February 23, 2022

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The weekly student newspaper of Drake University Vol. 141 | No. 16 | Feb. 23, 2022 FEATURES

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

Drake junior Grace Long is applying her passion for agriculture, writing skills and more to her internship.

Iowa native and former college football player Scott Helverson refereed at this year’s Super Bowl.

Our managing editor tells a personal story of censorship and reflects on Student Press Freedom Day.

Read more on page 3

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Read more on page 8

timesdelphic.com

may term proposal voted down in faculty senate

Drake administration to decide whether to charge new overload fees Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu

Drake University’s faculty senate voted down a proposal that would move January Term to May during its Feb. 16 meeting. Faculty senate president Matthew Zwier said he has not heard of any further interest in investigating the proposal.

“I mean, as the vote showed, the majority of faculty senate believes strongly that J-Term is effective as it is, and that to move it to May would likely be of harm to the educational mission of Drake University,” Zwier said. “And the no vote was the procedural way of saying that those people who voted no felt so strongly about this that we would rather just vote it down, rather than put it on the table and begin an investigation to see if this could be a good idea.”

No faculty senators voted in favor of the proposal, although some abstained. Comments from faculty members and a report from Drake’s student senate suggested that student and faculty feedback to the proposal has been generally negative.

Some students might be charged new overload fees for next January Term One of Drake provost Sue Mattison’s key reasons for bringing this proposal forward was that moving to May would keep some January Term students from potentially being charged new fees for going over 18 credit hours with their J-Term course.

Mattison has explained that this is because the proposed May Term would have been counted as separate from spring

semester, in contrast to January Term. She said the reason J– Term credits are counted with spring term “has to do with how financial aid is counted.”

“I would say that when J-Term was initiated, the issue of spring overload wasn’t considered and so no one made any changes to the IT system to take that into account,” Mattison said. “And then this year, it was recognized that that had been the case and so to correct that.

“A lot of these things are about the details that we don’t have time to dig into—which is precisely why so many are against this proposal.”

Drake has not yet made a final decision on how to address this issue, said Mattison. She said that she will meet with Drake president Marty Martin and chief financial officer Adam Voigts on March 1 to discuss the next step.

According to Mattison, the overload fee is about $1,100 for each credit. Therefore, if Drake were to begin charging these overload fees to these students, a student who takes 16 or more credits in spring semester and a J-Term will begin to pay about $1,100 per each credit over 18.

“And so, you know, it would be a semester if for J-Term, for it to be without that overload fee, it would be a spring semester when they were taking 15 credits, and then it is no cost,” Mattison said.

In 2022, about 36 percent of Drake students who took a January Term took 18.5 or more credits across

spring semester and J-Term, according to a report prepared

by Drake registrar Jennifer Tran-Johnson and shared by Mattison. Mattison said that if the overload fees are assessed next year, that will likely impact how students use J-Term.

Mattison said that P1 and P2 pharmacy students are required to take more than 17 credit hours. In 2022, about 82 percent of pharmacy students took over 18 credits between January and spring terms, according to Tran-Johnson’s report.

“Having the long break over December/January is vital for students” At the faculty senate meeting, student body president Morgan Coleman presented a report from the student senate with student feedback on the May Term proposal, which was based on the opinions of 40 students.

The report concluded that 33 students who submitted a virtual form indicated that they opposed the proposal, while one suggested their support. It also said that the in-person focus groups also indicated a lack of support for the proposal.

“Because a number of [faculty] senators said that they could not vote in good conscience, and I fully agree, without understanding what the student perspective was, as soon as the student perspective came in, the book was closed on their decision,” Zwier said. “At least at this point in time.”

Many students who gave feedback preferred the timing and break between semesters offered by January Term. Some expressed concerns that a May Term wouldn’t line up well with their rental agreements or job opportunities, or that it wouldn’t attract as many students. Some

CAMPUS OPINION appeared to be against May Term during the faculty senate meeting. GRAPHIC BY OLVIA KLASSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, CONTENT FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS AND CANVA

students disagreed with the idea that Drake should switch to a May Term because of COVID-19 or were skeptical that such a move would limit the spread of the virus.

“Having the long break over December/January is vital for students because burnout is real, especially at Drake with the Drake Busy mentality,” one student wrote in the form. “Also, many people have accepted summer jobs that start in May.” During the Feb. 16 faculty senate meeting, faculty members raised questions over why this financial planning issue was tied to May Term and whether beginning to charge these overload fees is consistent with how J-Term has been marketed.

A faculty senator said in an interview that he was very

disappointed that Mattison did not answer the question of why January Term could be made its own academic term during the faculty senate meeting.

“That eroded quite a bit of trust among the faculty for supporting this proposal,” said the senator, who asked to remain anonymous.

Zwier said that most senators were very hesitant to support the proposal with “insufficient information on a tight timeline.”

“A lot of these things are about the details that we don’t have time to dig into—which is precisely why many are against this proposal,” associate education professor Matt Hayden said in a chat message during the meeting, which took place on Zoom.

Drake may wait for upcoming CDC guidance before changing mask mandate Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu

In a White House briefing on Feb. 16, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky indicated that the CDC will soon alter its guidance on mask-wearing to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“We are assessing the most important factors based on where we are in the pandemic, and we’ll soon put guidance in place that is relevant and encourages prevention measures when they are most needed to protect public health and our hospitals,” Walensky said. “We want to give people a break from things like maskwearing, when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen.”

Drake provost and epidemiologist Sue Mattison said that Drake was going to predict that it would lift its mask mandate sometime in March, and then Walensky indicated that the CDC will soon change its guidance.

Drake said in its most recent

COVID-19 update that CDC recommendations have played a significant role in guiding Drake’s COVID-19 policies and it will “respond accordingly” when the CDC releases updated mask guidance.

“There are other factors, and it’s really important that we look at what’s happening around here,” Mattison said.

“And I’m guessing the CDC will recommend that that’s how you approach it, to look at what’s happening in your area.”

Mattison said that she thinks COVID-19 cases have peaked on campus. On Jan. 28, Drake reported that 42 students had confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest number so far this year. Since then, cases have declined, and the university reported that 13 students had confirmed cases on Friday.

COVID cases “continue to decline substantially,” a Feb. 16 situation report for COVID-19 for central Iowa posted by the Polk County Health Department said. However, the COVID-19 transmission level for the county is still ranked High by the CDC, like most of Iowa and the United States. The situation report said that 150

DRAKE UNIVERSITY requires everyone on campus to wear masks in most indoor situations, a policy that may soon change as COVID declines. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

new infections were occurring each day in Polk County.

