March 2024

The Panther

The Panther

SGA celebrates new 202425 presidential leadership, amendments to the Constitution

Chapman’s Student Government Association (SGA) announced its new president, Eric Hall, and vice president, Sydney Lasensky, for the 2024-25 school year and explained how the passing of the new Constitution will bring about changes for the student government Association going forward.

By Kiana Kalahele, News Editor

Chapman’s Student Government Association (SGA) recently celebrated new accomplishments for its organization, including the approval of its newest Constitution and the announcement of the new SGA president and vice president-elect for the upcoming school year.

The Chapman community had the opportunity to vote in both the SGA Presidential Election and the Constitutional Election this year, giving students the ability to choose how they want SGA to operate going forward.

Results for the two elections were disclosed to students on Feb. 28.

According to current SGA President and senior health sciences major Rachel Berns, both elections passed with a student voter participation rate of 28.88%, the highest voter turnout ever in SGA history.

“(The results) reflect very encompassing efforts across various areas of campus (faculty, student-athletes, Greek organizations, etc.) and so much hard work from our SGA members interpersonally, via social media

and beyond,” Berns wrote in an email to The Panther.

Berns continued: “I am really impressed with how many Chapman students took the time to understand the proposed amendments and ask thoughtful questions to our SGA members with a genuine interest in what they were voting for.”

New SGA president, vice president announced for upcoming academic year

At a small ceremony on Feb. 28, SGA revealed that junior philosophy and economics double major Eric Hall would serve

Read P2

SGA proposes four amendments to Constitution

Among the changes proposed to the SGA Constitution include the creation of an at-large senator position and the consolidation of various positions.

By Renee Elefante, Editor-in-Chief

Chapman University’s Student Government Association (SGA) is looking to amend their Constitution with four new amendments. The Constitution was last amended in 2017, according to a Feb. 26 email sent out to the Chapman community.

In order to pass the constitutional amendments, SGA must get a campus voter participation rate of 20%.

Previous election years saw that the changes proposed at those times did not get passed as the voter participation rate was always lower than the required threshold of 20%. Berns explained to The Panther one possible reason why the proposed changes for previous years had a harder time being passed.

“I think in recent years, some of the proposed changes have almost been underexplained, like we tell people to vote (on) the Constitution but we don’t always explain to them why it’s important or why it should matter to them,” Berns said. “And so, we’re going to try and be super explicit and transparent with everything and why we’re doing it and why we think it’s important.”

First two proposed amendments would consolidate positions within SGA

The first amendment calls for the creation of two new positions within the Executive Council: the Director of Operations role and the Director of Senate role. According to a file emailed to the Chapman community on Feb. 26, the Director of Operations would assist the Executive Council with any logistical needs. The Director of Senate, meanwhile, would assume the responsibilities from the Director of Elections and the Speaker of Senate.

In the second amendment, SGA proposes restructuring the Senate to have four class senators, one of each for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Currently, SGA has one underclassmen senator and one upperclassmen Read P4

The effect of the war in the Middle East on students

By Lisa Wong, Video & Podcast Editor

The initial massacre by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7th resulted in yet another Israel-Palestine war. The war has resulted in over 23,000 deaths, and a multitude of humanitarian crises. It has sparked a strong, passionate, yet divisive international response. In America, hundreds of protests and demonstrations took place. On college campuses specifically, intense reactions resulted in tense consequences. How has the war affected the Chapman student body specifically? Or its Jewish and Arab communities? How has the university responded and what do students think of it? For the past few months, Video and Podcast Editor Lisa Wong talked with students, professors and Chapman administration to answer some of these questions.

Emi Thomas

SGA celebrates new 2024-25 presidential leadership, amendments to the Constitution

By Kiana Kalahele, News Editor

as the new SGA president for the 2024-25 school year. Over this past year, Hall has served as SGA’s Academic Organizations Senator.

According to SGA’s voting results posted on Instagram, Hall received 58.41% of the votes out of 7,433 eligible voters. His opponent, sophomore economics and public relations and advertising double major Isaac Persky, received 39.42% of the votes. 2.17% of voters submitted write-ins and 78 students abstained from the vote, indicating that they decided not to vote for either candidate that was running for president.

“I’m incredibly excited to start working!”

Hall told The Panther. “I still have several weeks before my term as president officially starts, but training and transitioning has already started. I’m also really happy that the Constitutional amendments were approved this election. SGA has changed a lot over the past seven years, and I think that the new documents can let us run much more smoothly.”

As for the incoming vice president, sophomore political science major Sydney Lasensky will be taking the reins. Currently, Lasensky is SGA’s Underclassmen Senator and she also serves on the University and Academic Affairs Committee.

SGA’s voting results posted on Instagram revealed that Lasensky received 36.16% of the votes, while her opponents, junior data science major Tiffany Le and sophomore business administration major Ryann Sax, received 31.43% and 30.45% of the votes, respectively. 1.96% of voters submitted write-in candidates, and 94 students abstained from the vote.

“I am incredibly proud and grateful that this

election was a success,” Lasensky wrote in an email to The Panther. “Campaigning with my fellow candidates was a pleasure and a phenomenal way to get the word out about SGA. I am excited to soon be sworn in and get to work!”

SGA Constitution receives enough voter participation to pass after seven years

After seven years of annual Constitutional Elections, SGA’s amended Constitution finally passed with a 28.88% voter participation rate. In order to be able to pass the document, 20% of the Chapman student body must vote in the election.

According to SGA’s voting results on Instagram, the amended Constitution passed with 97.86% of students voting ‘yes,’ while 2.14% of students voted not to approve the changes.

The newly passed Constitution brings about four main amendments to how SGA will operate, including two changes that focus on the consolidation of positions within the organiza-

tion. Another change will create three finance/ allocations committees to help meet students’ financial needs, while the final change will move explanations of position-specific duties to other SGA documents while keeping a core outline of the positions in the Constitution.

“Lots of healthy debate and incredibly contemplative conversations across several months went into these proposed amendments, and it’s so gratifying to know they will be coming to fruition soon,” Berns told The Panther.

SGA is currently working on revising its remaining operating documents, including its By-Laws and Senate Operating Procedures, to reflect the changes approved in the recent Constitutional Election. After all documents are updated, they will go up for a vote by the Senate on March 15 and will begin to take effect starting with the upcoming Spring Senatorial Election this semester.

Chapman students, faculty evaluate artificial intelligence use in the classroom

The rapidly evolving nature of generative AI has brought both its benefits and problems for those at the university.

By Brandon Leonard, News Staff Writer

Artificial intelligence is a buzzword in this day and age. When referring to AI models that produce content based on user inputs, it is most often referring to generative AI. Generative AI is commonly defined as machine learning tools that utilize analysis of existing images, videos, sounds and text to generate new forms of content based on what a user inputs. Generative AI models have seen a prominent rise in the public conscience in the present decade, championed by models such as Chat GPT and Midjourney.

This has filtered down to various aspects of daily life, especially for students and faculty at Chapman University. The university has gone so far as to create a hub that can address various questions and concerns about generative AI in a classroom environment.

Generative AI carries with it many ethical considerations, especially within a higher education environment.

“One of the things that we emphasize in the Leatherby Libraries’ student-focused workshops and programs is the concept of AI literacy,” said Douglas Dechow, the assistant dean for research and data services, and Taylor Green, the chair of research and instructional services. Presently, Chapman has rec-

ommendations on how professors address the use of generative AI in their syllabi. It recommends that instructors make it clear what uses of generative AI are acceptable and what are not, but notably states that not permitting any use of AI at all is not recommended. The university states that AI is already present in students’ lives, which may include how they write, study and learn in ways that instructors won’t immediately understand.

“Most technologies bring new challenges and concerns along with benefits,” Dechow and Green said. “Because tools like ChatGPT can be used to generate essays and answer homework questions, there’s an ongoing campus discussion around issues of plagiarism and assignments that are challenging for an AI to complete.”

Chapman also advises students about what information should and should not be put into generative AI. Rather than shying away from generative AI altogether, Chapman instead seeks to push for a responsible usage of it. Chapman acknowledges that while students can reduce or restrict the usage of AI and avoid it in their personal lives, it is a growing technology whose presence in the world is unlikely to be reduced anytime soon.

“The problem with using AI to assist in writing or

to ‘finish’ other people’s works is that this data is entered into the algorithm forever,” said creative writing major Aaron Grossmann. “A writer asking for how to finish a sentence that enters the paragraph leading up to it to provide context is also allowing the algorithm to endlessly mix and remix that exact same paragraph forever.”

Luciana Paventy, a junior creative writing major who is minoring in graphic design, spoke on her thoughts about AI being used in the fields of art and graphic design.

“It is hard for me to justify a way in which AI can be used ethically and beneficially within art and graphic design,” Paventy said. “I try to avoid it at all costs. However, if required of me, it can be useful in the research stage of graphic design.”

