The Miami Hurricane: February 20, 2018

MORRIS’ FINAL INNING

Legendary Miami coach prepares to hang up the spikes SPORTS // Page 12

Hurricanes start season with series win. What did we learn?

SPORTS // Page 13

LOOKING FORWARD: Jim Morris aims to end 25-year UM coaching career on a high note with a trip to the 2018 College World Series. He has made 13 trips to Omaha and led the Hurricanes to two national championships.

Josh White // Staff Photographer

2

NEWS

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

NATIONAL NEWS

Deadly shooting hits close to home for UM

By Amanda Herrera News Editor news@themiamihurricane.com @_amandaherrera

Every time someone asked junior Gabriela Nahous where she was from, she would say “Parkland.” Since she knew most people were unfamiliar with her hometown’s geographic location, so she would say, “It’s between Fort Lauderdale and Boca.” Now, she said everyone will know Parkland, but not as her hometown.

“It’s shocking to me that now ...

It’s going to be known for something so negative,” Nahous said.

Parkland, Florida, became the center of worldwide attention after 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire around 2:20 p.m. inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz, a former MSD student, shot into classrooms, killing 17 people and injuring more than a dozen. The massacre became the deadliest school shooting in Florida history and the deadliest in the nation since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.

Nahous, a 2015 graduate of MSD and exercise physiology major, said she had friends inside the school when the shooting took place. Immediately after hearing about the shooting from a friend, Nahous texted one of her friends asking him how he was and if he was safe.

“I heard the shots,” he responded.

“I saw blood. I saw bodies. My head just hurts so much.”

Nahous said she can’t even fathom what the students felt like in that moment.

“You just think, ‘I’ve been in those classrooms, I’ve walked those hallways, I’ve been in those staircases,’” Nahous said. “That was my home for four years. I can’t even imagine being in that position.”

MSD alumna Catherine De Freitas, who was elected as UM’s SG vice president the same day, said she was studying for a test when she received a text message from a friend informing her about the tragedy at her alma mater.

She graduated from MSD in 2015.

De Freitas, a junior, said she went to class thinking the shooting was a false

alarm, similar to a bomb threat MSD had received a year earlier.

When she completed her exam, her cell phone was inundated with text messages from friends sending sympathy her way. It was then, and after watching the videos making their way around social media sites, that she knew the matter was more serious than she had initially thought.

“I’m not the type of person to not be able to talk,” said De Freitas, a marketing major. “But in the moment, I was with my friends, there were no words coming out of my mouth.”

At MSD, De Freitas served as president of her senior and junior classes, involved in Student Government and restarted the Spanish Club.

“I have a love for that school like no other,” De Freitas said.

De Freitas said she knew she had to go to Parkland and mourn with the school and community that made her who she is today. She attended a candlelight vigil on Feb. 15 with hundreds of other community members. A drive from her friend’s house to the park where the vigil was

Hunter Crenian // Visuals Editor MOURNFUL ALUMNAE: Gabriela Nahous (left) and Catherine De Freitas (right) graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2015.

held would typically take 10 minutes.

It took more than hour because of the traffic.

“You would never think something bad would happen and, now, it’s all over the news,” she said. “I don’t think it’s fully hit me and I don’t know when it will.”

What was supposed to be an exciting moment – the announcement that De Freitas’ ticket was elected to SG office – was “bittersweet.”

The shooting was devastating, but De Freitas said she’s also even more motivated to make change in the world.

Change is what thousands across the United States called for following the massacre, and the charge was led

by MSD students, some not even old enough to vote. The students organized March for Our Lives, which is set to take place March 24 in Washington, D.C. and nationwide, with thousands expected to march the streets in demand of stricter gun regulations.

The shooting also renewed a dialogue of school safety among students.

UM freshman and former MSD student Makayla Manning said within the walls of MSD, she grew as a person and became herself.

“I still look at it as this amazing high school, but there is this sense of sadness in a way,” said Manning, a public relations major. “There’s a little piece of it that’s broken in the perfect image that I had of it.”

Manning, who was involved in MSD’s newspaper and Student Government, said that what leads to tragedies is too complex to create a simple solution for.

However, she said the best thing a school can do, even though it can be challenging for schools to be political, is bring awareness to the issues and allow students to know what’s happening.

“I do feel safe at UM, but I felt safe at Douglas all four years,” Manning said. “If it was a year’s difference, that could’ve easily been me, my friends, anyone who I graduated with. It could happen to anyone.”

Director of Emergency Management Matthew Shpiner said the university has had a “robust

training program” in place for the past five years in case of an active shooter situation. The program seeks to bridge the gap between law enforcement response and individual members of the UM community, he said.

“We are really encouraging people to attend our 1 1/2 hour active shooter response training,” he said.

“It’s really to provide a basic skillset if, God forbid, you encounter one of these situations.”

Shpiner said it’s understandable for students to have safety concerns following the shooting but said the university is taking all possible steps to keep the UM community safe.

“Obviously it’s something that hits very close to home, and the fact that it’s so close and the scale of it, it’s something that definitely resonates with us and makes it even more tragic,” Shpiner said.

Within hours of the shooting, senior Maya Lubarsky emailed UM President Julio Frenk, and, almost immediately, Ombudsperson Jennifer Rau got back to her. Lubarsky, a 2014 MSD alumna, made a group on Facebook and connected every MSD alumni she knew at UM to plan a vigil.

By 2 p.m. the following day, Lubarsky had a meeting with Rau along with a few other MSD alumni.

On Feb. 15, President Frenk sent out an email to the university community, which included resources for students struggling with the tragedy.

“Institutions of learning should be a safe haven for all,” Frenk wrote in the letter. “As a father and an educator, my heart breaks. This senseless act has resulted in death, injury and trauma for countless students, parents, teachers, staff, family and friends.”

“It saddens me to think about those freshmen,” Lubarsky said.

“When I think about my freshman year, I think about the amazing teachers I had ... That’s not what freshman are going to be remembering. That’s not what any of these other students are going to remember.”

A vigil commemorating the victims and families of the shooting is scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Rock Plaza.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

NEWS

3

Only ticket to campaign for SG wins without surprise

By Zach Grissom Staff Writer

Student Government election results were announced on Feb. 15. The U First ticket garnered hundreds of votes and will be installed in the positions of president, vice president and treasurer. A slew of new senators will also be representing the UM student body in the 2018-2019 academic year.

The results were announced on the Lakeside Patio after three full days of online voting. Juniors Evan De Joya, Catherine De Freitas and Rafael Cariello, running under the U First ticket, were elected as president, vice president and treasurer, respectively.

For De Joya, being named the new incoming SG president was something that fulfilled his goals for his last year of college.

“A lot of my experiences in Student Government have empowered me to see how change can be made,” De Joya said. “I really wanted to spend my last year here at UM helping to make some of those changes and leave the campus a better place.”

