September 22, 2021

THE TIMES-DELPHIC The weekly student newspaper of Drake University Vol. 141 | No. 4 | Sept. 22, 2021 FEATURES

SPORTS

COMMENTARY

The Drake community celebrated the Sprout Garden’s first growing season at its new location.

A Drake first-year was named the Missouri Valley Conference cross country athlete of the week.

Times-Delphic reporters have uncovered the top suspect in a latenight fire scare at Stalnaker Hall.

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Des Moines to construct trail to serve disadvantaged communities

THE CITY OF DES MOINES plans to add 1.67 miles to the Central Levee Trail by utilizing federal grant money.

Mackenzie Swenson Contributing Writer mackenzie.swenson@drake.edu

The city of Des Moines plans to extend its trail network by utilizing funds from the federal Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant to improve underserved communities’ access to outdoor recreation.

The proposed extension to the Central Levee Trail will serve areas of the city that have been identified as disadvantaged by the Des Moines Metropolitan Planning Organization.

“This trail is an example of ensuring that these neighborhoods will have safe areas for recreation and transportation and ways to access the river,” said Brian Campbell, the executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council.

On May 10, the National

Park Service announced its plans to distribute $150 million through the program in order to improve access to the outdoors, particularly in economically disadvantaged areas. The announcement came in the wake of President Joe Biden’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, which includes goals to reduce inequitable access to outdoor recreation.

According to a 2018 United States Department of Agriculture report, affluent white communities are more likely to have greater access to parks and green spaces than low-income racial minority communities. The report also says that access to green spaces is shown to improve mental health, in addition to providing physical benefits.

“The National Park Service grant award is an outside perspective that affirms our proposed project is on track

to … [provide] more residents close-to-home options for outdoor recreation, low-cost transportation and greater connectivity to other signature outdoor recreation facilities,” said Colby Fangman, a park planner for the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department.

“All of it goes together in terms of helping reconnect the city with nature and make sure there are safe spaces for people to get around to travel and explore.”

According to Fangman, the first phase of the Parks and Recreation Department’s plan for the trail will create 1.67

PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

miles of new trail between Rotary Riverwalk Park and the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Second Avenue with a tentative completion date in 2024 or 2025.

Fangman said that the second phase involves an additional 2.1 miles of trail and is still in the early stages of planning. Both of these phases will add to an already extensive system that encompasses 68 miles of paved trails and 19 miles of soft trails in the Des Moines area.

“Des Moines really prides itself on having this network of multi-use trails for biking and walking,” Campbell said.

Johnston resident Erica Fletcher said she uses the trail across the river from the Central Levee Trail to bike to and from work in the summer. She said she appreciates that the trails provide an alternative route to her workplace as well as a safe alternative for recreation with

her children.

“It’s way less stressful for me to have them on a trail versus a sidewalk where there’s traffic, so it’s just a really safe place that allows me to get them outside more,” Fletcher said.

In addition to serving Des Moines metro residents such as Fletcher, the trail may also demonstrate the city’s natural resources to tourists.

“All of it goes together in terms of helping reconnect the city with nature and make sure there are safe spaces for people to get around to travel and explore,” Campbell said.

“There’s a lot of work to do to protect and clean up the water in the rivers, but I think bringing more people to those spaces is part of helping people see the value of nature and helping protect it too.”

drake accommodations policy makes observing religious holidays easier Gannon Henry Student Senate Writer gannon.henry@drake.edu

As the fall semester goes on and students’ workloads increase, Drake’s relatively new Religious Accommodation Policy is becoming increasingly useful to students.

The policy allows students to request that any class absences due to religious holidays be excused.

The policy, which was passed by the Faculty Senate in December of 2020, states: “To ensure equity, Drake University will make a good faith effort to provide reasonable religious accommodations to students whose religious belief and practices conflict with an academic requirement unless such an accommodation would create an undue hardship on the university community.”

Jeremy Alport, a member of Drake Hillel, utilized this policy for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, which is considered within Judaism to be the holiest day of the year.

“The experience that I’ve had with the policy is that you fill out a Qualtrics form with all of the information, and it automatically sends your teachers an email saying you’ll be absent due to the holiday,” Alport said. “Beforehand, you usually just had to talk with your teacher, and sometimes they would count it as excused, and sometimes they wouldn’t.”

Student Body President and former Equity and Inclusion Senator Morgan Coleman said the policy reflects “a general consideration for students of various faiths.”

“This policy strives to mitigate some of the harms created when students must choose between practicing their faith on a certain holiday or participating in a large campus event,” Coleman said. “It is so important for our religious communities on campus, especially those that have been historically marginalized, to be considered when events are being planned. That level of inclusion shouldn’t be an afterthought.”

According to Coleman, then-

Student Senators Meghan Kier, Madyson Skylar and Coleman were the major players in crafting the policy. Additionally, Student Senate passed a policy on Sept. 10, 2020 that prohibits student organizations from planning events on certain major religious holidays, according to legislation provided by Drake RSO Coordinator Kevin Grady.

“I believe that this policy is increasing the awareness that students have about various religious holidays and the needs of their communities during the academic year. ”

At the beginning of the semester, Drake’s Equity and Inclusion Director, Jennifer Harvey, sent out an email that included digital calendar events for Jewish holidays, providing

students with an easy way to stay aware of dates where Jewish members of the Drake community might not be able to participate in events.

“In order to grow out campus awareness of the significance of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover, as well as to make our campus climate more inclusive and respectful of the many Jewish members of our community, we are pleased to offer you a link that will import into your Outlook calendar,” Harvey said in the email. “But also, the Office of Equity and Inclusion is working on creating a University-wide Outlook calendar that is inclusive of other major religious holidays.

We plan to have this available for you sometime in the next several weeks.”

Alport said he saw the email as a sign that the administration is working to further support religious diversity on campus, but it’s “still a work-inprogress.”

