March 23, 2022

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The weekly student newspaper of Drake University Vol. 141 | No. 19 | March 23, 2022 FEATURES

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

Some students share their thoughts on recent discoveries of racist notes and what needs to be done.

Drake’s women’s tennis team got back-to-back wins on March 4 and 5 and lost their next three games.

“Here we go again,” one writer says of the spread of a new COVID variant. When will the cycle end?

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timesdelphic.com

Ukrainian Bulldogs share perspectives on Russian invasion Luke Clausen Staff Writer luke.clausen@drake.edu

Drake University is home to a diverse group of students, faculty, staff and alumni, including Ukrainians. The Times-Delphic spoke with two stand-out Bulldogs: Drake professor Vira Babenko who currently teaches mathematics and Drake alum Amir Busnov, who serves as a monitoring officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and is working in Ukraine to prevent and monitor conflict.

Q: What is it like to be Ukrainian in this present moment?

Busnov: “It’s a bit bittersweet. If you’re male and you went in to fight, it’s like risking getting killed every day, but at the same time, this is probably one of the proudest moments of the nation. They managed to stop [Putin], which is an extraordinary feat. I think mostly being extremely proud in what’s going on and starting from the President [Zelensky] to the armed forces and everybody else who’s standing up to the second biggest military that exists right now.”

Babenko: “I’m very proud of my country and how they responded to the crisis there.

You know how people are united and how everybody is fighting for their freedom, fighting for their families to have a future. It is very scary as well, especially being far away from family and far away from friends that are there and kind of feeling helpless and not be able to help them in a substantial way.

“There are so many stories about family members that die in a bomb shelter, or for example, on the way to our

interview, I called my aunt in Kiev, and they were upstairs in their apartment, but while they were talking, they had the air alert. So they had to go down to the bomb shelter.”

Q: What is your perspective on the conflict?

Busnov: “It’s the typical aggression of the hegemonic country who believes it’s entitled to run other countries, other people’s lives. In some ways, it seems like Putin never woke up from the Cold War, that he’s still stuck there, you know, when they had their little satellite [countries] and they had to do everything the Soviet Union or Russia said. “[Putin] firmly believes that literally every single country on the border of Russia must submit and basically give up its entire sovereignty to Russia.

Other than Ukraine, they’re very small and economically very weak countries, so more or less everybody did submit.”

Babenko: “Everybody heard the speeches that the Russian president made, and I just want to emphasize how he tried to diminish the history of Ukraine, and it’s not acceptable.

Kiev is much older than Moscow. Kiev was there long before the Russian Federation. I have a friend who listened to the speech and was like, “Okay, tell me what was the lie and what was the truth?” He was saying that it couldn’t all be a lie, right?

“But it was... I hope the whole world sees now how we are fighting for our freedom. It’s the right to be independent, not just the freedom, but the right to be an independent country and the right to choose our own president and choose our own way, whether to integrate to the Europe or to stay with the Soviet Union allies. It should be the choice of every country, every

PROTESTERS RALLIED OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE on Feb. 27 to push for peace in Ukraine.

PHOTO

BY MIKE MAGUIRE, ACCESSED THROUGH WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. TITLE: RALLY FOR PEACE IN UKRAINE OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON, DC. CREATIVE COMMONS AT TRIBUTION 2.0 GENERIC LICENSE.

independent country. We don’t want to be pulled on. We don’t want to be saved from anything like [Putin] claims. He’s not saving anyone right now.”

Q: How much do you attribute this to the leadership or the resistance to leadership of Zelensky?

Did people ever think that his leadership would be tested as much as it has been?

Busnov: “Probably not. I mean, I knew it was going to be tested, but I thought it was going to be diplomatic pressure from Russia. Like squeezing him, you know, make fun of him. I’ve made fun of him a little bit too in the beginning because of his background… Zelensky is probably the best for the job that could possibly happen to

be there at the time. Nobody expected it. I don’t think even him, in the first couple days.”

Q: What can the average Drake student, faculty, staff or alum do to make a positive difference in the conflict?

