Issue 11 11/6/18

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VOLUME 125, ISSUE 11

Our Town Reno gives motel residents platform Andrea Wilkinson/Nevada Sagebrush

See A&E page A4

The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house stands on Monday, Nov. 5. The discovering of a document belonging to the fraternity has led to questions and discussions of rape culture in Greek life.

Fraternity document leads to questions of rape culture in Greek life

By Olivia Ali and Jazmin Orozco Editor’s Note: In the interest of transparency, The Nevada Sagebrush felt it necessary to inform readers of Jazmin Orozco’s connection to the document discussed in this article. The document was found and brought to The Nevada Sagebrush by Orozco, one of the reporters of this article and a journalism student at UNR. While debating whether it was ethical for Orozco to help write this article, it was decided it was acceptable as she is a journalist who found information and felt it needed to be distributed, as all journalists do when researching a story.

Content warning: The following story discusses sexual assault and violence that may be traumatizing for some readers.

In

early

October,

a

document belonging to the Pi-Iota chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at the University of Nevada, Reno, was found open on a Knowledge Center computer connected to a closed Facebook group for members of TKE. The document was addressed to pledges — new members that have yet to be initiated — of the fraternity and contained songs, forms and other information about the fraternity. In the post that the document was linked on, the pledges were told not to share the document or they would be dropped from TKE immediately.

The songs in the document depicted images and themes of drinking, sexual misconduct and assault. Some songs depict violence and assault against other fraternities and sororities.

“Circumcise a Sig Ep with a jagged piece of glass / Ram a rusty bayo-

net up a Phi Delt’s [a**],” says the lyrics to one of the songs, “Apollo’s Raiders”.

Two songs specifically mentioned the Pi Beta Phi and Tri Delta sororities, which have chapters on campus.

“I stuck my finger in a Pi Beta Phi / And the Pi Beta Phi said my oh my / Take it out, take it out, take it out / Remove it,” said the lyrics of “Pi Beta Phi”.

The paaaresident of the Nevada Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi provided a statement to the Nevada Sagebrush in response to the document.

“Members of Pi Beta Phi are expected to recognize the dignity and respect due to all individuals,” the statement said. “We recently learned that Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity negatively referenced Pi Beta Phi through song lyrics, and we are concerned with the impact of this demeaning vocabulary on women in our campus community.

Our chapter supports

internal accountability measures taken by Tau Kappa Epsilon, and we will continue to support their efforts to educate the University of Nevada Reno fraternity and sorority community. Further, the Nevada Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi is committed to being part of the solution to create a more inclusive campus culture and an environment that promotes respect and empowerment for women.”

The “Three [W****s] From Tri-Delt” song says “Three Tekes went up in January / And didn’t come back ‘til June! / [...]

Rattle your nuts upon her guts / And join the slimey crew”.

Tri-Delta and the Interfraternity Council did not respond to the Nevada Sagebrush’s request for comment.

“When she starts to shake and quiver/ Wondering ‘what’s a going on?’ / Tell her it’s the secret handshake / of Tau Kappa Epsilon,” the song lyrics to “Get Your

Girlfriend” read.

“Yo Ho” describes a TKE and a woman progressively getting more sexually involved until the woman dies from “sucking all them Tekes [c***s]” and them digging her body up to “[f***] her again”.

After the songs, the document had two separate forms — the first was a sheet with interview questions for members of the fraternity and the second was titled “House Hours Sign-off Sheet”.

The back page was titled “9th Paragraph” and outlined the “essential elements of true brotherhood”.

The president of the Pi-Iota Chapter of TKE, Masen Confetti, declined the Nevada Sagebrush’s request for comment on the origins, uses and possession of the document.

The TKE national organization suspended the chapter on Thursday, Nov. 1, after learning of

Birthright citizenship not up for debate

See TKE page A2

Peavine Hall swastikas incite fear in Jewish community

By Taylor Johnson On the same day a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh left 11 dead and six others injured, a swastika was found carved into a wall with a pencil in Peavine Hall.

In response to this vandalism, Peavine Hall called for a mandatory community meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 30 to address these issues. Residents, resident assistants and resident directors were in attendance.

“We want all members of our community to feel welcome and safe, and the best ones to promote that feeling are the other students in the community,” Rod Aeschlimann, the director of Residential Life, Housing & Food Services said. “Students are asked to listen to each other and to reach out to others for support... to be watchful and aware of friends most affected by fear and emotion, letting them know your

own personal support of them and encouraging utilization of campus resources if appropriate.”

At the meeting, it was announced there was an open hate crime investigation. Several rooms in the area of the carved swastika were interrogated by the police. In order to avoid similar situations in the future, students suggested for the installation of cameras in the hallway or to have resident assistants conduct 24hour watch on all floors.

“We wanted to remind the community that these acts of hate and discrimination not only create an environment of hostility but are a violation of university policy,” Amanda Chavez, the resident director of Peavine and Edtivia Rutherford, the graduate resident director of Peavine said in an email to Peavine residents.

“We are a welcoming

See SWASTIKAS page A3

Stovall, Minamishin more than teammates Andrea Wilkinson/ Nevada Sagebrush

Construction takes place on the William N. Penningiton Engineering building on Friday, Nov. 2. The building will be an addition to seven engineering buildings on UNR’s campus.

New engineering building breaks ground

By Andrew Mendez

The University of Nevada, Reno, broke ground on the $91 million engineering building on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The William N. Pennington Engineering Building is expected to be 100,114-square-feet and have

40+ faculty offices by fall 2020.

The building will feature a cleanroom, 150 graduate workstations, 40 laboratories and a large-scale computer lab. Associate Dean of Engineering Indira Chatterjee said the College of Engineering is the fastest

See CONSTRUCTION page A2

Veteran services retention rate increases to 81 percent

By Andrew Mendez The University of Nevada, Reno’s Director of Veteran Services Terina Caserto has worked with veteran students on campus since 2009 to help veteran students transition into a college lifestyle and have support on campus.

Caserto has grown the program from one full-time staffer

back in 2009 to four full-time workers, 12 Veterans Administration student workers and provides services to over 600 veteran students.

Veteran services help to serve students transitioning into higher education and guide them through the process of affording and paying for college.

Since then, Caserto was

See VETERANS page A3

@NevadaSagebrush | nevadasagebrush.com

A2 | NEWS

Student voice of the University of Nevada, Reno, since 1893.

Volume 125 • Issue 11 Editor-in-Chief • Madeline Purdue mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu

News Editor • Olivia Ali oali@sagebrush.unr.edu

Asst. News Editor • Andrew Mendez andrewmendez@sagebrush.unr.edu

Sports Editor • Darion Strugs dstrugs@sagebrush.unr.edu

Opinion Editor • Jacey Gonzalez jaceygonzalez@sagebrush.unr.edu

A&E Editor • Carla Suggs csuggs@sagebrush.unr.edu

Design Editor • Nicole Skarlatos nskarlatos@sagebrush.unr.edu

Photo Editor • Andrea Wilkinson awilkinson@sagebrush.unr.edu

Copy Editor • Robert Roth mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu

Copy Editor • Clay Temme ctemme@sagebrush.unr.edu

Multimedia Editor • Bailey MeCey bmecey@sagebrush.unr.edu

Asst. Multimedia Editor • Austin Daly bmecey@sagebrush.unr.edu

Illustrator • Zak Brady mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu

Social Media Manager • Jessie Schirrick mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu

Staff Writer • Emily Fisher

efisher@sagebrush.unr.edu

Distribution •Jacob Woods mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu

Media Adviser • Amy Koeckes amyk@unr.edu

CONTRIBUTING STAFFERS Nick Alvarez, Isaiah Burrows, Adam Faber, Ryan Freeberg, Sara Gallego, Rylie Jackson, Taylor Johnson, Lauren Turner

DISCLAIMER The Nevada Sagebrush is a newspaper operated by and for the students of the University of Nevada, Reno. The contents of this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those opinions of the university or its students.

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TKE

Continued from page A1 the document.

“Tau Kappa Epsilon has temporarily suspended our Pi-Iota chapter at the University of Nevada-Reno, while we investigate the alleged disgusting actions that do not represent the values and culture of Tau Kappa Epsilon,” said Chief Information Officer Alex Baker in an email to the Nevada Sagebrush. “We are partnering with the university during this time, and will hold those responsible accountable for their actions.”