“I didn’t see any Muslim holidays, or Buddhist holidays, or any other kind of holidays besides Christian and Jewish

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holidays [in the email], which made me concerned that now we’re still leaving out another section of the population that don’t have their holidays recognized either,” Alport said. “I think it’s good what they’re doing so far with the Jewish holidays, but I just think they need to continue to be transparent about it with everyone and I think open discussion about [the policy] will make it better for both the administration and students.”

Coleman said that continuing to work toward inclusion in the campus community is “extremely high on the priority list of the 35th session of Student Senate.”

“I believe that this policy is increasing the awareness that students have about various religious holidays and the needs of their communities during the academic year,” said Coleman. “By publicizing the list of religious holidays, we can only hope that organizations will be encouraged to be more considerate and inclusive in their programming efforts.”

02 | News

Sept. 22, 2021

News

Student life then and now: a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

DRAKE’S STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS have continued to adapt to the pandemic as more students get vaccinated. PHOTO BY TINA INTARAPANONT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

As COVID-19 case numbers rise in Polk County, Drake and its student organizations have brought back many in-person events while still maintaining some COVID-19 precautions.

Drake Director of Student Life Isaac Newsome said that students are “free to go about things as normal as can be,” as long as they wear masks indoors and are conscious to not overfill the capacity of an indoor space.

Newsome said that if a student organization were to require attendees of an event to be vaccinated, he would talk with them to find out the reasons behind the decision before he would allow it. He also said that students haven’t been pushing back on COVID-19 protocols and are willing “to do whatever

it takes” to put safety first.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on the variants and how those progress, and if anything gets too extreme we’ll have to make changes as they come,” Newsome said. “But as of now, we’re just hoping people continue to get vaccinated. We have our student leaders; some are pushing for vaccines.”

“...You could really see people of those different multicultural organizations coming together, forming communities.”

Student Activities Board President Maddie Haun said that SAB will hold many of its events outside to lower the risk posed by COVID-19, including Free Movie Fridays and Taste of Des Moines.

“As much as our events can be outside, we are trying to do that,” Haun said. “Because that

is just, like, a safer space for everybody.”

Haun said that all of SAB’s events are planned to be in-person, but the board is ready to hold events virtually if the Drake administration moves classes back online.

Equity and Inclusion Senator Ruwayda Egal said that Drake’s multicultural organizations have been holding all of their events in person so far.

“I feel like the events I went to last year had a very small amount of people come, even the events that were in person, and just going to a few last week, you could really see people of those different multicultural organizations coming together, forming communities,” Egal said. “Which is really nice, especially for first-years who have yet to know the multicultural events, the multicultural organizations.”

The current situation with event programming stands in contrast with the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 first spread across the United States. When

Drake moved its classes online, student organizations had to adapt to serve a community that was spread out across the nation, connected only by the Internet.

“For all of our student organizations, me and our events team had to look at each event on campus, [and] make sure they were following COVID policies,” Newsome said. “If they’re passing things out, if there’s food there: how is food being packaged, how is food being handled. So we had to look into every single detail of their event.”

Newsome said that last year, the administration wanted student programming to be “more virtual than not,” and that “at least a couple hundred events” did not take place because of COVID-19.

According to Sean Cusick, a captain of the Drake men’s ultimate frisbee team, things looked very different for DUC last year due to the pandemic.

“We didn’t really have many practices. We couldn’t

hold normal practices,” Cusick said. “I had heard we did some smaller, more informal things with small groups, but we never organized anything with the team.”

This year, however, things seem to be looking up for DUC as 34 new people signed up for the club at the Activities Fair alone.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on the variants and how those progress, and if anything gets too extreme we’ll have to make changes as they come.”

“Even when I was captaining two years before, before the pandemic we were struggling with numbers,” Cusick said.

“So it’s really good this year that it looks to be on the upturn and more people are getting interested in it.”

Students experience pandemic fatigue, personal trauma from COVID-19

THE DRAKE COUNSELING CENTER on Carpenter Avenue provides in-person and virtual mental health services for Drake students. PHOTO BY TINA INTARAPANONT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Max Fouts Contributing Writer max.fouts@drake.edu

With the return of students to campus, the counseling center at Drake University is helping students manage their mental health during a time of heightened stress and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other stressors.

“I think students are really overwhelmed and feeling fatigued from the pandemic,” said Danielle Green, director of Drake University’s counseling

center. “A lot of students have shared they feel exhausted from being back around people on a regular basis. Many of us have also experienced a trauma associated with the pandemic, so folks are feeling extremely overwhelmed right now.”

Drake senior Kamila Sadko said she experienced personal trauma caused by COVID-19 last year.

“I had COVID last June, so my lungs are damaged and I am at a greater risk of getting it,” Sadko said.

Sadko said she thought she would come back to campus for her last year and things would

be relatively normal, but the reality has not been what she expected.

“I think students try to ignore that they’re struggling and that makes it worse.”

“It’s been a little stressful, especially with students and some people who don’t take it as seriously as they could,” Sadko said. “I wouldn’t mind going back online if it stays the way it’s going, [with] cases continuing to rise.”

Senior and graphic design major Kevin Sandifer said he feels secure in the steps Drake has put in place to combat COVID-19.

“I’m living alone and everybody’s masked up, for the most part,” Sandifer said. “I’m seeing the numbers of students getting their vaccines and stuff, and the percentage was pretty high, so I’d say mentally I’m pretty comfortable with coming back to Drake and pursuing my studies.”

Despite their different viewpoints on how COVID-19 is being handled by the Drake community, Sadko and Sandifer agreed that mental health deserves to be taken seriously now more than ever.

“I think it is a pretty big deal,” Sandifer said. “If you can’t focus mentally on your game, you’re not going to do your best, you’re not going to be at your peak, you’re not going to do what you need to get done.”