Babenko: “There are so many levels that people can help right now. If you can find some trusted resources or various humanitarian organizations, donations [can be sent to] addresses where people can send the physical packages to help refugees and to help people in Ukraine. That would be something that every person can do, to not just talk about it, but also do something meaningful to help and to support Ukraine standing up to this invasion.”

Babenko provided resources for those interested in taking action to help Ukraine. The links to these resources can be found online at timesdelphic. com.

• Sign the petition to #CloseTheSky over Ukraine at openpetition.eu.

• Call or email your representatives to ask for stronger and sooner sanctions.

• If anyone would want to donate, here are some checked resources: Provide humanitarian aid through Nova Ukraine The Red Cross has opened a fundraiser to help the civilians of Ukraine “Come Back Alive” project to support the Ukrainian Army

dmps advances community stadium by knapp center

AFTER TWO FAILED ATTEMPTS, Des Moines Public Schools and Drake have passed a key milestone in their effort to create a community stadium next to the Knapp Center. PHOTO COURTESY OF DMPS Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu Grace Altenhofen Managing Editor grace.altenhofen@drake.edu The Des Moines School Board voted 5 to 1 on March 10 in favor of accepting bids for the construction of the DMPS Community Stadium at Drake University.

In 2020, the school board approved an agreement between Des Moines Public Schools and

Drake University to build a 4,000-seat stadium east of the Knapp Center. The community stadium will be used for home football games for four out of the five district high schools, as well as soccer games and other activities for both the high schools and Drake. “...To meet a need that [DMPS has] identified for a centralized stadium, to bring that onto this college campus, to give local high school and middle school youth the opportunity to compete on a high-caliber, college-level playing surface and fan atmosphere, I think that is an incredible benefit to this university,” said Ryan

Arnold, director of community engagement for Drake. “It truly is strengthening this local community.”

The stadium will include a moving digital display that will run along the west grandstands.

DMPS executive director of operations Dave Berger also described a plan to create a training complex that would include locker rooms for Drake soccer, training facilities and a film room. This plan was not presented for consideration with the rest of the project.

Arnold said that pending approval by its board of trustees, Drake will pay for the complex in

addition to its previous funding commitment. He said this part of the stadium project will have to go back out to bid and will cost more than $1 million.

The original budget for the community stadium was $19.5 million, with DMPS providing $15 million from revenue dedicated to facilities and Drake providing $4.5 million. Additionally, DMPS said that the land Drake donated for the stadium is valued at $2.5 million and that Drake will provide free daily operations and maintenance.

“When we look at bringing our individual stadiums up to something that approaches the level of this proposed new stadium, the costs are way more than the cost for this stadium,” DMPS superintendent Thomas Ahart said during the meeting.

“Way more. And in fact, in some cases, probably would be ill-advised even if we had the dollars.”

According to DMPS, inflation has caused the cost of the project for DMPS to increase by $1.39 million. The school board had rejected two previous bids that came in over budget, as the cost of materials increased during the pandemic. The bid accepted on March 10 came in at about $1 million over the original budget.

Berger explained in the board meeting that during the pandemic, the district received federal funds for projects like

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mechanical and ventilation improvements. Since the district had already set aside funding for many of these projects, DMPS said it will use that freed-up funding to make up the $1 million gap.

During the public comment section of the meeting, community members shared concerns about a bus driver shortage, transportation of students to the new stadium and whether the community supports the stadium.

“By adding more need for bus drivers and bus services, we’re not being student-friendly at this point,” said Sharon West, one of the public commenters.

“Additionally, students who want to attend the games cannot walk to the stadium.”

DMPS director of district activities Jason Allen said the district acknowledges that there are transportation challenges, but he said the district can utilize its current modes of transport and maybe its vans to provide support. Ahart said the district is saving dollars through its relationship with Drake that will pay for “a very good share” of this need and is working on “creative solutions” to the driver shortage.

The community stadium is set to open in the fall of 2023. A groundbreaking ceremony will be scheduled soon.

02 | Features

Features

March 23, 2022

Students react to recent hateful messages on campus Piper Davison Staff Writer piper.davison@drake.edu

Last month, two hateful messages targeting Black students were found in Crawford Residence Hall and Cowles Library. Students have since been speaking out about the prevalence of racism on campus.