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life — the office that oversees the Interfraternity Council that TKE is managed by — said they did not know about the existence of these songs or the lyrics.

“Most songs that I know of are actually more-so connected to rituals,” said Megan Pepper, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at the university. “We obviously don’t know what those are within certain organizations because rituals are the parts that are secret and we attempt to do our best to respect that.”

While the Office of FSL does require oversight of activities for new member education and programs, documents such as the one found are not required to be turned in.

“We don’t require that any of that documentation is turned into us during the recruitment process,” Pepper said. “What we do require is that of what their new member education and initiation activities look like.”

However, oversight by the Office of FSL on initiation and pledging materials may be strengthened after the investigation of the TKE document, according to Pepper.

The Office of FSL has no knowledge of “dirty songs” in other Greek life organizations on campus. The songs in the document from TKE were the first known on the University of

Nevada, Reno, campus, according to Pepper.

Regardless of university affiliation and recognition, Pepper says the songs do not reflect Greek life as a whole.

“We don’t condone any of it, obviously, ” Pepper said. “It was disturbing to us as well and I think us as an office are committed to addressing this community-wide, given where we’re at in society.”

Pepper said the results of the investigation will determine TKE’s punishment — which could range from educational training to losing its affiliation with the university and/or their national chapter.

The 2018 University Relationship Agreement, which recognized fraternities and sororities must adhere to, states in return for recognition, “fraternity and sorority chapters will sponsor only those activities that do not allow or encourage alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence, dating violence, stalking, domestic violence, or illegal activity.”

However, some feel songs like these are what often link Greek life to rape culture. The Equal Opportunity & Title IX Office defines rape culture as “a culture or environment where sexual assaults and other abusive behavior is normalized.”

Fraternity organizations may be especially susceptible to fostering this kind of culture within their groups, according to the Nevada Cares program coordinator Daniel Fred, who explains that the group dynamics of brotherhood may inhibit members from protesting inappropriate behavior or language.

“Especially when there’s secrets, like these songs, and things that bring a cohesiveness to being brothers, it makes you not question or openly come against the things that everybody is standing for,” Fred said.

Ashlyn Rochester, a junior at the university and member of a Panhellenic sorority, reported her own sexual assault by a

Construction Continued from page A1

growing college with approximately 2,900 students.

The new building will not only accommodate growing faculty and students but will allow professors and graduate students to conduct research tasks.

“There will be state of the art labs,” Chatterjee said. “It’s not an instructional type facility; it is more of a research facility, so our faculty will be able to use it, graduate students will be able to use it and for undergraduates, of course, if they are involved in research.”

Currently, the College of Engineering occupies 7 buildings on campus, which are unable to accommodate for modern research the college needs, according to Marketing and Communications specialist for the College of Engineering, Kirstin Swagman.

“It’s a really huge step forward for us in the college just in terms of our ability to continue to grow to continue to recruit faculty and for them to know they will have high tech space,” Swagman said.

Swagman added with the addition of a cleanroom, it will allow research projects to take place which the college wants to conduct. Chatterjee also said the cleanroom will allow faculty and students to conduct sensitive research.

A cleanroom is a contained space where particle contamination is reduced through a High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. Workers in the room

Theta Chi fraternity member to EO/TIX Office in October of 2017. Rochester feels that there is an aspect of “group mentality” between brothers in a fraternity that perpetuates rape culture.

“I just think no one’s brave enough to call out their own brothers because they think they’re like, ‘Oh we’re in this brotherhood for life, like these are my guys, they got my back’,” Rochester said. “So for someone to be like you did a [sh***y] thing, you shouldn’t be a part of this chapter, I think would be bad consequences for them … I think it’s just a group mentality that people are just too scared to speak up.”

Rochester’s friendships with other members of Theta Chi suffered following her decision to report the sexual assault.

“I even told them, I was like ‘Ok, I have options like I could go for Title IX, I could do a police report, things that aren’t going to be in his favor, like if you don’t want to be friends with me, you know, tell me now.’

And they were like, ‘No we’re still friends with you.’ But then they just ended up not talking to me,” Rochester said.

Rochester’s friends did not support her decision to report her sexual assault by one of their fraternity brothers and ignored a police detective’s efforts to reach them for information on the incident.

“I don’t think they helped in the police investigation at all because my detective was like ‘Hey I can’t get a hold of these people they won’t pick up, they won’t answer.’ So now I’m no friend to them at all. I refuse to be friends with anyone in that organization,” Rochester said.

In February of 2018, a few months after filing her initial report to EO/TIX Office, Rochester received a letter from the office saying the investigation would be moving forward. In May 2018, Rochester received another letter informing her of the consequences her attacker would face on behalf of the Title IX office. The punishment

are also able to control environmental parameters such as temperature, pressure and humidity, according to Clean Air Technology Inc. According to Swagman, the building will not affect differential fees.

Differential fees are an additional $85 per credit for 300 and 400 level classes in the College of Engineering.

Fees are used to pay for software, need-based scholarships and hiring staff and lecturers.

Governor Brian Sandoval, on June 16, 2017, signed with the university to contribute $45.1 million to the project, which was presented to the 2017 Nevada Legislature in January 2017.

Sandoval told Nevada Today it was much-needed funding to help professors and students conduct proper research.

Gov. Sandoval also told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Oct. 23 that by building the new building it would be a new foundation for Nevada’s economy to grow.

Denise Baclawski, senior director, Planning & Construction Services for Facility Services, said the construction site is limited to where it is and should not affect student pathways to and from classes. Baclawski added the building will meet all requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The university is funding the project with help of the state, university funds and private donors. The building will be on the East side of campus with access to Evans Avenue.

Andrew Mendez can be reached at andrewmendez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018 included not being able to be on university grounds until Rochester’s graduation and withholding of his transcript for a year.

Despite the success with her report, Rochester does not believe the university is doing enough for survivors on campus, prompting her to join Nevada Cares, a sexual assault awareness organization on campus that promotes community for survivors.

While six fraternities publicly supported sexual assault survivors in the Banners Up movement this past September, both Fred and Rochester believe this public display to be an insufficient, lateral move that does not necessarily signify progression or making amends to survivors.

“I think if UNR is going to move forward in general as a community, men have to step up and be a part of the solution and say ‘This is not right and this isn’t who we’re going to be anymore’,” Fred said. “I think that’s the only way to move forward with anything and to make any lasting change. It’s not demeaning any work that women have done or can do.

It’s just that men are going to have to start being a part of the solution.”

Fred said “being part of the solution” demands the participation of the male voice against any kind of sexual assault.

“I think just acknowledging that the majority of us [men] are not perpetrators, are not the problem by what we do. We’re the problem by our silence. So it’s our responsibility to speak up — silence is really cosigning the people who are the perpetrators,” said Fred.

The 2016 UNR Sexual Conduct and Campus Safety Survey found out of the 31 percent of degreeseeking students who participated in the survey, 8 percent selfidentified as victims of physical sexual assault or rape, 24 percent experienced sexual harassment and 13 percent reported having experienced sexual coercion or verbal pressure to engage in sexual activities. 87 percent of the

survey participants were female and 13 percent were male.

Of the survey participants, 19 percent identified as a member of a sorority as compared to nonPanhellenic women at 11 percent.

The Title IX office said there are currently open sexual assault allegation investigations at the university. However, the office does not track organizational affiliations as part of their record keeping process, therefore could not comment on the presence of fraternity organizations implicated in the open investigations.

The university policy follows state and federal law when it comes to any form of sexual violence.

“Sexual harassment, including sexual violence, is a form of discrimination; it is illegal,” stated the university’s Codification of Board Policy Statements under Title 4, Chapter 8, Page 10. “No employee or student, either in the workplace or in the academic environment, should be subject to unwelcome verbal or physical conduct that is sexual in nature.

Sexual harassment does not refer to occasional compliments of a socially acceptable nature. It refers to behavior of a sexual nature that is not welcome, that is personally offensive, and that interferes with performance. It is expected that students, faculty and staff will treat one another with respect.”

To report a sexual assault or a case of sexual misconduct, the Office of Equal Opportunity & Title IX asks victims to call the Sexual Assault/ Sexual Misconduct hotline at (775)-784-1030 or the EO/TIX Office at (775)-784-1547. For more information on filing a report with the EO/TIX Office, go to unr.edu/ equal-opportunity-title-ix.

The document can be found in its entirety on the Nevada Sagebrush website at nevadasagebrush.com.