The U First ticket built its platform around creating a more transparent and accessible Student Government. The ticket promoted initiatives such as increasing the variety of on-campus dining options, modifying universitywide attendance policy to treat job interviews as excused absences and subsidizing students’ Uber and Lyft rides.

“We didn’t run on a platform that was showy,” said Cariello, the incoming treasurer. “We didn’t run on a platform that was flashy. We ran on a platform that we believed in. Everything on our platform we fully expect to work on and get done.”

U First’s sweep of the executive positions up for vote was expected as the ticket ran virtually unopposed despite another ticket’s name on the ballot. The We Got You ticket candidates, Matthew Wenstrom, Ashlyn Coleman and Nishan Ravichandran, dropped out of the

Matt Bernanke // Staff Photographer THE SWEEP: Rafael Cariello (left) and Evan De Joya (right) are the university’s treasurer and president-elect, respectively. Under the U First ticket, all three candidates, inlcuding Vice President-elect Catherine De Freitas, swept the Student Government’s Executive Branch positions. The winning ticket was announced at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Lakside Patio after three consecutive days of voting.

race and campaigning events.

However, while constituents could vote by ticket in the election, they could also vote by individual positions or write in candidates.

Elections Commission Chairman Luis Goberna said the U First ticket obtained 741 votes, or 92.66 percent, of the 809 students who did vote by ticket. Some students did vote for write ins and We Got You, Goberna said.

Executive positions were not the only ones up for vote in the election. There were eight seats up for election in SG Senate, including School of Communication, Business School, College of Arts and Sciences, Commuter and

Transfer student seats.

Jasmin Dakkak won a hotlycontested seat, with six candidates running, to become the new senator for the Business School. Dakkak defeated incumbent David Tzeel.

Alexander LaBarbera and Micah Council were elected as the two new senators for the College of Arts and Sciences while Marsiol Fernandez, Amanda Lopez-Cardet and Katie Kean were announced as the new Commuter Senators.

Abigail Bryman, the candidate running for the School of Communication seat, was disqualified after not submitting the mandatory financial report statement of no expense. Financial

report statements detailing the candidates’ expenses from campaigning were due by 10 a.m. on Feb. 14, the last day of voting.

One student who registered to run for the transfer student seat was disqualified after failing to attend the mandatory candidates meeting before graphic campaigning began – leaving both the School of Communication and Transfer senator positions to be filled by special appointment. The Speaker of the Senate will work with the Senate Council to fill these positions.

In total, 1017 students voted in the executive seats election, Goberna said. Though he didn’t

have an exact number, he said most of the students who voted for Senate also probably voted in the executive race too.

Goberna said the turnout far exceeded last year’s 776 votes. The election commission started several new initiatives this year to increase voter turnout, such as putting up banners and tabling in the Breezeway to encourage students to vote, advertising the elections on Facebook and before screenings at the Cosford Cinema and offering 24-hour voting online.

“We are trying our best to get as many people involved that want to run, though we don’t want to force people to run,” Goberna said.

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NEWS

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

ACADEMICS

Nation’s first Atheism chair announced

By Annie Cappetta Managing Editor managing@themiamihurricane.com @acmcappetta

The question of God’s existence is not new – German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche first said “God is dead” in 1882. But the University of Miami made national headlines by tapping Anjan Chakravartty as the first atheism, humanism and secular ethics chair. This is the first chair of its kind in the nation.

Chakravartty will begin his tenure on July 1. He currently serves as a philosophy professor and director of the John J. Reilly Center for science, technology and values at the University of Notre Dame.

“Well, you have to admit that the optics of it are kind of funny on the surface,” Chakravartty said. “Coming from a renowned Catholic university into a chair that has ‘atheism, humanism and secular ethics’ in the title.”

He said he enjoys the apparent irony as much as the next person, but he said he has always had the freedom to pursue intellectual and philosophical questions he found important, without any pressure to approach them from a particular background or perspective, so

the change in position isn’t a big leap in that sense.

The chair was announced as part of UM President Julio Frenk’s “100 talents for 100 years” roadmap initiative: to bring 100 new endowed chair positions to UM by the university’s centennial in 2025.

“We want University of Miami to be a magnet for talent,” Frenk said at a roundtable with The Miami Hurricane in August 2016, shortly after the announcement of the initiative.

“Endowments ... offer a level of stability that is essential.”

The endowment for this particular chair was created by a $2.2 million donation in May 2016 from Louis Appignani. Appignani is an 84-yearold retired Miami businessman and philanthropist whose foundation focuses on free thought and humanist values.

Chakravartty’s primary consideration during the application, search and subsequent decision process was what the conception of the chair was in the eyes of the university. He wanted to make sure that his skill set and research interests would align with the vision for the chair.

“The issues that are suggested by the title of the chair are really deep and important,” Chakravartty said. “They’re

existential issues for a lot of people. And I find that when it comes to thinking about questions like that, it’s a mistake to believe that you can adopt a very narrow perspective, say from the confines of any very specific discipline, and succeed in thinking about those questions in an appropriately thorough way.”

Fred Frohock, professor of political science and author of numerous books on the subjects of political philosophy, religion and ethics, served on the search committee to fill the chair position.

“I have a feeling that this guy we brought in understands that sometimes a linear approach doesn’t get the job done,” Frohock said. “I wanted someone who’s ready to look into the awkward parts of things and be prepared to take on overlaps and hostilities between some of the extremes in religion and some of the extremes in atheism.”

But despite having “atheism” in his job description, Chakravartty said he will not take a public stance on where his personal views lie.

“In our role as professors, we’re really educators and not lobbyists,” Chakravartty said. “If I were to announce what my view is, some people might mistakenly think that I’m going to be advocating or lobbying for that view.”

A May 2016 Gallup poll found 11

Photo Courtesy: UM News BEING THE FIRST: Anjan Chakravartty was announced as the University of Miami’s endowed chair of atheism, humanism and secular ethics. He will officially take over his position July 1.

percent of Americans do not believe in God, and an additional 10 percent were “not sure” about their beliefs.

“Nobody’s trying to convert anybody,” Frohock said. “It’s a true intellectual endeavor. And he will be true to that because he is a natural intellectual. He has no desire to bring about a legion of atheists following in his footsteps.”

And while Chakravartty said he

wants to go beyond what’s commonly taught about the questions humans have asked since antiquity, Frohock said he believes studying these kind of existential questions remains an uphill battle.

“I don’t know that we have the intellectual or emotive capacities to understand the scope and complexities of the universe,” Frohock said. “We really are poor creatures for that.”

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Uncontested: Interest in Student Government dwindles

By Rebecca Goddard Contributing News Writer

For the second year in a row, the winning candidates in the University of Miami’s Student Government elections enjoyed an uncontested victory as interest in the candidacy continues to decline.

