Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2022 — Technician 4/14/22

TECHNICIAN A P RIL 14, 2022

VOL . 102 | NO. 27

SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH See page 9

Contents

2 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

IN THIS ISSUE: page

03

GLBT Center holds workshop on defining, surviving interpersonal violence

WHAT YOU MISSED: A quick look at the headlines in and outside of NC State

Terquavion Smith declares for the NBA draft On April 12, freshman guard Terquavion Smith announced he will enter the 2022 NBA draft. He will be maintaining his college eligibility. He averaged 16.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game this year.

NEWS

SOURCE: WRAL SPORTSFAN

page

need more field trips 06 We in college Alpaca visits local elementary school An alpaca named Pumpkin visited a Wake County elementary school on April 12. Pumpkin visits North Carolina schools with his owner, Sue, and calmly obliges to being petted by eager students. He sat contentedly for an hour while students flocked to feel his soft fleece.

SOURCE: THE NEWS & OBSERVER

OPINION page

Wordle: Every game

08 developer’s worst

Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed to the Supreme Court

nightmare

Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the 116th associate justice on the Supreme Court on April 7, 2022 by a group of bipartisan senators. Biden nominated Jackson Feb. 25, 2022, shortly after Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement. Jackson is the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

CULTURE

SOURCE: THE WHITE HOUSE

page

12 Freshmen for Wolfpack

baseball playing key roles

Rabid fox bites congressman, eight others near U.S. capitol A fox that bit California Rep. Ami Bera and eight others near the U.S. capitol has been euthanized after testing positive for rabies. Washington D.C. animal control received several reports of the aggressive female fox before capturing it.

SOURCE: NBC NEWS

SPORTS Editor-in-Chief Jaylan Harrington

323 Witherspoon Student Center, NCSU Campus Box 7318, Raleigh, NC 27695 Editorial Advertising Fax Online

919-515-5017 919-515-2411 919-515-5133 technicianonline.com

News Editor Avery Davis

Design Editor Ann Salman

technician-editor@ncsu.edu

technician-news@ncsu.edu

Managing Editors Caryl J. Espinoza Jaen Tristan Tucker

Assistant News Editor Abigail Ali

Copy Desk Chief Allie Remhof

technician-features@ncsu.edu

Assistant Opinion Editor Mari Fabian

Assistant Culture Editor Myra Bari

Sports Editor Nicholas Schnittker

technician-managingeditor@ncsu.edu

technician-copydesk@ncsu.edu

Culture Editor Sam Overton

technician-design@ncsu.edu

Opinion Editor Shilpa Giri

technician-opinion@ncsu.edu

technician-sports@ncsu.edu

Assistant Sports Editors Wade Bowman Bryan Pyrtle Photo Editor Mollie Mitchell

technician-photo@ncsu.edu

Video Editor Chloe Allen

technician-video@ncsu.edu

Brand Manager Jonny Grigg technician-marketing@ncsu.edu

THE RADAR Events to keep an eye on for the week of April 14

CLOTHESLINE PROJECT April 13-30, All day TALLEY STUDENT UNION LOBBY Free Held by the Women’s Center in the Talley Student Union lobby throughout April, the Clothesline Project emphasizes interpersonal violence awareness and survivors’ voices. The exhibit is part of Sexual Assault Awareness month and is adapted from the nationwide Clothesline Project campaign.

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDENT ART SHARE Friday, April 15, 6-8 p.m CRAFTS CENTER Free Head to the Crafts Center on Friday for an opportunity to celebrate student art, music and fashion with the NC State Arts Entrepreneurship Program at the Interdisciplinary Student Art Share. The event will feature an outdoor drum circle with Rich Holly in addition to student artwork.

BEEKEEPING HIVE DAY Saturday, April 16, 10 a.m to 12 p.m.

AGROECOLOGY EDUCATION FARM $2 Bees are one of nature’s most fascinating creatures, and this Saturday you’ll have the opportunity to learn even more about them. Join the Beekeeper’s Club at the Agroecology Education Farm to meet some honeybees and how to keep them as part of Earth Month festivities.

EGAMES 2022 AWARDS CEREMONY Monday, April 18, 5:30-7 p.m.

STEWART THEATRE Free Whether you’re a serious gamer or not, the eGames 2022 Awards Ceremony is worth looking into. Taking place in Stewart Theatre, the event will award over $100,000 in cash, along with dinner and the chance to meet the competition’s finalists.

Technician (USPS 455-050) is the largest student newspaper of NC State University and is published every Thursday throughout the academic year from August through May except during holidays and examination periods.

Opinions expressed in the columns, cartoons, photo illustrations and letters that appear on the Technician’s pages are the views of the individual writers and cartoonists. As a public forum for student expression, the students determine the content of the publication without prior review. To receive permission for reproduction, please write the editor. Subscription cost is $100 per year. A single copy is free to all students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. Additional copies are $0.25 each. Printed by Triangle Web Printing, Durham, NC, Copyright 2022 by North Carolina State Student Media. All rights reserved.

COVER BY AMRITA MALUR

News TECHNICIAN 3 GLBT Center holds online workshop on defining, surviving interpersonal violence TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Abigail Ali

Assistant News Editor

Editor’s note: This article contains reference to interpersonal violence.

On April 12, the GLBT Center held a virtual workshop on the experiences of interpersonal and sexual violence (IPV) within the GLBT community.

The workshop included defining IPV, defining specific types of IPV, how IPV affects specific groups and more. Participants were put into breakout groups intermittently to answer given questions and discuss what they know about IPV. Andy DeRoin, assistant director at the GLBT Center, hosted the workshop. DeRoin began by defining IPV. “IPV is a pattern of behavior where one partner coerces, dominates or isolates another, and the focus is on maintaining power and control,” DeRoin said.

DeRoin said IPV can happen within all relationship types and within all communities.

“Sometimes, the societal tropes that we kind of are socialized with tell us that IPV only looks like physical or sexual violence,” DeRoin said. “Sexual violence mostly between strangers and physical violence between long-term committed partnerships. But there is a wide range of all of those. This definition of IPV, I think, is one thing I want to leave you with, that it’s able to happen in any type of relationship and does happen in our communities.”

DeRoin said signs that someone may be an IPV survivor can look similar to a person showing general signs of stress.

“Recognizing signs in survivors can look like a potential change in self-esteem,” DeRoin said. “Even if they seemed confident before, you might exhibit changes in the personality shifting from being outgoing to feeling withdrawn or appearing withdrawn, signs of anxiety, depression and suicidal

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

thoughts, experiences and stress-related problems to like more headaches, difficulty sleeping, stomach pains.”

DeRoin presented a series of statistics about IPV within the GLBT community, saying the statistics had not changed much since 2013. In specific, they pointed out that transgender survivors were 1.9 times more likely to experience physical violence, a statistic that hasn’t changed since 2013.

“I’ve updated some of our stats since then,

they’ve had negative experiences in the past.

“I’m thinking about it from a student perspective, having to out themselves as a means of discussing the violence that they have been through with people that they are not familiar with,” Moser said. “And if they have past experiences with outing themselves not going well, that trauma could carry through and they would potentially want to internalize that and not work through it again or go through that again to get the

They said people should be aware of how they feel within their relationships and there are resources available to them on campus if they want to talk to someone about them.

“I think I want people to know that if they’re feeling like they have to do something in a relationship, that it’s at least worth that question,” DeRoin said. “And that there are people on campus who are here to non-judgmentally help explore that question.”

Learn more about the GLBT Center and find out about other workshops it has planned through its website.

ABIGAIL ALI/TECHNICIAN

but this 1.9 keeps showing up especially for transgender survivors,” DeRoin said.

“I think nothing drastic has changed since 2013. This bump in derogative discrimination, harassment and violence is not something that has changed over time either.”

In one of the breakout groups during the workshop, participants were asked what kind of barriers students might face when trying to find support for IPV. Madi Moser, administrative support specialist and student services coordinator for molecular and structural biochemistry and participant at the workshop, said students may feel uncomfortable disclosing sensitive information to people they do not know, especially if

help that they need with whatever they’re dealing with.”