Sadko said that the medical community and the United States as a whole need to do a better job of taking mental health seriously.

“I feel like we as a country don’t really take it as seriously as other medical conditions,” Sadko said. “There’s a lot of people that struggle to get diagnosed, especially women and minorities, because they

are seen as overreacting.”

In order for students to address their mental health concerns, Green said, they first need to acknowledge that their mental health is being impacted.

“I think students try to ignore that they’re struggling and that makes it worse,” Green said.

Green said students would already feel much better if they prioritized self-care, such as journaling, eating and drinking enough and getting plenty of sleep. Another way for students to manage their mental health is to take advantage of Drake’s mental health resources.

“Drake has started to create opportunities for Drake students to get in touch with counseling, have mental health days and also create spaces for people to connect on campus,” Green said. “Drake is currently working on reducing the expectation around being busy and creating a focus on balance and wellness which is something the university didn’t address before.”

The counseling center is located at 3116 Carpenter Ave. Students can make an in-person or virtual appointment with the counseling center by completing a digital form on the center’s page on the Drake website or by calling 515-271-3864.

03 | Features

Features

Sept. 22, 2021

COVID and negative press affect FSL recruitment rates Logan Hock Contributing Writer logan.hock@drake.edu

Returning members of Fraternity and Sorority Life welcomed their new members as fall FSL recruitment successfully ended despite COVID-19 concerns and negative press surrounding fraternities.

Last week, students across campus participated in fall recruitment week, where fraternities and sororities sought to increase their numbers with a new class of members.

FSL members expressed excitement for being able to host in-person events for the first time since 2019. However, with the excitement came caution as new COVID-19 cases remained

a prevalent factor in the turnout for sorority recruitment both at Drake and around the U.S. “Nationally, sorority recruitment participation has been low, and I believe that is because of the hybrid aspects of restrictions and leniency plus the fact COVID-19 is still present in our lives,” said Anna Sutterer, vice president of recruitment on the Panhellenic Council.

Sorority life on campus saw 136 potential new members participate in recruitment events with 115 signing bids to join a house at the end of the week.

“Overall, I was upset by the numbers the night the application closed,” Sutterer said. “However, taking a closer look at sorority recruitment at a national level, our campus was

right on track, which makes me feel a lot better.”

Each sorority at Drake has a limit on the number of new members who can join each semester. Despite this limit, reports from Sutterer showed that 95% of PNMs were matched with their first choice.

“I was kind of worried about bringing people into this community when there are stories like this that give the whole fraternity system a bad name.”

Fraternity life on campus was able to get a total of 67

bids signed. In addition to the COVID challenges faced by sororities, recent news added another concern for fraternities in finding new members.

Last month, reports of sexual assault came to light among fraternities in the United States, most notably from Phi Gamma Delta at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. With the backlash that followed, Drake fraternities began to worry about being grouped in with these chapters.

“I was kind of worried about bringing people into this community when there are stories like this that give the whole fraternity system a bad name,” Sam Rothbardt, a member of Theta Chi fraternity, said.

The concern about fraternities and their image was

also in the minds of some firstyear students.

“Even though I have not heard anything of a similar nature come to light at Drake, I think when a fraternity has a scandal like this anywhere, it makes people reevaluate any involvement with these houses,” first-year student and new Sigma Alpha Epsilon member Will Schultz said.

Sigma Phi Epsilon received the highest number of new members, with 21 students joining the fraternity.

“Loosening restrictions definitely helped us get a larger number than last year, but I would say that our recruiting team and executive council were the ones who deserve the credit,” Sigma Phi Epsilon member Vince Carioti said.

“They did an awesome job.”

“GREEK STREET” is a nickname given to the street where most sororities and fraternities houses reside. This is where Panhellenic recruitment takes place, and where potential new members flooded the streets trying to find their new home this year from Sept. 9 to Sept. 13. PHOTO BY JOSHUA BRUER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

drake celebrates first harvest party Candace Carr Contributing Writer candace.carr@drake.edu

The Drake Student Alumni Association hosted a Harvest Party on Tuesday, Sept. 14 in the Sprout Garden to kick off the harvesting season with the university and neighboring communities.

Established in 2012, the Sprout Garden serves as a resource for outdoor environmental education and directly supports healthy food accessibility.

Formerly on Forest Avenue, the Sprout Garden is now located at 30th Street and Carpenter Avenue, across from Goodwin-Kirk residence hall.

Tuesday evening, students, alumni and faculty gathered with music, garden-grown snacks and an appearance from Griff II himself.

“The Harvest Party was in talks as of Spring 2021. We have been talking about this for a long time, and SAA has Maddie Circle Foundation funds,” junior and SAA president Kiley Kahler said. “So through those funds, we like to collaborate and support different community projects, one of them being the Sprout Garden. So we donated $1,000 to the Garden in the spring.”

Kahler said the grant money went to new soil, raised pergola beds and raspberry and blackberry bushes.

Harvest celebration attendees sampled a host of Sprout-Garden-grown snacks prepared by SAA members. A few students even tried out a bike-powered blender to blend party snacks.

SAA vice president of philanthropy and sophomore

Annika Hurd said that her organization’s goal for the party was to get more students in the space and excited about the possibilities of the Sprout Garden.

“We made fresh salsa with the blender bike. We used fresh tomatoes from the garden that we put on bruschetta sandwiches,” Hurd said. “Fun foods like that to get people excited about the environment and using this space to their advantage.”

With a mix of Drake students both new and returning attending the event, first-year Miranda Mellentine agreed that SAA’s goal was accomplished.

“It’s been so wonderful,” Mellentine said. “We got little tote bags from SAA. We also got snacks with watermelon, bread with cheese, a bunch of

vegetables and a kale and fruit smoothie.” Mellentine said.

“The Harvest Party was really a celebration of the first growing season in the new location that the Sprout Garden has moved to.”

