9/25/20 Red & Black Issue

Red & Black

The Free

s t u d e n t n e w s pa p e r o f w a s h i n g t o n a n d j e f f e r s o n c o l l e g e w j r e da n d b l ac k . c o m W a s h i n g t o n , P e n n s y lva n i a September 25, 2020

WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S PAPER...

CURRENT EVENTS

Student Athlete Spotlight: Dean Kralic ‘22

While currently legal for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, new legislation presented to the Slovakian parliament in July could increase restrictions on abortion accessibility if passed. -P.7

PAGE 18

DIVERSITY

Putting [Breonna Taylor’s] murderers in jail would do justice to her legacy and protect other innocent people from being killed. Settling has never, and will never, be enough. -P.9

OPINIONS

Criticize as you may, but Biden has a detailed, comprehensive and ambitious plan [to combat climate change]. -P.14

SPORTS

Kralic spent most of his first years swimming backstroke and freestyle, but transitioned to butterfly and freestyle during high school. -P.18

WJREDANDBLACK.COM

Courtesy GoPresidents.com

2 CAMPUS NEWS

Red & Black

25 September 2020

GnT’s Is Revamped and Renewed Alexandre Wagner Red & Black Editor

With the new school year, Washington & Jefferson College added a fresh look and menu to a campus favorite for quick cuisine. George and Tom’s food these past few years has gone through many changes, with this new menu possibly being one of the more drastic ones.

With little to no seating due to the new Coronavirus policies, GnT’s to go meals have been perfect for students in need of a speedy lunch or dinner. Although the indoor seating is restricted, only having a few tables available for those who want to stay, thankfully the Rossin outdoor patio is keenly placed just outside GnT’s. Tyler Francis ’21 shared his thoughts on the changes to the W&J staple. Francis said, “Overall, I really like the new system at GnT’s.

The fried food line still had some of the original options from last year, like the chicken tenders and burgers, but a lot of the new options are really a nice change of pace.” Francis did have one complaint about the new dining

experience, but not in regard to the food. He shared “Although I do enjoy the new menu, my biggest and only complaint is the wait. I think a lot of students, like me, need to grab a quick and easy meal in between classes, so when the line is super long it becomes a problem.”

One of the biggest changes for George and Tom’s is the Bravo express line. What used to be the build-yourown salad station is now used to serve feature meals.

It looks to be that roughly every week a new food is provided, giving a little more variety for students. Their first feature food was BBQ, offering pulled pork, chicken and other picnic themed sides such as potato salad.

This past week they featured a macro bowl station: giving you a choice of grain, protein and numerous toppings and dressings for a more hearty and healthy lunch.

“I tried this week the new macro bowl and was pleasantly surprised. It was a nice change from the fried food I usually get at GnT’s.” said Francis. Overall many of the students on campus seem to really enjoy the new food at GnT’s, since the outdoor patio is constantly overflowed.

Courtesy Brendan Tribeck

GnT’s is showing off a new and fresh look with bigger and more custimizable menu.

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@rednblackWJ

@wjrednblack Courtesy Brendan Tribeck

GnT’s offers a specialized and changing menu every week.

25 September 2020

Red & Black

CAMPUS NEWS 3

Quanran-tales Volume II Alexandra Wagner Red & Black Editor

In this second issue of Quaran-tales, Katelyn Walzer ’22 shares her personal experience during her ten days of isolation. She, like many others, tried to keep herself as distracted as possible.

With classes just starting, she wanted to get herself ready for the new semester ahead.

“Quarantine really allowed me to get my new room situated for the new semester” - Katelyn Walzer ‘22

Courtesy Katelyn Walzer

Katelyn Walzer ‘22 tried her best to adapt and better herself and her surroundings during her time in campus quarantine.

Walzer shared, “I’m a bit of a neat freak, I need to make sure my room is organized properly before I start any task. Quarantine really allowed me to get my new room situated for the new semester.”

She admitted to rearranging her new single multiple times, until everything felt perfectly in place. Walzer laughed, confessing, “With so much time, I found myself reorganizing things that were already organized. It felt silly but with not much else to do,

I just kept cleaning and moving things around.”

Besides putting her new room in order, she mentioned her honest efforts in self-care. With 10 days completely alone, many students emphasized the common struggle of staying sane and taking care of themselves.

Katelyn Walzer shared that her main goal for the 10 days was to try and implement new healthy habits that she would hopefully keep in her daily routine, beyond the quarantine. Wal-

zer stated “My first goal was to create a healthy sleep schedule for myself. Past semesters were less structured as classes got busier, and my sleep was greatly affected. I knew this new year I needed to change that, so quarantine was the perfect opportunity.”

Besides this, she mentioned her efforts for overall self-reflection and planning. Walzer emphasized “I had time to genuinely think about how I wanted to plan my upcoming junior year. It forced me to think about what

habits in my routine I wanted to keep and what kinds of new ones I wanted to add.”

Walzer added, “Although it wasn’t much, the one thing I knew I wanted to add was daily stretching. I recently decided to join the women’s lacrosse team, so I knew this new workout schedule would really cause more stress to my body. I made myself stretch every morning when I woke up, and I honestly could tell how much it was helping.”

4 CAMPUS NEWS

Speak Out:

Red & Black

25 september 2020

Meet the Editorial Board

What’s your favorite item from the new GnT’s?

“I really liked the pulled pork sandwhich they had a couple weeks ago. They added a flavorful sauce and the pork was cooked well!”

- Brendan Tribeck ‘21

Campus News Editor: Reilly Oliverio

“I love the grilled chicken sandwich from GnT’s! It’s a healthier meal plus there are multiple options for toppings. I eat one at least twice a week.”