Along with the state of COVID-19 near Drake, Mattison said that an outside report from the company Epistemix also helps inform Drake’s mask policy. The report predicted that COVID-19 cases would peak at 28 cases on Feb. 6 if

70 percent of students were vaccinated. On Feb. 4, Drake’s student vaccination rate was 72 percent, which it still is as of Feb. 18.

The report also includes a broader range of possible case numbers, and on Feb. 6 the high was 48 cases while the low was 19 cases. The report

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predicts that cases will decline throughout the spring semester.

“So, we will start to see a decline in [cases],” Mattison said. “That also makes sense with the weather, as the weather starts to get better and more people are doing more things outside rather than inside.”

02 | News

Feb. 23, 2022

News

New mental health initiatives proposed to board of trustees Meghan Holloran Contributing Writer meghan.holloran@drake.edu

Associate Provost of Academic Success Melissa Sturm-Smith, Director of Counseling Kayla BellConsolver and Jerry Parker, Dean of Students, laid out a road map to improve students’ mental and physical wellbeing during a recent Drake University Board of Trustees meeting.

Sturm-Smith said she explained areas where Drake could improve their services for students and new initiatives Drake is working on during the meeting on Jan. 14.

“What are ways that we can continue to expand our services, [that] we can focus on support and really make this a place where students feel that they’re supported in their mental health and well-being?”

Sturm-Smith said she asked the board while presenting the topic.

Sturm-Smith outlined new initiatives she hopes to see incorporated at Drake. SturmSmith is the authority when it comes to initiatives at Drake that are related to retention, and she hopes to increase access to mental health resources for all students.

Sturm-Smith said there are many ways to support student health and well-being aside from the counseling center.

One of the new supports that she hopes to focus on is an artificial intelligence chatbot feature which can offer a series of personalized resources for students based on how they answer.

“The chatbot keeps getting smarter and smarter as it talks to more students. It’s anonymous. The students don’t

have to reveal who they are,” Sturm-Smith said. “And then it generates a list of specialized resources for them on that campus.”

Another new tool is a possible bridge program for new and incoming students at Drake that assesses students’ mental well-being and creates specialized models to help them improve. “[Mindview] looks at stuff like grit, hope, self-compassion, really good stuff, like trying to build resilience and well-being,’’ Sturm-Smith said. “So [we are] thinking about something like that, and being able to offer it to students, potentially before they even come to Drake.”

“What are ways that we can continue to expand our services, [that] we can focus on support and really make this a place where students feel that they’re supported in their mental health and well-being?”

As of 2022, Drake has already outgrown its counseling and health center and is in the process of building a new clinic to better serve the university and surrounding community.

“Focusing on student health and well-being can really be a strategic advantage for Drake,” Sturm-Smith said.

According to Drake counselor Kayla Bell-Consolver, there has been an “influx in student mental health concerns,” while at the same time, awareness of mental health is increasing across the nation.

THE STUDENT HEALTH CENTER will be replaced by a new Broadlawns Community Clinic, which is expected to be finished in August of 2023. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Approximately 2,332 counseling sessions were conducted last year at the Drake counseling center, which is an approximately 29 percent increase from the 1,660 sessions conducted during the 20182019 academic year.

“We were seeing increasing levels of depression and anxiety amongst incoming college students,” Sturm-Smith said.

“And then, as you can imagine, the pandemic [exacerbated] isolation, loneliness, economic pressures, all of those things.”

In terms of recruitment, Sturm-Smith outlined how increasing student support can help keep students returning to Drake each semester.

“Students and their families are asking about supports before they even come to an institution,” Sturm-Smith said.

“They want to know about

counseling support, they want to know about recreational services, they want to know about spirituality resources, like, what are all the things your institution has in place to support my student’s wellbeing?”

“Students and their families are asking about supports before they even come to an institution.”

Another feature that is gaining more support is Mental Health First Aid, which trains students and faculty to recognize signs of mental distress and direct people towards the appropriate resources. This is a

nationally recognized program and requires eight hours of training to become certified.

“It’s more passive and active… the bulk of our first aid is about deescalation, affirmation and then calling somebody who can actually deal with this problem,” said Madeleine Leigh, a senior who is certified in Mental Health First Aid. A more student-based initiative targeting underrepresented groups is First Gen Bulldogs, a community specifically for first-generation college students. Sophomore Erica Sawyer founded the organization last semester.

“It felt amazing to see the excitement from first-gen students to have an org for us,” Sawyer said in a text message.

New CPHS DEI committee prepares to pursue goals Mackenzie Swenson Staff Writer mackenzie.swenson@drake.edu

A group of students, faculty and alumni from the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (CPHS) began meeting last semester to discuss what changes they wanted to see to create an “inclusive environment” in the CPHS. With a sound vision statement and list of initiatives—or charges, as the committee calls them —in place, the committee is preparing to take action on their goals.

“The vision of the College of Pharmacy and Health [Sciences] is to be the model of an inclusive community in which faculty, staff and students are accepted, respected and valued—an environment in which everyone feels belonged in,” said Esmeralda Flores, committee member and P1 student.

The committee is composed of four students, one staff member, one alum and six faculty representatives. It’s headed by Anisa Hansen, the recently appointed director of CPHS’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

“I think our biggest win has really been that [vision statement] and showing that faculty support students,” Hansen said. “We want those discussions in class.”

Flores and Hansen said some of the committee’s goals for the semester are to create educational materials for faculty related to DEI, identify ways to admit more underrepresented students and decrease any barriers that could be causing underrepresented students or faculty to leave the college. Overall, they said the committee will strive to make CPHS an inclusive environment

for all students and faculty.

“I think we’re really going to focus on creating that training material and then presenting it and possibly making it mandatory for faculty and staff to attend because I know they do something similar to that but regarding mental health,” Flores said.

Even though the CPHS standing committee has only been in place since the beginning of this school year, during the previous school year, the college’s DEI efforts were headed by an ad hoc committee based on the voluntary participation of students. The standing committee met twice a month this past semester.

“I think we’re really going to focus on creating that training material and then presenting it and possibly making it mandatory for faculty and staff to attend...”

“I think the purpose of the standing committee and having this newly appointed director is to make sure we can really move initiatives forward instead of having these little ideas that get lost in the shuffle every year,” Hansen said.

Hansen said that the committee would like to focus on retaining faculty members and students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Provost for campus equity and inclusion Jennifer Harvey has been coordinating with the CPHS committee during the past few months to help establish an inclusive environment that

THE COMMITTEE may create training materials and explore ways to make the admissions process more welcoming to underrepresented students. PHOTO BY MACKENZIE SWENSON | STAFF WRITER

supports retention.