Chapman also has various recommendations on how AI can be used responsibly within the classroom. However, it also includes considerations on what the basis of the information gathered from AI is. While generative models have received much attention for their growing capabilities, it is worth mentioning that they are not flawless and that their answers should still be put under careful examination.

Eric Hall (left) and Sydney Lasensky are the incoming president and vice president, respectively.

Photos courtesy of Eric Hall and Sydney Lasensky

Hilbert Museum officially reopens its permanent location with new amenities, art collections

The Hilbert Museum reopened its doors tso the public in late February after over two years of construction to triple the museum’s space and add new amenities, including a museum café, mosaic and courtyard.

By Kiana Kalahele, News Editor

Emi Thomas

After over two years of renovations, the Hilbert Museum of California Art has officially reopened its doors with many new features, exhibitions and art collections to offer Chapman students, faculty and Orange community members.

The Hilbert Museum recently reopened to the public on Feb. 23 at its original 167 N. Atchison St. location after having been temporarily housed at 216 E. Chapman Ave. for the duration of its construction. Since its expansion, the museum expanded to 22,000 square feet from its original size of 7,500 square feet, and it features new amenities like a museum café, a research library, a courtyard for patrons and a large mosaic lining the outside of the museum building designed by well-known California artist Millard Sheets.

“The Hilberts have collected so much art that they’re able to bring in for different exhibitions in order for there to always be something new and exciting at the museum,” City of Orange Mayor Dan Slater said at the reopening ceremony. “So watch out, Santa Ana and Laguna Beach, because Orange is now on the map for places to go to for art.”

Currently, the museum has nine different exhibitions that span 26 galleries for the public to view. According to Hilbert Museum Director Mary Platt, the exhibitions in the museum will undergo “Rubik’s cube scheduling,” meaning that the artwork will be switched out every five months to welcome in new paintings, illustrations and displays for the public to view.

“What people are seeing at the museum is only a fraction of our collection. We normally have about 300 pieces up at a time, and the rest is in storage,” Platt told The Panther. “Having our exhibitions rotate every few months allows patrons to be able to come back to the museum at a later time with new artwork to see.”

Another piece that frames the museum’s exterior is “Pleasures Along the Beach” by Sheets, which was a partnership that the artist did with a Home Savings and Loans Bank in Santa Monica in the 1960s. The large, colorful mosaic showcases the buoyant beach

lifestyle in both Santa Monica and many other parts of California.

The museum will be partnering with Chapman’s Holocaust Studies program in April to display artwork for the 25th annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest. According to Platt, the artwork from the contest will be displayed in the museum up until July.

Along with the exhibitions and upcoming events at the Hilbert, the museum’s close proximity to Chapman and especially to Dodge College serves as a key resource for students who are interested in film, design and the arts.

“Having a newly-expanded museum so close to Chapman is really exciting because I’ve always been a huge fan of art museums, and there’s so many talented artists just in Orange alone,” said Kari Lien, a senior double majoring in communication studies and creative writing. “One exhibition that I’m looking forward to seeing is Art of the Airwaves: Radios from the Hilbert Collection because I’ve never seen vintage radios, especially in a museum before. It just sounds really cool.”

In an effort to also teach more Chapman students about the arts, the museum is currently looking for students to volunteer as docents. As a docent, students would help work events happening at the museum as well as monitor specific exhibitions and chat with patrons.

“Students will get some training where they can learn about the art in the museum, so it’s really quite a cool thing to be able to do,” Platt said. “It helps build up students’ resumes as well.”

For more information about the volunteer opportunities at the museum, students can email hilbertmuseum@chapman.edu.

Currently, the expanded Hilbert Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free for all visitors, and online reservations are recommended.

To make a reservation or to learn more about the Hilbert Museum, visit hilbertmuseum.org.

Sandwiches to pasta, then back again

On-campus sandwich shop SubConnection dropped its little-advertised pasta bar menu after only a two-week debut.

By Rosemary Wright, News Staff Writer

Atemporary change to the SubConnection sandwich shop in Argyros Forum has left some patrons with unanswered questions.

Last month, the made-to-order shop broke from its standard menu to serve a limited-time-only pasta bar. While a corporate representative from the company in charge of SubConnection highlighted its success, customers and even the sandwich shop’s employees have shared conflicting opinions about the sudden change.

Alexa Zuch, a senior computer science major, and a regular SubConnection customer, expressed her confusion about this unexpected switch.

Zuch stated she first noticed the menu change on Feb. 28. She then explained how, after speaking with a SubConnection employee, she learned that pasta had been on the menu all week.

According to Zuch, this employee also told her the pasta bar was not popular among students and explained that the sandwich shop would soon be returning to its original menu as a result.

SubConnection employee Mayra Luque, who worked during the menu change, observed the switch was unpopular among customers, stating, “Students didn’t like it.”

Zuch also expressed confusion about why the special menu was not better advertised. She shared that the main reason she did not try the new menu was because she was unaware it was being offered.

“I feel like if I had known that, I probably would have tried it at least,” Zuch said.

Zuch even called it “weird” that she had to enter SubConnection and see the pasta bar to learn about the menu change. By March 2, Zuch observed that pasta was no longer being served at SubConnection.

The limited-time-only pasta bar was not advertised around campus and did not appear in the weekly announcement emails sent out to the student body by Dean of Students Jerry Price. Zuch questioned why SubConnection had not advertised the menu change around campus.

Sodexo Regional District Manager Rodney Reed explained that the limited menu’s unadvertised soft launch was a planned move by the company.

“We did not promote this temporary change as we wanted the news spread organically (word of mouth), and it did,” Reed said.

Reed confirmed the temporary menu was available between Feb. 12 and Feb. 16, then again from Feb. 26 until Feb. 29.

Zuch stated she only found out about the special menu on Wednesday, Feb. 28 — in its final 24 hours. In contrast to earlier statements by the sandwich shop’s employees, Reed also highlighted that the menu change “was very well-received.”

Reed explained the reason behind this temporary menu change.

“While SubConnection has always been very popular, we wanted to offer the university something a little different,” Reed told The Panther.

Reed said the company doesn’t have any current changes for the menu planned regarding whether or not pasta will be served again at Chapman.

For the near future, SubConnection customers on campus can expect the sandwich shop’s regular offerings.

IS&T introduces new password policy for Chapman students, faculty to ensure safety from cybersecurity threats

Beginning June 15, the Chapman community will be required to have passwords that are at least 12 characters long in order to protect academic and personal information from increasing cyber threats.

By Alexandra Der Boghosian, News Staff Writer

Chapman’s Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) announced in an email to the campus community last month that new password requirements will be implemented for students and faculty members. Starting June 15, students and faculty will need to reset their university passwords with the requirements assembled by the IS&T staff.

The new policy requires passwords to be a minimum of 12 characters, though 14 characters are preferred. All new passwords must have at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number and one punctuation character in them, according to Michelle Sypinero, the assistant vice president of Information Security. It is also advised that students and faculty not include the terms “Chapman” or “Panther” in their new passwords. Students and faculty will also be required to change their passwords at least once a year.

passwords.

Chapman’s IS&T team encourages users to create very strong passwords that will protect them from cyber-attacks.

The current password requirements consist of passwords being at least eight characters long, including one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number and one punctuation character. The policy also reminds students and faculty members not to include their name (first, middle or last) or their email account name in the password.

“I’m glad IS&T is implementing new password requirements because I always get scam work emails and job opportunities that I don’t know if they are real or not.

-Talar Kazanjian

IS&T’s goal is to improve the two-factor/ multi-factor authentication process and influence students, faculty and staff to build stronger and longer passwords to keep their accounts safe.

Junior economics and political science double major Talar Kazanjian emphasizes that she receives at least one scam email per day in her student email inbox.

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SGA proposes four amendments to Constitution

By Renee Elefante, Editor-in-Chief

senator. Additionally, the number of student organization senators would be reduced from five to two, and the position of an at-large senator would be created.

According to current SGA President Rachel Berns, the organization has noticed for the past few years “how specified SGA has gotten.”

“Of course, if you start with a group of 10 students, people start to think, ‘Oh, we should make a senator for this because we want to increase representation for this group, and we should make another senator for this group on campus,’ which is not a bad thing at all,” Berns said. “I think over time, we’ve done so much of that (that) we’ve almost gotten over-specified. And so, I think right now, student government at Chapman is very segmented, where you kind of just have a lot of individual people working on different things.”

According to Berns, some of the senatorial positions in SGA, in particular the positions for the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and the School of Communication, have increasingly become more involved in college and departmental operations like planning large-scale events, running social media feeds and chairing student leadership councils. While Berns supports having senators be involved in conversations about the college they are representing, she does not feel that they should “inherit administrative duties just by means of their title.”