Reilly is the Red & Black’s Campus Section Editor. He is

- Mary Kate Tarczynski ‘21

is excited to capture what campus looks like amid the

a senior at W&J and he is an accounting major and CIS minor. Outside the classroom, Reilly plays W&J men’s lacrosse and he is a member of Phi Kappa Psi. Reilly pandemic, “I look forward to keeping students and

“The new buffalo chicken wrap is a hit! It has a good sauce and chicken combo that you can customize with lettuce, onion, tomato or pickles if you want. Everyone loves a good wrap.”

- TJ Dinnin ‘21

faculty updated on the campus activities we have this year. Although campus life is not the same this year, there are many things to keep students involved and active on campus through the COVID-19 pandemic.”

25 September 2020

Red & Black

CAMPUS NEWS 5

Upcoming Career Service Events

Event:

APSIA: International Affairs and Event:

Grad School Panel: Understanding

Public Policy Graduate School Fair

the Graduate School Admission

Date:

Wednesday, September 30

Process & Writing an Effective

Time:

11:00 am - 1:30 pm

Personal Statement

Type:

Virtual Event

Date:

Tuesday, October 6

Description:

This event is free.

Time:

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Type:

Virtual Event

Description:

Worried about applying for graduate school? Don’t know where to start?

Register today at bit.ly/apsiafair2020 and answer your questions about: • application requirements, • curricula and joint degrees, • financial aid, and • career opportunities.

Representatives of APSIA members will be available to connect with prospective students. You can learn about masters and PhD programs around the world.

Participate in this interactive workshop with awesome W&J Professors Bennett, Leonard & Troost!

This will be a VIRTUAL EVENT. Register, through Handshake and you will be sent an invite to join, via Zoom.

6 Campus News

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Career Service Events Continued

Event:

WestPACS

Job,

Internship

and

Graduate School Virtual Fair

Date:

Wednesday, October 21

Time:

11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Type:

Virtual Event - You can now register at https://westpacs.org/

Description:

This job, internship and graduate school fair, usually hosting 160-200 employers across many fields, will be virtual this fall on Wednesday, October 21 from 11am-4pm.

You can now register at https://westpacs.org/ After registering you will be able to schedule virtual sessions with employers that fit into your schedule throughout the day on Oct. 21. We are hopeful that this virtual event will be of interest to even more students and employers than we typically see in person in Monroeville, Pa. With no need to travel and the ability to work sessions around class schedules, this will provide access to more students.

Check out the Handshake Events Calendar to see a full list of Employers that have already registered to attend.

Red & Black Established 1909 Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Campus News Editor Current Events Editor Diversity Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Social Media Manager Website Design Manager Distribution Manager Interim Faculty Advisor

Marcy Saldivar Erin Herock Reilly Oliverio Molly Kilbourne Amanda Fitzpatrick Paul Collier Nick Krugh Grace Depaul Raheem Clemons Alex Wagner Kellin Cavanaugh

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Current Events 7

Current Events

Bill Threatens Abortion Access for Slovakian Women

Coutresy EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK

The National Council of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava, Slovakia

Cassandra Carr Red & Black Contributor

A woman’s right to choose is under attack in Slovakia. While currently legal for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, new legislation presented to the Slovakian parliament in July could increase restrictions on abortion accessibility if passed. The bill, which was up for debate and vote starting Sept. 16, would increase the mandatory waiting period before an abortion can be requested from 48 to 96 hours.

Additionally, the bill not only adds new restrictions regarding acceptable medical grounds for abortions, but increases the personal information that women must disclose upon requesting an abortion, including details regarding her reasoning for seeking the procedure.

This information would be passed on to the National Health Information Centre, posing privacy concerns for women.

Furthermore, this bill would also affect the medical community’s ability to share information regarding how women can access safe, legal abortions, as it prevents any form of advertising in regards to abotion-related services.

If passed, this would be one of the

most sweeping attacks on abortion in the nation’s recent history.The last bill to make significant progress within parliament did so in Nov. of 2019. That legislation, which would have required women seeking an abortion to recieve and view an ultrasound, however, was ultimately rejected.

Unlike the legislation from 2019, however, this most recent bill is viewed as much more likely to pass under the recently appointed government and parliament, which is predominantly Catholic. Unsurprisingly, discussions surrounding this issue have been nothing less than heated. Monica Costa-Riba of Amnesty International described the bill as “purely political in nature,” stressing how the legislation

“would endanger their [women’s] health and wellbeing as well as undermine their privacy” (Amnesty International, 2020). Furthermore, pro-choice advocates highlight how these increased barriers pose a threat to human rights, particularly in reagards to women’s autonomy. Proponents of the legislation, on the other hand, view their actions differently.

They cite the bill as a matter of not only protecting the unborn, but as a means of “‘support[ing] women’” as well (Sirotnikova, 2020).

While the results of the parliamentary vote should be released within the coming week, one thing is clear: the debate over abortion will not be resolved with this legislation.

8 Current Events

Red & Black

25 September 2020

When Does a Model Own Her Own Image?

Courtesy Tina Tyrell for New York Magazine

Emily Ratajkowski, the model and writer of the article on The Cut, in her apartment.

Molly Kilbourne Red & Black Staff

In an age dictated through online engagements, online activity and information is monitored and calculated- both by corporations and peers. The experiences of Emily Ratajkowski as a person, woman and model, intersect in some particularly devastating ways, all of them circumvented by the internet.

Ratajkowski writes this article to carry readers through the different forms of abuse she has suffered through her career as a model. After being sent to the Catskill mountains by her manager in 2012, Ratajkowski was photographed (mostly nude) by the photographer Jonathon Leder.

He intentionally got her drunk while shooting a myriad of polaroids and then sexually assaulted her before they went to bed that night. Many years later, when Ratajkowski had attained a new level of fame, Leder published a book containing an array of the polaroids he had taken in the Catskills without her consent.

After thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, hours worth of calls, and copious amounts of anxiety, it was determined that the best case scenario for Ratajkowski would mean she would come into possession of the books and possibly be entitled to some of the profits.