When this idea was later brought up again to the whole group, DeRoin said this is a hurdle students often face when seeking support.

“That is a barrier, that they have to kind of take that initiative,” DeRoin said. “It’s not something that’s readily accessible all the time. Or maybe it didn’t go the way that they wanted it to or needed it to. We’ve seen that a lot across a variety of different challenges that someone might be facing, including IPV.” DeRoin said they want people to know IPV can develop over time and escalate.

If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship violence, sexual violence, stalking or any other form of interpersonal violence and are in need of advocacy services, the NC State Women’s Center has trained advocates available to offer crisis intervention, emotional support, resources and referrals. Students can contact the 24/7 Sexual Assault Helpline at 919515-4444 or email ncsuadvocate@ ncsu.edu to schedule an appointment with an advocate.

Advocacy services through the NC State Women’s Center are available for all students inclusive of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

For more information on advocacy services, please visit go.ncsu.edu/ supportsurvivors. If you would like to talk to a confidential resource, you can also connect with the NC State Counseling Center at 919-515-2423. You may also visit go.ncsu.edu/safe for additional information on resources and reporting options.

News

4 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Student Body Officers strive to address student engagement and mental health

Emily Vespa Staff Writer

Student Government (SG) announced the results of the election for the 102nd session, including Student Senate and student body officer positions. Student participation in the election was low; there was unusually low voter turnout, and with the exception of campaigns for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) Senate seats, all positions were uncontested. Student body officers said they hope to boost student interest in SG during the upcoming session.

Miles Calzini, a doctoral candidate in chemistry and the incoming Student Senate president, said he was frustrated by the lack of student engagement in the election.

“Our elections this year, frankly, in my opinion, were a bit of a disaster,” Calzini said. “Not in the way they were run, but the fact that we only had one contested race out of the entire school and we had about 300 people vote. Three hundred out of 37,000 [eligible voters]. Normally, and this is even bad, we get about 4,000.”

Out of 65 Senate seats up for election, only 25 positions were filled. Calzini said his main goal is to fill the remaining seats through appointments.

“The only college that is filled through delegation is CHASS,” Calzini said. “Anyone from any other college, I will take their appointments and appoint them to the Senate, if they are qualified, obviously. It’s my number one goal to make sure we have contested student body officer races across the board and as many contested Senate races as pos-

sible next year, because without [participation], Student Government cannot make a name for itself, and I don’t feel that we are representative of the student body if we are just automatically granted seats.”

McKenzy Heavlin, a fourth-year studying electrical engineering, will serve a second term as student body president, and Timothy Reid, a second-year studying business administration, will serve as student body vice president. Harrison Andrews, a thirdyear studying communication and political science, will serve a second term as student body treasurer.

Reid said many students aren’t aware that SG serves an important role in representing

student interests to the University, and he hopes to make an effort to revitalize participation in SG next year.

“We plan to introduce a variety of initiatives and a variety of projects over the course of the next session to really stoke student interest,” Reid said.

In addition to improving student engagement, Heavlin said he expects to undertake projects to improve student mental health, including encouraging increased funding for the Counseling Center and promoting training for students, faculty and staff to recognize early signs of students in a mental health crisis. He said raising awareness regarding these resources is another critical

COURTESY OF NC STATE STUDENT GOVERNMENT

objective of his platform.

Heavlin and Reid also hope to support efforts to enhance the student experience, primarily through encouraging renovations for Witherspoon Student Center.

“Witherspoon is really a vital hub of student life here at NC State,” Reid said. “It houses the Nubian Message, Technician, African American Cultural Center, we have first-year classes there, University Activities Board-sponsored activities, but it’s also one of the older structures on campus. The University has looked at this issue in the past and drawn up plans for renovation but they just haven’t been implemented. So really just focusing the spotlight on that and advocating for that renovation because that’s something that the student body definitely serves to benefit from.”

Heavlin said he encourages students to participate in SG and voice their concerns to administration.

“Showing up to meetings — even just showing up to listen — is a huge step and speaks a lot to University admin,” Heavlin said. “Seeing more students get engaged in those opportunities, seeking them out, I think is really important. The onus is on both parties. We’re going to do a lot better, and everything in our power, to advertise to students, but I’m asking students to find the time to do that. It’s really difficult for us to do our jobs well when students don’t participate on their end.”

Visit the Student Government website to learn how to apply for a vacant Senate seat.

NC State, Folger Shakespeare Library conduct digital humanities seminar Avery Davis News Editor

In a collaboration that has been in the works since before the pandemic, NC State Libraries and the English department teamed up with the Folger Shakespeare Library to hold a virtual seminar focusing on digital humanities. The seminar titled “Out of the Archives, Digital Projects as Early Modern Research” was conducted March 10-12.

According to Margaret Simon, an associate professor in the English department and a facilitator of the event, NC State is a consortium member of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Because of this, NC State gets access to special programming, research seminars and archives. Christopher Crosbie, an as-

sociate professor in the English department, serves as the University’s Folger liaison.

Simon said the application to have NC State host a seminar with the Folger was a competitive one, with many other consortium universities applying to host as well.

When deciding what the focus of the seminar would be, Simon said she wanted to highlight the unique strengths and resources NC State has.

“We have a lot of scholars here working in what’s called digital humanities,” Simon said. “So that’s where you’re thinking about how you can bring together literature, data and digital technologies. We have a lot of scholars here that are doing really cool work in that, and so I kind of thought, ‘Well, maybe we should have a seminar that actually focuses on digital humanities projects and

thinks about how we can leverage technology to think differently about literature.’”

The seminar consisted of a keynote speaker and various sessions through the weekend. Simon said the keynote speaker, Anupam Basu, an assistant professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, is doing work directly related to the focus of the seminar.

“Our keynote speaker was Anupam Basu, and he really fits in with that coming together of literature, big data and digital technologies,” Simon said. “He is basically working with the whole corpus of Shakespeare’s work to think through language change in the period and to make these really amazing visualizations. His keynote, which was very publicized by the library and really was a co-production of the [NC

State] libraries, the English department and the Folger, was open to the public.”

Taylor Wolford, a special collections librarian at NC State Libraries, said she wanted to attend the seminar to learn more about how the library can be involved with digital humanities.

“What I was most interested in is how librarians and library spaces can play a role in digital humanities projects,” Wolford said.

“I really wanted to learn firsthand from faculty and consortium members what role librarians would play in providing services, instruction or perhaps digital humanities tools for scholars working on projects so that they can engage with scholarly topics in new and surprising ways.”

Wolford said she enjoyed the hands-on activities that seminar participants were

News TECHNICIAN 5 New research project uncovers sometimes problematic history of campus namesakes TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

Heidi Reid Staff Writer

Brick Layers is an NC State research project investigating the history and namesake of the built environment of campus. The origins of the names of landmarks such as Dan Allen Drive, Tompkins Hall, Poe Hall and other places students go every day are included in the research.

Tammy Gordon, a professor of history and former director of public history, was asked by the Office of the Chancellor to lead the research.

“I worked with a few people on the chancellor’s team, and the chancellor funded the project,” Gordon said. “The idea was to just find out more about the built environment at the campus, because there were a lot of questions, particularly about Daniels Hall and the Hill Library. People wanted to know a little bit about the namesakes, so the chancellor asked us to find out more.”

According to Gordon, the sites researched for this project were selected based on a student survey and assessments of which namesake may no longer reflect the values endorsed by the University today.

Daniels Hall, now called 111 Lampe Drive, was formerly named after white supremacist Josephus Daniels. Hill Library is named after Daniel Harvey Hill Jr., one of the first faculty at NC State. The library’s full name was updated in 2019 to reflect that it was not named after his father Daniel Harvey Hill, a Confederate general.

“We also hoped that we could provide some information that would help policymakers and decision makers at the University,” Gordon said. “It’s always important when you’re trying to solve a problem to look at how that problem started in the able to take part in.

“We did a really fantastic workshop in the seminar where we were tasked with interpreting the output of an early modern recipe from the original text,” Wolford said. “My group had a fantastic time making a live stream cooking show of us recreating an early modern recipe using modern tools that we had on hand in our home. It was a fantastic thought experiment in how we can modernize historical knowledge and historical topics while still conveying the original intent of the creator.”