“I think they’re filling a lot of roles that shouldn’t be their jobs, planning events and things like that, when their job within their constituencies should be to hear concerns, bring those concerns to the Senate, be a channel for communication (and) activate the student body when big issues arise,” Berns said. “We need that full force of the student dissatisfaction in order to make change.”

Berns continued: “Like, that’s really what the role of a senator is: to bring any concerns from their constituency to the full Senate. And then the full Senate should be devising a plan for action and putting that into place, and really, every student in student government should be interested in advocating for all students, not just whoever that senator is for that constituency. And so, a lot of the shifts that we’re proposing in the Senate structure are to really, hopefully, bolster that by sort of de-specifying some of them and just kind of regroup what it means to be a senator.”

According to Berns, the proposed addition of an at-large senator would enable students who are passionate about student government but aren’t part of a specific group or organization on campus to get involved in SGA. Currently, a majority of the positions within SGA require students to belong to a specific college, group or organization; for example, students interested in the Dodge Senator position must be enrolled in the school, while those interested in the Leisure Student Organization Senator must be part of a leisure student organization.

“We have noticed a recent rise in the number of accounts that have been compromised,” Sypinero said. “In order to address this issue and keep our community safe, we propose implementing measures that will help to reduce the number of compromised accounts.”

Since the fall semester, students and faculty have noticed an increase in job scam emails in their inboxes that have compromised the community’s safety online. This rise in scam emails resulted in IS&T releasing new protocols for creating email

“I’m glad IS&T is implementing new password requirements because I always get scam work emails and job opportunities that I don’t know if they are real or not,” Kazanjian said. “I hope the new password requirements protect my account from scam emails.”

IS&T highly recommends that students and faculty members reset their password before the deadline of June 15 to avoid disruptions by going to password.chapman.edu.

“So, if there are students who are really passionate about improving this campus and (who) love student representation and advocacy and all those things but don’t really have a place where they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I feel super connected to this group on campus,’ or maybe they’re an undeclared student who doesn’t have an academic college, whatever that might be. It just kind of opens up an additional space for someone to get involved without having to be associated with one of those subgroups,” Berns said.

Photo illustration by Emily Paris

Analysis | Star power in politics: Do celebrity endorsements work?

Celebrity endorsements can play a powerful role in political campaigns — and they could give Biden an edge in his reelection efforts.

By Nicole Kavros, Politics Editor

Celebrities have been endorsing political candidates for decades, and now, with stars so famous that they’ve become household names, celebrity endorsements have become more powerful to a campaign than ever before.

Over a century ago in the 1920 presidential election, singer Al Jolson showed his support for Republican candidate Warren G. Harding in a song called “Hardy, You’re the Man for Us,” which featured promotional lyrics set to a catchy tune.

The song features lines such as, “It’s Harding, lead the GOP, Harding, onto victory” and “We know we’ll always find you with Coolidge right behind you, and Coolidge never fails, you must agree,” which references former president Calvin Coolidge, who was also Harding’s running mate and vice president.

Harding went on to win the presidency by nearly 75% of electoral votes and around 65% of the popular vote.

Now, celebrities take to social media to advocate for their preferred candidates.

Stars as big as Taylor Swift have posted endorsements to their Instagram accounts in hopes that it would sway their millions of social media followers to support a particular candidate.

“I think when you have celebrities like Taylor Swift, someone who is incredibly influential, it can be both a good and bad thing,” said Griffin Dickman, a freshman political science major. “It can get people active in voting, more engaged with politics and have a better understanding of the world around them.”

But, Dickman also recognizes the flaws in the use of star power.

“It can result in people blindly voting because of their celebrity and not actually educating themselves on the candidate and their history, qualifications and proposed policies,” added Dickman.

In October 2020, Biden posted an image of Swift holding a plate of “Biden/ Harris 2020” cookies. This post earned nearly a million likes on the platform, and Biden jumped up a percent in the polls within the week following the post going up.

Today’s celebrities can make a significant difference, influencing mass groups of voting Americans with just one click. With this much power, it could be possible that all either candidate needs to win this nail-biting election is a key celebrity endorsement.

“Candidates can use endorsements strategically to help capture more audiences,” Dickman said. “We’ve seen this with the use of TikTok, and more recently,

Joe Biden’s post after the Super Bowl.”

Dickman is referring to a meme that Biden posted of himself on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. Some are speculating that this is a part of Biden’s plan to win over fans of Taylor Swift, who is dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce.

Author Cooper Lawrence, who has written a book about the effects of celebrity in politics, told BBC that “Hollywood leans liberal. That’s the history of celebrities and politics.”

Biden was an example of this trend when he was endorsed by Swift, Madonna, Tom Hanks and Dwayne Johnson in the 2020 presidential election.

Biden isn’t the first Democratic candidate to look to celebrities for a campaign boost.

In 2008, what was nicknamed “The Oprah Factor” was said to be a deciding factor in the election of former president Barack Obama. Businesswoman and talk show host Oprah Winfrey raised millions for his campaign and consistently advocated for Obama throughout his run.

A study done by Sage Journals labeled Winfrey as “no ordinary celebrity endorser.” They cited her status as the host of a show that garnered nearly 10 million viewers a day and her successful magazine publication as the reason for her influential reach.

The study points to polls that reflect the power of the “Oprah effect.” According to a Pew survey conducted in September, 60% of respondents said that they believed Oprah’s endorsement would help Obama’s campaign, while only 3% said that the support would be damaging to the campaign.

Over a decade after the “Oprah effect” shook American culture, Biden may be looking for a similar boost in his 2024 re-election campaign.

For example, he has made stops on his reelection campaign to meet with social media influencers, and the president has also started promoting the usage of proBiden content.

Following the success of Swift’s support in the last election, which ignited over 35,000 voter registrations according to Vote.org, prominent Biden supporters like California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been suggesting that the pop star could make a big difference in Biden’s campaign efforts.

Photo collage by Jack Sundblad

Chapman alumna shares journey with OCD in short story

Danielle Krikorian, a 2020 creative writing alumna, shared the development and publishing of her OCD-inspired short story, “Darci and the Hook, Line, and Sinker.”

By Cameron Scherer, Features & Entertainment Writer

Growing up in Irvine, Disneyland trips were routine for Danielle Krikorian, who believes that the park helped foster her love for fairy tales.

Fairy tales would become a genre of interest for the ‘20 creative writing alumna as she discovered writing and a blanket of security, growing up with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It was at the Disneyland parking structure when Krikorian got the news that, after multiple rejections, her OCD-inspired short story was going to be published in Open Minds Quarterly, and soon after, Kaleidoscope Magazine.

“My OCD would kind of sneak into my love of fairy tales and myths, and sometimes I’d have to take a step back, which was always really hard for me, even though it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love these things so much that it’s now taking over. It’s coming into this world,’” Krikorian told The Panther. “It always just felt really hopeful in those worlds.”

The Panther sat down with Krikorian to discuss her history as a writer, her journey with OCD and the publishing of her story, “Darci and the Hook, Line, and Sinker.”

In the third grade, Krikorian was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Her parents encouraged her to write about her struggles with OCD, but she was hesitant to do so until college when she heard the song “Another Dumb Blonde” by Hoku and its lyric about a hook, line and sinker. These lyrics would remind her of the disorder.

In her classes, her character Darci, a young woman with OCD, began to take shape. “Darci and the Hook, Line, and Sinker,” which follows Darci battling OCD in a restroom, was inspired by the disorder’s distressing, lingering thoughts and its effects.

Regardless of whether or not they have OCD, Krikorian hopes readers come away with a sense of compassion for those who do and recognize the severity of the disorder. For those suffering,

Krikorian wants them to know that they are not alone.

“I just want people to know that this is a very real disorder. This is very real. It causes very real distress,” Krikorian said. “The thing about OCD is that you have to do whatever it is that it wants you to do until it feels just right. Even when it feels just right, the relief only lasts for so long. It doesn’t last forever, and you’re really just feeding it more and more.”

A part of Sigma Tau Delta during her time at Chapman, Krikorian sent the short story to the honor society’s convention, where it was accepted. However, the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — a situation that initially left Krikorian saddened. As a college senior at the time, the convention’s encouragement that applicants could submit pieces the following year didn’t reassure her.

“To be honest, I was a little bit bitter... for me, I was like, ‘I’m a senior! There’s not gonna really be a next year,’” Krikorian said. “But since then, I was like, ‘Well, someone over there liked it. Maybe some other magazine will like it too.”

Thus began her submission of the story to multiple outlets, which culminated in the piece’s acceptance by Kaleidoscope and Open Minds Quarterly.

While her writing location can depend on mood, Krikorian sometimes likes to work in enclosed spaces, like her room or coffee shops. Being inside gives her a feeling of safety. When tackling novels, Krikorian likes to have a plot outline — outlining chapters and the directions her story will take. While it has become easier since “Darci and the Hook, Line, and Sinker,” she finds writing short stories difficult.