Pictures she had taken for a magazine after being abused and manipulated by the photographer were his property that he, and he alone, could profit from.

Ratajkowski articulates this horrendous experience as just one

of the times she was exploited in her career. Several years ago, her thenboyfriend took her to a gallery opening for the artist Richard Prince.

He had launched his collection of “instagram paintings” which were really screenshots of Instagram posts which he had commented on from his personal account. She was shocked to see pictures from her own Instagram, on which Prince had commented, “Were you built in a science lab by teenage boys?”.

Prince did not ask Ratajkowski’s permission before commenting, printing, or using her pictures, and on top of that, he was selling the pieces for $80,000. She was unable to afford to buy the piece despite it being her own personal image.

This article is extensive and important. Emily Ratajkowski was even sued by a paparazzi for posting a picture they took of her carrying

flowers. Like the other instances she explained, she had no power over the image despite it being of her, and taken without her consent. Making herself so vulnerable after the industry exploiting her for so many years deserves nothing but affirmation.

Her stories reveal the darkest sides of the internet and violent sexism that so many women experience.

Ratajkowski’s words also prompt the question, “When does a model own her own image?”.

So many people are on social media everyday posting pictures of themselves but rarely stop to think about what happens to that image when it is divulged to the web. Models are burdened with this question in many more ways, as their career forces almost constant vulnerability through publication of images. All credit to Emily Ratajkowski for her power in asserting her experiences.

25 September 2020

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Diversity

Diversity 9

Black Lives Matter: Breonna Taylor Molly Kilbourne Red & Black Staff

The settlement of the Breonna Taylor case: $12 million settlement & promise of police reforms, but no admittance of wrongdoing by the city & no timeline of potential charges.

Breonna Taylor’s settlement is one of the largest given by a city in relation to police misconduct. With no admittance of wrongdoing and zero inclination of charges to be pressed against the officers who murdered her, there is still no justice served.

On the night of Mar. 13, 2020, Louisville police officers entered the home of Taylor to serve a no-knock warrant regarding suspicion of drugs. Taylor’s boyfriend believed that the police officers were intruders and shot at them, striking one in the leg. The officers shot their own weapons, murdering Taylor while she was in her hallway.

No drugs were found in their home.

The laws currently in place regarding self-defense become highly ambiguous when cops are involved.

Most policies prohibit the aggressor (the person who initiated the incident) from claiming self-defense.

Because police officers are acting in

their capacity they cannot be deemed as aggressors, allowing them to claim self-defense even when they are the ones that initiate incidents.

Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove are the cops who murdered Taylor but not even one has been charged. Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, was arrested for attempted murder of a police officer because he opened fire first, but the charges were dropped in May. Another complicator of Taylor’s case is the “castle doctrine” which gives people in every state, except Vt. and Washington D.C., the right to use deadly force against an intruder in their home, with no duty to retreat. In Ky. law, this doctrine does not allow someone to harm police officers who enter their home as long as the officers announce themselves or the homeowner should reasonably have known they were police. It is because of this Ky. policy that Walker was charged with attempted murder.

Justice for Taylor does not come with a settlement. While her family does deserve millions of dollars, Taylor’s legacy should not end here. Oftentimes when families of police brutality victims sue the city, the money they obtain in settling comes from taxpayer dollars. Adding this fact to the complex laws that hinder perpetrators from being charged is indicative of the massive amounts of change our justice system must undergo. There is no

reason why an innocent Black woman should be shot and killed in her home by those who are supposedly in place to “serve and protect”. She deserves more and her family deserves more.

Putting her murderers in jail would do justice to her legacy and protect other innocent people from being killed.

Settling has never, and will never, be enough.

Courtesy The New York Times

Breonna Taylor, 26, was killed on March 13 by officers executing a so-called no knock warrant.

10 Diversity

Red & Black

25 September 2020

Mass Sterilizations at ICE Detention Center Akansha Das Red & Black Contributor

Last week, horrific allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on Spanish-speaking detainees at the ICE Irwin Detention Center in Ga. came to light.

The whistleblower, nurse Dana Wooten, has been practicing at the center for three years. She has claimed that many of the patients didn’t know why their hysterectomy was being done, that proper consent was not obtained and that the procedures were not done properly with one detainee even describing the detention center as a “experimental concentration camp.” Though ICE officials have not addressed the validity of these allegations head-on, if they turn out to be true, this would not be the first time that mass sterilizations of a social group have occurred within the U.S. (a practice that the United Nations considers genocide).

When the terms “eugenics,” “genocide,” and “cultural cleansing” start to become part of a conversation, Hitler and his Nazi reign immediately come to mind. But what many don’t realize is that Hitler derived inspiration from the U.S. itself and its practice of eugenics in prisons. In 1927, the Supreme Court case Buck vs. Bell allowed a woman whose institutionalized mother was said to be “feebleminded” and “promiscuous” be sterilized because “three generations of imbeciles was enough”. The grandmother, mother and daughter were deemed as a threat to society and the mother was sterilized. During the twentieth century, 32

states had federally funded sterilization programs leading to the sterilization of over 70,000 inmates.

Even as recently as 2017, a Tenn. judge released an order allowing inmates to have their sentence cut by 30 days if they agreed to be sterilized.

Considering that 44 percent of Tenn.’s prisoners are Black but only 17 percent of the state’s population is Black, this speaks to the underlying racism and anti-blackness associated with mass sterilization and the unfair way it has been used to alienate individuals that society deems as “undesirable” and limit their reproductive rights; unfortunately the relationship between mass sterilization and black women runs deeper.

At times in the South, government assistance was dependent on getting a hysterectomy. In the 1970s, medical

students could perform hysterectomies on Black women “for practice” and the sheer amount of hysterectomies being done on Black women led to the procedure being called “Mississippi appendectomies.” Similar reports came out of a family planning clinic in Ala. in 1973 as well where over 100,000 hysterectomies were performed on women with doctors threatening to stop their welfare benefits if consent was not given.