Junior Catherine De Freitas, newly-elected SG vice president, said the answer to low registration turnouts for SG positions lies in its engagement with the university’s student body.

“Less people are running because there is a lack of awareness of Student Government and what we do in SG,” said De Freitas, a marketing major.

In 2015, True to U and One Team, One U ran against each other as full tickets. Each ticket was packed with

three candidates vying for the positions of president, vice president and treasurer.

A partial ticket, Empower U, also competed against the two trios with candidates running only for president and vice president. The election drew a record number of voters with 1,877 voting for president, 1,874 voting for vice president and 1,863 voting for treasurer.

Since then, executive tickets have won virtually uncontested.

In 2016, the Unlimited ticket won after its only opponent, independent candidate Aaron King, dropped out of the race. He said he had contracted pneumonia and could not finish the race.

This year, all candidates from the We Got You ticket refrained from attending campaign events, essentially ending the ticket’s candidacy despite a

technicality that kept all the candidates’ names on the ballot.

However, even before then, Elections Commission officials were having a hard time reaching and gauging students interested in vying for positions.

De Freitas said many juniors and seniors have approached her and said they want to get involved in SG but feel they may have missed their chance. She said these common sentiments suggest that accessibility to SG may be one of the many obstacles.

Freshman Lara Tomenchok said though she’s aware SG exists, it’s hard to know exactly how it works.

“I feel Student Government’s presence, but it’s hard to know where to go with my ideas,” said Tomenchok, an engineering major.

To bridge the gap, De Freitas plans to heavily promote SG to freshmen and sophomores, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to get involved as soon as possible.

However, De Freitas also said she encourages everyone to participate in SG regardless of academic year. The vice president-elect hopes her ticket’s “approachable and transparent Student Government” model will inspire students to participate.

But the executive officers are not the only ones working hard to increase participation in SG. Elections Commission Chairman Luis Goberna said the commission has worked hard during this year’s election season to expand voting and interest.

Goberna, a junior, said the

commission revamped ad placements across various online platforms as well as locations throughout campus to remind students about the elections.

However, these initiatives can’t combat the student body’s indifference on their own.

Goberna said on average, “voting tends to be linked to how many students are on the ballot.”

Nonetheless, Goberna said he remains hopeful for SG’s future. Sixteen people filed to run for senate in the spring compared to last year’s 11 students.

Goberna said though the senate races also saw their share of plot twists, it was still a step in the right direction.

“The more students that know about Student Government and elections, the better,” Goberna said.

ADMINISTRATION

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

NEWS

5

New parking policies make for efficient ticketing

By Maria Cacciatore Contributing News Writer

It’s not uncommon to see drivers trying to find and squeeze into tight parking spaces in on-campus lots.

For an easier angle, some students back their cars into designated spaces.

However, starting Feb. 19, a “no backing in policy” is taking effect.

Junior Luis Gonzalez said he finds the new policy a burden.

Gonzalez, a broadcast jouralism major, said he believes the only person who benefits from the update are the parking enforcement officers.

“For me backing in is a habit,” Gonzalez said. “I grew up in a family of police officers who always taught me that it’s safer to back in. It’s the fastest way to leave a parking spot in an emergency, it’s easier for you to look for other cars when leaving your spot and it’s personally just easier.”

The no back-up rule stems from

another new parking policy: fully digital parking passes.

In spring 2016, parking enforcement vehicles were equipped with license plate recognition technology. The scanners read license plates and notify parking enforcement officers if the car is registered with a permit. The officers no longer have to look at the physical parking permits.

Director of Parking and Transportation Richard Sobaram said the changes will allow UM to keep up with relevant technology. Sobaram said Florida International University has had the system in place for two years.

“This is the way of the future,” he said. “If we don’t do this now, five years from now, we will be behind.”

Thousands of permit holders who commute to campus have Floridaissued license plates. Florida is one of 18 states in the United States that does not require license plates on both the back and front of a vehicle. If a vehicle

is parking backwards, the scanner cannot detect the permit.

Students, faculty and staff with larger cars who prefer to park backward must visit the parking and transportation office to obtain a makeshift parking license plate with the sequence number of their permit to place in the front of their cars. The license plates will cost between $15 and $20.

Those who decide to back up into a space without one of the makeshift license plates will receive a warning.

If the car is again found backed into a space, the driver will receive a ticket of $50.

Starting next semester, students will no longer be given physical parking permits to park on campus.

Junior Adam Warsoff said though he wasn’t aware of the new policy, his license plate became registered when he signed up for his parking pass in August 2017. He said students who obtain permits in other

READY TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WORLD? DO THE UNEXPECTED. Connect with a recruiter: peacecorps.gov/recruiters

ways will probably have the biggest issue with the change.

“I know there are some students who borrow other students’ passes or buy the passes off other students altogether, so I think this new policy would affect them because their cars would not be in the system,” Warsoff said.

As of February 2018, there are 8,500 active parking permits, 620 of which were issued for the spring 2018 semester.

Thousands of students commute to and from campus, but there are only seven officers in charge of monitoring the parking permits. Sobaram said the new system gives the officers a more efficient way of keeping track of the vehicles.

Sobaram said because the officers have started to enforce the policies using license plates, they are discovering “dozens” of students with physical parking permits that are not registered to their vehicles, purchased

illegally from other students. Sobaram said it is usually a red zone permit from another student who graduated in December 2017.

He said giving or selling a permit to another student is against university policy and “unfair to students on the waitlist.” He said students who no longer need a permit are required to return it for a “prorated refund,” allowing the permit to go to the next person on the waitlist.

Students who are discovered with illegally obtained permits are referred to the Dean of Students Office for disciplinary action.

“It is not fair if someone with a registered permit cannot find a parking space in their designated lot because it is being taken up by people parked illegally,” Sobaram said.

Anyone with questions about the new policy changes can visit the UM Department of Parking and Transportation website at pt.ref.miami. edu or call 305-284-3096.

6

OPINION

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

The Miami

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

Opinion

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Student Government should improve efficacy through education It was no surprise U First won Student Government elections Feb. 15 – but to call this a “landslide” would be misleading. Nobody else wanted the job.

And therein lies the problem. A lack of education and perceived voter efficacy contributes to a system in which change seems hard to effect.

It’s not U First’s fault that it ran essentially unopposed.

While another ticket, We Got You, was on the ballot, it didn’t want to be. It was simply too late to drop out officially.

The winning ticket’s initiatives are promising, if hard to guarantee. Some are carried over from past tickets – last year’s Unlimited ticket, for example, had similar plans to subsidize Uber rides around campus. Others are vague. But in any case, students should have been able to vote for those initiatives, if they so chose, instead of coming to them by way of a de-facto default decision.

Stricter election guidelines can help with this. A short registration process makes it easy for students to decide to run, or not run, on a whim.

Had registration begun before winter break, students would have the time off to mull

over their platform and desire to participate.