Madeline Purdue contributed to this report.

Olivia Ali and Jazmin Orozco can be reached at oali@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

Andrea Wilkinson/Nevada Sagebrush

Construction takes place on the South East end of campus on Friday, Nov. 2. The William N. Penningotn Engineering Building cost $91 million and is being funded by the state, univeristy and private donors.

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Swastikas Continued from page A1

community that strives to embrace diversity and inclusion. We are made up of people from different backgrounds, races and ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. All of us deserve the right to be treated with respect and live in an environment where we are not subject to discrimination.”

Several residents who live on the floor of the incident feel unsafe and unwelcomed by the Peavine community after the vandalism. ”The minute I saw the swastika symbol on the wall, honestly, it came as a big shock to me,” Hunter Dunn, a Jewish resident of Peavine said. “I immediately almost broke down — like a mental break down — and ran to my room so I wouldn’t have to see it. I felt so scared. I didn’t know what to do at all. Seeing a swastika is a fear for my life. I don’t feel welcome in my community right now. I just feel confused about everything in Peavine. I’m just glad they’re taking action. I hope it makes our community safer.”

The Hillel of Northern Nevada is a center for Jewish college students who attend UNR or other colleges in Northern Nevada. The Hillel of Northern Nevada urged those affected by these acts of anti-Semitism to speak to their members, Rabbis and chaplains.

During the first and third Wednesday of each month, Hillel hosts “Bagels at the Joe”, an event that allows students to learn about the Jewish community.

The national organization of Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity, announced their chapters will conduct a Shabbat program on affiliated campuses. They encourage Jewish communities and allies to attend the Shabbat in honor of the victims in Pittsburgh and to overcome anti-Semitism.

“We should all be alarmed by the pattern of violence and hate on our

campus and in our country,” said Associated Student of the University of Nevada President Hannah Jackson in a statement. “In the last two weeks, we have seen events unfold in Kentucky, Pittsburgh, as well as in our own Peavine hall. These acts are hateful, senseless, and appalling, and remind us that anti-Semitism, along with all other forms of hate continue to exist.

As members of this learning community, we must be stronger than this hate.

It is the responsibility of each of us to create a community that is welcoming, safe, and inclusive.

ASUN advises students who want to discuss the climate of the university to attend the ASUN Senate meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7th at 5:30 p.m. in the Joe Crowley Ballroom A. With the rise of hate crime across Northern Nevada, the Reno-Sparks NAACP encourages inhabitants to attended anti-hate demonstrations.

In the Reno area alone, several people have defaced campaign signs and sent hate flyers to Reno’s temple, Emanu-El. “On top of all this came the mail bombs, the murders of two black people at a Kentucky grocery store and then the Pittsburgh massacre. We encourage the community to show up at anti-hate vigils around Nevada,” added NAACP Vice-President Andrew Barbano.

The vandalism of Peavine Hall is not the only diversity issue the university has faced in recent years.

Peter Cvjetanovic participated in a protest at Charlottesville alongside white supremacist supporters in August 2017. After his participation in the rally surfaced and made national headlines, students called for his expulsion and firing from his campus job. He later resigned.

In September of the same year, University Police Services Officer Adam Wilson conducted a traffic stop where he joked about shooting black graduate student Kevin McReynolds.

A month later, an unknown student tagged The Church Fine Arts “graffiti

File photo/Nevada Sagebrush

A swastika painted in the Church Fine Arts Building on Friday Oct. 13, 2017. After the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, the wall near a resident assistant’s room in Peavine Hall was vandalized with a swastika.

stairwell” — a stairwell that welcomes people to decorate the walls with paintings and murals — with swastikas along with a message which read: “is this political enough?”. After the incident, the College of Liberal Arts invited members of the community to paint over the hateful symbols.

“Universities are communities and when people feel threatened and unwelcome in a community, it’s not just the individual but the community that suffers,” said Jen Hill, the Director of Gender, Race, Identity Program and Women’s Studies. “Individually, we can reach out to our Jewish friends, neighbors, classmates, professors, and

Tyler Bolken/Flickr

A marine honors Civil War veterans in New York on May 25, 2012. Veteran Services at UNR has a retention rate of 81 percent compared to 48 percent in 2009 when Terina Caseto took over the depatment.

Veterans Continued from page A1

awarded the Bill Pearson Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is given to individuals who have contributed and worked to help increase the services veteran students need in college, according to the Western Association of Veterans Education Specialist.

“From the moment the student enrolls

in the university and they come into our office and do a special intake we start giving them the lay of the land and how to navigate higher ed,” Caserto said. “We dissect every piece of higher education and what we have to navigate in order to be students. We walk with them through that process, so they can be successful navigating themselves.”

Despite advancing the program to where it is now Caserto said there is always more to do in order to help students be successful despite personal

struggles and keeping up with students who come from a high standard of excellence.

“I feel so passionately of what I do,” Caserto said. “I think it’s always living up to that standard. I support students that have such a high standard of excellence and drive and passion that I am constantly having to stay one step ahead. It’s not a negative thing, this family keeps me going and keeps that bar really high for me, and that is the best thing and probably the hardest thing of the posi-

staff to let them know that we support them. We can listen to them and honor their experiences. We can and should also come together to let the larger community know that hatred and intolerance are things that have no place here.”

The Equal Opportunity and Title IX manages discrimination cases on campus. EOTIX advises victims of discrimination to file a report within their office. A student can walk in to file a harassment report or conduct one online. After the incident is filed, an investigator from Title IX reaches out to the individual who filed the report to obtain more background information

before a formal investigation starts to find out what the student wants to do.

EOTIX encourages students to speak out if there is an issue of discrimination on campus. For the month of November EOTIX created the “Campus Climate Survey” to find inclusion issues on campus.

“We know things are happening.

The only way we can help is if students use their voice and speak out,” Maria Doucettperry, the director of ADA and Title IX Coordinator, said.

tion. There’s always more to do. There’s always a hill to climb and a mountain to concur.”

Laura Saueressig, a veteran student on campus, said Veteran Services and Caserto have given her the tools needed to succeed educationally and provide a safe space where she feels welcomed.

“From doing the educational paperwork to get my benefits, with just having a comfortable environment with people that are nontraditional like me,” Saueressig said. “All the full-time staff are helpful in really any way.”

Caserto has worked with staff to make sure the department feels and acts like a family. Caserto said if students can come into an environment that feels like the military their transition will be smoother. She added without the department acting like a family there can be no progress regardless of where she wants to take the department.

“This is a unit; this is a family,” Caserto said. “It doesn’t matter what we’re going to do in the future, if we don’t have that cohesiveness here it’s not going to work because individuals coming out of that military environment and culture are also looking for that unit and family. If we can work that way together we can’t be successful for the student. Whatever it is we do, wherever we take it, it doesn’t matter. We can take it wherever we want.

It’s how we work together in this department to make it happen.”

Saueressig said without the family environment she would not have been comfortable asking for help.

“That’s how the military is,” Saueressig said. “The military, the people you work with, are your family. I recognize that here too. I can go to anybody for help and it’s a close-knit group.”

According to Caserto, the biggest struggle for anybody transitioning into college is having to transition to a different culture and that is the biggest struggle for veterans because they are

expected to excel almost immediately.

“The biggest difficulty, with anybody, is being ingrained in a particular culture. Which for [student veterans] was the military, and higher Ed being so completely different on all levels; from the way they sit in a classroom to the way they are trained, to the way they communicate and how their needs are met. The transition itself from one culture to something entirely different, and having to be successful in that new culture immediately is the most difficult part.”

Saueressig said the biggest struggle for her has been not being a traditional student.

Saueressig added that she feels Veteran Services is crucial to veterans.

“It’s the backbone of a veteran student,” Saueressig said. “They help us with anything we need, from being able to apply for our benefits to making sure we are doing what we need to do to be successful. They are with us every step of the way.”

According to Caserto, the program has an 81 percent retention rate and is up from 48 percent back in 2009.

Caserto said success can be measured in numbers but she prefers to see students success on a one-to-one level.

“As an office and as services we look at success through their individual education plan,” Caseto said. “How they’re succeeding in their classes, how they are communicating, how they are taking this wonderful experience that they received through their prior career, and how they are successfully transitioning that to their day to day life on a college campus. It required that change in how they work and view things. Success is different to each student, and to me, that’s how were gauging our success.”