In addition to philanthropy, SAA worked in collaboration with the Office of Community Engaged Learning & Service. Each academic year, upperclassmen serve on behalf of the office as community engagement peers.

This year, senior Marlee Rutledge is a community

engagement peer serving as the Sprout Garden coordinator.

“The Harvest Party was really a celebration of the first growing season in the new location that the Sprout Garden has moved to,” Rutledge said.

“It’s really a great location. We have a food forest and this spot is really sunny and everything is growing wonderfully.”

As well as outreach, Rutledge does garden maintenance consisting of weeding, watering, mulching and organizing.

“I have a green thumb,” Rutledge said. “My favorite thing about being a part of this space is that when I come sometimes nothing is ready, then I’ll come back and everything is ready to pick.”

The Harvest Party helped kick off an academic year of new traditions and SAA-led and

SAA-collaborative events.

“Drake students can get more involved with SAA by coming to our meetings Tuesdays every week at 7 p.m. at the Alumni House, which is located at 2700 University Ave.,” Kahler said.

Kahler said that everyone is welcome and should follow SAA on their social media platforms.

“Griff is always there, food is there; it’s just overall a fun time to get connected with alumni, to support philanthropy and to celebrate Drake traditions.”

Kahler said.

Rutledge said that students can volunteer in the Sprout Garden by emailing the community engaged peers’ email servicelearning@drake. edu or coordinator Marlee Rutledge at marlee.rutledge@ drake.edu.

HARVEST PARTY ATTENDEES were invited to eat produce right there from the Sprout Garden. A student rides a smoothie-making bike: when the student pedals, it gives power to the blender on the back of the bike. PHOTO BY ANDREW KENNARD | NEWS EDITOR

04 | Features

Features

Sept. 22, 2021

Outstanding first-years: Ben Connolly

Bryson Rea Contributing Writer bryson.rea@drake.edu

Ben Connolly is best known around campus as a challenge seeker. Throughout the first few weeks of the 2021 fall semester, Connolly has gotten involved and taken every opportunity that has been presented towards him, resulting in a long list of student involvement that many would call “Drake Busy.”

Many students that reside within Carpenter residence hall may recall Connolly’s name from a recent student election for hall president. In this election, Connolly was able to connect with countless students in Carpenter, creating new friendships and bonds.

“Ben is like the camp counselor of the floor,” firstyear Starla Wiler said. “He is always planning fun activities and making sure everyone is involved.”

The election concluded with Connolly being named vice president of Carpenter Hall executive council, yet what he valued most was the constant support from his newfound friends, the majority of whom he had only known for a few weeks.

“The small, yet welcoming Drake community resonated with me as both inviting and supportive just in the festivities of Welcome Week, and in the span of two weeks, I grew to know my whole residence

hall floor and others in class,” Connolly said.

The resume does not stop here, as Connolly is involved with several other on-campus opportunities.

Connolly is currently a member of the Brocal Chords, Drake Choir, the Honors Program, the Adams Leadership Institute and Drake Theatre People. He is also a musician and cantor at St. Catherine’s.

“Whether people realize it or not, everyone seeks to have meaningful relationships and connections with those around them.

That’s why the college environment is perpetually grounded in togetherness.”

Connolly has found early success in his academics as well, holding straight A’s through the first 3 weeks of classes, well reflective of his 3.82 high school GPA. That high school GPA led Connolly to be a current Alumni Scholarship semifinalist, Balanced Man Scholarship semifinalist and a Trustee Scholar.

“This high school transition has been critical in discovering there is no longer a need for me to over commit my time.”

Connolly said. “There is always a time to relax and a time to get involved,” Connolly said. “And the getting involved part? Well, that’s where the passions and striking a balance come in.”

Connolly said it was the “overwhelming sense of community” that was the primary influence on his positive adjustment to Drake life. This sense of community seems to be a driving factor in the early successes of all Drake students, as the connections all students make are crucial to building their on-campus life.

“Whether people realize it or not, everyone seeks to have meaningful relationships and connections with those around them,” Connolly said. “That’s why the college environment is perpetually grounded in togetherness.”

Connolly then went on to say, “Stay present with your commitments … and all bets are off when it comes to meeting new people. Drake people are approachable. They want to get to know you… so let them.”

The 0utstanding firstyears presents a profile of one first-year student each week, summarizing their successes up to this point in their college experience. The young students featured on this column have displayed exceeding academic performance and on-campus involvement, along with contributing to the campus community in a positive way.

BEN CONNOLLY is one of the many students who involved in the Drake community through organizations, clubs, academic opportunities and more. PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN CONNOLLY

students discuss reusable cups at olmsted starbucks Javier Rodriguez Contributing Writer javy.rodriguez@drake.edu

Drake University’s Olmsted Center Starbucks store is known by coffee, tea and refresher fanatics alike on campus as the go-to spot for a morning pickme-up before classes or even for a treat in between and after long days of school.

The Drake University oncampus Starbucks is located in the Olmsted Center and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Starbucks recently released a national press statement that said most locations of the coffeehouse chain will allow customers to bring in reusable cups again like before

the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Drake Starbucks followed in discontinuing the use of reusable cups during the pandemic, the location has yet to once again follow in the company’s footsteps.

“We do [provide reusable cups at my location],” sophomore Rachel Jalloway said, who works at a Starbucks in Chicago in between semesters.

“I think it is inconsistent because, my store allows it, but a different Starbucks does and I find it hypocritical in my opinion.”

“Personally, I do not have a reusable Starbucks cup, but I became an avid coffee drinker during COVID as soon as I got to Drake,” first-year Maddie Clevenger said. “If

other Starbucks are allowing it, we should also be given that privilege to do it as well.”

“I feel like if people are bringing in unsanitary cups that could be a problem. But also, I know for a fact that Starbucks is supposed to disinfect all of their nozzles and things they stick in cups, so I think it is silly.”