Julie Mell, an associate professor in the history department, said she went into the seminar with an open mind, ready to learn about an aspect of the humanities she didn’t have much experience in.

“I’m a medieval historian, so I really love the mix of the hypermodern with medieval and the kind of the juxtaposition that that creates,” Mell said. “But this was more just wanting to see how other humanists are thinking about digital sites, digital humanities, and the sort of the practices that we’re

GRAPHIC BY EZEKIEL SNYDER

first place. And so looking at the context of the University’s history, it can help us understand why university buildings are named after people that might not reflect our values today. That’s what we do as historians as we want people to understand their relationship to the past and how the past shapes the present, the University that we have built today.”

According to Allana Natanson, an NC State alum and Gordon’s former research assistant, the first time the archives mention somebody explicitly calling the road Dan Allen Drive was in 1940.

“They were going through and naming a whole bunch of buildings and spaces on campus then,” Natanson said. “[Dan Allen] was a member of the board of trustees of the college, and in context, all of the other buildings that they had also named they decided to name after alumni.” all engaging in.”

Simon said she is excited about the future of digital humanities at NC State.

“If you have a whole digitized collection of everything that was printed, between 1400 and 1700, you can ask really different research questions than you can ask when you’re just looking at a single book,” Simon said. “So I think for scholars, it’s very exciting. I think for the general public and for students, having texts that are high quality and that are digitized and having tools to explore them, creates access for people who maybe can’t go to the Folger Shakespeare Library and poke around in the collections that they have. So it can really help folks be able to access those spaces in an interesting way.”

The D.H. Hill Jr. Library is displaying an “Out of the Archives” exhibit in the Innovation Studio curated by Paul Broyles, Kelsey Dufresne and Erin Willett to make some of the artifacts more accessible to the general public. The exhibit is open until May 1.

According to Gordon, the University chose to name buildings after people they felt reflected the students, faculty and administration’s beliefs at the time, and these namesakes are not necessarily reflective of the University’s values now.

“Dan Allen was a supporter of the University, he was a philanthropist, and the University at the time thought he represented their values,” Gordon said. “He was also a member of what was called the White Supremacy Club. He and many other university founders believed wholeheartedly in white supremacy, and that’s not a label that we attached to them, that’s a label that they embraced for themselves. They were proud of advocating for what they call the AngloSaxon race, as were many people in power in North Carolina and around the United States at this time. They were probably more typical of white men in power at the time.”

Gordon said we should all be learning more about the history of those honored around campus, because many familiar names have pasts similar to Dan Allen’s.

“Every one of us should be using University Archives to know about the history of the people who are honored on our buildings,” Gordon said. “But known white supremacists, people who were architects of segregation, are not worth honoring, and I think they constitute what some people refer to as an environmental microaggression. But again, as a historian, my job is not to judge any of this, it’s just to come up with the primary sources and then put them in context with what we know about history. So I would hope that people who are in decision-making capacity, consider the full history of the University and not just the parts that make us feel good.”

Natanson said she would like to see Dan Allen Drive have a different name but doesn’t think we should completely remove this history or the University’s culpability.

“I think we still need to have an acknowledgement that it was called at one point Dan Allen Drive and that the University thought that Dan Allen’s actions were worthy of honoring,” Natanson said. “And I think the other thing we need to think about is what are the systemic issues of the University, systemic inequities of the University that can be or that need to be addressed and can’t be paved over by just renaming it. Are we going to take action besides just giving the road a new name?”

Visit the Brick Layers website here: https://bricklayers.history.ncsu.edu/

MOLLIE MITCHELL/TECHNICIAN

Out of the Archives exhibit is located in Innovation Studios at D.H. Hill Jr. Library on Thursday, April 7, 2022. The exhibit was part of the Out of the Archives Seminar held by NC State and Folger Shakespeare Library.

Opinion

6 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

We need more field trips in college

Field trips are somet h i n g e v e r y s t u d e nt looked forward to growing up. The excitement of getting out of the classroom for a different kind of learning environment Emily was unmatched and creCooney ated many lasting memoStaff Columnist ries. Unfortunately, the amount of field trips lessened as we grew old, and are particularly scarce in college.

I’ve had the opportunity to go on two field trips throughout my college career thus far and believe they greatly enhanced my understanding of class material and my overall satisfaction with the class.

Additionally, with so many great career opportunities near campus and in the Triangle area, we should be able to see what our possible future careers would look like before we graduate.

The first field trip I went on was for a creative writing class, ENG 287: Explorations in Creative Writing. We went to the Gregg Museum of Art & Design to find art pieces that inspired us for our poem writing unit. The change of pace from sitting in the classroom to walking over to the museum as a class and finding art that spoke to us was more than refreshing.

Although this was more of a recreational rather than career-focused field trip, it shows the value field trips can have for almost any class.

The second field trip I went on was for Methods and Techniques of Span-

ish Tra nslat ion a nd I nter pret at ion (FL S 400) class this semester. We recently went to the Wake County Justice Center in downtown Raleigh to watch Spanish interpreters at work in the courtroom and then asked them questions as a group.

It was an eye opening experience to see what this job would be like in real life, rather than discussing it in a classroom setting. Some of the people in my class are now planning on pursuing it as a possible career and know the exact steps it would take to get there from the interpreters we spoke with.

This kind of experience could be the reality for so many classes of all majors at NC State. Professors could take advantage of the substantial amount of big name companies whose headquarters or office locations are close to campus and show students what different careers could look like in action. For example we have Biogen, SAS Institute, Red Hat, Epic Games and so much more all less than 30 minutes away.

Field trips

Pearl Knight, staff cartoonist Third-year studying art and design

Plus, these companies align with countless majors and professions including scientific researchers, software engineers, creative content writers and video game designers, just to name a few.

Thinking back to classes that pertained to my personal career aspiration of becoming a journalist like media writing, I would have loved to visit perhaps WRAL

across the street from campus or The News & Observer in downtown Raleigh.

There is something special about field trips no one can deny and they offer even more benefits to college students. It’s time we make them a priority in college to enhance learning experiences and help students visualize themselves in possible future careers.

A new Starbucks is sorely needed on campus

Out of all the Grubhub lines on campus, none take the crown like the Starbucks at Talley Student Union. Ordering from here can sometimes feel like shopping on Black Lauren Richards Friday, but instead of the best deals, you’re comStaff Columnist peting for a caffeine fix.

If you’re not camping for the Grubhub doors to open, you may end up waiting hours for a coffee that should take minutes to make.

NC State is the largest university in North Carolina, home to over 35,000 students and thousands more faculty and staff. With such a large student population, not to mention all the visitors that pass through, it’s high time NC State considered adding another Starbucks location on campus.

While Starbucks customers and their needs are important, they aren’t the only ones who would benefit from another oncampus site. Every day, Starbucks employees face the herculean task of filling every

order, from both Grubhub and in-person customers. A new location would relieve some of the stress for baristas and allow these individuals to have much needed rest.

This move will not only reduce employee stress but also improve job performance. In one study, researchers found that employees who reported higher levels of stress were less productive than those with lower amounts of stress. Because employee satisfaction is positively correlated with customer satisfaction, and thus profitability, an additional Starbucks would result in greater monetary benefits.

Moreover, having multiple locations of the same restaurant isn’t a new concept for NC State. For instance, there are six Port City Javas scattered throughout campus.

With a Port City Java in every brick-filled corner, a second Starbucks doesn’t seem like a big ask.

In fact, there are several universities in North Carolina with two Starbucks locations. Among those universities are UNCWilmington, East Carolina University, and Western Carolina University. Because

NC State has a much larger student population than these institutions, it makes more sense for our campus to have another Starbucks.

Some may argue NC State doesn’t need a new Starbucks as one recently opened on Hillsborough Street. Although this location is convenient for many students, especially those who don’t have meal plans, it isn’t useful for those who do. Because a significant proportion of students on campus have a meal plan, another oncampus site will allow students to utilize their meal swipes without having to spare extra money or time.