“When we have people willing to go above and beyond and, you know, say racist things, not only say it, but put it in writing and then write it on whiteboards, write it throughout the library and just leave those notes everywhere, that’s a safety issue for a lot of Black students on campus,” said Megan Lee, president of the Coalition of Black Students (CBS). “Because it’s like, it’s feeling not safe anywhere you go. When we walk off this campus we’re a target already because of the color of our skin. So then when we’re on this campus that’s supposed to be our home away from home, we’re supposed to feel safe there.”

Related incidents like this have occurred more than once on campus. Some students say that they experience discrimination on a regular basis.

“Before I am student body president, I am a Black student on this campus, and the role that I occupy has not changed that experience,” said Morgan Coleman, student body president. “One of the reasons that I ran for this position is because I have experienced the trauma of racist incidents on and off this campus, and I wanted to have the ability to provide representation for Black students who haven’t felt seen or heard. Although this time is a unique experience from the everyday occurrences, so many of us face microaggressions and instances of racism on a daily basis.”

Some faculty members addressed discrimination by having a class discussion with their students.

“I am very grateful that three

A RACIST MESSAGE was found in Crawford Residence Hall during Black History Month. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

of my professors have taken the time to open the class for students to express how they feel, and that’s actually half of my professors, which is a great ratio, and this is no mark against them — all of my professors are white,” said first-year student Maria Heath. “And so it is very difficult for them to have an open discussion about race in a classroom when they are a white person and in a classroom full of white students.”

However, not all faculty members have made the effort to reach out to Black students or discuss racial issues in class.

“A lot of people don’t feel comfortable,” Lee said. “A lot of white faculty does not feel comfortable reaching out to Black students when it is something racial. These racial incidents are happening on campus, but that could also be an issue because it’s like we’re not even being acknowledged.”

Furthermore, while some students are having discussions about equity and inclusion, not everyone is participating in these conversations.

“It is abundantly clear that the individuals who need to be having these conversations are not the ones in the room,” Coleman said.

“For the individuals who contribute to the lack of safety that many Black students feel, it is a privilege to not care about or make DEI a priority because they are not the ones who are experiencing harm. While more people are willing to come to the table to be educated on our experiences and work towards anti-racism at Drake, there are inevitably individuals that we are missing.”

An idea that some students have is for classrooms to have other resources available to educate students.

“If anyone should be talked

to, it should be the people who are more likely to be committing the act rather than people who are affected by it,” said firstyear Ochu Asuelimen. “Because we already know what racism is, we already know what we feel about it, we’ve said it multiple times. We feel angry; we feel sad.”

Overall, students shared the sentiment that faculty should address race and discrimination in classrooms rather than putting the spotlight on students of color.

“Whenever it was a topic about discrimination and inclusivity, suddenly the entire classroom would not participate, no one would talk,” Asuelimen said. “Like, you would see them side-eyeing the only Black person in the room.

And I get it, you don’t want to over speak, but at the same time, whenever that happens, you are literally acquainting that

singular person to represent the experience of everyone.”

Despite the difficulty of these conversations, Lee believes they are a way for Drake to grow as a community.

“If you’re never uncomfortable, you’re not really growing, because you’re not having those difficult conversations to gain perspective,” Lee said.

Coleman echoed these sentiments and called on students to be active bystanders and support Black students.

“We need more non-Black students intervening when they hear racist remarks or see others perpetuating actions that are harmful,” Coleman said. “We all have a part in creating a campus that is safe for everyone — this means not being a bystander.

This prevention takes place in the residence halls, our classrooms and in every space that we are a part of.”

bulldog highlights: emma kuss shares her pharmacy tech experience Maia Songer Staff Writer maia.songer@drake.edu

Emma Kuss, a sophomore majoring in pre-pharmacy with a minor in chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake, has excelled professionally through her role as a pharmacy tech in training at a Hy-Vee pharmacy in Windsor Heights.

The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ pharmacy program is a six-year program, otherwise known as 2-4, that encompasses two years of undergraduate pre-pharmacy study and then four years in pharmacy school. The program concludes with a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree by the end of the six years.

