11/18/21 Full Edition

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News: Local communities sup- Opinion: Feminism is attained through progress, not perfection port Afghan refugees Page 7 Page 6

Sports: Wake Forest prevails over NC State Page 10

Life: Tips to start a Thanksgiving food fight Page 14

Old Gold&Black

WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 VOL. 108, NO. 13

T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 18 , 2 0 21 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”

wfuogb.com

Booster shots come to campus During the last week of classes, the university will be offering booster shots of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine BY BREANNA LAWS Staff Writer lawsbn21@wfu.edu

Aine Pierre/ Old Gold & Black

Residence Life and Housing will be providing housing for students over Winter Break, the office announced in an email sent on Nov. 10. The change came after students expressed concern over logistics.

Residence Life updates Winter Break policies Students will be able to stay on campus over Winter Break after all, RLH said in an email BY AINE PIERRE News Editor pierav20@wfu.edu

On Nov. 10, Residence Life and Housing (RLH) announced the reversal of its original decision regarding Winter Break housing. Now, students who need to stay in Winston-Salem for any reason can reside in university-sponsored housing. The announcement followed a monthlong period of deep concern for international students, many of whom are unable to go home between semesters. On Oct. 4, RLH announced it would be closing all residential facilities at the university over

Winter Break, a reversal from its policy last year. On Oct. 28, the Old Gold & Black published a report by Mingxuan Zhu, Dexter Peters and Elena Marsh calling attention to the predicament of these students. “Staying in a hotel or renting a house is not safe and not cheap,” Qianyue Zhang told the Old Gold & Black in the Oct. 28 article. “And besides, we do not have cars, so that is another big issue. We cannot go anywhere, and we have to take Uber, which is also very expensive.” According to the email, students will now either be placed in double-occupancy hotel rooms or university-sponsored housing from Dec. 12-Jan. 8. RLH said that student concerns were the driving force behind the change. “Some students expressed frustration regarding housing options over Winter

Break as the pandemic continues to affect travel plans, especially for international students,” RLH Associate Director of Operations Dr. Zachary Blackmon said. “[Students] raised important concerns about housing insecurity, travel difficulties and other personal considerations during this upcoming period.” Students must apply to stay on campus over Winter Break by Nov. 21 at 11:59 p.m. Those approved will be charged $750, which, according to the email, is a similar rate as that charged to those who stayed on campus over Winter Break last year. Students can apply for financial aid to cover those costs, too. “Our office is working with the Financial Aid team to review students requesting Winter Break housing who might have demonstrated financial need,” Blackmon said.

See RLH, Page 4

With more research being conducted every day on COVID-19 and related safety measures, Wake Forest is doing what they can to adhere to new regulations and guidelines as they are released. Students and faculty were all required to receive the COVID-19 vaccination before arriving on campus at the beginning of the year — provided that they were not exempt. Because of this requirement, Wake Forest has the extremely high vaccination rate of 97%. This high vaccination rate, along with other preventative measures, have kept campus relatively free of the virus, according to Vice President of Campus Life Penny Rue. As of Nov 13, Wake Forest has only 123 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 since Aug 1. Per earlier reporting, unvaccinated Wake Forest students were much more likely to contract COVID-19 than their vaccinated peers. Recently though, studies have shown that vaccines steadily lose their effectiveness over time. For this reason, the CDC believes that booster shots for COVID-19 can help keep the virus at bay. In response, Wake Forest is providing options for students to receive booster shots through on-campus clinics. These vaccine clinics will be held from Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 on the second floor of the Sutton Center. The boosters are available to all students and completely free of charge. The only requirement is that all students bring their vaccination cards and wear masks for the duration of their appointment. The on-campus clinics will only be offering Pfizer booster shots. Students that originally received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine will still be able to receive boosters, too, because these doses are compatible with those vaccines as well. Students are also able to get their booster shots off campus if they wish to do so. Locations for specific off-campus clinics can be found on the Our Way Forward webpage of the university’s website. However, Rue suggests that students take advantage of clinics on campus.

See Boosters, Page 5


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