“In a scenario where you’ve got a climate where some students are not thriving, not because they’re not ready to thrive [but] because things are happening institutionally to them, you need to do things like work on creating more inclusive robustly-equipped faculty learning spaces where students—especially who are underrepresented—experience being seen, being valued [and] experience belonging,” Harvey said. “You need to... reduce the need [for students] to constantly code switch and constantly explain themselves.”

The committee plans to look at ways to admit more students with underrepresented backgrounds, whether that involves ensuring that campus tours are welcoming or other measures, Hansen said.

“I’d like to see underrepresented backgrounds understand more about pharmacy, and that we create

an environment where they would feel welcome to apply... whether that’s, like, really looking at our admissions process and how we reach more individuals or how we might retain those individuals once they’ve started,” Hansen said.

Students in CPHS must learn to serve a diverse variety of patients in the healthcare system, Hansen said, so the college strives to create a classroom environment—as well as educational resources— that prepare students for interactions in their professional lives.

“I hear from students that having faculty who look like them is really important and having that acknowledgment in certain types of classroom environments is important,” Hansen said.

The committee’s focus during the upcoming year is primarily educational, according to Hansen. In addition to educating faculty,

Flores said that the committee is considering creating social media accounts and a blog.

“We’re hoping to get more involved in social media and possibly a blog, like a diversity, equity and inclusion blog where we can address those topics and concepts and educate through social media,” Flores said.

Regarding whether she would encourage individual colleges to establish committees of their own, Harvey said she wants colleges to do what is best for their student body. She said that the CPHS committee is effective because it is “built into the structure” of the college’s decision making.

“I would never tell a college you have to have a committee because sometimes that makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t,” Harvey said. “But you do need to formalize the work and know who’s where it’s happening and know who’s accountable for it.”

03 | Features

Feb. 23, 2022

Features

bulldog highlights: celebrating professional accomplishments of drake students Maia Songer Contributing Writer maia.songer@drake.edu

Grace Long, a junior doublemajoring in strategic political communications and law, politics and society with a minor in educational studies, has taken her longstanding passion for agriculture and transformed it into a career path.

Long is a communications intern for Iowa Select Farms, a pork production company that is the fourth largest pork producer in the nation.

“We are pig farmers, so that means we raise pigs from when they are born to when they go to be processed to go into the food supply and serve consumers,” Long said.

In her time at Iowa Select Farms, dating back to mid-May of 2021, Long has witnessed a wide range of what Iowa Select Farms’ communications team does, and has had the opportunity to be an active part of it. She has helped with the planning and execution of events, helped relaunch the organization’s newsletter and assisted in putting out

the company’s first-ever sustainability report as a point copy editor.

“I’ve done everything from vaccinating piglets to writing articles to driving across Iowa in six days to deliver almost 30 tons of pork,” Long said.

Of all the tasks that Long gets to do, she loves doing photography the most.

“One of my favorite things to do is going to farms to interview producers about what they are doing and how their story relates to the company as a whole,” Long said. “I take photos of them in their element which is a fun challenge because pig farms are so difficult to photograph.”

One of Long’s friends, Natalie Jefson, a junior at Iowa State University majoring in human development and family studies and double-minoring in religious studies and criminal justice, can attest to Long’s love for taking photos.

“Grace is really passionate about photography, and I think being able to tie the photography into agriculture is a really great experience for her,” Jefson said.

Long and Jefson’s friendship dates back to when they initially

met through an agricultural education program called the National FFA Organization, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America. Long said that she was involved with FFA all four years of high school and then two years in college.

“Our freshman year of college, we served on the same state officer team for FFA,” Jefson said. “I was the secretary and she was the reporter, so we worked really closely together.”

Jefson said that one of Long’s greatest strengths is how personable she is.

“I know that during our officer year, one of the more professional aspects of FFA was that we would visit with industry professionals within the agriculture industry,” Jefson said. “Grace was always really good at starting conversations with people, no matter if they were in the Senate or in the Iowa House or if they were a student in their agriculture class. I think that that aspect of her personality is really helpful for her as a professional because she’s just able to talk to anybody whenever about anything.”

With Long’s skill set and diverse academic interests,

she isn’t certain about what profession she will end up in.

Before her internship at Iowa Select Farms, she worked with the World Food Prize, and this summer, she’ll be joining a team at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

“My problem isn’t that I haven’t found something that I’ve fallen in love with. My problem is more that I love all of it,” Long said. “As you can kind of see from my majors, I have an interest in law, I have an interest in journalism and I have an interest in education.”

Long said that she could see herself as an agricultural lawyer; she could see herself pursuing the creativity that photography offers her in communications; she could see herself in agricultural advocacy work or she could see herself going into career and technical education. There is a multitude of different directions that she could go, but no matter where she goes, her professional experiences have assisted her along the way.

“I have definitely seen her grow in her confidence in herself,” Jefson said. “I

think being able to have those professional opportunities that she’s had, I’ve seen her feel a little bit more sure of herself in the professional world. That’s been really encouraging. I think that she can recognize some of her strengths now. She’s gained so much knowledge about the agricultural industry and about having a professional career that I find very valuable for her.”

As Long continues to pursue pre-professional experiences, she is grateful for those opportunities that she has already had.

“I am so thankful for everyone at Iowa Select Farms that has been so supportive of me during my time there,” Long said. “I’ve grown a lot and I’ve been fortunate to also be able to give back to my team and the company.”

Drake University prides itself on the pre-professional development that the University supplies for its students. This features series serves to highlight students at Drake who have explored pre-professional options and provide insight into what these experiences look like.

“I’M JUST SO THANKFUL TO EVERYONE from those top people I’m working with within the West Des Moines office, all the way down to the production interns

and the people I’ve met on farms,” Grace Long, a junior at Drake University, said of her professional accomplishments.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GRACE LONG

drake outdoor leadership club holds meeting during hike Kelsey Wolfe Contributing Writer kelsey.wolfe@drake.edu

Drake’s Outdoor Leadership Club (DOLC) bonded while walking on water at GreenwoodAshworth Park this past Saturday.

After the first week back with in-person learning, DOLC had their first meeting of the semester last weekend in the form of a hike.

DOLC is a club that encourages students to get outside and get active.

Specifically, they explore the all the natural beauty that Iowa and surrounding states have to offer. The club goes on outings like rock climbing, camping and hiking like they did for this meeting. The club advertises that equipment is provided and

is for people of all experience levels.