While many understand that the risk of infection from

the COVID-19 virus is indeed an issue that food-service employees face with every shift, some can’t help but wonder why they can’t bring in their own cups if they are properly cleaned before providing them to the Starbucks employees for a refill of their favorite drink.

“I usually just take the cup that they give me, and then I pour my drink into my own cup,” sophomore Sa’Daiveon Newell said. “I feel like if people are bringing in unsanitary cups that could be a problem. But also, I know for a fact that Starbucks is supposed to disinfect all of their nozzles and things they stick in cups, so I think it is silly.”

Several students also worry about the waste that Starbucks produces and how this could be

significantly lowered if students, staff and other customers of the Starbucks in Olmsted brought in their reusable cups.

According to the Clean Water Action website, despite the regular cups provided by Starbucks being recyclable, the company uses 8,000 cups per minute, which eventually totals up to over four billion a year.

With this information, some can’t help but realize this waste production could be significantly be reduced if students were provided with the option to bring in their own reusable Starbucks cups.

Starbucks employees have declined to speak on the matter of customers bringing in reusable cups instead of regular disposable cups.

STARBUCKS has reintroduced the use of reuseable cups for their customers. They must be clean when handed to the barista and it is part of Starbucks’ goal to reduce their waste by 50 percent by 2030. Customers get $0.10 discount off their drink when using reusable cups. PHOTO BY TINA INTARAPANONT | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

05 | Sports

Sports

Sept. 22, 2021

First-year runner impresses at the Hawkeye Invitational

FIRST-YEAR cross country runner Enzo Marie had to adjust to running as a team, which is common at U.S. universities. PHOTO BY PAIGE JANSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Carmon Baker But I finished at just one second COVID-19, the international can do is take your time, the “I take training every day,” Contributing Writer from the first place. So I was a recruitment process for this best time possible. In France, Marie said. “I’m very motivated carmon.baker@drake.edu little bit disappointed, a very season involved the coaches we just have to place, and the to progress more and more.

First-year Enzo Marie has been running since he was six. Originally from France, Marie ran for his town’s club cross country team and is now continuing his athletic career at Drake.

“I love running,” Marie said.

“I like the competition. [Being] on the start line is a very cool sensation. The adrenaline, that is cool.”

On Sept. 3, Marie placed third at the Hawkeye Invitational, held in Iowa City. While Marie was pleased with the results, he was slightly disappointed that he did not place higher, as he finished only 1.4 seconds behind the winner of the race.

“I’m very, very happy with this result,” Marie said. “That was my first race, so to take podium is very nice. My coach was very proud, very happy.

little bit. I [took a] massive sprint at the end of the race, and I finished just two meters behind [first place].”

After his performance at the Hawkeye Invitational, Marie was named the Missouri Valley Conference cross country athlete of the week. Head cross country coach Jay Koloseus said he was impressed by this result.

“I was blown away. I knew Enzo was very talented, very very talented,” Koloseus said.

“But it’s one thing to be talented, and it’s another thing to come to the U.S. and perform. And he did that in spades. The only directions I gave him that day was to stay with the top pack as long as he could, and he did that the entire time.”

Marie’s journey to Drake started in the spring of 2020, when Koloseus started recruiting him.

Due to

doing a lot of research online and contacting athletes over Zoom calls.

“You have to sell a place that these athletes have never been to or even heard of a lot of the time, and get them to trust a different process,” Koloseus said. “No other country has college athletics like we do in the [United States]. The way we run and train is always a little bit different than where they come from. So, you know, it’s really about selling yourself and the idea of being a great team.”

Marie has noticed differences between the sport in France and in the US. Before college, he trained independently, so running at Drake was his first time experiencing cross country as a team sport.

“In France, the cross country [is] totally different,” Marie said. “Here, the thing that we

time really is not important. In France, we run in the mud and with a lot of uphill, downhill.

It’s like a trail.”

Marie’s next race will be the Gans Creek Classic on Oct. 1. Although the team will be running at the Redbird Invitational on Sept. 17, Marie will be sitting out of this race to rest.

“We have such a deep team on the men’s side that I’m very calculated in when we’re going to run against each other or put them all together,” Koloseus said. “With men, egos get in the way quite a bit. So we’re going to sit out one more week and just train him, but we will race all of our top guys, as long as they’re healthy, in Missouri.”

Marie continues to train for upcoming races and looks forward to improving as the season progresses.

Everybody relax, the Packers will come back

I go to the weight room, I train everyday with my group.

And I run, hard workouts and temposition. Every day, sometimes twice a day. I go run in the morning sometimes.”

Ultimately, Koloseus says that Marie could be in the running for multiple awards throughout the season, including newcomer of the year awards, all-conference and all-region titles. According to Koloseus, however, Marie will have to continue to adapt to college athletics.

“The hardest obstacle for him to get these awards is really on our team here,” Koloseus said. “Little things too, like learning how to run with a group, befriend your teammates and grow in the family we create around them, and he’s done a great job with that so far.”

Sports Results Men’s Golf

Sept. 13 and 14 at the Wildcat Invitational Drake places eighth out of 13

Women’s Golf Sept. 13 and 14 at Payne Stewart Memorial Drake places third out of 16

Football Sept. 18 at North Dakota Drake loses 0-38 ALTHOUGH THE PACKERS played spectacularly bad in week one, they improved in week two . PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Lia Reichmann Sports Editor lia.reichmann@drake.edu

Like many Green Bay Packers fans, I was excited for the upcoming season and the week one game against the New Orleans Saints.

This was going to be the season where we finally got over that NFC Championship hump.

This was going to be the swan song for our quarterback Aaron Rodgers. One final chance, a last dance per se, for him to win a Super Bowl as a Packer.

I personally am convinced he’ll move on next year.

However, all of my wishful thinking went down the drain when we got blown out 38-3, by a Jameis Winston-led Saints.

