and it needs to end now.

Collage by Sophia Maxim, Courtesy of The Maroon Archives

The Rev. Justin Daffron, S.J. Loyola's Interim President

Photo Illustration by Margo Weese.

Kloe Witt Journalism Freshman

Law enforcement needs to actually protect and serve

HOWLS & GROWLS

HOWL to sweater weather GROWL to exams

HOWL to Krewe of Boo GROWL to cheap jumpscares BOO!!!

HOWL if I scared ya GROWL to bone chills

HOWL to the moon GROWL to parking

EDITORIAL BOARD

Gabriella Killett Editor-in-Chief

Jackie Galli Managing Editor for Print

Domonique Tolliver Managing Editor for Digital

Devin Cruice Maroon Minute

Executive Producer

Dajah Saul Social Media Coordinator

Patrick Hamilton Design Chief Gabrielle Korein Photo Editor

Imagine being raped on the hard floor of a bathroom you don’t remem ber walking into, waking up only to your friends’ desperate efforts to find where you are. Think about what it might be like stumbling out of a house that feels like a distant memory, bracing yourself for a short drive that feels like hours to the hospital with your underwear, taint ed with someone else’s DNA, in a bag marked as evidence.

You talk to the police. You tell them everything.

But three years later, they stop an swering your calls. They don’t check in on you. And your underwear, forever ruined by someone else’s exploitation, sits in a room, somewhere you wouldn’t recognize, with 73,000 other pieces of evidence – waiting, for far too long.

This isn’t a made-up story.

But what about a constable in the city we live in ignoring a witness’s desperate cries to help a victim of a rape they had witnessed nearby? That couldn’t have happened.

But it did.

And George Floyd didn’t die from po lice brutality, right? Kanye West said he didn’t, so it must be true.

No, he was suffocated to death.

Well, who killed him was just a bad apple, right? To that, we say that if the tree keeps producing bad apples, then

maybe the damn thing should just be uprooted.

For law enforcement, one of the fore most promises they make is to protect and serve our communities and neigh borhoods.

Law enforcement in the city and na tionwide seem to be taking this devilmay-care attitude towards protecting the public instead.

The militarization of our police force around the country only makes the peo ple they are supposed to be protecting fear them. Police are trained to shoot, taze, pepper spray, yell, and pose them selves as demanding and intimidating. We are meant to fear them. But how can we feel safe around people who incite fear?

The system is broken, but we can’t afford for it to be broken any longer. Peo ple are suffering, and the force, founded initially in an attempt to capture escaped slaves in this country, needs to be rein vented – now.

We need in-depth training and better resources for social workers. We need crisis intervention teams in every city, backed by a federal mental health care plan, so we can stop filling jails and pris ons with people who need help – not to be punished.

The training period for law enforce ment should be much longer than it

already is. Rather than shooting first and asking questions later, more focus should be placed on the idea of peace fully de-escalating situations. In fact, the New Orleans Police Department has emphasized de-escalation training as a part of their program since 2016. Since then, it was reported in 2020 that the number of reported instances of officers raising their firearms decreased nearly 50%.

The fact of the matter is that not every incident needs a gun-toting hotshot with only a couple months worth of firearm training and even less law and order experience. Why can’t we send a traf fic task force out to car crashes? Social workers to rape crime scenes?

The decision of what law enforce ment does should be ultimately up to the community they are meant to serve.

Officers of the law are a necessary part of our society, but the resources they are given and the people in the force need to be put to better use in how we as a community choose to have them operate in their promise to protect us.

Because they are not filling that promise now, and we are in desperate need of a promise that lasts.

Ava Acharya News Editor

Sofia Luciano Life & Times Editor

Arianna D'Antonio Worldview Editor

Abigail Schmidt Sports Editor

Jacob L'Hommedieu Opinion and Editorial Editor

Mia Oliva Reviews Editor

Maleigh Crespo Equity & Inclusion Officer

Macie Batson Senior Staff Writer

Anna Hummel Senior Staff Photographer Heather Rabassa Copy Editor

EDITORIAL POLICY

The editorial on this page represents the majority opinions of The Maroon’s editorial board and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Loyola University.

Letters and columns reflect the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of The Maroon’s editorial board.

The Maroon does not represent the opinion of administration, staff and/or faculty members of Loyola.

Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and style. Please limit submissions to 400 words. Submissions are due no later than 4 p.m. the Sunday before publication.

Please send all submissions —

The Maroon, 6363 St. Charles Ave., Box 64, New Orleans, LA 70118.

Email us your letters — letter@ loyno.edu.

Submissions may also be made online at www.loyolamaroon.com.

Illustration by Jenna DeLucia