Kuss said there are many preprofessional experiences built into the latter portion of the program, but because she is still completing her undergraduate studies, she independently sought out her job at Hy-Vee to gain experience early.

Kuss elaborated on what her role as a pharmacy tech entails.

“When I go there, we have prescriptions to hang up on the shelves so we alphabetize those,” Kuss said. “I also help check out people when they come to pick up their medication, and then when we’re not busy, I get to practice

SOPHOMORE EMMA KUSS is gaining early experience in her field by working as a pharmacy technician at a Hy-Vee pharmacy in Windsor Heights. PHOTO COURTESY OF EMMA KUSS

on product dispensing.”

Kuss started as a pharmacy tech last March and has learned a lot through her professional experience since then. She said she loves having the opportunity to ask the pharmacists questions to learn more about different classes of

drugs and their function.

“I love learning all the different kinds of medications,” Kuss said. “There are capsules and tablets, so I think it’s really fun to explore all the different classes of drugs, especially with antibiotics. There are so many different ways they can be

made, which I think is so cool as well.”

Kuss has also had the opportunity to learn more industry-related subjects in pharmacy that go beyond the drugs themselves.

“Controlled substances have recently been under speculation because of the opioid crisis,” Kuss said. “So I was talking to one of the pharmacists and she was explaining more of this drug that we get called hydrocodone.

It’s a generic version of oxycodone which is a very powerful painkiller, so it’s an opioid, and the manufacturers are getting audited about that because so many people are getting addicted to it. It’s interesting to see how that plays into the role of pharmacy.”

Through her experience at Hy-Vee, Kuss has gained more hands-on experience which has helped her narrow her career aspirations. She said she wants to do more of the research and development side of things. She could also see herself going into clinical pharmacy and working in a hospital setting.

While Kuss has pursued her own professional interests, she has inspired others along the way.

“One thing I admire about Emma is that she makes sure our customers are taken care of and she is a hard worker,” said Abby Ditsworth, a sophomore

who is also in the pharmacy program. “She is always willing to stay longer or come in when help is needed or cover shifts. She is also very loyal to everyone, especially in the pharmacy, and she always helps you if you need it.”

Kuss has come a long way since she first became acquainted with pharmacy as she has come to understand what her primary role will be as a future pharmacist.

“I think the biggest role is just checking over everything and making sure that people get the information that they need about what they are taking,” Kuss said. “It’s about being the professional in charge, the specialist who knows exactly what drugs interact with and making sure that you catch any mistakes that might be overlooked.”

Kuss is looking forward to the rest of her academic journey. She still has a long way to go, but Ditsworth leaves her with a word of advice.

“I would tell Emma to always be herself and keep her upbeat personality because it is something that will make her stick out, and patients and customers will really admire that,” Ditsworth said. “I would also tell her to keep working hard because I know she will graduate with some great accomplishments.”

03 | Sports

March 23, 2022

Sports

Women’s tennis picks up two home wins, loses next three Darinka Stepan Staff Writer darinka.stepan@drake.edu

Drake women’s tennis picked up two home wins against the University of Northern Iowa and the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. The Bulldogs first took on UNI on Friday, March 4. The team played against UWM on Saturday, March 5.

The Bulldogs got off to a quick start against UNI, winning 6-3 on all of three doubles matches.

Heading into singles, sophomore Darinka Stepan was the first Bulldog to get a singles win for Drake after winning her match at singles five. Senior Daria Walczak got the second singles point for Drake after a quick 6-1, 6-1 win over her opponent at singles three.

Senior Liza Petushkova had a quick first set at the singles one spot. She got off to a 6-0 lead and then battled through the second set to win 7-5.

Sophomore Ines Stephani was able to capture a quick win at singles two. Stephani had a close first set but was able to get a 7-6 win. She then won the second set 6-0 and got another

point for Drake.

Junior Rebecaa Ehn at singles six won her match in a close three-set battle. After dropping a close first set 4-6, Ehn battled back to win the second set 6-3. She also went on to win the tie-breaker match, allowing Drake to have a 6-0 lead over UNI. First-year Mille Haagensen captured the last point for the Bulldogs after winning her match in three sets. The Bulldogs took down the UNI Panthers 7-0 to capture their first conference win of the season.