“I think the key with writing a short story is knowing really what you want to say,” Krikorian told The Panther. “I know that sounds really general, but if you know what you want to say and how you want to say it, you can encapsulate it in that frame of 5,000 words, or whatever

word count you want it to be.”

Professor emeritus James Blaylock, who taught Kirkorian in an independent study creative writing class, noted her persistence as being the key to her success as a writer.

“Her writing is and was good, but one of her key strengths is that she continued to write and to revise her work because she was driven to create stories, and that drive didn’t end when a semester was over or when she graduated,” Blaylock said.

Blaylock continued: “That’s true of every successful writer I know, including myself. I don’t have a degree in creative writing. No one told me I had to write. And that, obviously, is true of Danielle. That’s why her writing developed to the point of becoming publishable…Danielle is talented, but perseverance is worth more than talent.”

“Darci and the Hook, Line, and Sinker” can be read in Kaleidoscope Magazine and Open Minds Quarterly.

Photos courtesy of Cindy Cruz (top) and Helena Krikorian (bottom)

O-Sky Lochmandy talks finding his musical footing

The Chapman musician spoke with The Panther about the inspirations behind his music, the Florida music scene and future plans.

By Cameron Scherer, Features & Entertainment Writer

Hailing from Orlando, Florida, O-Sky Lochmandy remembers listening to “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton and “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and the Wailers when he was only two years old. To Lochmandy, the songs represented the world’s beauty and served as his first association with music.

The senior television writing and production major started playing guitar around age eight and began working in the music industry the following year. He began his career playing at coffee shops, senior centers and open-mic nights. After convincing others of his talent, he moved on to biker and beach bars, festivals, farmers’ and flea markets and performing with the grassroots music movement Swamp Sistas. No matter where he went, Lochmandy felt welcomed and embraced by the Florida music scene.

“To be brought into the world of music from that end was really nice,” Lochmandy told The Panther. “I feel like nowadays, there’s such a commercial and Hollywood kind of feel, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s very different from what music really can be at its core. I kind of got a little bit of a different experience coming into that whole environment.”

Releasing music as “O-Sky,” the songwriter’s biggest artistic influences are Jason Mraz and Brandi Carlile. He connects with those musicians’ storytelling abilities and their calming sound, but his taste also includes ABBA and Latin music.

Lochmandy is also helping launch “Florida Reconnaissance,” a creative community of friends and musicians with multiple upcoming projects, including songs, EPs and even a musical. He also hopes to eventually release an O-Sky album.

flicting feelings about reaching for opportunities and dreams that may feel unattainable or may not prove to be as good as he hoped.

“That was something that I had written during the process of college applications and other personal things in life where I felt like I wanted something. It was something that I, on one hand, knew that I was deserving of and almost felt was meant for me, but (it) was also something so logistically impossible or totally unrealistic,” Lochmandy said. “You want to believe in yourself, and you want to believe in things happening in life, and then it’s also so unattainable and almost shameful to want something that you can’t have.”

Recent projects for the creative include the “comedy-romance concept album” “47 Songs About Margellica” — with all 47 songs being written by Lochmandy, his twin and a friend across a week-long span during interterm. The album was released on Feb. 29.

The musician shared a recent accomplishment of his. First planned as a photo shoot, Lochmandy’s song “Never, Again” was developed around a nautical theme featuring a fisherman who is half-fish. As ideas expanded, the shoot eventually became a music video.

“I wanted to write a song to (the theme) that would take the idea from the story of the music video and be able to contrast it and play against it in a very complimentary way,” Lochmandy said. “I had had this little verse about, ‘Do you wonder, could it ever be real? I dreamed so many things that I lost it to the way I feel.’”

The chorus was inspired by Lochmandy’s con-

When writing music, Lochmandy tries to harness his creativity to produce pieces that are both relatable and inspired by specific ideas and experiences.

“Something that I was taught when I was beginning to song-write — and I don’t actually know if I agree with this — but the philosophy that I was taught was, ‘You wanna write a song that’s specific but (also) vague enough so that people can relate their own life to it,’” Lochmandy told The Panther.

Lochmandy continued: “ I find that walking the line between channeling a very specific feeling and moment and emotion while also broadening it up so that it’s relatable, it’s a fun challenge, but it’s when you can hit that, it’s really cool.”

Students interested in learning more about Lochmandy’s music can find the creative on Instagram and TikTok, and his music is available across all music streaming platforms.

Young Dumb Winners take home national radio award

The Chapman Radio show won big at the Intercollegiate Broadcast System Award for Best Comedy Program. The group talked to The Panther about their show’s origins, funniest episodes and being best friends who live together.

By Izzy Betz, Features & Entertainment Writer

Whether they’re interrogating Santa Claus about his political beliefs, fangirling over guest star Justin Beiber or creating survival guides for when you cross an Alaskan bear society, the boys of Young Dumb Geeked have never been scared to take the bit a little too far.

For instance, senior broadcast journalism and documentary major Max Karpman played Santa Claus in the first Father Christmas tell-all episode. Friends called into the show to ask Santa about the thermal map of his present drop-offs and his location on Jan. 6, 2020.

“We had (Karpman) come in and play the character,” said Jackson Gefen, senior strategic and corporate communication major and general manager of Chapman Radio. “It’s a great example of keeping the bit going too far. We didn’t give (Karpman) a script at all for that episode, and it was perfect.”

On Mar. 2, the group attended the Intercollegiate Broadcast System Awards in New York. To their surprise, along with the other Chapman radio nominees in attendance, Young Dumb Geeked was announced as the winner of the Best Comedy Program category.

Despite their utter shock and joy at taking home the gold, senior screenwriting major Marlowe Harris-Wilson revealed it was never about the trophy.

“We do this because it’s fun,” Harris-Wilson said. “We didn’t do it to get the award and we didn’t do it to get to New York. We did it to have fun on Sundays.

It was just something to do, and it ended up becoming so much more.”

None of them can pinpoint the exact series of events that led to the six of them hanging out, but they quickly became inseparable — even hosting a joining birthday party for two of them after only knowing each other for a few weeks.

Karpman shared a formative moment he had with co-stars — senior screenwriting majors Jack Sundblad and Danny Tamariz.

“(We) shared a very important experience the summer after our sophomore year that bonded us, and it was a job at Zito’s Pizza,” Karpman said. “We all happened to get fired at the end, but for six months of working there, it was like a movie. We made the place a living hell.”

That summer, five of them decided to move in with each other. Gefen, Sundblad, Tamariz and Harris-Wilson reside with senior business administration major Quinn Verbosky. Karpman, who lives elsewhere, has been deemed the honorary sixth roommate, but don’t tell their landlord.

Chapman Radio used to air a show called Rough Roommates whose hosts would bring roommates on and air out their issues live. They were looking for someone to carry on the show as a legacy and the roommates stepped up to the plate.

They compiled their show’s least inoffensive and PG-13 moments and submitted them to the Inter-

collegiate Broadcast System Awards for Best Comedy Program. They were surprised to be nominated, much less win the category. That meant a free trip to New York City on Chapman University’s dime and attending the award ceremony.

“It feels like we trolled an award,” Verbosky said. “We don’t take any of this too seriously at all, and we got to go to New York and do all of this. It’s pretty surreal.”

No matter what happened earlier in the day or what arguments they had that week, for an hour every Sunday at 10 P.M., those problems don’t seem so important. Gerencser, a helping hand to Young Dumb Geeked, spoke about the group’s dynamic.

“It’s ridiculous how well they mesh together because it’s multiple different types of comedy but the same type of humor,” Gerencser said. “It’s just boy humor, but in a good way because they’re all different types of boy. I’m a firm believer that creativity of all forms bleeds into each other, and there is a lot of creativity in that house.”

Young Dumb Geeked will not continue after they graduate. It will be a time capsule of their friendship, how they got closer over the years of college and how they changed as people. At the end of the day, no matter where the road takes them, they will always be young, dumb and geeked.

The show streams on chapmanradio.live and Chapman Radio’s Youtube on Sunday at 10 P.M.

Photo courtesy of Mason Hipp

Cut to the bone: Student-curated exhibit arrives in Escalette Art Collection

By Molly Rose Freeman, Features & Entertainment Writer

Jenny

Yurshansky is no stranger to messiness.

Whether that be a spill in the classroom where she teaches art to middle school students or familial issues, she knows how hectic life can be.

Born stateless, Yurshansky and her family originated in Soviet-era Moldova and were forced to flee before her birth. Her experiences as an immigrant and refugee have had a profound impact on her art and the kinds of stories she likes to tell with it.

“My work, for a really long time, was thinking about migration, what we think of as ‘alien’ or ‘other’ or ‘belonging’ or ‘not belonging,’” Yurshansky said. “When does that shift happen from when you are ‘other’ to when you are ‘of’?”