NSHE Chancellor Riley discusses requests for 2019 Legislature

By Andrew Mendez The Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Thom Reilly talked with faculty, staff and students on Wednesday, Oct. 31, about what NSHE will be asking the newly elected governor to include in 2019 Nevada Legislature.

Reilly was invited by the University of Nevada, Reno Chapter of the Nevada Faculty Alliance and the UNR Faculty Senate.

The legislature is presented biannually and works with NSHE and all institutions within NSHE. The legislature is written by the newly elected governor who is expected to give his proposal on Jan. 21, 2019.

Reilly said NSHE will be asking for summer school funding, compensation for teachers and performancebased funds. He added that NSHE will be hosting a

student success summit in January 2019. The summit will address support for students to graduate, retention rates and the budget set by the Nevada Legislature.

The operating budget request is currently set for $1.5 billion, according to NSHE’s website. The request for funds is in the interest of student graduation.

“We are looking at what we can do to support our students to graduate,” Reilly said.

The proposed budget reflects the increase in diverse summer school courses in science, technology engineering and mathematics, per request of NSHE institution presidents. Currently, the budget only funds programs that are for nursing programs, according to Reilly.

Reilly said the legislature currently funds nursing

NEWS | A3

@NevadaSagebrush | nevadasagebrush.com

programs because of a shortage of nurses statewide.

Reilly added NSHE students are becoming yearround students — meaning students are taking additional classes during winter and summer instead of just in the fall and spring — and need opportunities that reflect majors and programs that are vital in today’s economy.

“The reality is students just don’t go to school full time,” Reilly said. “Many students have to go year round. Many of our facilities are not used to this capacity. We are asking for funding on a year-round model.”

Reilly addressed the lack of faculty compensation.

NSHE will be asking to fill a $90 million deficit to show the Legislature salary compression and compensation of professors and

faculty is an issue.

Salary compression is the practice of paying assistant professors close to or exactly what associate and full-time professors make based on the time they were hired.

“We [NSHE Board of Regents] were able to agree compression has been a significant issue,” Reilly said. “When compression continues to happen you only increase the rate [at which it happens]. $90 million gave us evidence to bring back to the legislature.”

Reilly said NSHE will be asking for performancebased funding instead of merit-based funding.

Performance-based funding would be inclusive of minority students and firstgeneration students and how well these students perform in academia.

NSHE made a com-

mitment for the 2019 Legislature to invest 14 million dollars to ramp up the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ medical school.

Funding would go toward faculty, staff and equipment needed to have two accredited medical schools in Nevada.

Currently, professors at UNR can receive additional compensation or supplemental pay by appealing to human resources and meeting guidelines set by UNR. Riley added NSHE will be looking into funding supplemental programs at each institution and scholarships for students who graduate instate from high school.

Andrew Mendez can be reached at andrewmendez@ sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.

Taylor Johnson can be reached at oali@ sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @ OliviaNAli.

Andrew Mendez can be reached at andrewmendez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush

Ivanka Trump rallies for Dean Heller in Reno

By Olivia Ali Ivanka Trump attended a rally at the Nevada GOP Field Office on Thursday, Nov. 1, around noon.

Senator Dean Heller (R) was also in attendance.

Trump’s attendance was aimed to rally Reno citizens to both vote for Heller for the U.S. Senate race and to volunteer to help his campaign.

“I don’t do a lot of campaigning,” Trump said to Heller’s supporters. “But I really wanted to do it for him. This is our first stop and our most important stop. I know he’s going to win.”

Senator Heller is running as the incumbent against Jacky Rosen (D) for the U.S. Senate.

Heller supporters in attendance were excited about Trump’s visit.

“We need to get people to support our candidates,” Lopez said. “I think it’s great that the family is out supporting our candidates ... our Republican candidates.”

Ivanka Trump’s visit was not the only visit from a member of the President’s cabinet and family to the Reno area. Vice President Mike Pence was in Carson City on Saturday, Oct. 27, for the city’s Nevada Day celebration. Donald Trump Jr. was in both Carson City and Reno on Friday, Nov. 2, to rally votes for GOP members in Northern Nevada.

Olivia Ali and Jazmin Orozco can be reached at oali@sagebrush.unr. edu and on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

@NevadaSagebrush | nevadasagebrush.com

A4 | A&E

PACK N THE EVENTS THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR THIS WEEK

By Carla Suggs

BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE DATE: Tuesday TIME: 8 p.m.

LOCATION: Theater in The Joe INFO: In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month, The Joe will be showing “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” in the theater. Set in the 1800s, the film follows events leading up to the tragic massacre of Native Americans near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota’s Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

UNPLUG AT THE JOE DATE: Tuesday TIME: 6 to 10 p.m.

LOCATION: The Joe, Third Floor INFO: The Joe is helping students alleviate stress from upcoming finals — and life in general — by hosting a number of fun and relaxing stations. These stations will include yoga, essential oils, free desserts, tea and hot cocoa.

Sign-ups are required for the yoga station, and will be posted in The Joe.

READING BY POET CLAIRE SCHWARTZ DATE: Wednesday TIME: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Nevada Wolf Shop, Second Floor INFO: Claire Schwartz, author of the poetry book “bound”, will be visiting UNR to read some of her work, answer questions and sign copies of her book. Her pieces have appeared in — or are set to appear in — Apogee, Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner and Waxwing. She’s also had interviews, reviews or essays in other outlets like Electric Literature, Iowa Review, Virginia Quarterly Review and more.

MOVIE SERIES: “ALPHA” DATE: Thursday and Friday TIME: 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

LOCATION: Theater, The Joe INFO: “An epic adventure set in the last Ice Age, ALPHA tells a fascinating, visually stunning story that shines a light on the origins of man’s best friend.

While on his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group, a young man is injured and must learn to survive alone in the wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack, the pair learn to rely on each other and become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds in order to find their way home before winter arrives.”

UNDOCUALLY WORSHOP DATE: Friday TIME: 2 to 3:30 p.m.

LOCATION: The Joe, Graduate Student Lounge INFO: Allies of undocumented peoples are welcome to attend an UndocuAlly Workshop on Friday, hosted by the Title IX Office and UNR Equal Opportunity. This workshop will focus on how allies can create a safe and welcoming environment for undocumented students on campus. Students and faculty alike are all encouraged to come.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

“Who Does the City Belong To?” gives motel residents platform

By Rylee Jackson

Developed by Nico Colombant, one of the Reynolds School of Journalism’s own professors, the Our Town Reno collective gives others insight on important issues happening right in the Biggest Little City. This local multimedia collective focuses on establishing social media pages with regular content, audio stories, web videos and documentaries about poverty, homelessness, gentrification, displacement and street art within the community.

Our Town Reno recently started a three-event series that all embodies the spirit of a live journalism event. This live journalism concept focuses on people testifying their stories about homelessness, the destruction of motels, the disappearance of public space, the lack of affordable housing and more. This idea is meant to stray away from interviewing and give the speakers a chance to share their experiences in a real, straightforward way.

For Colombant, this idea came about from a documentary that he had done with Kari Barber called “Invisible Girl,” which is about the Eddy House.

The Eddy House is a drop-in center for homeless and at-risk youth, with a goal of promoting self-sufficiency and empowerment along with access to basic needs and other resources.

“When I did the documentary, I felt that I should continue with these topics so I decided to do a website. I noticed a lot of the students at the journalism school were doing some of their first stories about the homeless and then they would stop reporting about the homeless,” Colombant explained. “I thought I would also do the website as an educational experience for students so that’s why a lot of the reporters for Our Town Reno are students. It is an educational opportunity for them to report about issues relating to housing, poverty, issues that aren’t always attractive to young people, but

that are very important in our society to report about.”

On Thursday, Nov. 1, people gathered around the Desert Rose Inn to give the microphone to motel residents in the area, whose voices aren’t often heard. “Who Does the City Belong To?” gave these residents the opportunity to speak on the frustration that comes along with the city trend of motels being torn down, thus giving only a few other affordable housing options. For the past few years, this has been a frequently-discussed issue and has even been brought up by the candidates of this year’s election.

“This is a very important issue in Reno for many reasons.

We thought of an event where we gave the platform to motel residents for once, because a lot of media reports will talk about motels, but we never hear from the motel residents themselves,” Colombant said.

Accompanied under the spotlights with a microphone, speakers told their truths and expressed great passion about this particular issue.