These efforts to cleanse the U.S. of “unwanted ethnicities” extended to Native American reservations where in the 1970s between 25 percent and 50 percent of Native American women were sterilized in a six year period, further emotionally and physically debilitating a population that the U.S. government has already taken so much from. But by far the largest systemic ef-

forts of sterilization occurred in Puerto Rico where one third of the island’s women were sterilized between 1930 and 1970, some of whom did not know the procedure was reversible and were simply seeking birth control.

The recent allegations of mass sterilizations have sirens blazing in Ga. as 170 lawmakers have pledged to investigate. And it should.

Mass hysterectomies have been used as a tool to exploit the lower-class and discriminate against women based on their ethnicity, language, race or even the purely subjective quality of “promiscuity.” Coupled with the death of prominent women’s advocate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, this week has shown just how much the basic and fundamental right that women have control over their bodies is being threatened.

Courtesy The New York Times

Dawn Wooten, pictured on the left, a nurse at an ICE detention center in Oscilla, Ga., filed a whistleblower complaint.

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Diversity 11

Will Peace Prevail in the Middle East?

Dylan Bertovich Red & Black Contributor

Iran, oil or Turkey—what is the biggest problem for the Arab countries in the Middle East today?

There seems to be a mixture of these issues: Iran is threatening their security, oil prices are so low the Gulf faces poverty and Turkey is emerging as an authoritarian power. To protect themselves, the Arab countries have turned to the United States for support; however, it seems that this support will soon be coming to a close. This has led to the Middle East reaching out to

their former foe, Israel, for support.

They recently signed the Abraham accords that led to deals to establish a relationship between the U.A.E, Bahrain and Israel. Even though it is widely known that the countries have worked together for many years in secret, these deals were the dawn of a new supposedly “peaceful” era.

Sydney Fischer ‘21 stated, “These aren’t peace deals. These are arms and trade deals intended to protect the Arab states at the expense of Palestinians.” The only issue is that there are Arab Muslims, Palestinians, that are currently being oppressed by the Zionist government of Israel. The West Bank specifically is a daily battle ground for the people that live there.

Israel controls their entire life, from border crossing deaths to occupations and settlements. The other nations were always supposed to protect the

Palestinians— they failed though.

When Palestine reached out to the Arab League, they turned a blind eye to them. They accepted the suffering of the Palestinian people to advance their own goals and protect their futures.

Brendan Troesch ‘21 believes “The countries have abandoned their brethren to fill their pockets and protect their land.” They realized that their futures, possibly for the first time, were in great peril and they needed the protection from the West or its closest possible proxy, Israel.

An article in the Arab News drew the conclusion that it was time to abandon the Palestinians for the chance at tourism and trade.

The article also blamed the Palestinians for their failed state and decided that they needed to accept their position. It is hard for the Palestinians to survive under these conditions and

many Palestinians have been forced to move elsewhere.

The article describes these refugees as a poverty inflicted scum on the Middle East. It is clear that the Middle East has no empathy for these occupied people, and blame them for their issues. It is true that you can have no empathy until it happens to you.

Similar occupation happened to the people of South Africa who lived under the stringent laws of Apartheid for many years. Solidarity moments have sprung up throughout South Africa and around the world of people standing with the people of Palestine, unlike these leaders of the Middle East, and wish to see the Palestinians granted their rights.

The land that the Zionist cause claimed was not devoid of people or history, just devoid of an occupying power.

Courtesy Aljazeera

Palestinians protest Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank near the city of Ramallah in June, which Netanyahu plans to continue in the future.

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Red & Black

25 September 2020

It’s Time to Decolonize Our Bookshelves Molly Kilbourne Red & Black Staff

Colonization is an ongoing and conscious process; it began hundreds of years ago with the British Empire expanding from England and continues today on our bookshelves.

Following the events of this past summer surrounding the wrongful deaths of many Black people at the

hands of the police force, many people have begun to realize that there is no better time than the present to become better educated on the history of the United States and the racism that has shaped this country. One avenue of educating that has always been and has remained popular is reading.

Following the protests that happened around the country, many different book clubs led by people of color have formed and organized with social media as their main platforms. In addition, dozens of reading lists compiling testimonies of the treatment of Black people in America, anti-racist thoughts and more com-

prehensive histories of the ways that Black people have built America up and reaped none of the benefits have been published.

The importance of these book clubs and of these reading lists lies within the fact that many bookshelves at home contain almost none of these titles before these protests. The “decolonization” of one’s bookshelf refers to the fact that almost all history that we know is taught from a very narrow scope. The subject of slavery, for example, is discussed, but the horrors that the people who were enslaved experienced is never fully explored. We think that we are aware of the prob-

lem, when, in reality, we have not even skimmed the surface of the injustices that Black people have faced. We are taught the colonizer’s history.

“Decolonizing” one’s bookshelves means deliberately buying books that are written by the minorities that have suffered and continue to suffer from the erasure of their histories. It is imperative to “decolonize” and read a broad range of authors, subjects and opinions on topics such as racism because it exposes one to experiences and trials that otherwise would be given no thought to. To be able to assist a group, one has to have a better understanding of that group.

Courtesy Medium

“Decolonize your bookshelves” means to actively resist and cast aside the colonialist ideas of narrative, storytelling and literature that have pervaded American society for so long.

25 September 2020

opinions Red & Black

Opinions 13

Joe Biden Plans to Combat the Climate Crisis Amanda Fitzpatrick Red & Black Editor

The Green New Deal, introduced by Representative Alexandria OcasioCortez of N.Y. and Senator Edward J. Markey of Mass., is a congressional resolution laying out a grand plan for tackling climate change. Since then, supporters have viewed the Green New Deal as the way to wean the United States from reliance on fossil fuels, reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately avoid the Earth’s destruction.