Enter ‘Bound in Bone,’ an exhibition put together by Chapman University students with the help of Yurshansky and Chapman professor Fiona Lindsay Shen as part of the latter’s First-Year Foundations Course ‘The Escalette: An Experiential Journey.’

Originally, Yurshansky explored the concept of roots and familial trauma through scientific explorations into plants, intending to highlight the ways in which the clinical language reflected language used about immigrants and displaced peoples— usually in a derogatory sense. She hopes to create more of a conversation about the topic, which seems to be considered somewhat taboo. By focusing this student exhibition on family history, Yurshansky believes she has taken a step in the right direction.

“One of the key elements of the show is these (family) keepsakes,” Yurshansky told The Panther. “People brought in an object and then used the object basically as a keystone through which they were describing how this object is significant and relevant to how they think about their own family story and their place in that family story.”

Once students chose their keepsakes, the objects were then recreated using a 3D printer and adorned with resin in order to give them the look of bone. These objects line the walls in glass cases and are thoughtfully grouped together, allowing viewers to properly appreciate the ways in which some familial struggles are more universal than one might think. In addition, Shen’s class was able to collaborate with photography students, who created ‘photograms’ for the chosen objects. The space is set up to cause any-

one who stops by to reflect, both on their own inner selves and on their families.

To start the project, students in Shen’s class had one-on-one interviews with Yurshansky in order for the artist to learn more about them and help them find a focus. These interviews were recorded and are part of the exhibition, taking the form of X-ray records that attendees can listen to. Diya Patel, a sophomore philosophy and psychology double major, spoke about how the process informed the finished product.

“Being interviewed by (Yurshansky) pushed you to contemplate the depths of your family history and how it shapes you into becoming the person you are,” Patel told The Panther.

Patel’s personal object was her grandmother’s ring, which caused her to reminisce about the time

they spent sewing together when she was younger. Patel told The Panther that the project made her aware of all the stories she has yet to hear from her grandmother and how eager she is to hear them all.

“Talking about my grandmother with (Yurshansky) pushed me to spend more time with her,” Patel said. “My grandmother is the person who taught me how to sew, so I saw many parallels between how (Yurshansky) connected with her mother and how I could connect with my grandmother. I like that the project pushed me to dig deeper to learn about my family stories...”

Something that makes this exhibition stand out from others is the fact that it’s curated by the students. Part of the curriculum for Shen’s class is learning how to curate art, and furthermore, learning how to do so as a collective. Yurshansky was also a source of wisdom for the students, which freshman creative writing major Alana Sharpe attested to.

“At first it was really intimidating because I’m an artistic person and I do have an artistic eye, but I’ve never personally curated an exhibit before,” Sharpe told The Panther. “So what was really comforting was that we had the whole collaboration with my entire class... Once we’d decided (the) main points that we would like to do for the curation, we would send them over to (Yurshansky), who has curated many exhibits before.”

The exhibition has put an emphasis on being as multimedia as possible, incorporating music, quotes, photos and a poem alongside the physical keepsakes. Sharpe, the author of the sole poem (which shares its title with the exhibition), gave a little insight into the effectiveness of the multimedia nature of the project.

“It’s super integrative, which is what I really appreciate about it,” Sharpe said. “No matter where you’re looking, there’s always something that is there and cool and for you to enjoy. We really maximized the space the best we could.”

Regardless of how many people are lucky enough to experience the exhibition in person, Yurshansky already considers it a success because of the connection it has fostered between the students. She is very pleased with the way it has made people stop to think about their own families and realize they’re not so different from their peers after all.

“For me, the success of the project is the part that I actually can’t document, and I’m fine with that,” Yurshansky said. “It’s kind of like ripples in a pond, knowing that this is the beginning and it’s an opening. It’s an understanding that begins to happen even as a person is sharing their story… Even when you’re listening to someone else, it can prompt you to self-reflect.”

The Bound in Bone exhibition can be viewed for free in Chapman’s Roosevelt Hall until November 2024. Tickets are not required, and tours can be scheduled every weekend with this link.

Chapman students partner with Los Angeles-based artist Jenny Yurshansky for an exhibition that explores family and what it means to connect with your roots.

Photos courtesy of Jenny Yurshansky

Chapman musician honors grandmother through orchestral piece and short film

By Taylor Bazella, Assistant Features & Entertainment Editor

Logyn Okuda’s grandmother always associated herself with flowers. This was showcased greatly through her enjoyment of nature and even her username for the game Words with Friends.

After his grandmother’s passing, the sophomore music composition major felt isolated as the rest of his family grieved together in his home state of Hawaii. Unsure of what to do, Okuda turned to the one thing that brought him comfort: writing music. Okuda spent a few all-nighters encapsulating a goodbye letter to her, an “Elegy for a Flower.”

“I needed to turn to music so I wrote a symphonic piece, and I wanted to add visual elements to turn it into a film,” Okuda told The Panther. “So, I gathered a team of filmmakers from Dodge (College of Film and Media Arts) that I worked with in the past, and then a grant came in front of me.”

By sharing his story in an application for Chapman’s “2023 Fall Chapman Career for Undergraduate Excellence Grant,” Okuda was able to earn the money and use it to make his project come to life. This meant the opportunity to have his piece professionally recorded by Budapest Scoring, an orchestra known for their scores in films like “Get Out” and “Parasite.”

“They’re a very talented cohort of musicians, but their mission is to make a session recording affordable because if you try to book a session in Los Angeles, you have to purchase the musicians, you have to purchase the recording engineer, the space to record, et cetera,” Okuda said. “(They) just completed that recording session. Now we’re adding the visual elements.”

Crafting an entire symphonic piece for an orchestra to play was a new experience for Okuda, but he refused to see it as a challenge; rather, he saw it as an opportunity. Musicians playing his piece are required to “sight read,” which meant Okuda was responsible for articulating every aspect of the music very clearly.

“There’s a score preparation that the conductor will look at to guide the musicians,” Okuda said. “And then there’s part preparation, which is for the individual musicians, and so, I had to prepare parts for all

the musicians. I think it was close to like a 50-piece orchestra.”

Typically, scores are made to accompany a movie after filming. Okuda and his creative team are flipping the process and must now create the visual element to accompany the musical piece. Determined to keep the music at the center of this story, this project aims to ask if audiences can appreciate a film focused more on score, similar to Disney’s “Fantasia.”

Okuda told The Panther that watching his written music piece come to life felt the same as watching your child be born — or so he assumes.

“I think every time that a piece of music comes to life, or a piece of art comes to life, and you see it fully realized, it’s just a magical feeling.”

-Logyn Okuda

“I think every time that a piece of music comes to life, or a piece of art comes to life, and you see it fully realized, it’s just a magical feeling,” Okuda told The Panther. “To see all these musicians that have had years and decades of training and their own instrument coming together, bringing all of the experience and stories that they have from the past and to this piece of music… I think that is the most rewarding feeling. And it’s a feeling that composers chase.”

Although this project represents a personal story to Okuda, the most important aspect of being a part of this project was the collaboration it brought. Bella Bandol, Graham Ros and Rowdy Stephens, all sophomores majoring in film and television production, joined Okuda to take on this project, and now that the musical aspect has been completed, the team of aspiring filmmakers must use their sound editing, directorial and even drone video skills to complete their

masterpiece.

“I lie to sort of pride myself as the dumbest person in the room when it comes to filmmaking and so to be able to rely on my peers and friends that have all this experience and knowledge and to acknowledge the fact that I don’t know much about this side of it,” Okuda said.

Okuda continued: “Of course, you’ll get your fair share of great knowledge (in a classroom), but the best way to get experience is through practical application. The fact that Chapman, on the creative side, really champions it and is not afraid to allow you to explore those ambitions is, I think, the best part.”

Stephens spoke to The Panther about “changing up the norm” and the importance of a project like theirs that expands the boundaries of medium.

“In the world we live today where we consume so much media, but a lot of it is the same stuff over and over, it’s really important to innovate how we tell stories and how we entertain to keep that medium evolving,” Stephens said. “Being able to spread emotions in this new way, as well as collaborating on a project in this new way is very exciting to say the least.”

While the group is in the process of completing the visuals, a video of the Budapest Scoring orchestra playing Okuda’s piece is available for viewing. Scan the QR code below to view.

Chapman student and aspiring film composer Logyn Okuda talked to The Panther about his upcoming score-focused short film “Elegy for a Flower” and how collaboration played a big role in bringing it to life.

Photos courtesy of Logyn Okuda

Review | ‘Dune: Part Two’ is presentationally impressive yet experientially hollow

Contrary to popular opinion, Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic left me wandering the desert for the awe-inducing feeling the franchise’s first half provided.

By Cameron Scherer, Features & Entertainment Writer

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two.”