Seeing parts of the city being demolished brought about many questions involving the people in charge of these decisions and, more importantly, what it means for the future of themselves as well as others.

Many of the speakers had different perspectives and experiences, but they all were connected by their frustrations with these motels being taken away. Hearing these motel residents speak freely and unapologetically has rarely been seen, and gave others on the outside a true glimpse into their lives.

Intertwining all of these stories showcased the relevancy of this crisis and why motels have been a crucial part of their lives.

Corey Mcdowell shared her experiences having to rely on motels when she was a homeless youth and throughout her time at the university. Sharing her perspective as a mom and a teacher, Jocelyn Diaz described what it is like for a family to live

By Nick Alvarez

Rylee Jackson/Nevada Sagebrush

Jocelyn Diaz speaks at Our Town Reno’s event on Thursday, Nov. 1. She spoke about her experiences of having to live in a motel room with her family because of Reno’s affordable housing crisis.

in a motel room because of the city’s affordable housing crisis.

A spoken-word performance

by Donald Griffin revealed that motel rooms were crucial to his rehabilitation into the world after tragedy and addiction.

Other avenues beside speaking were introduced to the event. A spoken-word poem

by Donald Griffin and Wendy Wigglesworth were standouts, as they expressed their feelings about this situation in a creative way that stuck with the audience. In between speakers, videos by Our Town Reno were also shown. “Incarnations of Ourselves” shared the story of Joyce Kay Cowdin, who had lived in other motels that had been demolished and described having to always rush to find new shelter. “An Ode to Motel Life” dove into Reno’s

complicated relationship with motels.

Overall, this event exposed this crisis to many who were initially unfamiliar with the importance that motels have in terms of adjustment periods for people who cannot afford to live anywhere else. The mission that Our Town Reno had for bringing about awareness was very successful and hopefully opened the doors for more citizens to listen to the people who have been greatly affected.

Rylee Jackson can be reached for inquiry at csuggs@ nevadasagebrush.unr.edu, or on Twitter @rybyjackson.

Carla Suggs can be reached at csuggs@nevadasagebrush.unr. edu, or on Twitter @c_swayzy.

#HangryFashion takes over The Joe to help unplug Reno food swamp

By Sara Gallego For the benefit of reducing hunger and food waste, ASUN will be teaming up with local non-profit organization On Common Ground to host their second annual fashion show fundraiser at The Joe. ASUN and OCG invite our Wolf Pack to feast their eyes on #HangryFashion, created by trending designers and well-known fashion labels. Local designer Taylor Uchytil will be showcasing her collection of high-fashion and eclectic designs. The young fashionista will also be attending New York’s Fashion Week next year as a designer. Other labels like Zozobee Beekini and Flexwear will be featuring their signature Battleborn beachwear that night. Banana Republic and GAP plan to also walk the runway.

During the event, there will be a silent auction with items donated by local companies and community sponsors.

Attendees should plan to pull an all-nighter since the show will transition into a dance after-party, with DJ Nikki Smiles providing music.

All net proceeds will go to OCG’s mission of providing a downtown community grocery store, mobile markets and a food processing plant.

This is not just another charity event — it’s even better. The goal is to drain downtown Reno’s

Kip Moore concert sells out in Reno

portunities. Michelle and Shannon, along with other businesses and UNR, are hoping to unplug the Reno Food Swamp because healthy eating should not be just for those who can afford the retail price — it should be for everyone.

Their business model demonstrates to Reno that entrepreneurs can support and Photo courtesy of On Common Ground sustain the community Armani Knight poses on the runway at OCG’s first fashion show on Saturthey serve, not simply day, Dec. 9, 2017. The fashion show sports the saying #HangryFashion, in support of ending food insecurity in Reno. provide charity.

So dress up for the show, and plan to stay for the afterparty. The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 in the Glick Ballrooms at the Joe Crowley Student Union. Ticket prices for the event vary from $25 if bought in advance to $30 at the door. After-party admission is free for fashion show participants. Otherwise, the cost is $8, but disPhoto courtesy of On Common Ground counts are available by Byrdie Gail Swindells struts in a red dress during OCG’s first fashion show. showing your student ID or donating two non-perishable items.

To further help with Food Swamp. places to buy fruits, store for a cup of instant this cause, follow the Food swamps can vegetables and other noodles with a side of slink below to sign. be described as areas food staples. processed chips. https://docs.google. that don’t have access As a result, downtown Michelle and Shan- com/forms/d/e/1FAIp to grocery stores and neighborhoods are in- non Dobbs’, OCG’s QLSdB74gVgCVM9cXhhealthy food choices. undated with unhealthy co-founders, plan to bl1Eu9yHkOqw4yrxkr This occurred in Reno food options. Folks are offer local farm-to-table YdSQXsAhwaQ20Qwg/ as more casinos, banks trapped in a quagmire produce and shelf-stable viewform and businesses began of diabetes-inducing, products that would establishing roots down- pressure-elevating and have otherwise been dis- Sara Gallego can be town, causing more heart-stopping fast carded. The OCG com- reached at csuggs@ people to move to the food chains and corner munity food center will nevadasagebrush.unr. suburbs. Grocery stores stores. Their only option provide cooking classes, edu, or on Twitter @ also joined the exodus, for groceries is a quick community events, NevadaSagebrush. depriving residents of stop at a convenience jobs and volunteer op-

A Kip Moore concert at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino was the place to be for country music lovers on Saturday, Oct. 27.

The show featured openers like Jordan Davis and Jillian Jacqueline, and was nearly sold-out with country music blasting and fans dancing all around.

Between sets the room was fairly well lit, but during performances one might have confused the concert for a rave. That was no apparent issue though, as the lights were synchronized with the drum kicks and other instruments, which really made the performance come together.

Attendees were either dressed informally in t-shirts and pants or all out in cowboy hats, jeans and a nice pair of boots. It was a country concert, after all.

Jillian Jacqueline was the first artist to perform, and played for about an hour.

People were still trickling in, buying drinks and browsing through merchandise outside the theater.

After Jacqueline finished, the lights came back on and the audience milled about for around 20 minutes, but the lights soon dimmed again, getting the crowd excited.

Jordan Davis talked about how he becomes anxious before performances — think of how a football player gets anxious waiting for kickoff, or how a wrestler gets anxious waiting for the first whistle after shaking hands.

“I don’t think I’m gonna stop getting that feeling for a long time […] I mean I look forward to those two or three minutes before when your walk out song is going on and the band is fired up,” Davis said. “It’s a pretty cool moment.”

Davis appeared on stage to rampant fanfare as he began to play “Tough to Tie Down” from his album “Home State.” Most people were in their seats as he continued on with his set, but the music was loud and the crowd was loving it.

Midway through his performance, Davis spoke with the crowd, saying that when his band got to the theater, they took a particular liking to the acoustics. For the first time on his tour, Davis went on to play “Leaving New Orleans,” the last track from his album, and a slower, somber one.

But by the time the first few chords of his hit song “Singles You Up” played, people were out of their seats. The theater was singing along with him as he performed, and they were loving it.

The song was not even the conclusion to his set either. He went on to play “Take It From Me”, which kept the energy in the crowd high.

In the interim period between sets, the theater began to really fill in. Some people only came to see Moore — a shame considering how lively the opening acts were.

Moore has not been to Reno since 2013 and since then he has garnered more fame — enough to pack the venue full. While some people were first-time country concert attendees, others were avid fans, with one woman following Moore to Reno, Santa Cruz and Salt Lake City.

Among Moore’s shots of whiskey between songs and relishing in the blaring music, almost every person in there was on their feet dancing. Moore knew how to hype the crowd up, and that’s the kind of energy that makes a concert great.

Midway through his performance, Moore went acoustic for a few songs, sending the band off for a break and simply playing his guitar. Before playing, though, he spotted a girl in the front row standing room who was on her phone, so he reached down and took it. Moore jokingly complained that he was right there in front of her and she was going to live in the moment for the next few songs.

After finishing the first song, Moore pulled the phone out of his back pocket and asked who was trying to call them so much, and that if someone was doing the same thing to him, that person was going to get blocked.

After the acoustic bit, Moore fired right back up with the band, playing his hit song “More Girls Like You” which absolutely shook the theater. The crowd was up on their feet, yelling the lyrics, and the experience of being in there was electrifying.

He also brought out Jillian Jacqueline again for a performance together of one of his slower songs, exemplifying the bond the artists have while on tour.