The next day, the team took on the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. The Bulldogs once again got off to a quick start, winning the doubles point and getting a 1-0 lead going into the singles matches.

Stepan was able to get the first singles point for Drake after winning her match 6-4, 6-2. Walczak was also able to get another win at singles three, allowing the Bulldogs to have a 3-0 lead over UWM. “I was really happy that the team was able to get two home wins this weekend,” Walczak

said. “I am also proud that I was able to contribute to the team by getting two singles wins.”

The Bulldogs also got a win at singles four with Haagensen as well as at singles six from Ehn. Petushkova got another win at singles one. After cruising through the first set, Petuskova took the match in the third set to get another point for the Bulldogs.

After these two home wins, the Bulldogs improved their record to 7-3 heading into their next match against the University Wisconsin-Madison.

“I’m really proud of the team and how we all competed,” Haagensen said. “I think it’s great that we were able to get two more wins. It’s a great feeling to be able to compete at home and an even better feeling to win at home.”

The Bulldogs lost their next three games, all 4-0, against Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University. The team currently has a 7-6 overall record. Drake will play against Creighton and Omaha on March 26 and 27 in Omaha, Neb.

ALTHOUGH Drake’s women’s tennis team won two recent games, they lost their next three games against Wisconsin-Madison, Arizona and Grand Canyon. PHOTO COURTESY OF KENDALL HUNT

A guide to Valley of Fire State Park the not fun wash hiking Be prepared for lots of wash hiking. As I mentioned earlier every hike within Valley of Fire will have some sort of wash hiking.

Honestly trudging through the sand was not very fun, but was someone you just got used to. You eventually learn how to hike through the sand as

you don’t want to find yourself slogging through the deepest sand. Make sure you watch the depth of the footprints in front of you and make a path through the shallowest parts as that sand has less give and is more packed. The harder the sand, the easier it is to walk through.

explore the rock around you

VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK is located 16 miles away from Overton, NV. PHOTO BY LIA REICHMANN Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

A few weeks prior to spring break, me and one of my parents decided to visit the Grand Canyon.

Unfortunately, we are not the best planners and realized in order to get camping reservations you need to book it four months in advance. This left us to find a different park

to go hiking in and to find it quickly.

After doing an internet search, I stumbled upon a website that recommended Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. I had never heard of this park and just based on the name, knew I wanted to check it out.

Valley of Fire is located in the Mojave Desert with the closest town being Overton, Nev., 16 miles away. Valley of Fire is also

less than an hour away from Las Vegas, so if the gambling itch hits you, you’re not far from Sin City.

The park is more than 40,000 acres made up of massive red Aztec sandstone formations that look other-worldly.

There are also 2,000 year old petroglyph’s and petrified logs that have amazing clarity given their age. Here is my guide if you find yourself curious about this state park.

best hikes to do in valley of fire Throughout our week-anda-half trip, we were able to do some of the most popular hikes available at Valley of Fire.

Out of the ones we did I would recommend doing the Top of the World Arch, the Seven Wonders Loop and Pinnacles Loop. The Top of the World hike was easily one of my favorite hikes I’ve ever done.

The trail is definitely on the hard side, so I would not recommend doing it if you are a new hiker. None of these hikes

are crazy long, the longest one being around 4.5 miles, so they are very manageable.

The Seven Wonders loop was the prettiest hike of the three I recommend doing.

The loop takes you through different sections that each are really amazing and unique geologically speaking.

Fire Wave is one section and is accessible through a parking lot nearby. Like its name suggests, the rock looks like fire with different colored stripes of

red on a large rock formation.

If you go to the other side of the parking lot you hike down into an eroded slot canyon that reminds me of the candy world from the movie “The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl”.

Pinnacles Loop was a really good first hike as you get used to what kind of hiking you can expect in the park. Most of it is through a wash and takes you around a mountain range. It was a good warm-up hike and is close to Atlatl Rock.

Explore the rocks around you. There are a lot of opportunities in Valley of Fire to do some rock scrambling If that is your thing. For me, I really enjoy going off-trail and exploring an area that others haven’t been in. Elephant Rock, although it was a mediocre hike, the scrambling available in the area was really fun.