While on the hike, the members came across a pond that had frozen over with a thick layer of ice.

The hiking group decided to stop at the lake and have fun sliding on it.

Sophie Van Zee, vice president of DOLC, said sliding around the pond with the other members was her favorite part of the hike.

Kate Wilson, the president of DOLC, said she enjoyed getting to meet new members and get to know them. It was Wilson’s idea for the club to go on the hike.

“It was good to see some new faces,” Wilson said. “There were a couple people I hadn’t met before, and I got to bond with some newer EC members I

hadn’t really gotten a big chance to know yet.”

Sydney Dvorak, DOLC treasurer agreed with Wilson.

“It was good to feel closer to everyone.

We were all laughing together, having fun.

It was really just an enjoyable experience.

But it helped me to kind of let loose.”

“It was good to feel closer to everyone,” Dvorak said. “We were all laughing together, having fun. It was really just an enjoyable experience. But it

helped me to kind of let loose.”

Overall, the first meeting of the semester was one that bonded the members of DOLC closer together.

Van Zee said getting outside and getting to know people who also enjoy the outdoors was why she joined DOLC in her first year at Drake.

“It’s a brain break to be outside,” Van Zee said. “It really helps me clear my head.”

Dvorak said being outside, off campus and away from constant technology for a few hours was beneficial for her wellbeing and gave her a break from schoolwork.

“With school being back in person this week, it’s been a little stressful and that really helped chill me out,” Dvorak said.

Wilson said that DOLC tries

to host similar activities every month, including hikes and rock climbing.

DOLC meetings can be planned or spontaneous, depending on the weather.

Van Zee said that many of the activities are highly weather dependent as it is an outdoor club, but when unique opportunities present themselves, the members jump on them.

Wilson said that, though she is the one who chose the activity for this past meeting, she is hoping to get more members involved with future planning.

For more information on the club, contact the club’s academic advisor Tom Rosburg at thomas.rosburg@ drake.edu or join the club’s Facebook group Drake Outdoor Leadership Club.

04 | Features

Features

Feb. 23, 2022

Controversial ‘bathroom bill’ reintroduced to senate

Cassandra Schoene Features Editor cassie.schoene@drake.edu

Unsuccessful last year, a bill proposed by State Senator Jim Carlin would again attempt to ban individuals from entering school bathrooms that do not align with their biological sex.

“The bill was brought up primarily and unabashedly for the authentic concerns of safety and privacy that women and girls share when they’re in a vulnerable situation in a bathroom, in a locker room,” Carlin said. “That’s why it was brought up. They have the right and expectation to privacy and safety and we all as a legislature defend that boundary.”

Carlin referenced a situation in Virginia where two girls were sexually assaulted at school by a boy in a gender neutral bathroom. As currently written, Senate File 2025 does not address the usage of gender neutral bathrooms.

Even so, Carlin believes that the bill is needed to protect Iowans, even if he isn’t hopeful that it will become law.

“I don’t think the bill’s going to get out of committee,” Carlin said. “I do bills like this from time to time for the simple reason that you have to keep having conversations if you really believe in an issue. You know, keep talking about it. Get people thinking about it.”

The bill is controversial

among lobbyists, with 22 organizations declared against it, three undecided, and three supporting the bill.

Margaret Buckton is a lobbyist representing the Rural School Advocates of Iowa (RSAI), which represents 150 school districts in the state, and the Urban Education Network of Iowa (UEN), a collection of the 22 largest school districts in Iowa. Buckton said both organizations are against the

“I honestly think we’re engaged in a cultural war. I see a very aggressive agenda against the innocence of children.”

bill.

“We think it violates the Iowa Civil Liberties Act that requires that you not discriminate against a person based on gender and/or LGBT practices,” Buckton said. “...we think it’s unconstitutional for that law to go forward.”

The Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 protects discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation in many areas including places of public education. Carlin disagrees that the bill is illegal under this act.

“Using the bathroom of your biological sex, I don’t

think there’s an unnecessary infringement on somebody’s rights,” Carlin said. “Particularly when they’re young children.”

Buckton also believes that the bill will affect children’s mental health in schools.

“How do you make students feel welcome and part of a community when they are ostracized or not felt to be welcome or not felt to be treated as they see themselves?”

Buckton said. “...It’s important that, especially in schools, where we have all of our community’s children, that we do the best we can to support them toward a healthy mental state and not contribute to the causes of some of those challenges.”

This idea behind this bill is not new. Many states across the country have or are introducing similar bills. In 2017, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming all tried to pass similar ‘bathroom bills’.

North Carolina succeeded in passing a ‘bathroom bill’ which banned people from entering public bathrooms that did not align with their biological sex. The decision resulted in severe push back from local and national businesses. The Associated Press estimated that the bill would cost the state $3.76 billion in lost business.

“They actually had some

businesses pull out and part of the NCAA Tournament didn’t want to be held there,” Buckton said. “So there’s also this concept of a state being welcoming to all people and the implications can impact if others are willing to do business in the state.”

However, Carlin doesn’t care about the finances.

“Businesses that want to put little girls in harm’s way, they ought to find another place to do business,” Carlin said. “...I honestly think we’re engaged in a cultural war. I see a very

aggressive agenda against the innocence of children.”

Bill SF 2025 is currently up for debate in the education subcommittee.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group and political lobbying organization, was against this bill last year, but remains undecided this year.

Lobbyist for the organization Nathan Arnold said they had “no comment” and are “simply monitoring the bill and are not taking a position.”

“I JUST GENERALLY THINK MEN are probably less vulnerable than women, and I do think you should stick to biological restroom...if that doesn’t work, then we need to look at making separate accommodation,” Carlin said. This bill doesn’t address a “separate accomodation”. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

05 | Sports

Sports

Feb. 23, 2022

A glimpse of life as a Super Bowl official

SCOTT HELVERSON has been an back judge for the NFL for 19 years and refereed this year’s Super Bowl, his third in his career. PHOTO COURTESY OF LIBBY HELVERSON Libby Helverson Contributing Writer libby.helverson@drake.edu

Scott Helverson, in his 19th season as a back judge in the NFL, officiated at this year’s Super Bowl between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Scott is an Iowa native and went to East High School.

Afterwards he was a walk-on for Iowa’s football program, but quickly became a starting player. He eventually earned a scholarship and became his team’s MVP. He caught 76 passes for 996 yards and scored 11 touchdowns in his collegiate career and was a member of two Rose Bowl teams.

After graduating from Iowa, Scott didn’t anticipate becoming a referee.