“This is our second time out with Kip. We’ve toured with him before. He’s a great dude,” Davis said. “He’s super generous to us out on the road, rocks out with Jillian Jacqueline, who’s our second time out with her, and they’re two of my favorite people in the music business.”

Before Moore began to play his last song, he asked that everybody put away their phones and once again live in the moment.

Even after the concert concluded, Moore came to the merchandise booth and signed everyone’s shirts, hats and other paraphernalia. It would be fair to say that Kip Moore loves his fans.

A country concert in the GSR was an unbelievable experience, and as there are sure to be more artists making stops in the Biggest Little City, picking up some tickets should be a priority for you when they do.

Nick Alvarez can be reached at csuggs@ nevadasagebrush.unr.edu, or on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Independent rapper redefines ‘Made in China’ with new distribution tactics

By Adam Faber For an aspiring musician, sitting down with a rapper signed with Def Jam is quite the opportunity. The fact that the same rapper went on to start his own record label and is focused on passing his knowledge on to younger musicians is icing on the cake.

It’s likely people haven’t heard of D.V. Alias Khryst – he’ll say so himself. He has, however, had significant success just out of the spotlight in the rap world.

“I’m a pretty humble dude, so I don’t assume anybody knows who I am,” said Khryst, “I’m kind of like a Supreme clothing line, only the hipsters kinda really know.”

In the mid-90s, Khryst came onto the scene with fellow rappers Trigga the Gambler and Smoothe da Hustler. The three Brooklyn natives were thrust into a much bigger scene together through their label No Doubt (Def Jam). He’s worked with Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre and many others.

However, Khryst’s label didn’t move forward with his projects with any real urgency, and now that he’s calling the shots, he finds more value breaking new ground. Even if it’s with an old medium.

“I have distributors who work with my digital, and I am also working with a company who normally only deal with DVDs — the music thing for them is new,” said Khryst.

He even convinced a DVD supplier to distribute his latest album, allowing a new distribution channel to open up.

“I challenged them to distribute a CD, and the result now is I’m getting exposure being on sale at Best Buy, and Target, and Barnes and Noble next to Kendrick Lamar. I’m

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on my own, that kind of leverage is big for me.”

But Khryst is looking past physical albums since they’re becoming less common. While compact discs were once 95% of the massive music industry, they’re now dwarfed by streaming income, which is about half of total music revenue. Since Khryst is trying to amplify his own work, he focuses on a more non-traditional channel — in this case, it’s the online Chinese rap scene.

“I been traveling the world for some years now – China’s a place that I never been,” said Khryst. “Watching them embrace the new music, even if it’s taboo, or forbidden, sometimes a risk for them to even enjoy.”

Khryst is on traditional streaming services in North America, but the massive Chinese market is a closed system — it has its own streaming and social media sites.

That needed a different entry method to access those 750 million online music listeners.

“I hear through a friend there’s a way to get in now — online, with videos,” Khryst said. “After I set it up I’m foldin’ my arms: is this a B.S. lane to but things through, or is this the real China experience?”

Khryst was referring to his Chinese digital distributor, Musicinfo.io.

“I had four hundred views, next morning I have ten thousand. Next morning I have a hundred and ten thousand,” he said.

Juri Kobayashi at Musicinfo. io says the demand is real – and a real opportunity for independent artists.

“China is kind of a closed culture, but the youth are very

much a part of a huge movement to bring in new flavors, new sounds, and those are often in English,” said Kobayashi. “The good news is that nowadays, three out of five artists are independent artists in China. Not as much of a major label stranglehold there.”

Khryst picked a provider who allowed him to keep 100 percent of his royalties, and one who would promote his music in China, not just upload it and forget about it. For all of his projects, he stresses that outreach to his fan base is critical — that goes double for students, who may only have a handful of loyal fans.

“Not everybody can make music that speaks to the world — you have to say ‘O.K., I got this amount of people who always like my stuff,’ I don’t care if it’s ten people!” Khryst said.

“You gotta make those people feel special. Nicki Minaj did a great job of this ... I watched her career go from where it wasn’t to where it is. She gave her fans their own name, she made them special.”

Khryst looks back at his path fondly. It put him in both the department stores and streaming in a country that often supplies those department stores.

“I feel blessed to be puttin’ out hooks and singles. It’s a blessing — I feel blessed and humble. I am the quintessential hybrid artist, a mixture of the old and the new,” Khryst said. “Traci Lee hit me up in a DM, tellin’ me ‘Congratulations on being in one of the dopest markets of the world.’

That’s pretty cool.”

Adam Faber can be reached at csuggs@nevadasagebrush. unr.edu, or on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

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A6 | OPINION

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

STAFF EDITORIAL

We’re better than this, Nevada

I

n the last 10 days on campus, two astonishing events have come to light. On Saturday, Oct. 28, after a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh left 11 people dead and six injured, a swastika was carved with a pencil into the wall in Peavine Hall on campus. The second was revealed after a document belonging to the Pi-Iota chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon was given to The Nevada Sagebrush containing songs depicting sexual assault, rape and other violence.

As these stories headline our front page, we think it’s time to show we are better than this.

Nevada, our university has seen enough.

At this time last year, the university community was coming to grips with the fact that a student attended the Unite the

Right rally in Charlottesville, which made national news. The student, Peter Cvjetanovic, was photographed yelling at the rally and his picture circulated to all media outlets across the country. Not long after, swastikas were graffitied onto the walls of the Church Fine Arts Building’s stairwell, and the culprits were never caught. It was a year of reflection as the university faced its diversity issues and learned from them.

After all that progress, we’re right back where we started.

Last year, there were a number of opportunities for dialogue between students and the university administration, and this dialogue has to keep going. We have to do better for the people at our university to ensure a safe environment for all.

The Associated Students of

the University of Nevada recognizes this and has set up a town hall discussion, similar to what they had last year in response to the Unite the Right rally, and will be available to hear concerns from the university community on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Joe Ballrooms on the fourth floor. We encourage everyone who can be there to go. Even if you do not feel affected by these events, you should go to be an ally to those who are. We need to stand together.

For the past year, Greek life has been one of the biggest spectacles at the university. In February, six UNR fraternities lost recognition for not adhering to the university’s new policies, while fraternities such as TKE decided to sign the agreement — which was created to prioritize the health and safety

of students at the university.

All fraternities and sororities at the university are required to participate in sexual conduct training. This semester, in the thick of the #MeToo movement, affiliated and disaffiliated fraternities decided to display their solidarity by hanging banners from their houses showing their understanding of consent. They got a lot of praise for saying something that is a basic human right. However, it’s just not enough. Supporting a movement means showing support even when the cameras and social media aren’t watching.

Although multiple fraternities participated in the hanging of the banners, TKE did not. The only thing worse than caring about sexual assault survivors just for the good publicity is to not care at all. The fraternity was

silent.

If TKE really cared about survivors, someone would have spoken up — not only against sexual assault but against the songs their fraternity chants.

There’s no reason songs about the brotherhood of being in a fraternity should even include the subordination of women.

These songs are coming from a fraternity that hosts an annual “TKE Sweetheart” pageant, where one young woman is chosen to be their sweetheart for a year while donating the proceeds of the event to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

None of the women competing would knowingly want to be a sweetheart to a chapter that disrespects women behind closed doors.

It is not hard to respect women. Respecting women isn’t

Birthright citizenship is not debatable

T

rying to decide which human beings are valid enough, or are worthy enough to be United States citizens, is wrong. Trying to end birthright citizenship is a disgusting testament of

Jacey Gonzalez how far this country has fallen from greatness.

On Tuesday, Oct. 30, Trump said that he planned to sign an executive order to revoke birthright citizenship.

Birthright citizenship is the principle of the Fourteenth Amendment that all persons born in America are U.S. citizens, even if their parents are not.

President Trump said this would take place by an executive order that he would sign. Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan said, “You obviously cannot do that” when asked about Trump’s executive order on national radio.

Our country isn’t even our own country. We took over this country, stole it from the native people and thought “Well, we’re here. It’s ours.” How Americans colonized this land is the equivalent of breaking into your neighbor’s house and having all the locks changed while they’re at work.

This country was built

on freedom. The exact definition of which kind of freedom is a little bit hazy, but freedom nonetheless. Birthright citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment should not be challenged by any president and not by President Donald Trump.