There’s no other way to say it other than we got absolutely crushed by the Saints, putting up a measly three points to their 38. Our offense could barely move down the field with Rodgers finishing with zero

touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 36.8, his fourth worst in his career.

The defense where I was hoping we’d finally make that leap from middle-to-aboveaverage, to a more consistent and dominating presence with a new defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, was pretty abysmal.

Our offensive line was surprisingly pretty good with two rookies, Josh Myers and Royce Newman, and a shuffling of the line trying to fill the place of All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari and All-Pro center Corey Linsley, who left in the offseason.

As expected after this type of game, social media, fans and media pundits ragged on the team and lambasted them for not being more prepared.

A majority of the team’s starters did not play during the preseason. Although head coach Matt LaFleur said it did not impact the team’s performance, not having time to work on

team chemistry didn’t help us out against the Saints.

Analysts hypothesized that Rodger’s offseason “drama,” where many thought he’d leave Green Bay, distracted him and the team from playing up to the level that they should have.

Yes, in the offseason it was clear Rodgers wasn’t happy with the team and the way it has been historically managed. However, he is a professional and I highly doubt his teammates let anything that happens in the offseason distract themselves so much that they played that badly. Their bad play comes down to preparation, coaching and underestimating a Saints squad that is still quite good even with injuries and a change in QB. As bad as the Packers played last weekend, the first game of a season does not define a team. There are still 16 weeks for us to develop and continue to improve in order to make a playoff push. There is no need

to panic and catastrophize based on our performance week one.

Should we be a little worried about our inside linebacker core or our wide receiver’s ability to get open or a myriad of other things? Yes we should. But, that doesn’t mean we should hit the panic button.

I am encouraged after our 3517 win against the Detroit Lions.

The first half was not great, but we saw a resurgence in the second half with performances that were more characteristic of a team of our caliber. We just need to be able to play consistently on all three phases for all four quarters, something we struggled with last year.

Year after year, we see good teams start slow and play pretty badly early into the season. The most important thing is that we saw the team bounce back and in a big way against a mediocre Detroit Lions team to tie the Bears as leaders of the NFC North.

Women’s Volleyball Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 at Jackrabbit Classic Drake wins 3-0 vs Idaho Drake wins 3-2 vs Southeastern Louisiana Drake wins 3-0 vs South Dakota State

Cross Country Sept. 17 at Redbird Invite Men’s places sixth out of 12 Women’s places ninth out of 13

Women’s Soccer Sept. 17 vs Kansas City Drake wins 2-0

Men’s Soccer Sept. 18 vs Bradley Drake wins 2-1

06 | Sports

Sports

Sept. 22, 2021

kristina lott named new drake women’s tennis head coach

FOR TWO YEARS, Kristina Lott was the assistant coach, now she gets the mantle of Drake’s women’s tennis head coach. PHOTO BY PAIGE JANSEN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Darinka Stepan Contributing Writer darinka.stepan@drake.edu

Kristina Lott will now be Drake women’s tennis head coach after Mai-ly Tran left Drake to go coach for Colorado State’s women’s tennis team.

After having a successful collegiate career, making two NCAA team appearances and qualifying for the individuals’ singles draw of the NCAA, Lott decided she wanted to coach at the collegiate level. She said it is because she loves the college environment and working with high performance athletes. Lott also said she enjoys the team aspect of college tennis.

Not only did Lott play at the top of collegiate tennis, she also competed in professional tournaments throughout the states and around the world.

Some of her favorite places that she played in were Australia, Canada, Thailand, Germany and Greece.

“My favorite part about working with this team is seeing the improvement every day... We have a talented and hardworking group this year and seeing them progress each day is very rewarding.”

After finishing her undergraduate studies, Lott went on to become a graduate assistant at Santa Clara

University from 2017-2019.

Prior to being the head coach, Lott was the assistant coach for Drake women’s tennis for two seasons, 2019-2021, before becoming head coach.

The Bulldogs had a successful spring season, winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and making an appearance in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“Winning the MVC conference title last year definitely stands out,” Lott said.

“The way we blitzed through the tournament and made history for Drake women’s tennis is something I will never forget.”

Lott said she looks forward to repeating an MVC tournament win for this season and other seasons to come.

“My favorite part about working with this team is seeing the improvement every day,”

Lott said. “We have a talented and hard-working group this year and seeing them progress each day is very rewarding.”

Other things Lott is looking forward to doing with the Bulldogs include growing closer as a team, continuing excellence in the classroom and establishing presence in the conference.

“I am thrilled that Kristina is our new coach,” said Ines Stephani, sophomore. “I can’t wait to do great things with her and the team.”

First-year tennis player Yana Gaskell is excited for this school year with Lott.

“I can’t wait to keep working on the court with Kristina. She pushes us every day, which is great,” Gaskell said. “I am also looking forward to more tournaments with her this fall season as well as the dual

matches in the spring.”

With lots of tournaments coming up for the Bulldogs this season, Lott is prepared to get the team ready for each one of them.

“We have a lot of great opportunities coming up for the team,” Lott said. “We’ll keep working hard every day and improving day by day.”

The Bulldogs had some wins at home during the Drake invite on Sept. 10-12.

“I think the whole team did a great job competing in all of their matches as well as getting some good wins to start off the season,” Lott said.

The next tournament for Drake women’s tennis will be next weekend. The Bulldogs will be traveling to Minnesota to compete in the Gopher Invite on Sept. 24.

Brady and the Bucs push for repeat Lombardi Trophy

Bryson Rea Contributing Writer bryson.rea@drake.edu

One of the most difficult feats for any NFL franchise is winning a Super Bowl, not to mention trying to have a successful repeat season.

Despite several teams attending two consecutive Super Bowls, few teams have been able to obtain a win in both. This year seems to offer the best chances of a repeat occurring, with the Super Bowl winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers bringing back all 22 Super Bowl starters in the offseason. The idea of repeating still stands as a daunting task, no matter the Buccaneers offensive success.