Extending registration would extend the campaign period, too.

As is, students must decide to run, campaign and (with luck) win within the span of a month. With the pressures of a new semester looming

aware of the election timetable, or don’t believe they can win.

In January, junior Luis Goberna, elections commission chairman, told The Miami Hurricane that the election was “a very open process,” in which “most students would be eligible

“It’s easy to attribute low participation to apathy alone, but students will get involved – they just need to know how.”

over students’ heads, too, the blink-and-you-miss-it election process is asking a lot of candidates and the electorate.

This year’s winners, and past candidates, proudly tout their experience in Student Government. It makes sense – if you spend a lot of time in an organization, you aspire to its highest positions. That’s not a bad thing. But a problem arises when students outside of Student Government are not

for Senate, and nearly every student is eligible for president, vice president and treasurer.”

The system is accessible on paper, which is a start. More education would help students know when to run, when to vote and how to do both. A freshman course in Student Government, much like the required courses in alcohol education and bystander intervention, could make students more invested in SG. Even something as simple as

an elections briefing via email at the end of fall semester could help clarify the process. This semester, for example, students got emails reminding them to vote but none explaining what seats were open or how to register. That might have boosted student participation to include those coming from outside the program.

Sometimes, Student Government can feel a little like make-believe. We go to a private institution where chances to change the way things work are, by nature, limited. But if it’s all a fantasy, shouldn’t it at least be a good one? An idyllic, best-casescenario world where students campaign and more than one party is willing to go the distance?

It’s easy to attribute low participation to apathy alone, but students will get involved – they just need to know how.

And if they vote here, they might just continue it in the real world, establishing a habit which, in and of itself, legitimizes the role of Student Government.

Editorials represent the majority view of The Miami Hurricane editorial board.

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

OPINION

7

GLASS HALF FULL

Invisible pain can hurt a lot more than external injuries Y o u could say I’m accident prone.

I broke my finger waiting too long to swing the bat in baseball.

I broke my

By Dana Munro thumb getting Staff Columnist it caught in the belt loop of my pants in the Colosseum on a class trip to Rome. My brother accidentally closed a door on my foot while I was absentmindedly standing in a doorway, and it broke my toe. I sprained an ankle doing ballet. Two months ago, I bruised two bones in my foot doing Zumba. I am no stranger to that kind of pain.

But I am even more familiar with internal pain. Two years ago, I was in a car accident that caused serious damage to my brain and digestive tract. Since then, I can’t

help but notice vast differences between the way we respond to external versus internal pain.

In my most recent external injury, I wasn’t able to bear pressure on my left foot and needed to wear a boot for a month and a half. I was utterly amazed at the response this elicited from everyone I encountered. People expressed deep concern and saw every facet of my life that had been altered by the boot: taking the elevator rather than the stairs, the harsh sound the boot made when it hit the floor, the way it affected my posture. Being late was graciously excused. TSA officers even snuck me into the senior citizens’ lanes at airport security checkpoints. I was surprised and touched by the sympathy.

My concussion evoked virtually the opposite response.

The people I told about it would forget about my injury a day later.

Students would give me dirty looks when I had difficulty on the stairs because I was slowing traffic. A few teachers were inflexible when I asked for extended deadlines.

One teacher even reprimanded me for talking to a friend in the hallway because I had yet to do her homework. If I could talk, why couldn’t I write?

And here’s the kicker: My injured foot barely even hurt. I only felt its impact when I bore weight on it, and the boot remedied this completely. Yet the otherwise invisible pain of the concussion was indescribable.

Pain, both external and internal, is incredibly abstract.

But seeing some sort of physical manifestation of someone’s pain affords us the illusion that we understand what it would feel like, despite the fact that we couldn’t understand, even if we suffered from the very same ailment. Every

body is different. But the boot or cast or crutches give people something to latch onto, a schema for their brains to pull from in an attempt to relate. You think, “Oh I have a foot, too, the same structure, the same bones and joints and tissue. I can understand this injury.”

But the abstraction of physical injury is a child’s finger painting compared to the Jackson Pollocklevel incomprehensibility of internal pain. Internal pain impacts body systems we barely understand as it is, let alone when they are afflicted with an illness. It took me about 10 seconds to understand what it meant to have bruises on the bones in my feet. It took the daily struggle of having a concussion and digestive issues to understand what was happening.

And I still feel like I only ever scratched the surface.

All I can offer is this: In every iteration of pain I’ve experienced, the best thing I could be told was,

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how you feel.” The sheer concession that you can’t understand – but express deep sympathy nonetheless – is profoundly meaningful.

You never really know what someone is enduring. It’s part of the incredible mystique of the human experience. But keep that in mind as you encounter people in your life. There is always something you don’t know. If all else fails, just comfort them with one of my favorite sentiments from Winnie the Pooh.

“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” Pooh said.

“There there,” Piglet said. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.”

Dana Munro is a sophomore majoring in musical theater. Glass Half Full runs every Tuesday.

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OPINION

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

OPINION

Shooting stirs community, raises tough questions HOW TO HELP: • You can donate to the official MSD GoFundMe, which will provide relief and financial assistance to the victims and families of those affected by the shooting.

• Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumni, along with UM’s Office of Student Affairs, will be hosting a vigil for the victims of the Parkland shooting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at the Rock Plaza.

• There will be a benefit concert 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23 at Revolution Live in Ft. Lauderdale (100 SW Third Ave., Ft. Lauderdale) • Student advocates are also organizing the “March For Our Lives,” a nationwide movement on March 24 to protest gun violence and push for stricter regulations.

Find out more at marchforourlives. com

In the wake of another Balancing safety, Second Amendment Leadership fails to respond shooting, at a loss for words to tragedy with action What am I supposed to say?

When 17 innocent people are shot dead, what is there for me to say?

When kids, 14-year-old kids, are murdered while attendBy Jason Donnelly ing school in one of the Contributing most developed nations Columnist in the world, what is the right thing for me to say?

Should I analyze the scumbag who did this? Should I try to find the part of his childhood that traumatized him? Or perhaps, should I talk about a doctor or guidance counselor who noted that he was troubled?

Maybe the kids who called him mean names on Twitter? Should I mention how much time he spent playing “Call of Duty?”

Is there something in particular you would like me to say?

Would you like me to offer my thoughts and prayers? Would you like me to send good vibes and love? How about condolences? Are those all right?

Am I allowed to say anything at all?

Is it too soon? Should I let the GoFundMe campaigns paying for these children’s funerals run their course before writing something?

Should I wait until next time? Should I wait until the next shooting to say something?

Hopefully the next one will have less victims – that’d be easier to talk about, right?

Those thoughts and prayers still coming along fine? We’ll probably need more of them in the future, right? Maybe if we do well enough this time, it will stop all the other ones, right?

Is there anything left for me to say? Have we forgotten about it already? Did I think about it too much? Am I being too blunt?