The rock formation that

makes up Elephant Rock is way cooler than the rock itself. We basically looked for the tallest peak in the formation and said “that’s where we’re going”.

The view you can get is really great and kind of surprising.

The sky was particularly clear that day so we were able to see miles away, the Lake Mead recreational area and the easternmost part of the park.

do your research beforehand Do your research on Valley of Fire. I really enjoyed my trip because the weather was so gorgeous. It never went lower than 45 degrees at night, which is great if you’re sleeping in a tent, and the highs were around the 70’s.

As we get closer to the summer, the park will get very hot. Be prepared for this as hiking in a desert in the middle of the summer does not sound like a fun time if you are unprepared.

Also, make sure you get a good understanding of the different hikes available. A lot of the hikes we didn’t have many markers or clear trails. If you are doing more challenging

hikes don’t expect any rock cairns to greet you and look for footsteps to make sure you’re going the right way. For the Top of the World Arch there were no markers or guides and we basically hiked into the unknown.

I would strongly recommend you download maps of different hikes you want to do, and would recommend the AllTrails app.

When we hiked to the Top of the World Arch we had to solely use the AllTrails downloaded map. With a dwindling battery and little foot traffic that is not a trail you want to find yourself on at night when the temperature drops.

tips and tricks for camping Most of the park consists of RV campers and we were one of the few people who were tentcamping.

I would strongly recommend tent/car camping as we were outside the whole day and got to enjoy nature. We only went into our tent to sleep and enjoyed the nice weather, while we saw RV campers spend most of their time inside and not exploring the park.

If you decide to camp,

whether in a tent or RV, you have to come early. There are not a ton of camping spots available in Valley of Fire with only two campsites; Atlatl Rock and Arch Rock.

Both campsites come with a picnic bench, barbeque and spot to stake a tent. Atlatl Rock has showers and bigger spots, so they are popular with RV’ers.

Arch Rock only has a bathroom.

On our first day at the park we went to the campgrounds

around noon to get a spot, however they were all full. The park ranger told us we would have to come between 7-11 a.m. to maybe get a spot. The next day we showed up a little after 7 a.m. and got one of the few spots available.

Another thing to note is that the area can be quite windy, so make sure you have the right gear to keep your tent from flying away.

BIG HORN SHEEP often come to the side of the road in the park to eat food and minerals in the ground. PHOTO BY LIA REICHMANN

04 | Commentary

Commentary

March 23, 2022

COVID samsara: new BA.2 variant another head of the hydra Chris Veninga Staff Writer chris.veninga@drake.edu

Here we go again.

The above sentence has probably crossed my mind hundreds of times over the past nine months or so with the advent of the Delta and Omicron variants. Now we are hearing about this new BA.2 variant that is plaguing the UK and other parts of Europe. In the cases of the Delta and Omicron variants, what’s happening over there is usually a good indication of what’s about to happen here.

Though it’s uncertain whether we will truly get another deadly wave of this dreaded virus in the next few weeks, we have seen this story unfold three times now with the original strain, Delta and Omicron.

I’m no epidemiologist, and I don’t claim to know how diseases work. All I know is that we have been stuck in this horrible and maddening cycle of: wave, decline of wave, cautious optimism, new wave. The vaccines that were promised to end the pandemic have worked to some degree, but people are still dying by the thousands, and lives have not been restored in the way officials said they would be.

Government leaders and schools alike are ending mask mandates, and most businesses are no longer requiring vaccine passports. In some sense, it feels like the United States is just giving up and letting people take their own chances.

Whether that’s the right thing to do requires an essay a mile long, and even then, there would still probably need to be more written.

The fact of the matter is that we are stuck in this aforementioned cycle of cautiously believing that we’re turning the corner of this pandemic and then being smacked in the face right as we peek around it. Everything we have tried to stop has failed,

HERE COMES THAT COVID VARIANT AGAIN... sings The Fortunes. Grendel’s mother, also known as BA.2, is back for vengeance. Us laypeople are like Tantalus--- reaching for the fruit of “normalcy,” only to have it yanked out of our grasp, triggering the mouse trap to snap our necks back into submission. One writer sees little use in being sanguine. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

leading to devastating results (and again, why those results occurred could be debated endlessly).