“I had no idea I was going to get in officiating,” Scott said. “I started officiating by working ‘little-league stuff’ in the Des Moines, Iowa, area.”

He then began working his way through Division III football, the Big Ten, the Arena Football League and NFL Europe before finally reaching the NFL. Scott has refereed two previous Super Bowls, the first of which was Super Bowl XLII

between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

Super Bowl XLII is memorable for the famous David Tyree helmet catch. He also was an official during Super Bowl XLV, the Green Bay Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, and was part of the Pro Bowl officiating crew in 2014.

“We just don’t show up to the game. There’s a lot of preparation work,” Scott said.

“We do a lot of rule study, a lot of film review throughout the week.”

Scott said he puts in 20 to 25 hours of football work before games, in addition to another job.

After getting a first-hand look at her father’s weekly preparation, Haley Helverson said she admired “his commitment.”

Another of Scott’s daughters, Gaby Helverson, also talked about what it’s like to have a father who work in the NFL. “Not a lot of people can say that their dad is an NFL ref,” Gaby said. “I mean, it’s really cool.”

She also said their family has their own signal: he tips his hat at them when they go to games as a special way for him to acknowledge his family.

“I just love the game of football,” Scott said. “Officiating is such a challenge each and every game. It’s the closest and

DIFFERENT FAN EVENTS were held at the new SoFi Stadium. PHOTO COURTESY OF LIBBY HELVERSON

next best thing to playing.”

Although Super Bowl LVI was held in Inglewood, Calif., downtown Los Angeles was set up for the NFL experience, a fan event. The experience allowed fans to get player autographs, see the Vince Lombardi Trophy and all 55 past Super Bowl rings, play with interactive games, try out combine skills and shop in the NFL shop.

The NFL experience wasn’t the only exciting event happening before the game.

Some lucky individuals got to kick off Super Bowl Sunday with the Chainsmokers who performed at an exclusive tailgate.

The tailgate included food, custom cocktails, convenient seating, music, photo opportunities and memorabilia.

Both Haley and Gaby mentioned that this was the best tailgate they had ever been to.

“The Super Bowl experience was absolutely incredible,” said Zach Coppola, Haley’s fiance.

“The whole weekend was a great time from the dinners and time spent with friends and family all the way up to the game itself.

Coppola noted that he thought the way L.A. prepared for the Super Bowl was “really cool.”

“Every street and every corner had the Super Bowl

The Pro Bowl: an outdated yet overly modernized mess

advertised,” Coppola said. “The pregame tailgate was also a really cool event. I was lucky enough to get in thanks to my fiancee and her family.”

Gaby said her favorite part of Super Bowl weekend was seeing her dad “do the job he loves.”

Scott reiterated that sentiment, saying, “There is nothing more important than family,” and that his favorite part of being an NFL official is “looking up before the game and during timeouts, seeing my family.”

Libby Helverson is the daughter of Scott Helverson

Sports Results Men’s Basketball Feb. 21 vs Indiana State Drake wins 74-58 Feb. 19 at Loyola Drake wins 83-76

ANOTHER GRIPE PLAYERS HAVE with the Pro Bowl is that it is not hosted in Hawaii anymore, which was an excuse for players to take a off-season vacation with their families, this year it was hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Bryson Rea Staff Writer bryson.rea@drake.edu

The Pro Bowl, once one of the most highly anticipated sporting events following the Super Bowl, has fallen deep into an unrelenting pit of irrelevancy.

The Pro Bowl, an NFL sporting event consisting of two teams made up of the best stars the league has to offer, is faltering.

Over the past decade, Pro Bowl viewership has fallen significantly. The 2022 Pro Bowl pulled in just north of six million total viewers, the lowest total viewership since 2006.

Critics believe that if significant changes are not made to the Pro Bowl, those changes including location, time, rules and more, it will become too irrelevant to be worth airing on national television.

While the opinions from critics are something to watch out for, it’s no secret the NFL seems to be doing something right when it comes to all-star

match-ups, as the 6.7-million viewers for the 2022 Pro Bowl beat out the NBA and NHL All-Star games in terms of viewership. Then again, the diminishing viewership of allstar match-ups is not an issue isolated to the NFL. While the 6.7-million total is low relative to past NFL Pro Bowls, it still stands well enough on its own to garner international broadcasting.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell saw the poor quality of the Pro Bowl as a chance to improve and better what had the potential to be one of the most highly anticipated sporting events in the U.S. “We’re either going to have to improve the quality of what we’re doing in the Pro Bowl or consider other changes, or even consider eliminating the game if that’s the kind of quality game we’re going to provide,” Goodell said, as reported by ESPN in 2012.

Considering that it has been 10 years since that statement was made, it’s clear the NFL is in no rush to make drastic changes from an entertainment

perspective.

The criticisms can be heard from big name NFL personalities such as Hall of Fame tight end and FOX Sports personality Shannon Sharpe, who took to Twitter to blast players for not tackling.

“R they not tackling anymore in the Pro Bowl? I’m sorry but this isn’t football. I’ve played in this gm numerous times and I LOVE the NFL, but this is embarrassing,” Sharpe said via Twitter after this year’s Pro Bowl.

Sharpe’s tweet has been liked more than 30,000 times, garnering more than 2,819 retweets along with it. Thus, it’s fair to say that this is a relatively popular opinion regarding the game’s integrity.

The reasons behind the Pro Bowl’s low level of entertainment relative to other NFL match-ups is obvious; there are no stakes attached, and star players have no desire of risking a serious injury just prior to free agency.

These concerns aren’t unwarranted either, with Robert Edwards suffering

arguably the worst injury in Pro Bowl history.

Edwards, a running back selected in the first round of the 1998 NFL draft by the New England Patriots, was a highly anticipated star on the New England roster before suffering a serious injury that threatened his ability to walk in the 1999 Pro Bowl.

Edwards would never play another NFL game with New England following the injury.

While the sample size is small, there have been enough Pro Bowl injuries to discourage players from tackling altogether, leading to Sharpe’s criticisms of this year’s Pro Bowl.

Drastic changes are clearly needed to return the Pro Bowl to its once strong importance to NFL fans across the world. If the NFL continues to push the Pro Bowl lower on their priority list, the game could be discontinued altogether.

Correction: An article in last week’s edition was incorrectly attributed. “Super Bowl LVI: Rams beat Bengals 23-20” was also written by Bryson Rea.