Because NC State is a large university, there are multiple suitable places for a new Starbucks. Some potential candidates include popular dining locations such as the Atrium or the Oval on Centennial Campus. Another possible solution is to replace one of the several Port City Javas on campus.

Although an additional Starbucks would be beneficial for all, there are other measures we can currently take to reduce the high demand on Starbucks employ-

ees. One way is to order from other coffee spots on campus. One of my personal favorites is Hill of Beans Café at D.H. Hill Library. There is virtually no wait, and the coffee will fill your caffeine needs as any Starbucks drink (the chai latte is one of my go-tos).

However, if you insist on having your Pink Drink, please remember to be respectful to the baristas. As an employee in food service, I know the panic that comes with an onslaught of Grubhub tickets and the ensuing rush to complete every last order. The employees at Starbucks are working hard to ensure each customer’s needs are met, so keep that in mind whenever you go to place an order.

With over $2.1 billion raised from the Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign, there’s no doubt in my mind NC State has the capacity to add another dining facility on campus. If NC State truly wants the best for their students, another Starbucks should be on the list of future endeavors. I’m sure both students and employees will agree — there’s no other color that compliments red more than green.

TECHNICIAN 7

Opinion TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Sam Overton Culture Editor

Public transit in Raleigh sucks

&

Mariana Fabian Assistant Opinion Editor

The public transport situation in and around downtown Raleigh is the bane of every nondriver’s existence. While places near the downtown areas of cities like Charlotte and Raleigh have a better public transportation system, once you are closer to NC State’s campus, getting anywhere without a car is next to impossible.

NC State was recently named one of the “Best Universities for Commuters,” an accolade that doesn’t surprise us but doesn’t say much about Raleigh’s care for pedestrians or disabled commuters. Although the University does provide students, staff and faculty with a number of alternative transportation options, the bulk of those rely on a car or van. The options which don’t — walking, biking, local transit, Lime scooters — have numerous problems that are yet to be fixed.

Take the Wolfline, for example. Between staff shortages, never-ending construction causing convoluted routes and TransLoc, a largely ineffective app, sometimes it’s just easier to suck it up and make the 30-minute trek to class. Don’t get us wrong — we have utmost respect for the bus drivers who shuttle around hundreds of

college students on a daily basis — but the problems which exist outside of staff shortages are impossible to ignore. TransLoc’s predecessor, Rider, was much preferred by students and limited several of the problems students have with Transloc today — misnamed routes, glitches, inaccurate stop times and the like.

GoRaleigh isn’t much better, either. With its schedules governed by the same horrific app, bus stops are still a half-hour to an hour apart for the bulk of the routes. There are a few exceptions here and there, but nothing that’s close to campus. Plus, there are only a few GoTriangle routes that actually reach campus — for example, the Avent Ferry/Buck Jones Connector, which can only really take you as far as Athens Drive High School and Tryon Road, a mere eight-minute drive for those with cars.

Let’s say you decide to walk or bike downtown instead of trying your luck with Wolfline and GoRaleigh. Even if you’re up for the half-hour, miles-long trek into the heart of downtown Raleigh, you’re likely to run into construction along the way.

Whether it be NC State’s “Power Forward” upgrade or a hint of scaffolding outside a high-rise, it’s oftentimes unclear where pedestrians are meant to go in lieu of their normal route. Furthermore, that alternative passage can be littered with construction leftovers — glass, broken pavement and other odd components — which can be merely inconvenient for abled commuters, but downright dangerous for those who use a wheelchair to get around.

One popular area with very few extended

crosswalks is the intersections of Avent Ferry near Trailwood Drive and Varsity Drive. If you drive to campus from an off-campus apartment on a daily basis, the discrepancies of this road are all too common. There aren’t only terrible sidewalks, but also extreme potholes and no defined or clear bike lanes. Every time we drive down Avent Ferry Road, there are many pedestrians who rush across the street against oncoming traffic — in which they have no choice. There are only crosswalks at the stoplights and many students and pedestrians use them efficiently; however, there are not crosswalks everywhere, and not all drivers are cooperative in stopping for pedestrians.

It doesn’t help much either that downtown Raleigh’s R-Line has been temporarily suspended, or that Lime scooters are dangerous, expensive and fail to work half the time anyway, cutting off the two remaining transportation options for pedestrians and commuters. But these were never concrete solutions to begin with — without a safe, reliable public transit system and accessible options for pedestrians walking to and from their destinations, we can hardly call Raleigh a metropolitan area which thrives on public transportation.

Granted, any sort of permanent fix will take decades to implement, if not longer. A comprehensive state rail plan was unveiled by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) in 2015, but we’ve yet to see the effects of that really take hold.

That being said, there’s plenty that can be done in the short-term to optimize Raleigh’s public transportation accessibility on a small

Comet’s kingdom

Pearl Knight, staff cartoonist Third-year studying art and design

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

scale. At a school where the number of engineers and computer scientists is ever-increasing, wwe think somebody can finally code an app that’s much easier to use. Even if the improvements come from an organization outside of NC State, there’s plenty to be done: improving location accuracy and enhancing the UI design across the board, to name a few. This isn’t an NC State-specific issue, either — TransLoc inconveniences students across the country.

An update is sorely needed.

Finally, there’s plenty the city of Raleigh and NCDOT can do to aid pedestrians who get around with a wheelchair. Potholes and broken pavement on the sidewalks and in between intersections should be fixed before minor bumps in the road, that’s not too much to ask for. A driver can oftentimes swerve to avoid the possibility of damaging their tires, but wheelchair users are subject to much more damage when approaching a large slab of cracked pavement or a curb with no ramp to get onto the sidewalk.

Public transit in and around Raleigh is absolutely appalling for those who don’t have access to their own car — which, sadly, is pretty much a luxury given the state of the car market today.

Just because public transit is in a worse state in several metropolitan areas doesn’t mean Raleigh gets away scot-free. Sporadic bus schedules, hefty construction and shoddy sidewalk fixes aren’t nearly enough. NCDOT, do better.

GRAPHICS BY ANN SALMAN

Culture 8 TECHNICIAN Wordle: Every game developer’s worst nightmare THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Myra Bari

Assistant Culture Editor

Characterized by distinctive yellow and green boxes, Wordle has a simple premise.

Each player has six chances per day to guess a five letter word. After each try, colorful tiles indicate whether or not the letters are in the word or correct position.

According to an article written by the New York Times, creator John Wardle initially designed the game to play with his wife, eventually sharing it with his family via a group chat, and then releasing it in October 2021. Wordle rapidly rose in popularity, from a meager 90 players a month after release to more than 300,000 in January 2022.

NC State Mobile Gaming Research Lab Director Adriana de Souza e Silva said Wordle is best categorized as a “casual game.” Defined by a low time commitment and often shorter periods of gameplay, casual games are played in between the swing of daily life. “[Casual games] are in opposition to hardcore games — a step away from video games for consoles like Nintendo or PS4 or where you sit in front of a computer … dedicating hours and hours into a narrative based game,” de Souza e Silva said. “Casual games often don’t have a specific narrative — they’re just about different things — but they might take a lot of time as well. They don’t require you to stop doing other things in life. You can be waiting in the supermarket line and be playing the game, or you can be on public transportation and playing the game.”

Community is perhaps the most important part of a mobile game. Bonding with other players over commonalities in gameplay is a hugely rewarding experience, and sharing that is an optimal way to promote community growth.

The Wordle subreddit has over 27,000 members, and almost every Twitter user has at least one mutual who posts their daily Wordle results. Wordle’s Twitter post feature in particular has invaded everyone’s timeline each morning, a source of intrigue for users who have never heard of Wordle.

“I think it’s addictive because everyone’s doing the same word on the same day and everyone’s posting these very subtle hints about how many tries it took them to get to the correct word,” said Emma Stanley, a graduate student studying communication who works at the Mobile Gaming Research Lab. “I feel like there’s this sort of shared anxiety and frustration across social media with regard to that, and people collectively not getting a word on a certain day, or people thinking a certain word is easy.

Or people talking about words that they’ve never even heard at all.”