In week one, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a mixed bag.

They won the game, but by only two points. They flew up and down the field offensively, but turned the ball over 4 times.

They picked off Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, got key defensive stops late in the game, but still let up 29 points and over 400 passing yards.

This seemed to be the story of week one, as the Buccaneers opened the season with an ugly win. One more prominent takeaway from this game was that it showcased just how dominant the Buccaneers can be when they’re at their best.

The Buccaneers won this game whilst allowing 400 passing yards and turning the ball over four times. When a team does that, it shows that even at their worst they can defeat a tough opponent such as Dallas.

Along with this, the 44-year-

old Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady showed no signs of regression, throwing for over 350 yards and four touchdowns.

Take away a dropped deep shot and goal line fumble by wide receiver Chris Godwin, and Brady would have hit the 400five yard-touchdown marker.

When it came to turnovers, both Brady and Prescott deserve little blame. Prescott’s lone interception went through the hands of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, and Brady’s first interception bounced off a wide open Leonerd Fournette’s shoulder before ending up in the hands of the Cowboys defense.

Brady’s second interception came off of an end of the half hail mary, also bouncing into the hands of the Cowboys defense.

When reviewing the pure game film, one quickly realizes that the Buccaneers were a handful of simple mistakes away from a 20+ point lead at multiple points in the game.

While the Cowboys’ offense played extremely well under the circumstances, it’s fair to say that this game was only as close as it was due to the Buccaneers’ self-inflicted mistakes, rather than the Cowboys’ overall performance.

The Buccaneers cleaned up the offensive mistakes this past Sunday in their 48-25 win over the Atlanta Falcons with only a single turnover, a fumble, and no interceptions. Brady led the offense driving up and down the field coupled with an unrelenting late defensive performance resulted in an easy win for the Buccaneers.

44-YEAR-OLD quarterback Tom Brady has led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to back-to-back wins in week one and two, on their path for a repeat Super Bowl. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Brady was the most notable performer in this week two match up, throwing five touchdowns and no interceptions. Two of those touchdowns ended up in tight end Rob Gronkowski’s hands, who now has four touchdowns through the first two weeks of the season. Brady also broke a personal record Sunday, starting a season with nine touchdown passes through the first two games for the first time in his 22-year career.

The best of the Buccaneers defense came late in the game when safety Mike Edwards hauled in two consecutive pick6’s, pushing the Buccaneers lead to an insurmountable height.

Outside of this late streak, the Buccaneers front seven dominated the Falcons offensive line for much of the game, forcing Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan to throw several inaccurate passes, three of which turned into interceptions by the time the game clock read

0:00.

While two early games do not often make or break a Super Bowl team, they can give a good outlook on whether a Super Bowl winning team has retained the magic that won them a Lombardi the year before. The Buccaneers have in no doubt shown that magic, exceeding expectations on the offensive side of the ball and starting their regular season 2-0.

07 | Commentary

Commentary

Sept. 22, 2021

How to converse with humans Maddi Cave Contributing Writer maddi.cave@drake.edu

It can be hard to make connections.

Picture this: you’ve been grouped off by a professor to have a “small group discussion” with some classmates you do not know. You awkwardly answer the prompts on the board, but after that, the conversation lulls. You end up exchanging uncomfortable pleasantries until the teacher calls the class back to attention.

Or maybe you’ve gone to do your laundry at a public laundry room, and when you walk in, there’s a group of people getting their clothes out of the dryers. Though you try to think of something pleasant to say to them, you ultimately decide to just stay silent for fear you’ll say something weird or embarrassing.

Sadly, these types of situations are inevitable and happen to everyone. They’re awkward and uncomfortable, and we generally feel ridiculous after they happen. Especially in this time of general “newness” at the beginning of the school year, I think a lot of us are feeling heightened pressure to make good impressions, be open to conversations, and attract new friends. At the end of the day, we all just want to connect with the people around us.

The only problem is, making connections is a difficult thing to do. Some people are blessed with a natural ability to connect and converse with any person they meet, but for the rest of us, are there established steps we can take to actively improve our ability to connect with other people?

As I scoured various psychology websites to find the answer to this question, I started to notice a common theme in many of the suggestions: if you want to connect with others, you have to be actively selfless.

In other words, you must strive to actively take your focus off of your own doubts and insecurities and instead, place it onto the needs and wants of others.

American writer and psychology pioneer Dale Carnegie said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” The truth is, people are only going to want to get to know you if they enjoy the way you make them feel about themselves. While we often focus on the pressure

MASKS ARE A MUZZLER, and people once adept at conversation have tragically seen their ability to chew the fat atrophy in the past year. One writer dispenses advice on how to slough off that automaton self. PHOTO BY MADDI CAVE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

to “sell ourselves” or “make a good impression” during a conversation, constantly obsessing over others’ opinions of you only leads to a more disastrously awkward exchange, making it all the more difficult to spark connections with others.

If you are a person who gets over-stressed about yourself in social situations, have no fear! Here are the top three most-suggested steps you can take to remove your focus from yourself and be intentional about uplifting the people you interact with on a day-to-day basis (as recommended by a plethora of random internet psychologists).

1. Smile!

As simple as it sounds, many of us accidentally keep our “RBF” on throughout the day and we forget to turn it off when we are trying to be social.

Even if we don’t intend to come off as pissy or rude, when we look angry, bored, or unhappy, people will assume that we are angry, bored, or unhappy people. A little smile goes a long way in making others feel comfortable around you. As the well-known motivational writer William Arthur Ward said, “A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to paste a fake smile on your face 24/7 if you want to make friends. Instead, find a few times throughout the day to intentionally flash a smile at people — even if it feels uncomfortable at first! When you pass by someone on your

dorm floor or in the hallway of an academic hall, don’t avert your eyes or pretend to answer a notification on your phone.