Well, I suppose this really was my fault, wasn’t it? I forgot that believing in actual,

physical, legislative change as the most direct solution to problems in this country is a radical idea – silly me, right? Maybe I should’ve written this on how Marco Rubio’s hashtags will cultivate our collective, withering sympathy. Or on how if everyone has a gun, it’s like nobody actually has a gun.

Or how about I speculate that if only those kids had gang-rushed that maniac…

It took me until now to realize that the eloquence of post-tragedy prose was exhausted long before Stoneman Douglas, long before Virginia Tech, long before Columbine. We’ve wrenched every last drop of nuance from this topic. Everything I’ve said has been said before.

I can’t sit here and pretend to have something Earth-shattering to say. I don’t. I want fewer murder weapons and more lives spared.

I’ve lost you. Did I say something wrong? Would it be beneficial if I went back to asking questions instead of finding an answer? I suppose plenty of you were here for an arthouse think-piece and not a real statement on anything, right? Am I OK now?

Did I say the right stuff ?

Would it be better if I said I knew someone who died that day? What if I said they were a friend? Or a sibling? Or a parent?

Would you listen to me then? Would you care then?

Should I write one of these for next time? Should I write one in advance, in case I get shot? Who am I kidding? Who cares? It doesn’t matter whether people liked it, does it? Someone else will go out and shoot some more people pretty soon, won’t they? And I’ll change a few sentences and publish this whole thing again, won’t I? Then, you’ll shake your head at it again, won’t you?

Jason Donnelly is a freshman majoring in instrumental performance.

The country yet again bore witness to an act of senseless evil this Valentine’s Day when the lives of 17 innocent people at MarBy Jonathan jory Stoneman Godoy Douglas High Contributing School were savColumnist agely cut short. I joined millions across the country, and in the South Florida community, expressing shock and despair over yet another mass shooting.

United in our grief though we may be, the same cannot be said of our political reactions.

Predictably, many progressive activists took to Twitter to claim that the blood of innocent people gunned down is quite literally on the hands of gun rights advocates, allied politicians and interest groups (namely the National Rifle Association).

These hysterical, virtue-signaling claims are riddled with logical fallacies and gross distortions of the truth.

The reflexive question these acts inspire though – “How can we continue to let this happen?” – is a natural and important one to ask and consider given our contemporary national experience. However, any real answer requires patience and thoughtfulness. Raw emotion might be a good catalyst for conversation and action, but it is seldom a prudent force on which to craft public policy.

As a conservative and firm supporter of the Second Amendment, I am sometimes confounded by this issue. The Second Amendment’s purpose – historically based in the

idea of providing a popular check on the power of government – is an important one that needs to be upheld.

An individual’s right to bear arms is a crucial tenet of a free society’s social contract. Additionally, properly utilized, a weapon is a useful tool for self-defense in life-threatening situations.

However, one does need to recognize the destructive power weapons possess. As we have unfortunately seen, they can become tools of mass casualty in the wrong hands.

Balancing these two legitimate interests is a complex task, especially for a pluralistic society.

Many have agreed that gun ownership comes with certain restrictions and responsibilities – including background checks and compulsory training. But these measures have not prevented tragedies, so the question becomes, “What more, if anything, can we do?”

For a conservative, the goal is to identify solutions that can satisfy both the belief in the inviolability of this constitutional right and the desire to create a safer society. Fortunately, that’s not an impossible task.

First, given the profile of the perpetrators of these attacks, it is time we finally address the role mental illness plays in them. It is bad policy to wholly deny a class of citizens a certain right without due process based on a medical diagnosis, a view that even the notably progressive ACLU has condemned. However, the current restrictions seem insufficient.

One practice that seems to have merit is the use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders. This policy allows for family members and law enforcement to petition a court to suspend a person’s right to possess or purchase a weapon temporarily if that indi-

vidual poses a threat to himself or others. The law is currently only implemented in four states, and Florida is not one of them, but it might be a sensible and constitutional method of restricting gun access for those more prone to violence.

Bureaucratic inefficiencies exist. In the case of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, for example, the FBI failed to follow up on a tip regarding the shooter’s potentially dangerous behavior. It is incumbent upon all policymakers to ensure that these inefficiencies are fixed to mitigate costly errors going forward.

Other minor revisions include outlawing bump stocks, which allow for semiautomatic weapons to fire similarly to automatic weapons, and increasing armed security for so-called soft targets, places that are at most vulnerable to attacks.

These policies, however, will not end all violence or mass shootings. The rot that allows these violent acts to occur has social, emotional and psychological elements, which no legislation can ever fully resolve. Addressing those factors requires a more nebulous, ad hoc and socially-conscious reform effort that extends well beyond the scope of Congress.

I do not present these ideas as policy prescriptions that conservatives must adopt. They should instead serve as sparks for fruitful discussion – simple ideas that might spur the search for practical solutions. Hopefully, they can help elevate the discourse above its current sordid state and facilitate the national dialogue this serious issue deserves.

Jonathan Godoy is a graduate student in the University of Miami MPA program.

Following the Feb. 14 shootings in Parkland, Florida, there was rightful disgust, horror and sadness. Yet there was also little shock involved.

A man walking

By Ryan Steinberg into a high school Staff Columnist and shooting 17 innocent teenagers and adults is not shocking to us. It’s a common occurrence. We know that it’s wrong. We know we need to do something to stop it, yet we do not.

Instead of acknowledging the desperate need for change, we hide behind the moniker of “thoughts and prayers.”

We beat around the bush by blaming shootings on mental health, ineffective school safety and lack of proper gun training.

The day after the shooting, it was extremely disappointing to awake to an email from President Frenk that did little to acknowledge the horrific epidemic of gun violence that this country allows to exist. He offered meaningless thoughts and prayers. What he did not mention was the need for gun law reform. He did not talk about how these occurrences have become routine. He did not even mention the need for a campus-wide dialogue about this culture of gun violence that exists in our country, more so than anywhere else in the world. It was disheartening to see Frenk, a man with considerable reach and inf luence, not take a stand – not just for what is right but for what is common sense.

To be fair, Frenk is not alone in this failure, nor is he close to being responsible for this horrific shooting. To start, the Florida Legislature has blood

on its hands. Its lax gun laws allowed a mentally unstable man to buy a gun.

Then there’s Senator Marco Rubio, who has received millions from the National Rif le Association. In a statement, all he could offer was sadness before quickly diving into an often-heard rebuttal to gun reform – that gun regulations are ineffective.

He wants us to do nothing to solve the root of this epidemic: guns. Clearly, Rubio cares more about pleasing the NRA than protecting the lives of his constituents.

Gov. Rick Scott, to his credit, did say “if we have somebody that’s mentally ill, they can’t have access to a gun.” He is right. However, this is common sense. People with clear mentally illness should not possess the means to kill people. Such regulations would be a step in the right direction.