Despite its overwhelming success, Wordle’s game design isn’t cutting-edge.

Inspired by games from the early days of

the internet, Wordle is built entirely from early scripting and programming languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Barring the New York Times sidebar, Wordle’s website is free from advertising of any sort, a rare occurrence when it comes to gaming nowadays. Gameplay is constrained to six outlined rows and follows user experience guidelines.

Colin Keenan, a University Libraries specialist for Immersive Technologies, suggested ease of access might be the reason for Wordle’s start as a website rather than a mobile app.

“I am a web game developer … and I think Wordle is like one of the great meteoric success stories of what we’ve been describing to people,” Keenan said. “Everyone knows how a URL works — you give someone a URL, and they know what to do with it.

All these devices [and] the web are already highly interoperable, and the hurdling between Android, iOS, desktop, smart fridge, tablet. … I think that’s a massive part of its reach.”

Wordle was entirely open-sourced until the New York Times bought the game in an unprecedented move back in late January. The payout was controversial, to say the least, with plenty of road bumps along the way, from players accusing the New York Times of more difficult solutions to a brandnew WordleBot added a few days ago.

The New York Times acquisition of Wordle has undoubtedly been a strategic decision, as Wordle fits in perfectly amongst their other games, most notably their famous crossword puzzle. Crossword puzzles have always been relegated to the back page,

GRAPHIC BY ANN SALMAN

GRAPHIC BY SHRADDHA MISHRA

a game for anyone to pass the time to.

According to a NiemanLab article, “The New York Times sneered, calling [crossword puzzles] ‘a familiar form of madness.’”

It’s ironic to see Wordle being bought out by an acclaimed newspaper like the New York Times, as similar games were the subject of such contempt a century ago. “​​I think another thing that makes Wordle more appealing than a crossword puzzle is that it has what we might call a very ‘low barrier to entry,’” said Robyn Hope, a graduate student studying communication. “In crossword puzzles, they expect you to have historical knowledge, scientific knowledge — you have to know all this trivia. But to play Wordle, all you have to know is how to

speak English, basically. And so it makes it much more accessible to like a much broader audience.”

Wordle seems unassuming, but it’s sparked an entire genre of its own. Heardle, Worldle and Quordle have all capitalized on Wordle’s captivated audience and found their own niche. And that’s the message that Wordle has so clearly shown.

Games that have dedicated fan bases aren’t just unique, they give a perspective on the day-to-day that players can’t get enough of. Wordle isn’t even that clever — it was simply in the right place at the right time, and aspiring game developers should take note.

TECHNICIAN 9 Predictable yet entertaining: ‘Bridgerton’ season two provides drama-filled plotline

Culture TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

Esme Chiara Correspondent

Regency-era “Gossip Girl” is back, delivering another season filled with lavish balls, classical renditions of pop songs and heaping piles of high-society drama. The highly anticipated second season of “Bridgerton” dropped on Netflix March 25, promising considerable scandal. The show somewhat succeeds, trading most of last season’s steamy scenes for stronger character growth and development.

This season, based on the second book in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, “The Viscount Who Loved Me,” focuses on the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony, and his attempts to find a suitable bride.

Anthony, who found his heart broken by opera singer Siena Rosso at the conclusion of season one, is now sporting less prominent sideburns and a more angsty attitude.

He finally agrees to find a wife but vows to remove love from the equation, instead focusing on his bride-to-be’s intellectual and childbearing potential that is expected of the next viscountess.

This is where Kate Sharma comes in. As the daughter of deceased Indian clerk Mr. Sharma and English Lady Mary Sheffield Sharma — or is she? — Kate is the Elizabeth Bennet to Anthony’s Mr. Darcy. Their intense gazes and witty banter seems taken out of the 2005 Keira Knightley adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.” At one point, Anthony even has a lake scene similar to Colin Firth’s in the 1995 miniseries adaptation of the classic.

As a result, it isn’t surprising the chemistry between Kate and Anthony is obvious to everyone around them except Kate’s gentler, younger sister Edwina, who ends up engaged to Anthony instead. The love triangle between Kate, Anthony and Edwina is predictable from the beginning, causing Anthony and Kate’s storyline to drag on a

GRAPHIC BY AVERY SZAKACS

bit too long in some of the later episodes.

However, this doesn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining to watch. I found myself hanging onto every word from Kate and Edwina simply because I thought they were interesting additions to the cast. Edwina has perhaps the most surprising development this season; she balances the role of Queen Charlotte’s diamond this season, yet discovers who she really is in the process.

Kate is a classic example of a headstrong woman stuck in the wrong century, but she still retains a softness reserved for those she cares for.

Kate’s backstory also parallels Anthony’s; both are selfless older siblings with deceased fathers who shoulder the burden of caring for their families. This dynamic makes for a much more meaningful romance than the one Daphne formed with the Duke of Hastings, Simon, last season.

I did not mourn the departure of RegéJean Page from the show, as I didn’t really

care about Simon’s storyline with Daphne.

Daphne wasn’t given nearly enough backstory or character development as Anthony or even Simon. In season two, she gets little to no further backstory, relegated to her role as a duchess and a mother.

Another interesting storyline revolves around Anthony’s younger sister, Eloise, and her first season being out in society.

Eloise is about as awkward and defiant as I expected. She doesn’t let her new status keep her from her ongoing quest to discover the elusive gossip writer Lady Whistledown’s identity. In fact, Eloise takes her investigation even further this season, briefly taking us away from the world of the “ton” and into the working class.

We, of course, already know that Lady Whistledown is none other than Eloise’s best friend, Penelope Featherington. Penelope is perhaps my favorite character on the show, and this season sees her struggle to keep her identity a secret while still pub-

lishing her paper. Penelope’s intelligence combined with her wallflower capabilities make her a perfect opponent for the queen, who is still hellbent on taking Lady Whistledown, well, down.

It’s also still heartbreaking to watch Penelope interact with the third-oldest Bridgerton sibling, Colin, whom she has a major crush on. She and Colin clearly care for one another deeply, and this season made it even more evident to me that they share similar dreams and would make a lovely couple.

However, Penelope’s storyline was the only Featherington storyline I was really invested in. After the death of gambling addict and all-around bad husband Lord Archibald Featherington last season, Lady Portia Featherington is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Lord Featherington, who has inherited the family estate and all its debts.

This scheme-filled storyline establishes the fact that Portia is way smarter than her deceased husband ever was, but I still found it tiresome when there were better stories already going on. Portia’s other daughters, Prudence and Philippa, are still annoying and kind of forgettable.

If we’re to go by Quinn’s books, then the next season should focus on Benedict Bridgerton, the artsy second oldest brother who spends his time at art school this season.

However, while there is some setup for a Benedict-focused story, Colin also has a compelling case for being the next main character. Even Shonda Rhimes, who serves as one of the executive producers for “Bridgerton,” indicated the possibility of the show going out of book order.

Though I still maintain mixed feelings about “Bridgerton” and will probably not rewatch the first two seasons, I still appreciate the upward trajectory the show is going in. I have somewhat high hopes for season three, no matter who the writers choose to focus on.

Women’s Center hosts events throughout April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month Ashley Van Havere Correspondent

Editor’s Note: This article contains reference to sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking and interpersonal violence.

In collaboration with other campus organizations, the Women’s Center will host events, trainings and workshops through-

out the month of April on campus to spread awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

According to the Women’s Center’s website, Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) is a national attempt to bring attention to interpersonal violence on college campuses. Throughout April, the Women’s Center will be holding various events to help

raise awareness regarding sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, sexual harassment and stalking.

Alexis Jackson, interpersonal violence response coordinator for the Women’s Center, provides direct support to students who are survivors, provides temporary emergency housing for survivors and works as the team lead for the Clothesline Project.

“The Clothesline Project’s goal, mainly, is to break silence of sexual violence,”Jackson said. “It’s a visual display that we put on in Talley [Student Union] as well as other campus community centers: the Women’s Center, The [African American Cultural Center], [Multicultural Student Affairs],

CENTER continued page 10

Culture

10 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Front yard rock rager venue The Trailer Park, provides accessible community, quality music Jameson Wolf Staff Writer

On occasional Friday nights, Adrian Campbell’s front yard transforms into an indie rock oasis buzzing with an aura of endless possibility. Hundreds of college students drive to his house 15 minutes south of NC State’s campus, park up and down the neighborhood streets and pack into the sloping grassy amphitheater to watch local indie groups perform on the front porch.