Two years after riding a sandworm into Chapman’s Folino theater, the second half of Denis Villeneuve’s duology, “Dune: Part Two,” has arrived. With it comes the continued story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) — one that is filled with much more action and a faster pace than its predecessor. While enjoyable, one of the major reasons that “Dune: Part Two” ranks lower than its preceding entry is because it jumps from a slow, methodical world to one so heavy with lore that the films feel dissonant when put together.

Often considered a story unadaptable to the medium of film, the story of “Dune” — originated in a 1965 novel by Frank Herbert — is incredibly expansive. At least three separate stories comprise “Dune: Part Two,” and while none of them are ill-executed, this film sometimes feels entirely different than the first film, straying from what we’ve come to know and expect from the franchise.

What I unhealthily adored about Villeneuve’s first installment was Paul’s prescience and the indications of horrors to come — especially considering that no one in the 2021 film, least of all Paul, understands such atrocities. The film constantly left you questioning what such visions meant, and the visual presentation of those moments left my jaw on the floor of

Dodge College’s Folino Theater. What “Dune: Part Two” often misses are those visions. Instead, the film shows us some of the envisioned events in real-time, which don’t live up to the magnitude of those in Paul’s head.

Whereas the first half of the duology took its time in introducing characters, worlds, relationships and bolstered a plot throughout it all, “Dune: Part Two” elaborates even more heavily on this universe’s lore and the major players involved in it. Two of those players — and new additions to the cast — are Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan and Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.

Both of the aforementioned stars are stand-outs. Butler, as the violent, sadistic na-Baron, is as close as an actor can get to being called “unrecognizable.” His voice is raspy and guttural, completely contrasting with his normal voice that many believe has carried over from his role as the king of Rock n’ Roll in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.” He is perhaps the single element of the film that stays with you the most after viewing.

Pugh as Irulan, the Emperor’s daughter, is possibly the most serious character in a film of serious characters which makes her storyline all the more interesting. Her plot — uncovering Paul’s rise in status among the Fremen — pulled me in the most.

Getting expanded roles from the first half are Ze-

ndaya as Chani, a Fremen fighter and Paul’s eventual lover, and Javier Bardem as Stilgar, a Fremen chief who believes in Paul as the messiah. Having the Fremen’s world be expanded — and showing the work that Jessica must do to rally them behind Paul — makes this cinematic portrayal of Herbert’s world feel thorough and elaborate. Another standout element is a sequence of Paul mastering how to ride a sandworm. The sequence is long, impressively staged and thoroughly showcased.

Villeneuve’s love and care for this world is constantly on display. Characters from Herbert’s novel are expanded upon and somewhat changed, and the entire cinematic world of “Dune” feels like quite possibly the most detailed science fiction world put to film. While I lost that awe-inducing feeling, I did feel pulled into the world of Arrakis and the politics of the “Dune” universe. Just like Butler’s character, “Dune: Part Two,” regardless of your opinion of it, stays with you. The sheer grandeur of the story feels extremely substantial.

While “Dune: Part Two” is undoubtedly impressive, its change in content didn’t draw me in like its first half. To me, watching the dust clouds amass on the horizon was much more interesting than being caught in the sandstorm.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paws

Inside the 96th Academy Awards press room

The Panther attended the 96th Academy Awards Press Room both in-person and virtually, where the night’s winners took questions from press outlets from around the world.

By Nicholas De Lucca, Features & Entertainment Editor, & Molly Rose Freeman, Features & Entertainment Writer

On the second floor of the Loews Hotel sits a podium and microphone that awaits the newly crowned Academy Award winners. Riding high off their win, the night’s victors clutch their 13.5-inch-tall, 8.5-pound golden statuette while fielding questions from hundreds of journalists in the room, with hundreds more watching from a live Zoom stream.

This year, The Panther attended the 96th Academy Awards Press Room, both in-person by staff writer Molly Rose Freeman, and virtually by editor Nicholas De Lucca. The room allowed winners to expound upon their brief acceptance speeches, address mishaps and celebrate amongst journalists worldwide. Throughout the night, the room was filled with the sounds of the endless typing, voracious applause and networking of countless news outlets.

The first winner to step into the room was producer Kiyofumi Nakajima for “The Boy and the Heron” (Best Animated Film). Choosing not to take questions, Nakajima read a statement provided by Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki, who was not in attendance.

After questions to Dave Mullins and Brad Booker of “War is Over!” (Best Animated Short Film) and Justine Triet and Arthur Hirrari of “Anatomy of a Fall” (Best Original Screenplay), Cord Jefferson took the podium. The “American Fiction” director, carrying his Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, answered about the importance of being recognized for a film that shined a light on the stereotypes of black characters in film.

“There is an appetite for things that are different,” Jefferson said. “And, you know, a story with black characters that’s going to appeal to a lot of people doesn’t need to take place on a plantation, doesn’t need to take place in the projects, doesn’t need to have drug dealers in it (and) doesn’t need to have gang members in it. But there’s an audience for different depictions of people’s lives, and that there is a market for depictions of black life that are as broad

and as deep as any other depictions of people’s lives.”

“Poor Things” continued its hot streak with press room appearances from Holly Waddington for Best Costume Design and Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The makeup and hairstyle trio touched on their friendship with actress Emma Stone, afterparty prospects and what it means to take home the award.

Later on was Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer behind “Oppenheimer,” and Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath for the Best Documentary Feature “20 Days in Mariupol.” Continuing the sentiments from his acceptance speech, Chernov reminded the room of an attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol — a moment he called symbolic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He answered a question asking why the documentary feels like the right film to earn Ukraine’s first Academy Award with the following response:

“There will be a time when great films will come out of Ukraine,” Chernov said. “Great artists are now working – or actually fighting. A lot of filmmakers in Ukraine are right now in the trenches fighting for their country. So they cannot make movies. They cannot yet process what is happening to our history, what is happening to our people. So right now, a documentary is representing Ukraine, but the time will come when more Ukraine filmmakers come, and I hope they will be inspired by our experience, by our work, and they will tell more stories.”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph of “The Holdovers,” was asked if her award is a confirmation of her hard work, but the Best Supporting Actress countered the notion with her response.

“I think you’d be selling yourself short if you make it about the awards,” Randolph said. “It’s too hard of a career. The beautiful thing and the hard thing about being an actor is that it requires you to have resilience and self-confidence and belief in yourself when no one else does, when you are constantly getting ‘nos,’

and you’re saying, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep going.’”

Siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell entered the room after their second win for Best Original Song after last year’s James Bond ballad ‘No Time To Die.’’ Eilish shared a story about being 12 years old, watching Matilda on Broadway and bawling because “I’m never going to amount to anything, because I’m not in Matilda.”

“I would say, give yourself some time and do what you love,” Eilish said. “And I know that’s kind of easier said than done, because some of us don’t even know what we love.”

The tail end of their interview was interrupted by shockwaves sent through the press room. Murmurs and gasps — along with some surprised expletives — could be heard all around. “What’s happening during the show that you are all laughing at?” O’Connell inquired.

The moment came after Michelle Yeoh announced Emma Stone as the winner of the Best Actress category — a decision that many would consider to be the biggest upset of the night. No one appeared to be more dumbfounded by this turn of events than Stone herself, who one reporter said “seemed, more than (he has) ever seen on the Oscars stage, completely shocked.”

Although Stone still felt like she was “spinning,” when she entered the room, she had mostly managed to recover by the time she made her way in front of the room full of eager press outlets. The now twotime Oscar winner confirmed that she snapped her dress during the “I’m Just Ken” performance. She then spoke about living in the shoes of Bella Baxter, a character with a child-like sense of wonder, and how much making “Poor Things” meant to her.

“I really miss playing (Baxter) ever since we wrapped filming, which was a long time ago. It was like two and a half years ago,” Stone said. “I miss Bella. And I’m really grateful that we got to celebrate the film tonight and over these past few months.”

Our community deserves a decent animal shelter

By Michael Mavrovouniotis, Guest Columnist

At OC Animal Care, down the road from Chapman, Arnold was on the euthanasia list.

Like many dogs at the shelter, Arnold had spent months in the shelter. In 2023, the shelter was clinging to its pandemic-era procedure, meaning that instead of walking through the kennels to see available dogs, visitors had to use web photos to select a couple of animals they wanted to visit. Arnold was potty-trained, calm and affectionate with volunteers, but his photo was, well, unremarkable. Can you tell a dog’s charm & personality from a web photo? Not really.

It wasn’t just Arnold. The shelter’s restrictions mean fewer adoptions – and a chronically overcrowded shelter. When a shelter gets full, it wants to free up space, and that means a grim fate for many dogs and cats. In January 2023, it was down to the wire. With help from volunteers, an out-of-state rescue whisked Arnold to safety. Other dogs weren’t so lucky. Cats were euthanized by the hundreds.

The fatal mismanagement did not go unnoticed.