However, until we are ready as a nation to have a candid discussion about gun violence, progress will be slow.

President Trump, it seems, is not willing to have that discussion. It was very frustrating to hear him, in response to the tragedy, talk about mental health and school safety – without once mentioning the need to address gun culture.

With a president who refuses to mention the means by which American citizens are being killed, these shootings are only going to continue. We need to address gun culture, and it must start from the top. Yet gun culture apparently does not exist to the politicians who just so happen to accept millions from the NRA each year.

Ryan Steinberg is a majoring in political science.

sophomore

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THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

Hunter Crenian // Visuals Editor CLASS IS IN SESSION: YouTube star, Jacob Collier, 23, speaks at the Gusman Hall on the Arsht stage for his master class Wednesday Feb. 15 to students in the Frost School of Music. Collier performed for the students and discussed his approach to creating music.

Jacob Collier hosts masterclass on campus, performs with Nu Deco Ensemble

By Haley Walker Edge Editor edge@themiamihurricane.com

YouTube sensation and musical genius Jacob Collier graced the stage of Frost’s Gusman Concert Hall Feb. 14 for an exclusive music-students-only masterclass. The singer came to town for his collaborative performance with the Nu Deco Ensemble, a Miami-based chamber orchestra, which took place Feb. 15 at the Arsht Center.

In the few days the London native was in town, his fans at Frost had ample opportunities to be inspired by, and even talk to, their idol.

“Jacob Collier’s [performance] was the type of performance where his talent was so strong it felt like it literally stunned you,” said Calli Scofidio, a fourth-year Frost student. “He’s an incredible musician and songwriter, and combined with the talent of the Nu Deco Ensemble, the experience turned out to be one of the most unique events

I’ve seen in Miami.”

Frost Professor Daniel Strange, who hosted Collier on campus and played keyboard in the Nu Deco Ensemble during his performance, was thrilled to work with Collier for the first time. But he was perhaps even more thrilled to see his students’ reactions when Collier walked into Gusman Hall on campus.

“It felt like a rock concert,” Strange said. “Jacob got his start on YouTube, so, in a sense, he’s one of this generation’s movie stars. For the students, who are used to seeing him on screens, seeing the real person was surreal. They were glued to him from the moment he walked on stage.”

Collier, 23, earned his spot in the public eye back in 2012, when the then-teenage musician launched his YouTube channel. He quickly amassed millions of views on his videos, some of which feature several “Jacobs” singing or playing together to create a full, harmonized sound. He sings different vocal parts or plays several instruments,

then overlays the separate videos and split-screens them, so you can see and hear the different melodies all at once.

“I’ve been a big fan of Jacob’s since he started his YouTube channel when I was a teenager in 2012, so it was a dream come true to participate in the masterclass and see his concert with Nu Deco Ensemble,” said senior Rachel Ohnsman, who attended both the masterclass and the concert.

What impressed Strange and his students most about Jacob was his willingness to share and connect with other musicians. Strange recounted “nerding out” with Collier in his car ride to campus and feeling “like kids in a candy store” when the two discussed their similarly harmonic approach to music. Students, too, felt Collier welcomed their questions and was eager to speak with each of them.

“I got the chance to get on stage with Jacob in front of a full Gusman Hall,” Ohnsman said. “That was a great experience but even better was witnessing him jumping around on

stage, talking to us about music theory like we were his best friends.”

Strange said he was especially impressed by his students reactions to Collier’s masterclass because it wasn’t a performance – and yet, Gusman Hall was full to the brim with eager listeners. Collier was there to share his theoretical approach to music, which is largely based in his own self-teaching.

To academically-trained musicians, Collier’s talk was a welcomed fresh perspective.

“A lot of my students talked to me after the masterclass,” Strange said.

“They said certain things finally clicked when Jacob spoke about his process.

I want to use some of that in my own teaching because I don’t believe that there’s any one way to approach music.”

Collier’s cleverness and multifaceted talents were on display at the Nu Deco performance Feb. 15. After the group played two sets of wildly innovative orchestral music, featuring everything from a banjo to a Moog synthesizer, Collier joined for a

third and final set. He sprinted onstage barefoot in a brightly-colored tunic to find his place at the piano. The crowd applauded his entrance wildly and listened as he sang out his first notes, surprisingly low and resonant.

For the next hour, Collier switched between piano, keyboard, acoustic guitar and upright bass, all the while impressing the audience with a mix of covers and original tunes, with Nu Deco backing him up.

“One of the incredible things about working with Jacob is seeing the level of improvisation in all of his performances,” Strange said. “Yes, he has his concept and music, but it’s different every time. His work is so full of emotion and human spirit.”

Though Collier is headed back to his home in London, Frost students and professors are hoping he’ll be back to Miami, and perhaps the Frost School of Music, in the near future.

For more updates on his whereabouts and projects, follow Jacob Collier @ JCollierMusic on social media.

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

Frost American Music Ensemble returns to festival stage

By Kelsey Stern Contributing Edge Writer

It’s the start of festival season. Groups of students pile into cars, or sometimes tents, and spend a few days enveloped by live music. One of those groups is Frost’s American Music Ensemble. For AME, going to festivals isn’t always purely recreational – this March, the group will take the stage at Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival for the second time.

The American Music Ensemble is composed of nine musicians, four of whom are songwriters. Students in the Frost School of Music who are of sophomore or higher status have the opportunity to apply once a year to become a member of the group.

Anh Le, a fourth-year media writing and production major, is a songwriter for AME and has been a part of the ensemble for two years. Le said one of her main goals while attending Frost was to be accepted into AME. “AME has given me a lot of chances to grow as a musician, especially as someone who performs live,” Le said. “Anything I’d ever done in music was primarily solo and online-based, but AME has given me the chance of thinking of my music in the sense of performing with a live band.”

The group’s director, Frost professor Dan Strange, ensures the students not only gain live experience through on-campus events, such as Frost’s Creative American Music Fest, but also at off-campus performances.

Last weekend, on Feb. 11, AME kicked off its round of festival gigs by playing at the second GroundUP Music Festival at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach.

Keyboardist Sam Bierman, also a fourth-year media writing and production major, performed at GroundUP with AME both years and described the event as the “musician’s music festival.” Combining technical precision with immense creativity, GroundUP artists push musical limits with their performances.

GroundUP allowed AME to be recognized and watched by high-caliber musicians in the professional scene. The band’s next gig at Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival will expand its exposure to

an even larger audience with more diverse tastes and backgrounds.

AME performed at Okeechobee last year, where it played an individual set and also participated in a jam session called PoWoW, playing alongside Griz and Vulfpeck.

This year, AME will perform an individual set 1-2 p.m. March 3 on the Pyramid Palace stage. The set will consist of original songs by this year’s songwriters.