The Trailer Park concerts walk the line between house shows and venue events, maintaining the intimacy and familiarity of smaller gigs while drawing in numbers rivaling Pour House.

The space was born in September 2021 when Adrian Campbell, a fourth-year studying mechanical engineering, hosted a housewarming show which inadvertently led to one booking after another. According to Campbell, The Trailer Park was born from the virtue of a perfect location and a need for a relaxed and accessible environment for bands and students alike. It eventually attracted over 800 people for a single show.

COURTESY OF AUSTIN CAMPBELL

the Building a Trauma-Informed Practice for Faculty and Staff Virtual Event on April 26. For more information on these events and more taking place this month, visit the Women’s Center calendar on the NC State website.

AMRITA MALUR/TECHNICIAN

The Clothesline Project is displayed in Talley Student Union on Monday, April 11, 2022. The initiative, held by NC State’s Women’s Center, raised awareness about sexual violence during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The Clothesline Project features those who decide to share their experience through art on t-shirts.

CENTER

GLBT Center and the Office for Violence continued from page 9 Prevention and Threat Management. The Clothesline Project visual displays will be hanging in each office during the entire month of April.”

Campus organizations hosting T-shirt making will be in the AACC in Witherspoon 355 from April 11-15, MSA in Talley from April 18-22, and the Women’s Center in Talley from April 25-29. The T-shirt making will take place during the center’s office hours — typically 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and all supplies are provided.

“The T-shirts [are] created by survivors of violence or someone who supports someone or knows someone in honor of that violence

that has been experienced,” Jackson said.

This visual display contains a line of different colored T-shirts that all represent something with each color, in order to raise awareness on campus. The pink shirts stand for adult sexual assault, yellow represents relationship violence, blue indicates childhood sexual abuse and incest, gray is for survivors of stalking, purple tees represent violence experienced for sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and lastly, the white shirts represent lives lost to sexual or relationship violence.

Michelle Burden, director of events for Movement Peer Educators, has the role of working with the center’s Candies, Condoms and Consent events and the Take Back the Night event. Take Back the Night took

place Tuesday, April 12 and provided an opportunity for the campus to come together in support of interpersonal violence survivors. Across the board, Burden encourages students to show up and get involved with the Women’s Center’s events throughout April.

“As far as getting involved students can just show up, it’s as simple as that,” Burden said. “There will be lots of different tables for different campus community groups for [students] to go interact with and get involved.”

Other events taking place this month include the Sexual Assault Survivor Expressive Arts Therapy on April 13, the Interpersonal Violence in the South Asian Community workshop on April 20 and

If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship violence, sexual violence, stalking or any other form of interpersonal violence and are in need of advocacy services, the NC State Women’s Center has trained advocates available to offer crisis intervention, emotional support, resources and referrals. Students can contact the 24/7 Sexual Assault Helpline at 919-515-4444 or email ncsuadvocate@ncsu.edu to schedule an appointment with an advocate.

Advocacy services through the NC State Women’s Center are available for all students inclusive of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

For more information on advocacy services, please visit go.ncsu.edu/supportsurvivors. If you would like to talk to a confidential resource, you can also connect with the NC State Counseling Center at 919-515-2423. You may also visit go.ncsu.edu/safe for additional information on resources and reporting options.

TECHNICIAN 11

Culture TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

“I just was pushing the boundary of what I could get away with, and it seems it just grew in size exponentially,” Campbell said. “Then eventually, I don’t know, I kind of woke up one day and it happened to be the size that it was. I didn’t try and stop anything and I was arguably kind of foolish to be like, ‘Yeah, let’s keep going’.”

Adrian’s brother Austin Campbell, a second-year studying communication, serves as the PR representative, in-house photographer and his brother’s right-hand man. He attributes much of the atmosphere maintained at The Trailer Park to Adrian Campbell’s hosting.

“He finds it embarrassing, but for a while he used to walk around at the concerts and be like ‘I’m Jay Gatsby,’” Austin Campbell said. “These are his soirees.”

Adrian Campbell does have a Gatsbyof-the-trailer-park presence at the shows, floating around the crowd putting out fires as things arise.

“My biggest contribution I think is just general bravery,” Adrian Campbell said. “Just the belief that it will be okay and telling everyone ‘No guys, it’s fine, don’t worry.’”

One of Adrian’s main goals in hosting the shows is to create a community for musicians and students, particularly those students who have had trouble finding their niche amongst such a large student body.

“After transferring from UNC-W during [the pandemic], I was very alone and I didn’t have a community, so I made one instead,” Adrian Campbell said. “I think it’s the only reason I have friends really. The general crowd that I draw is just like mostly all kids that have nothing else to do or don’t feel like they fit in. I’m just trying to build a community.”

Both brothers note that an interesting facet of The Trailer Park’s success has been seeing who the shows attract. Through what Adrian Campbell describes as a laissez-faire marketing approach, relying mostly on word of mouth, the shows display an interesting social microcosm of who knows who across campus.

“Interestingly, with the people who have been attracted to The Trailer Park as is — we were kind of going for the indie-alt crowd for the most part, because that’s how we as brothers identify as people,” Austin Campbell said. “But it seems like there’s a wider variety than we ever took. Lots of Greek life people have shown up. I guess it feels like an open environment for NC State students.

Seeing who’s actually friends with who, it’s fascinating.”

No matter the crowd, Adrian Campbell holds the bands he hosts as central to The Trailer Park’s success. He describes a strip that stretches across the state from Boone,

Save it for a rainy day

Avery Szakacs, staff cartoonist First-year studying art and design

North Carolina to Wilmington which holds a rich community of musicians. Raleigh’s central location in the state makes it a reasonable distance for most NC bands to travel to for a single show.

In naming the space, Adrian Campbell emphasized the accessibility that he wanted to create.

“As far as the venue goes, Adrian has really kind of incentivized the whole bandfirst mentality,” Austin Campbell said. “He wants the performers to have a good time, and then anything that comes afterwards is secondary.”

In naming the space, Adrian Campbell emphasized the accessibility that he wanted to create.

“I do live in a double-wide trailer,” Adrian Campbell said. “It’s just two trailers glued together with a porch. It’s almost ironic, in a way. I feel like people historically would not

be attracted to going to a trailer park, and I just want to flip it on its head and be like this is actually something inviting and fun.

Maybe it will remodel [people’s] perception of what the lower class can produce.”

As the space continues to grow in popularity, requiring the installation of a porta-potty and creating traffic slow downs on Google Maps and Waze, Adrian Campbell is doing everything he can to put off having to transition to a more structured venue operation. He wants to maintain the casual and welcoming atmosphere for as long as possible. “[Adrian is] this entrepreneur with this engineer’s sense of problem solving,” Austin Campbell said. “He doesn’t really ever identify something as a problem because he’s already trying to come up with the solutions.”

Moving forward, Adrian Campbell plans to continue booking shows as he has been. “[The shows are] rather inconsistent, which I think makes it exciting,” Adrian Campbell said. “I want it to feel like, ‘Well, I haven’t been to The Trailer Park in a few months. What’s going on?’ And then it’s the biggest show you’ve ever seen. It’s like quality versus quantity.”

Follow @trailerparkbands on Instagram for upcoming events.

Wolfprint or witchcraft

Emma Reid, staff cartoonist First-year in exploratory studies

Sports

12 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Freshmen for Wolfpack baseball playing key roles

Will Thornhill Staff Writer

The NC State baseball team is at the halfway point of its ACC season and is sitting at 19-11 and 7-7 in ACC play. The Wolfpack has had some key freshmen step up this year all across the diamond. If NC State wants to make a run at Omaha, Nebraska as it did a year ago, these players will play key roles.