Women’s Basketball Feb. 19 at UNI Drake wins 73-68

Men’s Tennis Feb. 19 at Utah State Drake wins 4-3 Feb. 20 at Utah Drake loses 0-4 at Montana State Drake loses 3-4

Softball Feb. 11-13 at UNI Dome Tournament Drake wins 11-4 vs SD State Drake wins 7-6 vs Iowa State Drake loses 1-10 vs Nebraska Drake loses 2-3 vs Omaha Drake wins 10-2 vs Omaha

06 | Sports

Sports

Feb. 23, 2022

Men’s basketball team looks ahead to final week of season after a big win

FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS SEASON, first-year Tucker DeVries was named Newcomer of the Week by the MVC on Feb. 21. PHOTO BY PAIGE JANSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

Drake’s men’s basketball team is on a two-game winning streak after beating Loyola in a close game, 83-76, on Saturday, Feb. 19 at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Ill. “I think great levels of preparation and just believing in how good we can be as a team is why we won against Loyola,” said Conor Enright, first-year guard. “We stuck with the game plan and stayed composed and that helped us win the game.”

With this win against Loyola the Bulldogs improved their record to 19-9, and is 10-5 in conference play, placing them in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“Practice was great leading up to the game, we were able to

build some momentum with the win against Evansville, and we just carried that on to the game Saturday,” said Roman Penn, senior guard. “I think just being very focused on the scout and playing our game is what led to the performance we had.”

Enright noted that when the team plays a big game they get “locked in even more” and they also focus on details “to a higher level”.

First-year Tucker DeVries had a career-tying 24 points in this game, this is his fourth game this season where he scored 20-plus points.

DeVries also added to his season point total, which is at 394, getting closer to becoming only the third Drake freshman to score more than 400 points in a season.

“I was just taking whatever they gave me,” DeVries said. “I got to the free throw line a lot

to get easy points but I thought we all contributed in big ways to get the win. We got stops when we needed them most and every time they went on a run we responded.”

DeVries said he had “a lot of fun” this season despite it going so fast, and he is “looking forward to this postseason”.

DeVries had a clutch three with only a minute left in regulation time that put Drake up 78-71. A dunk by senior forward Tremell Murphy and a few free throws put the game to bed.

“I thought we did a good job all game of making them uncomfortable on offense and took them out of their rhythm,” DeVries said. “We had worked on guarding some of their plays they typically go to at the end of the game and it paid off for us.”

After Saturday’s game, DeVries moved into the No.

13 spot on the MVC all-time single-season freshman scoring list and is becoming a serious contender for MVC Freshman of the Year.

“Tuck is a great player and a lot of people were able to see that on Saturday,” Penn said.

“He made some huge plays for us like he has been doing all year, and he is one of the best players not only in the league but nationally as well and he’s only going to get better! He brings so much to the table and you really see the difference he makes.”

Penn himself scored 12 points eight were scored in the second half of the game.

“Just finding my spots to be aggressive in the offensive side is what led me to do what I was able to do,” Penn said.

“My teammates put me in great spots to succeed and I was able to just play my game and play in

the flow of the game.”

The Bulldogs easily won their next game against Indiana State, 74-58. The game took place on Monday, Feb. 21 with a 7 p.m. tip-off.

Penn said that before the next game the team can as usual improve on their offense and defense.

They can also work on playing hard and moving the ball around, but he thinks everything else will “take care of itself” if they fix the little things.

“Going into the final week we are just trying to keep the momentum from the last two games and stay hot heading into March,” Penn said. “It’s all about getting hot at the right time and I feel like we are playing our best basketball right now. For the Indiana state game we will just continue to work on us and get better.”

Major League Baseball: a sport devoid of youth

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S popularity has waned in recent years, with more people switching allegiance to other sports. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Bryson Rea Staff Writer bryson.rea@drake.edu

The World Series, once the most highly anticipated sporting event in the U.S., had just 9.78 million average viewers in 2020, far below its 2003 total of 25.47 million viewers.

This statistic is not an anomaly. In fact, the World Series, along with regular season baseball ratings, have fallen steadily since the mid20th century, and the decline doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

For perspective, the World Series hasn’t seen a steady uptick in viewership since the mid-80s, nearly 40 years ago.

The 2016 World Series between

the Cubs and Indians provided a bit of a rebound as the Cubs first World Series win since 1908, but the rebound was short-lived.

The question then arises, why is the MLB struggling to attract a new generation of baseball fans despite being the first major league the US founded in 1876?

The origins of an answer can be found in that very question; baseball is the oldest major sports league in America.

The next phase of an answer stems from the MLB’s insistence on pulling in all revenue available to them, no matter the source. When content creators put out MLB related content on a monetized platform such as YouTube, the MLB ‘claims’

the content and thus collects all revenues from monetization.

This is not the case with other major league sports, such as the NFL and the NBA. This control over the most minuscule of revenues by the MLB is discouraging content creators across all social media platforms, thus eliminating a large portion of potential interactions with the younger generation of fans the MLB is lacking.

Jimmy O’Brian, or Jomboy on Twitter, is a perfect example.

In 2019, O’Brian, a popular baseball content creator, posted a video edited together using hot mics and broadcasted footage of a New York Yankees manager being ejected. The video quickly garnered more than 100,000

likes on Twitter, launching a viral quote from the video that would eventually be plastered on various apparel.

Shortly thereafter, the MLB head of discipline Joe Torre met privately with O’Brian regarding the use of hot mic recordings in his viral video.

Torre was reportedly upset with the easy access Twitter users had to the recordings.

“That’s not the way I want to hear it, for everybody else to hear it. I wish I could hear it, only,” Torre said prior to the meeting.

Baseball fans quickly claimed that the MLB was taking an overtly controlling stance, upset with a content creator like O’Brian profiting off the MLB without their own share of the

profits. In response, O’Brian took to Twitter to explain that his content rarely makes a profit thanks to the MLB’s constant claims on his videos.

“They claim near every video on YouTube, trust me, they are making WAY more money off me than I’m making off me,” O’Brian said via Twitter in August of 2019.

Instances like this make the issue clearer than ever; the MLB is disregarding a mountain of cost-free advertising to the youngest generation of fans available through content creators such as O’Brian.

If the MLB continues to disregard this mountain, the alarming decline in viewership will only continue to a point of no return.

07 | Commentary

Commentary

Feb. 23, 2022

“real” cinema: a film aesthete’s fantasy?

Chris Veninga Staff Writer chris.veninga@drake.edu

“[Marvel] isn’t cinema.”

These words came from arguably one of the most famous and influential filmmakers of the last 50 years or so; Martin Scorsese. Scorsese, director of blockbuster films such as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas” is widely revered as one of the leading voices in the film industry. Though I don’t necessarily subscribe to the belief that Scorsese’s opinion on movies is gospel, many people believe that if Scorsese says a film is good or bad, it must be true.