Le, who also performed last year, said it is incredible to play on the same stage as the musicians she actively listens to and admires.

AME’s bassist Sara Keden, a third-year professional studies major, has performed in festivals since she was young. She said a big festival like Okeechobee is interesting to participate in, as a different world exists behind the curtains. Performing musicians get to witness these inner workings.

Beyond gaining exposure, Keden said she is most excited to spend a weekend creating music and memories with a group of people who have come to resemble a tight-knit family.

“Music has an amazing capacity to bring people together, even when it’s just people listening together at a concert,” Keden said. “When you are in a band, and you’ve been working hard together, music creates a special bond that I am really thankful to have experienced.”

If you can’t make it out to Okeechobee for the March 3 set, check out their on-campus CAMFest performance at 8 p.m. April 20, in Clarke Recital Hall. Follow them on Instagram @ americanmusicensemble.

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SPORTS

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

1,064 wins

Coach Jim Morris has acculmulated more than two-thirds of his career wins at Miami.

BASEBALL

Jim Morris continues legacy in final year constantly had a chance to compete against the best in the country.

“Coach Morris taught me the fundamentals of the game and all the little things it takes to win,” Jay said.

It’s hard to imagine that after “I try to use those same traits now 25 years of success at the University that I learned since I left campus in of Miami, head baseball coach Jim 2006.”

Morris is retiring. Morris helped turn Through the years, the UM into one of the country’s most administration has recognized the elite programs, leading the school to impact Morris made since he stepped 13 College World Series appearances in for former head coach Ron Frazier. and two national championships.

“You have a legend,” Miami And now, in 2018, Morris is in Director of Athletics Blake James the midst of his final campaign. said. “One of the neat things about “It’s kind of an emotional, our baseball program is, if you look unique year for me being my last year at our last two coaches in Ron Frazier of coaching,” Morris said. “I’ve had and Jim Morris, we have two of the a uniform on since I was 8 years old. greatest in the history of college I know next year will be even more baseball. Two of the real icons.” emotional when I’m sitting out there James hinted at a number of watching, but it’s a great time. It’s the upcoming surprise events to honor best move I’ve ever made as a college Morris throughout the 2018 season. coach or as a coach, period.”

The pressure is also on the Morris has become one of the current roster to have a comeback most well-known names in baseball year after the Canes missed the and has inspired players throughout postseason in 2017, ending a 44their college and major league year streak. The players would want journeys. nothing more than to reach one more “Jim Morris was a player’s College World Series for Morris coach,” said Danny Valencia, a before his retirement. former Miami Hurricane and current “No doubt he deserves it,” junior MLB infielder. relief pitcher “I gravitated Andrew Cabezas to him because said. “He’s by far, he was easy I think, top three to talk to, and best coaches of “He’s by far a he also was a all time. We will good coach to be able to go as top-three coach of motivate players far as we think we to be better. can, and it will be all time.”

He pushed us a good ending to pretty hard but his career.” also was the first J u n i o r Junior Andrew Cabezas one to give you Romy Gonzalez accolades when said he is you did well.” especially excited to play at Georgia MLB World Series Champion Tech, where Morris began his head Jon Jay said Morris had an incredible coaching career. impact on his career and that going Certainly there are a few to Miami was a perfect fit because he concerns about how young Miami’s

By Maxwell Trink Contributing Sports Writer @MaxwellTrink

Josh White // Staff Photographer ONE LAST RIDE: Miami head coach Jim Morris advises junior Romy Gonzalez during fall practice at Mark Light Field. Morris is in the midst of his 41st year as a Division-1 baseball head coach.

team is, but its talent is apparent.

“This baseball program has been on a big run for a long time,” Jay said.

“Last year was just a little hiccup in the program, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Miami is going to be back where it belongs as a perennial powerhouse this year.”

To put Morris’ career at UM into perspective, his record as a head coach is 1,568-691-4. Out of the 1,568 wins, 1,064 of them were at Miami.

At Miami, Morris is a two-time National Coach of the Year – for the 1999 and 2001 seasons – and won ACC Coach of the Year with the Hurricanes in 2008.

It’s rare to find coaches that consistently lead their teams to the

playoffs year after year. Morris made it look easy.

“The administration has always supported me,” Morris said. “I know that without that support, you can’t win ... It doesn’t guarantee you will win, but we got a great product sell here. That’s the baseball program and the University of Miami academic program.”

Morris has always made sure his players were not only successful on the field but also in the classroom.

In 2015, Hurricanes baseball had the highest GPA of any team in the College World Series, sporting a 2.97 team average. This year, the roster’s overall GPA is an impressive 3.14.

With his coaching career

coming to a close, Morris said he looks forward to spending time with his wife, Nhan, and his 5-year-old son, Will.

But in his final year, he is still focused and determined to take his team to Omaha for another chance at a national title.

“I think it’s going to be a fun team to watch,” Morris said. “We are going to be aggressive. We’ve got some good athletes on the field who can hit home runs. I know people would rather watch a game that’s 6-2 than 1-0, but as long as we win, I don’t care.”

Morris will leave a legacy as one of the greatest coaches in Miami history.

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

SPORTS

13

COMMENTARY

Takeaways from Miami baseball’s opening series

By Josh White Senior Sports Writer @_JoshRWhite

The 2018 college baseball season kicked off Feb. 16 in Coral Gables for No. 24 Miami. The Hurricanes took two of three from the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Mark Light Field.

Here are three takeaways from the opening series:

Orange and green fit Danny Reyes The former Florida Gator outfielder feasted on the Rutgers’ pitching staff in his first series at Miami.

Reyes batted .727 (8 of 11) including one home run and four doubles.

The home run was the first

blast the Miami Springs native hit at the Division 1 level since June 4, 2016, after Reyes spent the 2017 season at Broward College.

The junior also tallied four RBIs, a .692 OBP and a 1.364 SLG in three starts.

“I’m truly blessed to be here and be a Hurricane,” Reyes said.

“I’m just excited. The nerves were running a little high going into it. That’s normal to me.

Once I got the first hit, I felt right at home. I felt good, ready to go, and ready to compete.”

The “Fab 5” is good, but inexperienced Miami’s highly touted, allfreshman infield showed flashes during the opening weekend but also made rookie mistakes.

Catcher Michael Amditis, who played seven games last season before redshirting after breaking his left leg, hit .417 (5 of 12) with one double and two RBIs. The Boca Raton native also threw out two Scarlet Knights trying to steal.

Alex Toral, the No. 2 ranked freshman by

Perfect Game, connected for a home run and a double while driving in five runs in the opening series. Toral also drew three walks and was hit by a pitch, reaching base six times in his first 12 plate appearances, accounting for a .500 OBP. “Honestly, [Serafino Brito] was throwing a lot of sliders in my first at-bat,” Toral said. “I was going into my second at-bat seeing slider, and I got a good piece of it.”