Freshman first baseman/designated hitter Tommy White The power hitter better known as “Tommy Tanks” took the college baseball world by storm during the first two weeks of the season. Everyone knew he would cool down and not hit a home run every game, but he is still putting up absurd numbers for a freshman in the ACC. White sits in third place in the conference with 13 home runs while boasting a .336 batting average. White also leads the team by far with 40 RBIs, which is sixth in the ACC. Expect White to continue to bring his production and swagger to Doak Field as we enter the second half of the season.

Freshman shortstop Payton Green Being thrown in as the starting shortstop as a freshman can be a lot. Green, who has started all 30 games, has taken it in stride.

Green is batting .252 and has shown some power, hitting four home runs.

Green has proven to be a clutch batter as he has 27 RBIs on the season, which sits only below White for best on the team. Alongside senior second baseman J.T. Jarrett, the middle infield at Doak Field is a great rookie and veteran duo.

Freshman catcher Jacob Cozart Starting 22 games behind the plate, Cozart has been a good defensive catcher. He has 23 assists on the season thanks to a really strong arm.

Cozart has not caught on as quickly offensively, hitting just .228 with nine RBIs. However, he had a great game in the Sunday win against Virginia Tech, going 2 for 4 and hitting his first collegiate home run.

Freshman left fielder Will Marcy The local Raleigh talent has been a spark for the Wolfpack lineup in the 23 games he has started. He is batting .319 and has two home runs and eight RBIs on the season.

On the defensive side, Marcy has shown flashes of brilliance, snagging a home run from over the wall against NC A&T on March 22.

Freshman right-handed pitcher Carson Kelly Kelly has been the only freshman pitcher who has seen significant innings for the Wolfpack. In 16.1 innings of work out of the bullpen, Kelly has a 5.51 ERA and has

SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN

Freshman infielder Tommy White points to his fans after hitting a home run during the game versus Quinnipiac on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022 in Doak Field at Dail Park. The Wolfpack beat Quinnipiac 10-4.

struck out 19. Opponents are batting just .219 off Kelly and he has walked just seven batters on the season.

The Pack has plenty of pitchers, but has been working on solidifying its bullpen throughout the season. If Kelly can continue to improve and become one of NC State’s

consistent arms out of the pen, that will go a long way to solidifying the team.

NC State continues conference play starting this Thursday as it hosts Boston College for a three-game series. First pitch for game one is at 6:30 p.m. from Doak Field.

Way-too-early roster breakdown: NC State women’s basketball to reload in 2022-23

to some sporadic playing time in spots. Still, Johnson is more than capable of holding it down, proven by her 50/40/90 freshman season at Rutgers and her heroics in some of the Wolfpack’s games this year, such as the miracle comeback against Louisville.

Behind Johnson, the Pack is losing tons of depth. Perez and Crutchfield graduated and Genesis Bryant and Kendal Moore both hit the transfer portal. The primary potential option from the transfer portal is Ashley Owusu, who could follow Maryland teammate Collins to the Wolfpack.

Though Owusu is more of a two guard, she plays often with the ball in her hands and averaged 5.9 assists per game in 202021.

Tristan Tucker Managing Editor

With Elissa Cunane, Kayla Jones, Raina Perez and Kai Crutchfield exiting the NC State women’s basketball program, a new era is entering Raleigh. However, head coach Wes Moore strategically built this program to withstand such departures. With seven scholarships to hand out, Moore already snagged a top transfer from the portal in Mimi Collins.

However, Moore will surely continue to be hard at work in replacing the four program icons by adding more names through the portal. Last year, Moore brought in the No. 1 recruit in the portal in sophomore guard Diamond Johnson. Let’s take a look at how the Wolfpack rotation could look next season and what other names the Pack may target.

Wings

Ball-handlers

As for the lead guard position, it’s Johnson’s spot to lose. Despite seeming frustrated by the lack of playing time in the Elite Eight game, it appears that Johnson will be the lead guard for the Wolfpack barring something unforeseen.

Johnson got off to a hot start last season but fizzled out as the year went on, leading

SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN

Head coach Wes Moore questions a call from the referee during the first round game of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 19, 2022 in Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack beat the Lancers 96-68.

This is the year of junior wing Jakia Brown-Turner. NC State fans all saw what Brown-Turner is capable of in a featured role toward the end of the season, as she improved on a game-by-game basis and hit one of the biggest shots in program history in the NCAA Tournament. Brown-Turner and Johnson will likely be the Pack’s leading scorers next season.

But there is plenty of optimism outside of Brown-Turner on the wing. Freshman guards Aziaha James and

Sports

TECHNICIAN 13

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

Elissa Cunane, Kayla Jones selected in 2nd round of 2022 WNBA Draft Tristan Tucker Managing Editor

The Seattle Storm selected former NC State center Elissa Cunane with the 17th overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.

Meanwhile, former teammate Kayla Jones was selected five picks later by the Minnesota Lynx. Both players were picked in the second round on Monday, April 11.

Cunane and Jones are the 17th and 18th players drafted in NC State history and the first since Kiara Leslie, who was selected by the Washington Mystics in the 2019 draft.

It’s been a great weekend ... I’m excited to be drafted to Seattle. I’m excited to get to work and learn from the veterans there.

AMRITA MALUR/TECHNICIAN

Senior center Elissa Cunane cheers from the bench after a referee call during the second round game of the NCAA tournament against Kansas State on Monday, March 21, 2022 in Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack beat the Wildcats 89-57.

— Elissa Cunane

Cunane leaves the Wolfpack an NC State legend, fresh off taking the Pack to its second-ever Elite Eight appearance. The 6-foot5 center out of Summerfield, North Carolina holds career averages of 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds in 125 games with NC State.

Jessica Timmons showed a ton of potential, particularly James, who was named to the All-ACC Freshman team and was the definition of a microwave scorer. When James got playing time, she showed out every step of the way.

Outside of Timmons and James, NC State has sophomore guard Madison Hayes on the roster, someone that showed tons of potential in limited minutes. Hayes plays with a hard-nosed attitude, always chasing the ball out of bounds, trying to make the extra play. Further, Hayes has the ability to knock down the 3 ball and is one of the best onball defenders on the roster. There should be a huge role for Hayes on this year’s roster.

With four players capable of running the two and three positions, it doesn’t seem likely that the Pack’s biggest portal options will come on the wing.

Bigs

The biggest news at NC State’s four and five positions came Monday in the form of Collins, who averaged 10.6 points, 6.2

EMILY PEEDIN/TECHNICIAN

Graduate forward Kayla Jones celebrates a teammate scoring in the game against Florida State on Friday, March 4, 2022 inside Greensboro Coliseum. Jones made three field goals and also three free throws during the game. NC State beat Florida State 84-54.

rebounds and shot 52.1% from the floor in the 2020-21 season. Collins has a chance to compete for a starting spot at the four or the five, but according to The Wolfpack Central, she expects to play the four more often.

Collins, unlike junior center Camille Hobby and freshman center Sophie Hart, has shown the ability to stretch the floor, which may allow her to run the five in certain situations.

Speaking of Hobby, her patience will be rewarded this season, as she has a legitimate chance to compete for the starting center role for the first time in her Wolfpack career. In an age of transfers, Moore spoke to Hobby’s unique patience several times last season.

Hobby showed flashes this past season, particularly when she matched up with Kansas State juggernaut Ayoka Lee when Cunane got in foul trouble. Outside of that, Hobby needs to improve her footwork on both ends of the floor in order to play an even larger role than projected.

Boyd, like Johnson, projects to be a former Sixth Player of the Year that will join the starting lineup in the coming season. Boyd also has a chance to be one of the leading scorers for the Wolfpack, looking especially good in the team’s postseason play in each of her three years with the team.

Hart is another big on the team, a former five-star center, but it remains to be seen how much playing time she will get.

If Hart and Hayes don’t appear to be in line for more playing time, especially given the Pack’s sheer amount of scholarship spots, they may be candidates to transfer.

Outside of Collins, it isn’t clear what players the Wolfpack could be targeting on the portal in terms of bigs. Former Maryland forward Angel Reese, who averaged 17.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last season would be a huge addition to the team but appears less likely to join the team than her teammate Owusu.