One of the main points of Trump’s presidential platform was reforming immigration, especially undocumented immigration. He has proposed different plans for his personal pet project of halting immigration, such as walls, tent cities and now trying to “eliminate” birthright citizenship.

If we allow our President to take away citizenship, we are repeating the same steps that took place before the Holocaust. When Adolf Hitler passed The Nuremberg Laws, he immediately took away citizenship from anyone who wasn’t German. Nazis stripped more than 500,000 Jews of their citizenship and their identity as Germans.

If President Trump tries to take away citizenship, he is following in the steps of arguably the world’s worst dictator.

Times have changed since The Holocaust, and our government should reflect the progress made since.

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified during a time where the main goal was to ensure that slaves born on U.S. soil were citizens once they were freed. Although we are removed from slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment made a concrete point, it is extremely valuable to be a United States citizen.

If someone receives

T

The Editorial Board can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @ NevadaSagebrush.

Overrated or underrated: food delivery

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Photo via NASA/Flickr

President Donald Trump hosts a meeting on Monday, April 24, 2017 from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C. In an interview on Tuesday, Oct. 30, President Trump told Axios he would try to eliminate birthright citizenship by issuing an executive order.

birthright citizenship during this time, it usually means that their parents were so selfless to give up everything they had to give their child a better life. They left their homes, abandoned their jobs, their extended families and immigrated to a new country to try and ensure that their child had a chance at living a life with more meaning and more rights than theirs.

If you are a natural citizen, from a lineage of natural citizens, we should consider ourselves

lucky. We were birthed into a world free of widespread oppression, where women can vote, where we can choose whatever religion we want.

We got lucky. As a fetus, we had no choice in the matter of where we were born, or who we were born to. It was a simple chance of fate that we were born in this country and not born somewhere where our mothers can’t own land, and our fathers are forced against their will to fight wars they didn’t start.

The television show, The Office, already explained how valuable U.S. citizenship is. In an episode Creed Bratton said, “I already won the lottery.

I was born in the US of A, baby!” No one should have their birthright citizenship “taken away from them.” Everyone should get the chance to be this lucky.

If President Trump wants to reform immigration laws to try and reform undocumented immigration, he should do so. But he should do

so in a thought out and educated way, not by thinking he has monarchical power by signing executive orders.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or of its staff. Jacey Gonzalez is a student at the University of Nevada and studies journalism. She can be reached at jaceygonzalez@ sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @JaceyLGonzalez.

Respect Thanksgiving, stop rushing to celebrate Christmas he fall season is special and unique because you get to celebrate a different holiday almost every month.

Each holiday has its own traditions and activities which are fun to partake in. But as holidays are becoming more commercialized, Jacey it seems as Gonzalez soon as the last piece of candy is handed out on Halloween, everyone rushes to start celebrating Christmas – which is 55 days away.

just a Twitter trend, it’s a practice. If men don’t understand respecting women by the time they reach college, maybe we should try new ways of teaching children about consent and interactions with women. Maybe fraternities should change their philanthropies to organizations that support sexual assault survivors and interact with survivors directly to see what harm is done by rape culture.

These events do not and should not reflect what our university is about. Let’s take our school back from hate like we did last year and prove this is not the real Nevada.

Stop rushing into Christmas.

If you don’t want to celebrate Thanksgiving because you have some hatred against the pilgrim settlers and Christopher Columbus, that is perfectly reasonable. But it doesn’t give you any right to drop everything the day after Halloween and start putting up the Christmas tree.

The people that rush straight into Christmas before snow is even on the ground need to back up. We all just finished picking up candy wrappers in our front yard, no one should even be planning for December yet.

Christmas is important to some religions, obviously, but nowhere in any holy writings does it explicitly say to start

celebrating Christmas on November 1. Take a minute to breathe before we rush into elves, peppermint bark and wrapping paper galore.

Christmas is overwhelming enough without shoving it down everyone’s throats a month and a half earlier.

There are so many movies to watch, presents to buy and decorations to hang up that it can stress out even the sanest people. There’s a reason why moms go into overdrive during the month of December, Christmas isn’t a walk in the park.

Holidays are supposed to be fun and lighthearted. Christmas season turns people into the exact opposite. Christmas makes people materialistic and that’s exemplified by all

of the parents that were fighting in Target last year over Hatchimals. A holiday where people are supposed to be celebrating the birth of their lord and savior and instead they are fighting with people in department stores over a pair of shoes.

Thanksgiving is an overlooked holiday mostly because no one appreciates the food we get to eat. Name another holiday where you can eat in a gluttonous fashion without being judged by all of your immediate family.

The month of November is the perfect time to take some time for yourself and focus on the last few months of the year.

Thanksgiving season is for food, family and relaxing from all the stress that Halloween

just caused you. November gives you enough time to regroup after going all out during October in preparation for Halloween, right before you have to turn around and celebrate 25 days of Christmas.

Give Thanksgiving the respect it deserves, give November the respect it deserves and take a moment to breathe before you watch “Elf” 37 times this winter.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or of its staff.

Jacey Gonzalez studies journalism and can be reached at jaceygonzalez@sagebrush.unr. edu and on Twitter @JaceyLGonzalez.

ood delivery services are everywhere now. Between Postmates, UberEats and other delivery services, food delivery is a societal norm. In most situations, these services are completely overrated but situations where people are without transportation, these services are perfect.

UberEats and Postmates are overrated when people just use it because of pure laziness. If I order a 10-piece McNuggets Meal from McDonald’s on North Virginia Street Lauren and East 5th Street, Turner and have UberEats deliver it to campus, the meal costs around $25. However, if I were to just walk or drive myself, the meal would be around $8. It seems ridiculous to pay almost three to four times as much for a meal.

Another factor is, the drive from campus to this McDonald’s is about three minutes.

By the time you would get into a car, order your food and come back, it would take just as long for the UberEats driver to get to your location. If not, you could even make it back sooner. According to UberEats, and these locations, it would take 15 to 25 minutes to get your food delivered. If you have the ability to pick up your own food, then these food services aren’t worth it.

As a college student food delivery services get the perfect amount of hype.

As a freshman, most people don’t have transportation to be able to get food.

Which is why food delivery makes sense.

They’re underrated to an extent. As a student who may be stuck in the dorms, stuck on campus, or even a student who doesn’t have a car, UberEats or Postmates can be the perfect option for getting a quick meal when you’re tired of DC food.

If I’m in the library doing a group project with a bunch of people who are counting on me, and the only time we can meet is during dinner, I’m forced to go do my project with a rumbling stomach in the MIKC. If I start getting hungry, I could order from one of the companies and grab the food from them when they arrive. I would be able to balance school without starving myself. This is so much easier than trying to drive somewhere and pick up food, which could potentially take a lot longer.

At least while I’m waiting for the food, I’m putting my time toward something valuable like a group project.

Not every student wants to eat in the cafeteria every day or even has the chance to eat. Some students don’t have cars either. By this point, why not order food through UberEats or Postmates? It seems like a perfect solution for those put in that situation, and it’s very reasonable.

While these delivery services could be very convenient and helpful to those who actually may need it, there isn’t a point to spend an extra $5 to get your food 40 minutes later. Why would you pay way more for a meal or wait hours for food that could take 10 minutes tops, if you were to just drive or walk? Food delivery services are extremely overrated.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or of its staff. Lauren Turner studies journalism and English and can be reached at jaceygonzalez@ sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @JaceyLGonzalez.

Sports TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Battle Brush: Nevada football attendance issues

By Darion Strugs and Ryan Freeberg In a surprising upset, the Nevada Wolf Pack beat the San Diego State Aztecs 28-24 in Mackay Stadium two weekends ago. In perhaps the Pack’s most high profile victory since the 2010 win against Boise State, no one showed up to the game.

The official attendance was 14,545 — the lowest all season.

While Nevada was happy with the score, they were not happy with the crowd.

RYAN: “If you build it, they will come” seems to be the philosophy of the University of Nevada, Reno.

A facelift to Mackay Stadium in 2016 was supposed to do just that, except it had the opposite effect. Students and fans are not coming in like Nevada had wanted or even expected.

In 2018, Nevada hasn’t been able to sell out Mackay. They haven’t even gotten close, with an average attendance of 17,866. That number is even misleading with actual attendance not being taken, but instead, counting ticket sales.

This is not uncommon, most college and pro sports take attendance this way.

Mackay Stadium at UNR can hold 26,000 fans after renovations in 2016. Prior to that, the stadium held 31,545 seats, even overselling in 1995, when Nevada played UNLV as 33,391 fans attended.