In June 2023, the OC Grand Jury criticized the shelter for abandoning industry standards in their report titled “Gimme Shelter and a Pound of Advice: The State of Animal Welfare Overseen by the County of Orange.”

“The Grand Jury’s investigation determined that termination of the TNR [trap-neuter-return] program had detrimental consequences for the welfare of the animals under the shelter’s care,” the report stated. “Euthanasia rates related to dog behavior and to cats have increased significantly within the last two years. The increase… suggests that there is inconsistency over time as to how dogs are being assessed… Animal Care Attendant staffing at the shelter is inadequate… Status quo at the shelter is unacceptable.”

The county stubbornly refused to address the problems.

An avalanche of revelations followed. Citizens showed that shelter managers weren’t keeping track of animals, were grossly violating the shelter’s strategic plan and even lied about the shelter’s safety record in a des-

perate attempt to justify bad policies.

The elected Orange County Board of Supervisors and the County executives did nothing. OC Community Resources (OCCR), directed by Dylan Wright and Cymantha Atkinson, is the agency that should be fixing the shelter’s problems. Instead, this bureaucracy abetted the disastrous policies and deployed a disinformation campaign, a repeat of their 2022 tactic.

And what about the shelter’s director you may ask? There isn’t one. The previous director left in May, an implicit recognition of failure. OCCR has kept the position empty since, making do with an “interim” director, Monica Schmidt, who is the main instigator of the fatally flawed policies. Is OCCR intent on carrying out a deadly experiment, with a fumbling temp at the helm?

In January 2024, after State Senator Janet Nguyen wrote an unsparing opinion piece, OC Animal Care finally softened one pandemic-era restriction and let the public in. It’s a small step in the right direction.

But the mismanagement went on too long, and that’s depressingly obvious in the shelter’s dismal statistics, as exposed in a most recent Orange County Register article. Small steps are not enough.

We already have the blueprint for a wellrun shelter: the shelter’s own strategic plan, which was developed by national experts and unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2018. Was that just for show?

If you want to help this cause, you can do so by emailing elected officials and signing a petition. For updates, go to OCShelter.com.

Insulin prices need to be reduced

By Caleb Otte, Sports Staff Writer

Having an auto-immune disorder is debilitating. It makes your life ten times harder and can cause severe mental health issues that only worsen the persisting physical problems brought on by the disorder. I have type-one diabetes, and if I am not careful and don’t correctly manage my blood sugar, I can ruin my health for weeks on end.

These worries are more than enough for one person to handle, even with a strong support system. So why is the price of insulin so high, given those struggles?

Insulin allows me to enjoy food that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to eat. Insulin is the only thing between me and a diabetic coma. Insulin is what keeps me alive and well. I’m lucky enough that my parents are able to afford it with the help of their insurance. But why should I have to be “lucky” to survive?

I know that there are a plethora of people out there who are not as fortunate as me and sometimes have to forgo using insulin or use less than their doctor recommended dosage due to financial concerns.

This makes what should be a human right — the right to live — inaccessible for a large number of people, which is severely unethical. However, U.S. pharmaceutical companies profit off of the disabilities of others and continue to sell insulin at ridiculous prices.

The last time that I bought insulin, it cost me $50 for a month’s supply. $50 seemed like a “fair deal” to me, but that is still a solid chunk of money, even with the help of health insurance. But what happens when you don’t have insurance to lower the cost?

Insulin could cost an individual upwards of $300 per month in the U.S. if they aren’t properly insured. In all likelihood, somebody without insurance is not working a job with steady pay, and therefore, this would take up most, if not all, of their paycheck.

People with type-one diabetes did not ask for this ailment. We have it because unfortunately, we did not win the genetic lottery. In what world should a person be punished for having a disease, let alone one that has no cure and that they couldn’t prevent themselves from getting?

I can imagine a world where, if I don’t find a job with a good enough salary — once I can no longer use my parent’s insurance — I may have to compromise on my basic needs just to afford a life-saving drug.

The inventors of insulin sold their patents on the medicine for $1 each. Charles Best, James Collip and Frederick Banting all performed tests with insulin to see if it was viable to keep people with diabetes healthy. Once they found success with the medicine, they didn’t look for profit but rather wanted insulin to be produced on a mass scale so those who needed it could have easy access.

”Insulin does not belong to me; it belongs to the world,” Banting once said.

The fact that the people responsible for the creation of medical insulin didn’t want to profit off of it should be enough to show the immorality of these large corporations.

Photo collage by Emily Paris, photo courtesy of Michael Mavrovouniotis

An amateur reporter’s guide to the Oscars

If you had told me when I arrived at Chapman in 2020 that four years later, I would be walking the Oscars red carpet, I probably would’ve had a nice long giggle at your expense. But I guess stranger things have happened…

My Oscars Experience™ officially started the Thursday before the ceremony, with an orientation during which we were told how the show would run and what guidelines we had to follow. The main rule, repeated no less than 20,000 times, was no pictures except in designated places at designated times. I didn’t sneak any illicit pics, but I did take advantage of getting to take a peek at the red carpet before the show and being allowed to take photos then.

If that wasn’t surreal enough, up next was the actual event itself where I breathed the same air as Emma Stone and Cillian Murphy. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

On Oscar Sunday, I boarded a press shuttle and made the trek from Arclight Cinemas in L.A. to the Loews hotel. Once I was seated, I gave my editor — shoutout Nick DeLucca, you’re a real one — a call to get on the same page.

When we got to the hotel, we had to scan our badges to make sure we were who we said we were. The security guard decided I was, indeed, Chapman senior and screenwriting major Molly Rose Freeman, so I was not promptly thrown out. The first thing I saw after the two checkpoints was the most glorious sight of all: free food. The press area was catered by Wolfgang Puck, and I didn’t have to pay. What a wonderful world! I snagged some snacks as soon as possible — in case you were worried.

My assigned station was in a giant room packed to the brim with tables, with a small stage for the winners in the center. I’d assumed The Panther, not being one of the bigger entertainment news organizations like some of the other outlets in the room, wouldn’t get a reserved seat. I was wrong, and I have the placard to prove it.

Still, it took awhile for things to really click. I had trouble processing the fact that I was at The Oscars and not some other really fancy but less culturally important event. When the broadcast started, I finally real-

ized I was actually there and not dreaming and was overjoyed to see “Barbie” at the start kicking things off.

I think Jimmy Kimmel did a great job with his monologue and throughout the ceremony as well, and I promise that is not a paid promotion because I used to work for his show. He’s genuinely funny and a pretty cool guy, actually.

It took a long time for the winners to make their way to the press room. They popped in throughout the night with no real order to it. I kept my fellow Features & Entertainment staff members in the loop the whole show, because I love them and wanted to give them the inside scoop, which I guess anyone who reads this is now also getting. You’re welcome.

It was really fun, if a little overwhelming, being in the room with my vastly more experienced peers and seeing the way awards coverage works in real time. Reporters readied their Twitter updates — I refuse to call it X — with their predictions before the envelopes were opened, and they were often right!

There were also Academy librarians available the whole time in case anyone needed quick fact-checking. People were constantly chatting and reacting to the events of the night— like Al Pacino’s hilariously unexciting “Oppenheimer” Best Picture reveal, for example. It just felt so cool to be part of it.

My favorite moment of the night was undoubtedly Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken,” which unfortunately happened when the “Godzilla Minus One” visual effects crew — who are such a cool, talented and fun group of people, might I add — was doing press.

Canceled too soon

By Emilia Cuevas Diaz, Opinions Editor

We all have one. We all have that show we stayed up all night to finish because we just could not look away. We all have that show we immediately looked up after we finished watching all the available seasons to find out when the next one was coming out. We all have that show we absolutely fell in love with only to find out it was canceled.

For me personally, it’s not just one show. And it genuinely feels like the list gets bigger and bigger every year. And every time this happens, I hope against hope that maybe this time, it will be different. Maybe this time, the outrage from the fans and the petitions and the millions of tweets will be enough to save the show. Every time, I’m wrong.

Back in 2019, there was a show called “One Day At A Time” that was canceled by Netflix, which personally came as a low blow to me due to the already lacking Latinx representation in the media. I was so happy when this show got picked up by POP TV for another season after an X, formerly Twitter, campaign with the #SaveODAAT. However, this victory was short-lived, as the show was once again canceled after 13 episodes on its new home.

After “One Day At A Time” came “Julie and the Phantoms” which, despite being very popular, was canceled after one season. The reason given for its cancellation was that it didn’t attract the correct audience, as its demographic skewed more toward teenagers and young adults than kids, which was the intended audience.

More recently, Netflix announced the cancellation of “Shadow and Bone”, closely followed by Max (previously known as HBO Max) announcing the cancellation of “Our Flag Means Death.” “Shadow and Bone” was the top 26th show on Netflix out of almost 20,000 shows included in the Netflix viewership report, while demand for “Our Flag Means Death” was 35.9 times the average of popular TV shows in the United States.