For the last 15 years or so (and probably longer), moviegoers have complained that the film industry has been taken over by reboots and superhero movies, often making statements like Scorsese’s that some movies— such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movies—are uncreative and aren’t “real” cinema. Some would argue that the age of powerful movies that directors like Scorsese created may be over, making room for superficial entertainment rather than storytelling.

Why do you think Disney is making all of these live action reboots? To tell a story? To tap into nostalgia and nothing more? To make money? I could go on and on about how Walt Disney Studios has lost the originality it once had, but that’s an article for another time. My point is, cinema lovers may claim that movies are being pumped out for entertainment and profit’s sake;

they do not care about telling a story that reflects on the human experience.

And frankly, I can see their point. Like most people my age, I love Marvel movies. But I think that they’re often not as moving or well-crafted as other movies I’ve seen. Sometimes, they feel rather copy/paste and a lot of people claim that they’re just the same movie over and over again. Scorsese argues that they’re “theme parks,” merely vehicles to entertain rather than an art form to have people reflect on their own experiences. That’s not inherently a bad thing because we all love some superficial fun; however, Scorsese appears to be challenging the average moviegoer to think of what they are looking for when they go to the theater.

Do they want to be entertained by watching a giant monkey fight a huge lizard?

Do they want to be scared by watching two men in a lighthouse slowly lose it? Or do they simply want to laugh, cry and learn?

But as I discussed in my “real music” article, the reasons people watch movies are subjective, and just because a famous director says something isn’t “real cinema” doesn’t take away from the viewer’s experience. Some people have deep emotional connections to movies that are “superficial” such as Marvel or “Star Wars.”

And that’s okay!

I do agree with Scorsese, but only to a certain extent. I think Marvel’s “WandaVision” has phenomenal character development and really does a good job of breaking down loss

SCORSESE’S DECLARATION CONCERNING “THEME PARK” FILMS has fomented a zealous dispute between the cinema Hatfields, who are titillated by schlocky, mindless CGI flicks, and movie McCoys, who push their glasses back up the bridge of their nose and defend Todd Solondz arthouse flicks. Just like “real” wasabi or David Koresh as the “real” messiah, is there such a thing as “real” cinema? One agreeable writer settles the question amicably. PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

and denial, while also being thoroughly entertaining. And plus, to those who say movies no longer reflect the human experience like they once did, I thoroughly disagree. Many

of the Oscar nominations and movies I’ve seen have done a fantastic job of keeping “real cinema” alive. Cinema and what movies mean is subjective, and if you experience films on a

different level than those who “know” film, their opinion and their experience doesn’t trump yours.

May Term may not be such a good idea Rachel Jalloway Contributing Writer rachel.jalloway@drake.edu

In the most recent edition of The Times-Delphic, there was an article about the possibility of January Term being turned into May Term. Read that article for more information regarding the specifics.

At some point in their academic career, most Drake students will take a J-Term class.

I am one of those students. I am also going to be taking a formal May Term course this summer (Holocaust and Heritage). As a student who is unable to take a full semester abroad, travelabroad terms like these are an amazing thing that Drake has to offer. They allow for students like me, or students who cannot afford a full semester abroad, to have this chance to learn from across the world.

However, one thing that students are concerned about with the new May Term is the possibility of chances like these being taken away from students.

Not everyone has the ability to go on a May Term abroad for several reasons. One such reason could be internships, which take up a majority of student time over breaks.

Another would be work. Most students leave the academic year to return home for summer jobs. By taking away a viable option for those who want to go abroad during January, Drake is not allowing students to fully use opportunities that they could be. When I overheard my peers in class talk about the possible May Term in class, this was one of the points that they brought up.

They also mentioned that the possibility of only offering a May Term overwhelms them.

This is something that I have to agree with: by only offering a May Term, students do not have an adequate break from school.

They would go right back into class after finals instead of

WHILE J-TERM IS REVERED by many, May Term, to many of its opponents, sounds like a life sentence, a Hotel-Californian decree. It may behoove skeptical students, chary of being immured indefinitely at Drake while their liberated peers frolic in the beatific rays of summer, to oppose this pernicious proposition and nip the bud before it grows. PHOTO BY OLIVIA KLASSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

taking a well deserved break.

With J-Terms being in January, students have at least two weeks to relax before they get back into one class. With a May term, this would not be the case.

Another concern about moving J-Term is getting enough credits. Plenty of students—myself included— look to local community colleges for summer courses that will transfer over to Drake.

Not many community colleges offer courses over January, which might make it harder for students to take courses. This makes it harder for students to major/minor in multiple subjects that might not be related to one another.

Additionally, moving J-Term to May will discourage students from expanding their horizons when it comes to courses they take. For example, I know

plenty of students who take a J-Term as the chance to take a course in a field they do not get the opportunity to do in the school year. When taking this perspective, and including the reason that I mentioned previously (colleges not offering winter courses), students who want to take more courses are unable to do so through Drake.

Personally, I think the system that is implemented at Drake

right now is the best way to go.

By offering both J-Term and summer courses, the University is appealing to most students who are looking to take more courses than a regular semester will allow.

As we are the ones paying tuition, we have a right to use the resources given to us at the times that are best for us, and J-Term being in January is a good place to start.

08 | Commentary

Commentary

Feb. 23, 2022

No more muzzle: Student Press Freedom Day Grace Altenhofen Managing Editor grace.altenhofen@drake.edu

“If an associate principal at our high school can break a law and get away with it, what kind of example does this set for us?”

I was 16 years old when I spoke these words, standing behind the podium during the public comments section of a crowded board of education meeting. I was nervous, almost shaking, as I leaned into the microphone and began to speak.

The week before, as student journalists were taking photos of a protest happening at my high school, an associate principal at the school had confiscated the journalists’ cameras and told them to stop covering the protest and go back to class.

Now, at the board of education meeting, I had three minutes to convince the board of education that student journalists had been unjustly censored and we weren’t going to back down.

I had no way of knowing the impact those three minutes would have on my life.

The ACLU contacted me after my speech, and soon I joined two other students in an ACLU lawsuit against my school district for violations of the First Amendment and Kansas Student Publications Act. My mom, who recognized that I wasn’t a regular kid and this wouldn’t be a regular senior year of high school, supported me completely and spent more time on the lawsuit than most parents spend watching their kid’s soccer games.