The Archbishop McCarthy

product became the first Hurricane since Zack Collins in 2014 to blast a home run for his first collegiate hit and only the second Cane since 2006, when MLB All-Star Yonder Alonso accomplished the feat.

Willy Escala and Freddy Zamora flashed the leather up the middle but failed to swing the bat well. The duo combined for three hits. Raymond Gil also had a quiet series with two hits – one being a double – and six strikeouts.

Starting pitchers struggle On Opening Day, UM’s ace Jeb Bargfeldt (1-0, 1.80 ERA), an All-ACC Second Team honoree in 2017, held Rutgers to one run but did not look like himself.

“As far as command wise, I feel like it wasn’t my greatest game, but at the same time, I battled,” Bargfeldt said. “I had a changeup and an away fastball for most part of the game. For me, I have

to stay on, attacking hitters and not worrying about if I missed a pitch. It was a good one to build off of and get better every time.”

Greg Veliz (0-0, 6.00 ERA), the Canes’ highest-rated draft eligible prospect according to D1 Baseball, lacked control. The sophomore gave up two runs and issued five walks over three innings. The hard throwing right-hander got off to a rocky

start, throwing 48 pitches in the first inning.

Evan McKendry (0-1, 10.80 ERA) started off strong, striking out seven of the first 10 batters he faced. However, once Miami’s defense botched routine grounders, the wheels fell off for McKendry. The sophomore hurler surrendered seven runs – four of which were earned – and was lifted after 3 1/3 innings.

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SPORTS

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

PROFILE

Highly-ranked freshman to silence doubters

By Josh White Senior Sports Writer @_JoshRWhite

Baseball captured freshman Alex Toral’s attention from the moment he picked up his first bat.

When Toral was little, his dad had sports equipment all over the house – basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs and, of course, baseball bats.

“He said I just kept picking up the bat,” Toral said. “As soon as I started playing baseball, I loved it.”

This early passion helped the Davie, Florida, native rise into the national spotlight at Archbishop McCarthy High School.

Toral, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound first baseman, was projected to be a top-20 pick in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft heading into his senior campaign.

His strong play drew more attention from opposing teams.

Pitchers began to throw around him, choosing to hand him a free base rather than giving him a chance to hit a home run.

This lowered scouts’ interest, but it was not Toral’s fault.

“It’s very difficult to deal with high expectations,” former Archbishop McCarthy head coach Rich Bielski said. “He’s dealt with them as well as any high school kid could … I would definitely say he’s one of the

most carefully pitched players in Miami-Dade, maybe in the state of Florida.”

Toral, a three-time state champion, batted an impressive .370 his senior year and drew 26 walks but only hit one home run.

He was ranked No. 199 according to Baseball America’s top 500 draft-eligible prospects but was not drafted because his signing bonus requirements did not match the values placed by major-league teams.

After not being selected, the two-time Under Armour AllAmerican followed his childhood dream and became a Miami Hurricane.

“It obviously didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but at the same time, we’re going to do something special here,” Toral said. “Growing up, everyone wants to make it to the big leagues or play Division 1 baseball. All of us have the same goal in mind.

All of us wanted to be Miami Hurricanes growing up.”

Toral arrived at UM in July 2017 – two years after he verbally committed – and immediately made a strong impression.

“You can tell he’s a very, very focused individual,” said Miami associate head coach Gino DiMare, who is set to become the Canes’ head coach in 2019 after Jim Morris retires. “I’m sure, deep down – and he’s not going to let you or me know – he has a

Josh White // Staff Photographer SWINGING FOR THE FENCES: Freshman first baseman Alex Toral aims for his first hit as a Miami Hurricane in the season opener against Rutgers Feb. 16 at Mark LIght Field. Toral recorded no hits until the following night, when he had two hits, including a home run and a double.

chip [on his shoulder]. He wants to prove to everyone they made a big mistake.”

His work ethic has rubbed

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off on his teammates.

“Iron sharpens iron, just as one man sharpens another,” senior ace Jeb Bargfeldt said.

“That’s what these young guys have done.”

After his long-anticipated Hurricanes debut, Toral, a freshman first baseman, contributed to Miami’s 2-1 series victory over Rutgers.

“Making my Hurricane debut was something special,” Toral said. “The energy this ballpark had was just something different. I appreciate the fans out here and what they do for us.”

The rookie connected for a home run and a double while driving in five runs. Toral also drew three walks and was hit by a pitch, reaching base six times in

his first 12 plate appearances.

Toral is the No. 2 ranked freshman by Perfect Game Scouting Service, and he became the first Hurricane to blast a home run for his first collegiate hit since Zack Collins in 2014.

The two are the only Canes to accomplish the feat since MLB All-Star Yonder Alonso pulled it off in 2006.

Toral and his fellow freshmen look to accomplish something Miami hasn’t done since 2001 – win the College World Series.

“I think we have a great freshman class, maybe one of the best ever to come through this school,” Toral said. “I’ve been playing with all of these guys since I was like 10 years old. We have that chemistry.”

THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018

V’S TAKE

15

Safety matters more than rude looks in the condom aisle

Have a question for V? Email dearv@themiamihurricane.com.

V is finally getting laid again.

But after a few months of abstinence, V needed to take a trip to the store to get supplies.

Whether you’re in a relationship, single or it’s complicated, we can all agree that safe and comfortable sex is sexy.

The best place to start is aisle A36 of the Dadeland Target.

We’re talking the not-so-sexy condom aisle.

The act of buying the supplies isn’t what stresses me out; it’s the judgmental glances from the other shoppers. I don’t need

judgement from people who buy their ground beef from the same place they buy their Kindle Fire.

On this particular day, the side-eye came from a 50-something-year-old woman who was, for some reason, buying tampons. We know they aren’t for you sweetie; you’re drier than the Sahara down there.

This woman walked by me and looked at me, then the condoms, then back at me and shook her head. She looked more shocked than I did when I first saw shirtless Julio Frenk.

The only time I have been

judged harder for getting condoms was by an RA at the front desk of Hecht Residential College.

Because nothing encourages safe sex like creating a hostile condomgrabbing experience.

This made me wonder – why the stigma around buying sex supplies?

If Target made Mossimoor Merona-brand condoms, everyone would be lining up to buy them without shame. Especially Sahara-vagina lady. We definitely know she’d be there.

The snarky, judging glances will always be there, but who cares?

You’re probably never going to see these people again. And if you do, so what? You got laid!

Most adults have sex. Even Sahara lady, who is probably into some really kinky stuff. But remember, it’s best to do it safely.

A few judgmental looks in a Target now can save you from a lot of judgmental protesters outside a Planned Parenthood later. Ignore them – they’re probably jealous.

Have a question for V? Email dearv@themiamihurricane.com

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THE MIAMI HURRICANE

February 20, 2018 - February 26 , 2018