Many health leaders have claimed this pandemic to be unpredictable, which it is in some respect. But we have gotten to a point where it is one variant after the other with a small break in between. We

keep getting teased with the light at the end of the tunnel, and then it quickly fades away, something that is endlessly frustrating to those who wish to return to normal.

My point is, no one knows when this pandemic will end.

The finish line has been moved further and further back, and I want to acknowledge the

feelings of pandemic fatigue we are all feeling to some extent.

We have been cheated out of so much; in some cases, “cheated” may be too light of a word to use. But hopefully as this disease continues to mutate it will become weaker and more common like the flu as many professionals say it will. And though true “normal” — where

we don’t have to look over our shoulders for this invisible antigen — will probably not be back for a few years, we definitely are not where we were in the summer of 2020.

We just have to keep on running towards that line.

No respite: spring vacation offers a mere smoke break from school Rachel Jalloway Staff Writer rachel.jalloway@drake.edu

Spring break is something that is very important for those who have it. It allows for students to have a break, which is something that can be utilized in several different ways. Students do a variety of things with their time off, such as vacationing, playing catch up, relaxing and much more.

However, many students feel like only a week is not enough of a break. After one of the most stressful weeks of the college experience - midterms - only a week to relax and take a break feels short. There needs to be more time given to students to have a real break to push us through the rest of the semester. Students feel burnout very quickly, and just having a week as a period to rejuvenate

is something that does not feel full.

“I was unable to get a full break on Sunday, due to the fact that I also had other oncampus responsibilities that I had to go to that night.”

Primarily, students need a break from traveling back to campus. I know that the five hour drive from my home town to Des Moines is not a pleasant one, and I would rather not have to spend my last day of break making that drive. While I would like to make the drive a day early, there is no way for me to do that. I know that, as a religious person, my mother

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The student newspaper for Drake University since 1884 EMMA BRUSTKERN Editor-in-Chief emma.brustkern@drake.edu ANDREW KENNARD, News Editor GRACE ALTENHOFEN, Managing Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu grace.altenhofen@drake.edu LIA REICHMANN, Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

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

COLIN FRIER, Commentary Editor colin.frier@drake.edu

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

MAKAYLA CASTILLO, Business Manager makayla.castillo@drake.edu LAURA WEBER, Distributor laura.weber@drake.edu

CAT FARRELL, Media Manager cat.farrell@drake.edu ERIN DUENWALD, Copy Editor erin.duenwald@drake.edu

JEFF INMAN Faculty Advisor jeffrey.inman@drake.edu

wants me to come to mass with her on Sunday (hence why I am unable to come back Saturday night). This means I have to stay at home until, at the very least, Sunday Afternoon.

I was unable to get a full break on Sunday, due to the fact that I also had other on-campus responsibilities that I had to go to that night. This is something that is making the week after break feel dreadful.

This is just considering a drive back. Flights back are not the most stable system for students on a tight schedule.

Flights get canceled, moved and changed more often than not. These changes are not determined by the student’s schedules.

These things should not be the big stresser for students coming back to campus. Some extra buffer time would be a good solution to avoid this dilemma.

Another thing is that students and professors deserve a longer break. We do so much all at once, and with a campus culture that encourages everyone to do everything, a week’s pause is not enough. For some students, spring break is not a break. Break is time for some students to play catchup on their assignments, or deal with family issues. By only giving these busy and stressed students only a week to calm down and see their families, it is something that is not sufficient.

“For some students, spring break is not a break.”

While I am not a professor myself, I can understand the

struggle that they have when it comes to spring break. It is supposed to be a break for them as well, but they have to grade tens of hundreds of papers and/ or tests. This is something that does not take a short amount of time, and the fact that they only have a short amount of time to grade it all is insane. Professors deserve a break just as much as students do, and the paperwork that they have to do does not allow them to have this break.

However, this is not to say that we need another full week (even though that would be nice). At the very least, I think that students need two extra days. This can allow for students to get back into the swing of things without jeopardizing their perfect attendance in their classes. It is something that is good for all those who are affected by it- professors included.

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