Its opponents, however, have vilified the Green New Deal as a socialist plot designed to force everyone into a life of veganism and halt the use of cars and airplanes. While this is ultimately

not the case, the question remains as to where members of the Democratic Establishment lie on their complete support of the Green New Deal.

Vice President Joe Biden announced a two trillion dollar climate plan, connecting the immediate need of tackling climate change with economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and racism. However, this plan is not the Green New Deal – which Biden has not fully endorsed.

Despite the lack of endorsement, Biden has embraced many aspects of the Green New Deal and has gone beyond Obama-Era ambition in addressing climate change.

Brendan Troesch ’21 is happy that Biden has at least included parts of the Green New Deal in his plan. “I’m glad to hear that Vice President Biden is embracing aspects of the Green New Deal. We in the US need a transition to a more sustainable and comprehensive

energy system. How the U.S. deals with energy now will not last much longer if our practices remain the same,” stated Troesch.

In Biden’s plan, titled The Biden Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice, Biden recognizes the Green New Deal by name as a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face. This Clean Energy Revolution embraces two basic truths drawn from the Green New Deal: the need to embrace greater ambition on a large scale to meet the extent of this challenge and the irrefutable fact that our environment and economy are connected. Biden states that this plan will ensure the U.S. achieves a 100 percent clean energy economy and reaches net-zero emissions no later than 2050 by signing executive orders that go beyond the ObamaBiden Administration platform and

C ontac t

E ditorial P olicy The Red & Black is the official, registered student-produced newspaper of Washington & Jefferson College. It is published Fridays with the exception of exams and break periods.

Editorials are based upon the opinion of the respective writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper, the

College or its students, faculty, or administration.

The Red & Black welcomes all reader contributions, but reserves the right to reject letters of pure promotional nature, as well as letters which do not meet its standard of integrity, accuracy and decency.

The Red & Black also reserves the right to edit submissions.

demanding Congress enact legislation that establish an enforcement mechanism with milestone targets by the end of his first term, investment in clean energy and climate research and innovation and incentivizes the deployment of clean energy across the economy.

With many plans for day one, Biden also plans to make smart infrastructure investments to rebuild our country and ensure that buildings, water, transportation and energy infrastructure can withstand climate change. Through use of the power of government to assist climate resilience efforts with the development of regional climate resilience plans, Biden will partner with universities and labs and provide local access to the relevant information.

While the United States has left the Paris (continued on page 14)

Letters are due on the Monday before publication and may not exceed 600 words. All letters must include the author’s name, campus box and telephone number.

Names may be withheld upon request under certain conditions on rare occasions. All letters may be submitted to redandblackstaff@jay. washjeff.edu.

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14 Opinions

Red & Black

25 September 2020

Courtesy New York Times

Joe Biden answers questions from Anderson Cooper at a Democrat Town Hall focused on the climate crisis.

(continued from page 13) Agreement on climate change, Biden plans to not only recommit but to go further by leading an effort to increase the ambition of domestic climate targets in every major country and fully integrate climate change into foreign policy, national security and trade approaches.

Committed to the people at home as well as abroad, Biden has recognized the disproportionate impact that climate change and pollution has on vulnerable communities. As such, the Biden Administration states that it will act against fossil fuel companies and polluters who prioritize profit over people and harm the environment of our communities or conceal information concerning risks.

However, Biden does not leave behind his moderate base in his climate plan. As such, Biden plans to fulfill obligations to workers and communities that led the industrial revolution and not leave them behind.

If you are a critic of Biden, you may be wondering how this plan will

be paid for. Biden does not leave this out of his plan, stating that it will be covered by reversing the excesses of the Trump tax cuts for corporations, reducing incentives for tax havens, evasion, and outsourcing, ensuring corporations pay their fair share, close other loopholes in our tax code and end the subsidies for fossil fuels.

This is refreshing, considering the current administration, that Biden places science at the center of his plan by including the impacts of climate change explained by top climate experts as well as NASA. Throughout Biden’s detailed plan, specifics are not left out. If the words above appear as empty promises lacking detailed legislation, this is not the case.

From establishing the ARPA-C, Advanced Research Projects Agency focused on climate, Biden prioritizes specific research aims including grid-scale storage at one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion batteries and capturing carbon dioxide from power plant exhausts by sequestering it underground or using it to make

alternative products. Addressing airline emissions, the energy efficiency of our building, the deployment of electric vehicles and creating a clean and safe rail system, Biden recognizes the need for new, better technology.

Further, Biden plans to partner with farmers and ranchers, recognizing the need to grow nutritious and accessible food as well as the need for water to grow that food.

Criticize as you may, but Biden has a detailed, comprehensive and ambitious plan. While Biden’s plan is not the Green New Deal, I am willing to say that it is a colossal step in the right direction. Dylan Bertovich ’21 recognizes this step, stating that “We stand on the cusp of a great environmental reckoning.

The plan that Vice President Biden has placed into the national conversation is a start, but not an end. President Trump and his administration has denigrated the environment and all of its regulations, endangering humanity.

So, a start is better than a stop.”

However, Biden will not escape the Green New Deal, specifically the Trump Administration’s “attacks” referring to Biden as a Green New Deal supporter who wants to immediately ban fracking.

Despite the Trump Administration’s attacks towards Biden’s plan to address the climate crisis, Biden’s plan lacks a few components of the Green New Deal. The most obvious component missing include Medicare for All, which Biden does not endorse. Biden’s plan focuses on technology over political power; without redistributing power to communities of color, climate plans are unlikely to mitigate the effects of environmental racism.

Moreover, Biden supports nuclear power while not mentioning fracking and its impact of polluting communities, especially communities of color. Despite my support of the Biden administration’s plan, it is important to remember that even a two trillion dollar investment is only the beginning of what is necessary to avoid destruction of the planet.

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Opinions 15

Donald Trump Inconsistently Fights the Climate Crisis Paul Collier Red & Black Editor

President Trump has established a pattern of attempting to create positive differences in America only to vastly outdo these changes with policies that act against the progress he attempts to make. Nowhere is this difference as stark as that found in his environmental policies.

Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior approved a one billion dollar project to carry out the Gemini Solar Project, the largest solar farm project approved by the United States government in history as it will power 260,000 homes to offset the average greenhouse emission of roughly 83,000 cars while providing an estimated 2,000 jobs to the area. While this will be completed by 2021, by 2022 the farm is supposed to increase from 440 to 690 megawatts of electricity for use across Nev., Ariz. and Calif. while also incorporating battery storage to offset rolling blackouts by the high usage of power in early evenings.

However, the 11 miles of construction for this facility will further endanger the already threatened desert tortoise as 300 members of its population will be displaced and then reintroduced to this area while construction occurs. It also threatens kit foxes, burrowing owls and several species of wildflower. Furthermore, while the Department of the Interior claims that the construction will be a hybrid between bulldozing the land and protecting some of the natural formations, it will cover a piece of the formerly untouched Old Spanish

Trail. Trump has also aligned with the bipartisan support of emerging Carbon Capture technology. While the total environmental detriment of this technology is still unknown, as it does provide incentive for increased oil production, it’s been pursued as a way to clear the atmosphere of excess carbon by capturing this carbon while mining processes take place underground, with the eventual goal of taking in carbon directly from the air to limit emissions.

However, the IRS has still not passed the twelve year, 200 million dollar tax break corporations need to begin investing in the technology. Still, in this initiative Trump is attempting to support the environment.

In 2019, he also approved of a bipartisan bill protecting 1.3 million acres of wilderness. In supporting bipartisan initiatives and the Gemini project, Trump has demonstrated a propensity for environmental support.

However, Trump has also continually placed himself against needed environmental protection measures. He removed the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and will not support the Green New Deal. He has an odd hatred for windmills, which includes unfounded claims that they cause cancer, and denies that climate change is occurring, especially in the case of California’s five-year drought and massive wildfires. His Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, also denies climate change is human influenced.

While the United States is tied at first for cleanest drinking water, his claims of having the cleanest water and air fall short as American air quality stands at 10 and water sanitation is only at 29.

His EPA Advisor Andrew Wheeler also

claimed Flint’s water was safe to drink even though the lead issue has still not been fixed. He rolled back an Obamaera coal power plant regulation that had reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent. He also rolled back offshore drilling regulations that aimed to prevent another crisis like the BP Oil Spill that let 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact, by July of 2020 he had rolled back 68 environmental regulations while 32 more were being considered.

In the same month he approved the 1.3 million acres of wilderness protection, Trump approved the encroachment of sage grouse habitat for oil and gas companies, even though the bird is already approaching endangerment.

He also approved the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will cause major environmental damage, habitat loss and destroy Native lands.

It was only approved due to a lack of environmental background checks.

This pipeline’s progress has been repeatedly slowed by legal battles, yet Trump still believes that it should be completed. The Sierra Club has called Trump the worst environmental president in American history for good reason. His positive actions are few and far between, and even then, they have losses to the environment built into their construction.

Meanwhile, he continues to not only not act on the Climate Crisis but roll back regulations that were previously enacted to slow the environmental damage occurring to the planet. This has left his climate policy overall ineffective as many people, animals and flora die worldwide because of a lack of environmental protection Trump also refuses to allow America to take part in.

Courtesy West Fargo Pioneer

The Dakota Access Pipeline is built on Native land.

Courtesy DeSmog

Groups protest over the environmental damage from the Dakota Pipeline.

16 Opinions

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Trump Threatens Al-Assad Victory Culture In the U.S. Molly Kilbourne Red & Black editor

Courtesy Aljazeera

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad discusses familial alliances.

Molly Kilbourne Red & Black Editor The disturbingly callous remark Trump made regarding the Syrian president Baha al-Assad is only the next in his long line of dehumanizing comments.

Trump’s latest outburst has him stating that he had planned on killing al-Assad. He exclaims, “Let’s [expletive] kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the [expletive] lot of them,” after confirming that he had plans to do so but such plans were shut down by Secretary Jim Mattis. These comments follow the publication of the 2018 book “Fear” reported by Bob Woodward in which an order from Trump to the Pentagon to assassinate the Syrian president is detailed. Trump, however, denies these claims and retorts that the book is fiction.

It is irresponsible for a leader to make such flippant comments regarding another country’s president as it reflects poorly on the country that he represents. In response to these inflammatory comments, the Syrian president says that the U.S. administration is a “rogue state.”

Citizens of the United States should be embarrassed to be represented in a global sphere by a man that shows no dignity when dealing with any sort of

diplomacy. Loudly parading the fact that there was a plan to assassinate another autonomous state’s president is disconcerting. If the president was planning to rid a country of a tyrannical leader, the level of inappropriateness of the threat may come into question, but the bold exclamations of a threat that carries so much weight is largely improper decorum.

Many Americans see this side of President Trump and appreciate the brutal honesty. This is fine if that sort of diplomacy is used regarding domestic policy if that is what is popular, but it is tone deaf to represent the United States as a country on a global level with such crass eruptions. One can not brag that the United States is the greatest country in the world while simultaneously supporting a president that continuously invites other countries to both mock and take offense to.

The president of the United States should not be making explicit statements regarding the life of another country’s president. He should also not openly discuss any plans in general that would lead to the demise of another country as it not only, to state the obvious, alerts the country to prepare, but also, regardless of whether or not a plan comes to fruition, hinders diplomatic relations with another country.

Victory culture is a term that is so deeply ingrained in American culture that the two are nearly indistinguishable. From the beginning of the United State’s history, the victory of winning independence from Great Britain made winning, in various forms, very important.