Nearly a year later, we settled the lawsuit. The school district had to apologize to us, hold First Amendment training for district administrators and revise its rules to include protections for student journalists. And, more importantly, we brought the Kansas Student Publications Act to court for the first time since its passage and proved that the law has teeth.

It was the end of the lawsuit, but only the beginning of my

story. At only 16 years old, I had witnessed the kind of censorship faced by journalists everywhere. I knew then that I wanted to follow in the footsteps of journalists before me and spend my life defending the First Amendment.

Now, at 20, I’m a junior at Drake studying journalism and law. I’m the managing editor of The Times-Delphic and have an internship in a newsroom. And I can say without a doubt that student journalism, and the censorship I experienced while doing it, is the reason I’m here today.

Student Press Freedom Day, held this year on Feb. 24 with the theme ‘Unmute Yourself’, was created to raise awareness of the challenges student journalists face and help protect their First Amendment rights.

And the challenges run deep.

Any given day as a journalist, you might get hung up on as soon as you introduce yourself over the phone. You may be cussed out by someone angry about something you’ve written.

You might interview victims of a crime whose heartbreaking story makes you want to go home, curl in a ball and cry.

You could be assaulted, or worse. (Throwback to my first semester at college, where an intro to journalism textbook included a whole section about the number of journalists killed on the job each year).

At this point, you may rightly think, “That sounds horrible, why do you stay in this field?”

The answer: I love it. It’s exhausting and discouraging and sometimes sad, but I love it.

None of us would be doing this if it weren’t for the passion.

So, on Student Press Freedom Day, consider the challenges faced by student journalists every day. Go pick up a student newspaper and read some of their hard work.

And most importantly: go hug a student journalist. We probably need it.

THE GRAVE WILL SUPPLY PLENTY OF TIME FOR SILENCE... the onus is on journalists alike to trespass, sleuth and take no prisoners. Be ashamed to die, as Horace Mann once said, until you have won some victory for humanity. PHOTO BY OLIVIA KLASSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Harbinger restaurant: a haven for cuisine mavens David Wang Contributing Writer ruoshi.wang@drake.edu

Romantic places of sweet desolation and benign neglect are often not the first thought when people think of the Midwest, albeit they aren’t the last. Nor were they Thomas Jefferson’s when the sweet deal of the Louisiana Purchase was sealed with the fumbling French. Gone were the French savoir faire in all things communistic and cultural je ne sais quoi that continues to tarnish the good will of Midwestern demographics.

One of the most damaged is Iowa, sandwiched by an eclectic mix of forgetful states and glacial lands. Along with its rolling plains and cornfield, it boasts soybean and meat production that fuels the nation

and beyond. None of which, of course, wakes up languorous eyes that perambulate the Drake campus. Cried the object of my fleeting infatuation that Iowa food is boring, and she does not trust Iowa seafood. I was with her at least four years ago when my plane departed from JFK, flooding my eyes with regrettable anguish. Like inspiringquotes.com suggested, however, I made memories and left footprints, but now I am really torn, a bit like Natalie Imbruglia in the ‘90s. The moment I set foot in Harbinger at 2724 Ingersoll Avenue, I sought refuge.

I find it courtesy of handsome wood and daunting wine list with faint lights that transported me to my then favourite restaurant in the heart of Santa Monica, a refuge from incredibly goodlooking Californian blondes.

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The student newspaper for Drake University since 1884 EMMA BRUSTKERN Editor-in-Chief emma.brustkern@drake.edu JEFF INMAN, Faculty Advisor jeffrey.inman@drake.edu

GRACE ALTENHOFEN, Managing Editor grace.altenhofen@drake.edu

ANDREW KENNARD, News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu

AUTUMN OSIA, Photo Editor autumn.osia@drake.edu

CASSANDRA SCHOENE, Features Editor cassie.schoene@drake.edu

MAX BROWN, Digital Editor max.brown@drake.edu

LIA REICHMANN, Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu COLIN FRIER, Commentary Editor colin.frier@drake.edu MAKAYLA CASTILLO, Business Manager makayla.castillo@drake.edu

CAT FARRELL, Media Manager cat.farrell@drake.edu ERIN DUENWALD, Copy Editor erin.duenwald@drake.edu LAURA WEBER, Distributor laura.weber@drake.edu

Tar & Roses spoke to me and my friends in whispering voice and bubbling champagnes.

Amidst joyful chitter-chatters and quirky repartee, I was free.

Harbinger, on the other hand, is tucked in the corner of unassuming Ingersoll Avenue, an ivory rectangular engineering architecture that punctuated the Des Moines canvas of gentle dilapidation and bumpy rides. Looking out defiantly in the bleak Iowa winter, once inside I feel as if I have become a spectator of the elements, rather than its victim.

Embodied the incandescent soul and unwavering imagination of Joe Tripp, the five times James Beard nominee for the Best Chef: Midwest, Harbinger delivers Asian-inspired, locally sourced dishes influenced by his yearly global exploration endeavours.

Outside, the weather is a cacophony of blues and gunmetal greys, although from compressed melon salad to halibut cheeks marinated with turmeric and dill, his culinary passion was palpable in its riotous colours and wake-meup flavours.

Translated to his dinner menu is a modish parade of small plates that instills confidence and encourages humour.

Carrot dumplings drenched in gochujang, scallions and spicy aioli help me knock on the door of nostalgia, when Jerusalem artichokes twice fried drizzled in yuzu hollandaise, togarashi and shiso sail me off to a place where I was loved.

The Washington states’ finest lent invigorating acidity and gripping tannins in bottles of reds and whites that resolve unctuous pork belly buns and

add colour, hopefully, to a table of grinned cheeks.

God is in the detail and the detail has been fully attended to. Looking about the room, I can definitely see, and impatiently I await the summer.

It will be a destination of louche nights where one might learn how to make a friend or two who might be oddly obsessed with spewing quotes to appear unjustly sanctimonious. But exactly like those trite quotes suggested, I have made good and bad memories and left many footprints that one day when the Midwest reminisces the onset of my bleak absence, it would recall why I feel loved here and there inside the doors of Harbinger.

The Times-Delphic is a student newspaper published weekly during the regular academic year and is produced by undergraduate students at Drake University. The opinions of staff editorials reflect the institutional opinion of the newspaper based on current staff opinions and the newspaper’s traditions. These opinions do not necessarily reflect those of individual employees of the paper, Drake University or members of the student body. All other opinions appearing throughout the paper are those of the author or artist named within the column or cartoon. The newsroom and business office of The Times-Delphic are located in Meredith Hall, Room 124. The Times-Delphic is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The editor-in-chief sits on the Board of Student Communications.

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