Season ticket sales are also dropping at an alarming rate. In 2013, sales hit an all-time high at 12,783. In 2018, the number dropped to 8,771 — a 31 percent decrease in season ticket sales since 2013.

One possible reason could be high ticket prices. The average ticket price on the 50-yard line is $113. Utah State — the number one ranked team in the Mountain West Conference — is charging $85 for a ticket on the 50-yard line. Even second place Boise State is charging the same ticket at a price of $93.

A professional football game is going for even less than what Nevada is asking. The Buffalo Bills play the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Dec. 16. Tickets on the 50-yard line are selling at anywhere from $61 to $65. Nevada is charging nearly double what a professional team is. Nevada has the edge in one category in the case of Buffalo. Mackay has lower beer prices than New Era Field where the Bills play.

The average domestic draft in Buffalo is $10, compared to $8 at Mackay.

DARION: This is probably the only time I’m going to completely agree with Ryan. If I didn’t get into the games for free, there’s no way I’m paying outrageous amounts of money to watch the Nevada Wolf Pack play. I’d barely pay the $65 to watch the Buffalo Bills play.

OBLIGATION OF THE SCHOOL/TEAM/FANS/ STUDENTS RYAN: Reno would and should embrace this team, but the university is making it easy to not support the Pack on gameday. With overpriced seats and ridiculously priced beer and hot dogs, the university has created a money pit in Mackay. Lowering the price of tickets to make them comparable with other Mountain West teams could go a long way. Even introducing a $5 combo of a light beer and a hot dog would be a good start.

Football fans in this town are hungry, but not for $113. The university has an obligation to create a fan experience, and they’re failing.

Other than the university — and obviously the football team itself — the students have the other obligation on campus when it comes to gameday.

One of the perks of being a student that comes with giving thousands of dollars to the university is gaining “free” entry to the football games. Getting students to attend games should be one of the core objectives of the university but in this

category, they’re failing as well.

Nevada has tried to promote the games with the Fitness Tailgate campaign, a push to get more students active and offer them healthy alternatives in a substance-free environment.

They have offered meals such as turkey burgers and veggie patties. Games like the strongman competition, bean bag toss and even archery are also present. Despite the offering, it doesn’t seem to be going well since students are not packing into the student section as Nevada had planned. Even when the student section is filled to a moderate amount, it empties by a considerable amount after halftime.

Regardless of the status of the Fitness Tailgate, students should at least be attending games if they can. Class duties will always come first, and a part-time or even a full-time job for some students is a requirement. But with 20,000 students at the university, the student section should be filled at every game. Yes, the university needs to lower prices inside Mackay, students on average cannot afford multiple $8 beers — most people probably can’t. Despite this, students should be attending games. Students are already paying for entry thanks to their tuition, not attending the games is essentially wasting money.

DARION: The school and each of the sports programs at the university are the ones who are obligated to perform. The best way to get fans into seats is to be successful. Men’s basketball attendance was average well into Musselman’s second season as head coach. When the team reached the tournament that year, attendance went up.

Nevada and head coach Jay Norvell had the idea of the self-proclaimed “best home schedule in school history” this season. The Pack scheduled a winless Portland State team from last season and the Pac-12’s worst team in Oregon State for their non-conference matchups. They scheduled four conference games — that Norvell didn’t actually pick — of Fresno State, Boise State, San Diego State and Colorado State. Going off of last season’s performances who in the world wanted to watch Nevada play the three best teams in the conference?

Football and baseball are the two biggest sports at the school behind basketball. At best, football has been average since Colin Kaepernick left.

The team hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since his departure. Why would fans want to see four hours of subpar football, especially students?

The weekend is one of the few times students get to enjoy themselves, so why waste the little time they have on a Saturday night to sit on hard, cold bleachers for four hours until almost midnight in the cold instead of partying — at a party beer doesn’t cost $8. It may be cheaper than an NFL beer but it is still a lot of money. Don’t even get me started on the fitness tailgates, what a waste of time.

I know Nevada does not have much power over what time they play games but the way to get people to show up to games is to consistently play better. Men’s Basketball played weeknight games last season that would end at around 9:30 or 10 p.m., but the stands were still filled.

Most fans that attend sporting events are casual fans and families looking for a way to spend quality time with each other.

Why would the average family want to go to late night games?

When has blind loyalty ever worked in sports? I’ll answer that with not well — just ask Lebron James or the Cleveland Cavaliers. How about everybody stop whining that no one goes to games and instead just hope the team performs better and let attendance follow.

Darion Strugs and Ryan Freeberg can be reached at dstrugs@ sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @dstrugs.

SPORTS| A7

@SagebrushSports | nevadasagebrush.com

Soccer stars Stovall, Minamishin more than teammates

By Isaiah Burrows Freshmen goalkeeper Kendal Stovall and midfielder Kylie Minamishin have formed a pack of their own.

On the field, Stovall and Minamishin developed quite a bit of chemistry playing together since their sophomore years at Kamehameha high school, located in Honolulu. It’s translating to a steady improvement for a youthful Nevada women’s soccer team.

“It’s taken time, but she knows my strengths as a player,” Minamishin said. “She knows what my preferences are when she distributes balls to me and it really benefits us as a team. Coming from the same high school really helps and you can see it on the field.”

Stovall is adjusting to Minamishin’s style of play as well, and the two are in the midst of forming a dynamic duo.

“I’m beginning to know Kylie’s preferences on the field,” Stovall said. “She’s a lefty so I would play the ball to her left and she goes off. And if I’m ever mad about a play, she knows how to calm me down so it helps with the team chemistry overall.”

Both players were named to the Mountain West All-Newcomer team, marking the first all-conference award for Nevada since Daisha Jones-Oglesby in 2015. The team is composed of 11 freshmen or first-year transfers within the conference.

Stovall had a record-setting season. Her 99 saves and 1,750 minutes in goal ranks seventh and eighth in school history. She was also named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27, posting a 1-0-1 record with 10 saves over a two-game period.

“I think Kendal has kept that competitive mentality all season,” head coach Erin Otagaki said. “She’s playing with a certain confidence that’s well beyond her years. I’m really impressed with her play early on.”

Minamishin has tallied four points this season — one goal and three assists. She’s first on the team in shots with 26 and second in shots on goal with nine. Her 1,602 minutes played rank fourth on the team.

One year after finishing 1-18 and failing to win a conference game, the Wolf Pack have improved to 4-12-2 this season. Stovall and Minamishin have big aspirations for the future of the program.

“This year was a coming out year for us,”

Isaiah Burrows/Nevada Sagebrush

Kendal Stovall (left) and Kylie Minamishin (right) stand next to each other during practice on Thursday, Oct. 18. Stovall had 99 saves this season and Minamishin had one goal.

Minamishin said. “Our freshman class has a lot of potential and we’ve improved a lot. We’ve really grown as a team and I feel that there’s a lot of us getting playing time to help us improve. Being such a young team, this experience will help us in the future.”

Both players built illustrious high school careers during their time at Kamehameha. Stovall is a winner of five soccer league championships spanning the Virginia, Oregon and Hawaii areas.

She also competed in track and field as an upperclassman.

Minamishin lettered in soccer all four years, earning All-State honors from her freshman to junior years. She won multiple state championships with the Honolulu Bulls — Hawaii's premier soccer club that strives to improve the skills of players aged 8-19. Those accomplishments earned Minamishin a spot on the U.S. Under-16 Girls National Team.

“We just have a lot of talent at Kamehameha,” Stovall said. “We don’t necessarily back it up with championships but there is a lot of individual

effort. Mini and I are just two players from the soccer team. The Hawaiians that come up to Nevada bring a lot of talent to the programs and it shows.”

Off the field, one word can describe their relationship, “together”.

“Teammates and friends call us inseparable,” Stovall said. “We are basically always together and we’ve been best friends since sophomore year. We’ve gone through some ups and downs, but we’ve been very tight ever since.”

Minamishin couldn’t agree more with her fellow teammate.

“We’re like sisters,” Minamishin said. “We fight and then we get over it, but in the end we’re always together and that’s all that matters to us.”

Their connection on and off the field could be the driving force to put Nevada Wolf Pack soccer on the map for years to come.

Isaiah Burrows can be reached at dstrugs@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @SagebrushSports.

-Ehrlich, 2000, vi

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018