The victory of the Revolutionary War emboldened the founding fathers to set forth to create the first written constitution and form the first government of the United States. Since then, victory culture has continued to entangle itself within American culture, setting an importance on winning wars overseas and retaliation against any wrongdoings done to the U.S. This victory culture has further manifested itself not in the importance of winning wars, but in the importance of winning sports. Just as one feels pride for their country when the soldiers are overseas fighting the evils of injustice, communism and global terrorism, this pride is felt for sports teams around the country. A victory of substantial proportion, such as winning the Superbowl, can bring the joy of celebrations and dignity of being from the victor’s city. Even though the citizens of the city did not play and win the game themselves, the pride of having a team that has beat every other team in the country emboldens them to believe that they are, in fact, the best.

While such positive feelings surrounding a victory can be a great positive to cities by increasing the

feeling of unity of cheering for a team that has won while representing one’s city, there are costs. Putting such a high importance on winning as Americans do can oftentimes have one overlooking the price of supporting a sports team, especially in cities that do not have exorbitant amounts of money to spend on teams.

Instead of investing in a city’s homeless population in order to foster more pride for a city, it is easier to see the results of a sports team winning and uniting the city in victory. Money is not an unlimited resource that cities have, they have to budget and allocate funds for all activities that they operate. Instead of funnelling so much money into sports it could be used to house those that are homeless, support food banks, run clinics for physical and mental health, boost public transportation or even make it free and invest more in education.

Americans should think more about the resources we have access to and restructure our priorities.

Winning is not everything and our identities do not lie in our ability to be “victorious.”

Courtesy The Inquirer

Philadelphia Eagles fans riot following the Eagle’s Super Bowl win.

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Opinions 17

Hulu Review: The Secret Life Souce Spotlight: The Skimm Sydney Fischer Red & Black Contributor

The “Secret Life of an American Teenager” Season 1 is the 2008 ABC Family drama that revolves around 15-year-old Amy Jeurgens (Shailene Woodley) as she goes through an unplanned teen pregnancy. The show comes off as a 1035-minute PSA to scare middleclass mothers into not trusting their daughters rather than a realistic portrayal of teenagers.

Ironically, every episode ends with an actual PSA from Shailene Woodley encouraging parents to talk to their children about sex to eliminate teen pregnancy.

I will start with the positives in the show. For the most part, all the actors looked like they could be in high school. Shailene Woodley’s character does behave like a genuine teenager since she is unaware of the costs and commitments of raising a baby. The casting staff was also inclusive of people with disabilities by featuring two reoccurring characters with Down Syndrome and explores their romantic relationships, which is not typically depicted in mainstream media.

However, this show falls into the trap that many teenage dramas do, where the writing team decides to tackle every current issue a teenager may experience while being handled in the poorest manner possible. Some of these sensitive topics include child abuse, sex work and teen marriage (specifically involving minors.) The

show focuses on teenage sex and pregnancy with characters exploring ways to prevent pregnancy and options to consider if a teen does find herself pregnant. I found a major problem with the latter as not all options of preventative action were mentioned in the show.

The word “abortion” is never mentioned, and one character asks Amy if she would consider getting “it.” For a show that is basically a PSA to teens, one would think that they would want teenagers to be aware of all options available to them.

It is Amy’s choice, but abortion is automatically off the table, which makes the writers appear cowardly as they were willing to talk about any controversial topic or foster a discussion for the benefit of teen, yet this is where the line must be drawn.

Amy is only permitted to choose between keeping the baby or adoption throughout the season.

One character is given birth control pills and everyone in the show assumes that they are used only for sex, which is not true as they frequently use the pill to help treat medical issues.

The character Ben (Kenny Baumann) is a very unrealistic portrayal of a teenage boy. Teenagers can be unrealistic and romanticize their relationships, but Ben is on a new level of unreasonable. Ben dates, and eventually illegally marries Amy, while Ben knows she is pregnant with another man’s child. I do not know any sane 15-year-old willing to marry his girlfriend, let alone a girl who is pregnant with another’s child.

All romance plots are blown out of portion, as well with break ups and affairs every other episode. This season mostly felt like a soap opera with teenagers.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Akansha Das Red & Black Contributor

Politics and current events can feel too dense to understand or comprehend, complicated by its dynamic and ever-changing nature. With the complex interweaving of shifting world leaders and controversial issues and movements, it can frankly be pretty overwhelming, and at times, frustrating to try and keep up with it all.

As a high school freshman, I needed a reliable news source that would be able to provide the most important news bites of the day and simplify the complex political issues they speak to.

Cue “The Skimm!”

The Skimm is a daily newsletter sent to over seven million subscribers, delivering the top news stories of the past 24 hours. In the couple of paragraphs that it provides on each topic, it’s able to give users a quick summary of the background information the public knows about the event (hence the name “The Skimm” for its ability to “skim” current news) along with presenting direct links to top reliable news sources such as The New York Times and Time magazine if users want more in-depth information about each event.

As with all news organizations, The Skimm prides itself on accuracy,

but its added benefits of convenience and simplicity have earned it a special place among its youth users which speaks to its overall mission.

Founded by previous news producers Carly Zakin and Danielle Weinsberg in 2012, the company specifically targets female millennials who can be seen visibly in its casual and often relatable tone. From starting with comedic or light-hearted quotes of the day to the references to pop culture shows and movies throughout the newsletter, The Skimm truly strives to make its content as accessible and understandable as possible while maintaining objectivity.

As a consumer of The Skimm for over four years now, I can attest to how useful it has become in my life especially during busy exams weeks or when I want to stay updated about politics and the world around me but simply don’t have the time. The Skimm is by no means a complete in-depth analysis of current events, nor does it touch on the details and nuances and events that other sources may give you. But for people just trying to grasp the world around them, it’s a sufficient starting point and has been comprehensive enough to keep me afloat in conversations about politics.