Of course, both these shows have massive fan campaigns going on trying to save the shows, but historically, those campaigns rarely work.

What I do think is worth noting is that all of the shows I mentioned, along with many more, have something in common. Something that makes their cancellation so much more troubling. All of them are diverse shows.

“One Day At A Time” follows a Cuban family. “Julie and the Phantoms” has a black and Latina mixed race protagonist. “Shadow and Bone” has multiple characters among its main cast who are portrayed by people of color. And all the shows, including “Our Flag Means Death” feature one or multiple queer storylines.

This is part of an ongoing trend in Hollywood. Diverse shows seem to be getting canceled a lot more often than their cis, straight, white-centric counterparts.

Usually, the studios or streaming services quote low watch numbers for their decision to cancel a show, but if a show as popular as “Our Flag Means Death” can get canceled, how are viewers supposed to believe that how much they watch a show has any impact on whether the show gets canceled or not?

By Molly Rose Freeman, Features & Entertainment Staff Writer

Photo collage by Emily Paris, photos courtesy of Molly Rose Freeman

Chapman’s freshman athletes discuss transition from high school to collegiate sports

Going from high school to college is a big change for any person, let alone athletes who must adjust quickly to their new environment to perform at a top level.

By Caleb Otte, Sport Staff Writer

The step-up from high school sports to the collegiate level is a different process for every athlete. There is no set adjustment plan, and talented young people must find their way in a new environment that presents a plethora of challenges.

Freshman athletes at Chapman University have learned the rigors and intensity of playing in college. They’ve also gained new relationships and experiences that could shape their next three years at Chapman.

Trenton Dewar, an undeclared freshman wide-receiver on the football team, said that the talent level in college is much higher than high school.

“In high school, there were a few talented players on each team,” Dewar told The Panther, “Whereas in college, every person on the field is one of the most talented players from their area.”

That step up in talent could certainly be a shock for freshman athletes, but the wisdom of upperclassmen teammates can be a guiding force.

“(My upperclassmen teammates) had a huge impact on the development of the person and player I am today,” Dewar said. “I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from the upperclassmen is every person in the football program matters and has an impact in what we do.”

Finding a sense of belonging within a new team is hard, but it is a key to success at the collegiate level. If a freshman athlete finds community within their new team, it can empower them to perform at their best.

Sara Talmaci, a freshman distance swimmer and accounting major, provides insight into what it’s like being a first-year in an individual sport.

“My biggest challenge has been getting used to the new environment,” Talmaci said. “I’m swimming in a new pool with new coaches who have different coaching styles and a new set of teammates who I had to get to know.”

A simple change in daily routine is enough to create a mental barrier for freshman athletes. Being a college athlete can be a balancing act. You must find a way to do your school work, be dedicated to your sport and have a social life. Talmaci,

however, says that her coaches did a great job of helping the swimmers mentally this season.

”My coach prioritizes mental health and wellbeing a lot more (than high school coaches),” Talmaci said. “Swimming is an individual sport, and I’ve always been told that you have to be four times stronger mentally in order to do well physically. This still is important in my college career, but we put in the effort to make this work in and out of the water by doing mental exercises.”

Kaimana Newman, a fellow freshman majoring in film and television production who plays midfielder for the men’s soccer team, said he has noticed how much more mature his college teammates are as opposed to high school.

“At every practice we have, each player is there to make themselves and their teammates better,” Newman said. “The intensity is higher, and we hold each other accountable for mistakes.”

Nobody is there to joke around when it comes to college sports, but Newman said that the team still has fun even when being serious. The team really tries to soak up every moment they get playing college soccer.

“Something I’ve learned from the seniors of our team is that your time as a collegiate athlete goes by fast,” said Newman, “So, it is important to make the most out of every opportunity, whether that means giving your all when being put into a game or spending some extra time in the gym during the off-season.”

It may seem like you have all the time in the world when you get to college, but if you blink, you certainly can miss it. These freshman athletes at Chapman have learned how to navigate a new environment while gaining knowledge and connection in their first year with their new teams.

“I gained a whole new group of people I get to call my Chapman family,” Talmaci said. “I love my team, and it makes me feel more confident in who I am as a person.”

Video | Chapman Men’s Lacrosse 2024 season preview

By Lisa Wong, Video & Podcast Editor

As a club sport, the men’s lacrosse team at Chapman is entirely self-funded and competes at the Division 1 level in the MCLA Southwestern Lacrosse Conference. Last year, they made it to the MCLA National Championship Tournament, losing to Virginia Tech in the semifinals. As they start this new season with a fresh team, will they be able to make an even bigger comeback as the current #3 seed in the country?

Created for Chapman Sports Broadcasting Network, with special thanks to Caroline Chang, Nico Schwegler, Alex Dorr and Cole Miller

Illustration by Yana Samoylova

Analysis | Soccer’s continuing growth in the U.S.

A sport that has often been cast aside in the country, soccer is continuing to find its footing in American culture.

By Caleb Otte, Sports Staff Writer

The sport of soccer has been deeply embedded in cultures across the world, but especially in Europe, South America and Africa. That is simply not the case when it comes to the U.S. However, the perception of the “beautiful game” has been shifting over the past few decades.

When the U.S. hosted the 1994 World Cup, it had no professional league. Since then, the growth of soccer has skyrocketed.

Major League Soccer (MLS) had its inaugural season in 1996, and in the nearly 30 years since then, the league has created a large audience of dedicated fans. Transfermarkt, a website that tracks a plethora of soccer-related stats, found that the average attendance to games in the inaugural season was 17,397 fans. In 2023, the leaguewide average attendance was 22,170.

Not only that, but a league that started with 10 teams in total now has 29, three of which are located in Canada. A 30th in San Diego is on the way and is expected to start playing in the 2025 season. San Diego FC will serve as the fourth team in California and will play in the league’s Western Conference. The game has expanded across the U.S., with every state having at least one semi-pro and/or college team while 17 states have MLS squads.

Viewership of the game is also an area that highlights the growing interest in soccer.

According to Forbes, the 2022 Men’s World Cup final garnered almost 26 million viewers on average as Lionel Messi and Argentina lifted the trophy after beating France. The U.S. men’s team’s group stage game against England in that same World Cup peaked at over 15 million viewers,

and their game against Iran averaged 12.01 million, according to Sports Watch Media. The average viewership in the Iran match was higher than the average for the 2023 NBA Finals which, according to Forbes, sat at 11.65 million.

A study done by Sports Innovation Lab, a company that measures sports fan data, shows that 55% of U.S. soccer fans are from the ages of 18 to 34. The younger demographic is clearly at the forefront of the fandom, and this could be due to the fact that they grew up playing or watching the game.

Whether it is the domestic league or international competition, soccer in the U.S. is a hot commodity.

People are watching the game, and that is largely because the quality of play in the MLS has grown significantly. Players from across the world are coming to the league to showcase their talents and compete for trophies. World Cup champion Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami FC this past summer and has produced a plethora of highlight moments. Messi led Inter Miami to a trophy as they won the Leagues Cup, a monthlong competition between every club from MLS and LIGA MX, Mexico’s top division.

Another large driving force for soccer’s popularity in America has been the success of the U.S. women’s national team. Since the first Women’s World Cup in 1991, they have won the trophy a record four times. Their victory at the Rose Bowl in 1999 was sold out with 90,185 fans attending to see the action unfold. Additionally, the most recent edition of the competition in the summer of 2023 brought an average of 4.3 U.S. million viewers to the team’s group stage games, even when these took place late at night or early in the morning at local times.

Women, in general, have been key to the recent success of soccer as, according to Sports Innovation Lab, they make up 51% of soccer fans in the U.S. Without that support for the sport, viewership would potentially tank. Because of the success of the women’s national team, more girls and women are involved in soccer which has opened up a demographic that has given the game more popularity.

The popularity of the game is not on par with the rest of the world yet, though, as the Sports Innovation Lab study says that 27% of U.S. sports fans have an interest in soccer, compared to 40% globally.

Jackson Busby, a junior electrical engineering major who is a defender on Chapman men’s soccer team, said that while it may be hard to replicate the soccer culture in Europe, the sport has certainly gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years.

“The World Cup coming to the U.S. in 2026 will have a tremendous impact on its popularity,” Busby said. “There is likely going to be the most American viewers that we have ever seen watching the World Cup, which will leave an impact on lots of new viewers who might actually take a liking to it. I bet there will be people who tune into a soccer match for the first time ever and end up really enjoying the sport the rest of the world loves.”

While the U.S. may not have the same soccer culture as other countries, the data suggests that the sport is becoming more popular than ever in the country. With the 2026 World Cup being hosted in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, there is every chance that the growth of the game continues.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

Graphic by Sukhman Sahota, information from Sports Innovation Lab