Cunane came to NC State in the 2018-19 season and quickly became a starter, going on to win two straight ACC Tournament MVPs in the 2021 and 2022.

“It’s been a great weekend,” Cunane said.

“I’m excited to be drafted to Seattle. I’m excited to get to work and learn from the veterans there.”

Though Cunane slipped to the second round, one of the last two players invited to the WNBA Draft to be taken, she joins a Seattle team that went 21-11 last season. The Storm rosters Breanna Stewart, one of the best players in the WNBA and a blueprint for Cunane to model, as well as Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird.

“Just being able to learn from them on the court and off the court,” Cunane said.

“Their work ethic and experience in big games, championships. I’m really just looking forward to being able to soak up as much as I can. … I grew up watching Breanna Stewart. Her versatility and ability to shoot the ball. … It’s just learning as much as I can from her.”

Jones came to NC State in the 2017-18 season, becoming a core piece of the rotation in the 2019-20 season and going on to be a crucial part of the NC State teams that three-peated in the ACC Tournament. Jones holds career averages of 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 139 games played with NC State and shot over 40% from 3 in each of the last two seasons.

Minnesota rosters Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles, two players who Jones can learn from in the post.

“That’s huge,” Cunane said of the Jones selection. “I didn’t get to see any picks after mine, so I’m very happy that KJ got chosen.

She puts in so much work.”

Moore will surely continue to be hard at work in replacing the four program icons by adding more names through the portal.

Sports 14 TECHNICIAN Way-too-early roster breakdown, potential solutions for NC State men’s basketball THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN

Tristan Tucker

Head coach Kevin Keatts calls out an offensive play during the game versus the Boston College Eagles on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2022 in PNC Arena. The Wolfpack lost to the Eagles 69-61.

Following a disappointing 21-loss season, the NC State men’s basketball team is sure to hit the transfer portal for additions in an age where hundreds of players transfer each year. As of now, the Wolfpack has three scholarships open due to the transfers of Cam Hayes, Jaylon Gibson and Thomas Allen.

Nine players currently hold scholarships for the Wolfpack, but it could get up to two more depending on what happens with freshman guard Terquavion Smith and redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron.

Both Seabron and Smith are testing the NBA Draft waters.

As of now, Smith is more likely than Seabron to be drafted, but there exists a real possibility that both players won’t be suiting up for the Pack next season. Smith ranks No. 39 on ESPN’s NBA Draft top 100 and Seabron is No. 85. Smith could hear feedback from teams about needing to bulk up and may opt to rejoin the team, trying to

propel himself into lottery status like Purdue guard Jaden Ivey just did.

Let’s take a look at what options NC State has in the transfer portal to flesh out the roster and what a potential rotation could look like for the Wolfpack.

Managing Editor

Ball-handlers

Coming off a season where NC State ranked 280th in the country in assists per game, getting a transfer floor general is of the utmost importance for the Wolfpack.

To further illustrate that point, there is a chance that all five of the Pack’s leaders in assists per game last season could be gone.

The player who finished sixth on the team in assists per game, junior guard Casey Morsell, averaged just 0.8 assists per game last season.

The first name that comes to mind is someone that has a visit scheduled in former Drexel guard Camren Wynter. Wynter averaged 14.5 points and 5.1 assists per game in 114 total games with Drexel and

would come to the Wolfpack offering something the position has lacked in the last two seasons: consistency. Wynter is the No. 69 transfer according to ESPN. Outside of the ability of Morsell, Seabron and Smith to play the one, NC State has two other rotation options in Breon Pass and LJ Thomas. Pass proved his worth this past year, making the Wolfpack faithful notice him with his popping defense and effort.

Thomas will likely have a role similar to that of Pass or former guard Shakeel Moore, having the physicality to get minutes early.

Wings

There is a decent chance that the Wolfpack will have its work cut out for it on the wing if Smith and Seabron hire agents for the 2022 NBA Draft.

Outside of Seabron and Smith, there are only three current players that could potentially man the wing spot: Morsell, Pass, if he slides up a position, and junior forward Greg Gantt Jr. if he slides down. Without a

natural fit, it makes sense that the bulk of the Pack’s work so far in transfer visits has come on the wing.

According to Cory Smith of PackPride, Luis Rodriguez, Landers Nolley II and Jack Clark all have had visits with the Wolfpack, and each is an enticing option.

At this time, Rodriguez seems like a safe bet to join the Pack and follow new assistant coach Levi Watkins from Ole Miss to NC State. Rodriguez averaged 6.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, and though his stats don’t jump off the page, he can do plenty to help open up driving lanes for the Pack and his energy on the offensive boards is noticeable.

Nolley would be a fantastic get for the Wolfpack, a team that recruited him heavily upon his transfer out of Virginia Tech.

Perhaps Nolley’s best season came last year with Memphis when he averaged 13.1 points per game and shot 38.7% from 3 on six attempts per game. Nolley is a high-scoring

Sports

TECHNICIAN 15

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022

wing that would offset potential losses of Seabron and Smith, and at 6-foot-7, he has the versatility the Pack needs. Nolley is the No. 37 transfer on ESPN. Clark would be another strong addition to the Pack, as someone that can score, rebound and defend. Clark has great size at 6-foot-8, 180 pounds and he showed glimpses of greatness toward the end of last season while leading his team in steals per game.

Ole Miss guard Jarkel Joiner recently entered the transfer portal, another player he could follow Watkins, but that is far from a guarantee, especially considering he would have a bevy of suitors. However, Joiner averaged 13.2 points and shot over 34% from deep and would be a huge addition to this team. Joiner and Smith would make up one of the more formidable backcourts in the ACC, if Smith elects to return.

As for returning wings, Morsell showed great improvement when healthy this year, something he can continue to build on into next season.

Bigs

Before last season, NC State looked set with its men in the middle. Expecting a breakout season for Manny Bates as well

as having developmental pieces in sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona and Jaylon Gibson, the hierarchy at the five looked set for the season.

Of course, then disaster struck, with Bates going down for the season and Dowuona and Gibson having to punch above their weight class for the rest of the year. Neither player stood out with Dowuona fouling too often and Gibson being a revolving door on defense. Gibson transferred away, going to Winston-Salem State, leaving Dowuona as the only returning true five.

It’s obvious that with one of the Wolfpack’s open scholarships, it will look to the transfer portal for a big man or two to come in and help right the position. There are several options available to the Wolfpack but three, in particular, come to mind: former Indiana Hoosier Michael Durr, former five-star Efton Reid and former Maryland Terrapin Qudus Wahab.

Durr is the most likely out of the three, having already received interest from the Wolfpack. Durr doesn’t exactly have the most inspiring stats, playing meager minutes with Indiana last season due to injury, but he did average 8.8 points and 7.9 rebounds with South Florida the year before.

At this time, [Luis] Rodriguez seems like a safe bet to join the Pack and follow new assistant coach Levi Watkins from Ole Miss to NC State.

Reid and Wahab are interesting options that would make a huge impact on the Wolfpack and both previously had NC State in their list of finalist schools, ultimately opting for LSU and Maryland, respectively.

Reid would be the dream get here, though

it may be unlikely. The former five-star center averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season but has the correct physicality at 6-foot-11, 238 pounds, to develop into a star for the Pack. Reid is the No. 28-ranked transfer on ESPN. Wahab would also be a solid get, having averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last year with Maryland. In the year before with Georgetown, Wahab averaged 12.7 points. Unlike some of the other bigs the Pack has had in years past, Wahab improved his personal foul efficiency last season. Wahab is the No. 55 transfer according to ESPN. Incoming four-star recruit Shawn Phillips is another solution at the five, though it may take him some time to crack the rotation like Dowuona and Bates before him.

As for the power rotation, the Pack seems relatively set between Gantt and freshman forward Ernest Ross. Gantt didn’t play last season due to an injury but is sure to be a solid positional defender that the Wolfpack lacked last season.

Ross showed signs of improvement last year and there were glimpses of his ability to play the backup five, something head coach Kevin Keatts may look to explore next year.

bye-bye <3 — Technician Vol. 102