2020 has brought its own slew of challenges and a whole separate jungle of issues to tackle. So, if you are looking for a place to sort it all out for you, subscribe to The Skimm at theskimm. com. It’s free and I can guarantee you that the daily five-minute read is well worth your time!

sports

18 Sports

Red & Black

25 September 2020

Student Athlete Spotlight: Dean Kralic ‘22

Courtesy Dean Kralic

Dean Kralic ‘22 races for W&J’s men’s swim team.

Lily Bonasso Red & Black Staff

Dean Kralic ’22 is from Beaver Falls, Pa., and is currently studying biology and environmental science at Washington & Jefferson College.

He attributes his studies to a desire to preserve and positively impact the environment so that future generations are able to enjoy time in nature the way he always has. The swim team is coached by Matt Rochna with Yana

Miletska as assistant coach. Swimming on Coach Rochna’s team for two years now, Kralic appreciates the fact that “Matt really understands what’s going on in a collegiate swimmer’s brain.

He understands what it is like to be a student-athlete and treats the team as such.” Although Coach Yana is new to the team this year, he anticipates her being a beneficial addition to their coaching staff.

Kralic spent most of his first years swimming backstroke and freestyle, but transitioned to butterfly and freestyle during high school. During his college career, he has returned to his roots, now specializing in backstroke and mid/long distance freestyle. With

the head above water during the entire race, there is an added difficulty of controlling breathing patterns, as opposed to other strokes in which the breathing is controlled by periods of being above and below water.

Some of the accolades that Kralic has received include the WPIAL AA Champion & Co. record holder 100 Butterfly (2018) as well as PAC Finalist (2019 and 2020).

Kralic stated, “I chose W&J because I didn’t want my whole life to be D1 swimming. With D3 I’m able to keep swimming and get better, but without the pressure and time consumption of a D1 swim team. I also really liked the older guys on the team and the coach

that recruited me. The team was a great place to make friends freshman year because everyone was of the same mindset as I was. I don’t think I could have gotten that anywhere else.”

This year, however, the ongoing pandemic creates difficulty in forming bonds between the new members and the rest of the team.

Kralic notes, however, that they have been able to meet each other in small groups, and they are all slowly getting to know each other despite the circumstances.

The team is currently participating in practices but does not anticipate having their meets start until the beginning of the spring semester.

25 September 2020

Red & Black

Sports 19

Pittsburgh Steelers Improve to 2-0

Courtesy PFF.com

Steelers’ Diontae Johnson explotes Denver’s defense.

Grant Allison Red & Black Contributor

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ hot start carried over to a narrow victory over the Denver Broncos this past weekend.

With a score of 26-21, it certainly wasn’t pretty for the hometown heroes, but that’s just Steelers football.

Ben Roethlisberger continued his strong comeback season with an impressive 311 yards passing and added two touchdowns. One of the most impressive plays of the day was an 84 yard touchdown pass from Big Ben to the rookie out of Notre Dame, Chase

Claypool. It was an overall impressive day from the Steelers veteran QB1, showing the progress made from last year’s elbow surgery that sidelined him a majority of the season.

The running game from the Steelers included a solid performance from James Conner, who eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the first time this season and also silenced the critics following his week one performance that saw him exit the game early with an injury.

Benny Snell Jr. could have had a better week, rushing for only five yards and fumbling once.

The young rushing attack from the Steelers could use some consistency, but as long as Roethlisberger can continue to feed his young receiving core, there should not be much worry about whether the offense can succeed or

not. One word can describe the Steelers defense thus far this season: dominant. Registering seven total sacks against the Broncos this past weekend, the Steelers’ defensive front continues to prove to the league just how many weapons they possess. Edge rushers Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt have been making a case for the best edge rushing tandem in the league, with Watt recording 2.5 sacks and four total tackles this weekend. Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu have been providing a powerful inside rush that allows Dupree and Watt to be so dominant on the outside.

The defensive backs definitely could have performed better, with Terrell Edmunds nearly costing the game at one point with a defensive passing interference with a few minutes remain-

ing in the fourth quarter. However, he was able to redeem himself by sacking Bronco Quarterback Jeff Driskel on fourth down in the Steelers red zone, clinching the game.

This upcoming weekend, the Steelers play the Houston Texans who are looking to score their first victory of the season. The Texans’ J.J. Watt, former Defensive Player of the Year and brother to Steelers players Derek and T.J Watt, expressed to the media that he is “sick of losing.” Unfortunately for J.J. Watt, his team has to play the motivated and energetic Steelers who possess a plethora of weapons on both sides of the ball. This game will be an indicator on whether or not this Steelers team has what it takes to compete.

Strap in Steelers Nation, we are chasing that elusive seventh Super Bowl ring.

20 Sports

Red & Black

18 September 2020

Fantasy Football: Start Them or Sit Them Start Them Josh Allen Buffalo Bills QB

Josh Allen looks to be having his breakout year. The Bills have started the year 2-0 thanks to the play of Allen. He steamrolled the Dolphins for over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns. This weekend he faces off against the Rams, arguly the Bills toughest challenge rthus far. I still like Allen to have a big day.

Joe Burrow

Cincinnati Bengals Qb

The Bengals are facing off against the Eagles. The Eagles have allowed 64 points in two games and don’t look to be turning it around any time soon. Burrow had a great game against the Browns and fell just short of his first NFL victory. Expect Burrow to ride that confidence for another great performance and a victory.

Chase Claypool Pittsburgh Steelers WR

Again this week we feature a Steelers Wideout. Last week we saw the connect between Jihnson and Big Ben continue. This week predict the same for Claypool and Roethlisberger. Claypool looked great against Denver expect him to exploit the weak Texans secondary.

Courtesy Buffalo Rumblings

Sit Them Drew Brees

New Orleans Saints QB

Drew Brees looked horrible Monday night against the Raiders. Not only does his arm strength look bad, his accuracy does too, which has been his strength throughout his career. It is time to close the book on Brees.

Rob Gronkowski Tampa Bay Buccaneers TE

Two catches for 14 yards in two games. SIT HIM! Courtesy Tampa Bay Times