Be intentional and smile! When you sit down near someone you’ve never met before in your AOI class, smile at them and — if you’re feeling rambunctious — even offer a little wave. A little smile goes a long way in showing your willingness to connect with others.

2. Pay attention!

Look people in the eyes when you talk to them. Take your earbuds out when you sit down in class. Put your phone down on the walk to your next building.

Although we like to keep to ourselves and to our technology (it’s awkward to have nothing to do with our eyes or hands!), we end up unintentionally “giving off the impression of someone who prefers to be alone rather than to socialize,” according to Psychological/Brain Sciences Professor Dr. Susan Krauss.

Now, you may very well be an introverted person who prefers to keep to yourself, but just because you are introverted doesn’t mean you don’t like to make friends like anyone else!

If you are a person who struggles to get that initial connection going even when you want to, you’d be surprised how many more opportunities you stumble across when you just keep your eyes open to the people around you. By no means am I suggesting you never walk to class with your headphones in ever again.

Instead, just pick some concrete

times to “unplug” yourself and look around, so you let the people around you know that you are interested in socializing and having a conversation with them.

3. The “Offer And Ask” Method!

Well, here we are! You’ve smiled at the person you’d like to get to know better, you’ve taken your headphones out, and you’re ready to spark that conversation. Now what? For this, I give you the “Offer and Ask” method. Disclaimer, I did not find this exact method on any particular site created by any particular professional.

It is actually a combination of lots of different pieces of advice that I found, and it goes like this: offer a quick tidbit about yourself, and follow it up with a lighthearted question.

For example, if the weather is gorgeous outside, you could say, “I love the sunshine, don’t you?” Six words! Or you can think of something relatable, that any college student would have an opinion about. “Oh my gosh, I was up until midnight reading… Did you have a lot of homework yesterday?” Maybe, if you’re feeling extra bold, you can even make your question into an invitation: “I really don’t understand this homework… would you want to study together sometime?”

As I mentioned earlier, sparking connections with other people is ALL ABOUT making the other person feel better about themselves as a result of speaking to you. People

love it when others willingly ask to hear about their lives!

Though we all love to talk about ourselves, entrepreneur and life coach Dr. Kerry Petsinger says that if we want to be a person who attracts and invites connection, we need to “be the person in the conversation who asks the questions.” Asking people questions signals that you are interested in what they have to say, and other people will be interested in spending more time with people who find them interesting!

BONUS TIP: Don’t let the fear of awkwardness keep you from trying!

Of course, none of this advice is foolproof! You may smile at someone in the hallway, and in return they flip you off. Maybe you mention to the person sitting next to you how much you love your dog and you ask them if they have any pets... but then they inform you that their dog was recently run over by a car. Yes, these situations are uncomfortable and awkward and weird, but that is nothing to be afraid of! Sometimes the deepest connections can bud from the most embarrassing and wild of situations, but you’ll never know until you try.

Hopefully, these tips will at least ease the awkwardness in your next small-group discussion or late-night laundry session, and you’ll be on your way to making meaningful and lasting connections with those around you in no time!

only have people over when you’re in class. If you’re on the end saying no, remember that your space is also their space, and you’re both paying for the same 10x10.

2. Discuss rules and norms: If you haven’t already, discuss rules and norms with your roommate. It could be awkward to start the conversation, but to make it easy on you, here’s the easiest conversation starter, “are there any rules or expectations you have for our dorm?” This way, your roommate can say anything that they might have, but keep in mind that if they say nothing you might have to say something first to get them started.

Again, remember that you share a 10x10 room and you both live there, so if your roommate says they want the lights out at 10 p.m., but you know you’re going to be up until 11:30 p.m. almost every night, don’t be afraid to ask for a compromise at 11:00 pm., or

you can ask them if they’re okay with your desk lamp on after 10:00 pm.

3.

Write everything down: Now that you’ve discussed your terms of engagement with your roommate, write everything down. It might feel old fashioned and stupid, but trust me, if you have any problems (and most of the time you will) a written down agreement of when you’re going to have the lights out, who takes the trash out, and when people can be over will be a lot more helpful to the RA then a long game of he said/she said.

Sometimes problems can solve themselves, if you can politely say, “We agreed at the beginning of the semester that I take the trash out on the first and third weeks of the month and you do the opposite weeks, does this need adjustment?”

If they say yes, listen to their answer, and ask for a solution if they don’t provide one. Think of writing everything down as the receipts. Keep your receipts

so you can look back when you need them.

4.

Get outta there sometimes: You have plenty of time now that you’re away from home , you can use it both in and out of your dorm. You’re most likely in a new city, or a city you’ve been to but never lived in before.

Get out and explore it! If you’d prefer to stay on campus, get out and find a new study space you like, or join a club that interests you.

When both roommates are in the room all the time, it can result in tension between the two. Additionally, one roommate that is always in the room might make it awkward for the other roommate to feel comfortable in their own space.

It’s important to consider the comfort of your roommate when you’re spending all of your time in your dorm.

5. Don’t be afraid to leave: Honestly, sometimes it just doesn’t work, and that’s okay. Understand that if

your roommate isn’t working out, there are steps you can take to get yourself into a better situation. Maybe your roommate can’t keep to the agreement you made together at the start of the semester, or they never leave, and you can’t handle awkward silence.

If your living situation is seriously taking a toll on you, ask your RA for advice first. Maybe they have some advice on how to make it more tolerable for you. If it still doesn’t improve, ask for information on changing rooms. It might suck to move in the middle of the semester, but if it’s going to improve your living conditions and state of mind, you might have to do it.

And that’s okay.

By following the advice above, I truly hope you’ll have a great year with your roommate(s).

Always remember to pause and think a second before you make any rash decisions, and remember that you both share the same 10 x 10, things can get stressful.

Awkward convo: a guide to roommate amity

Olivia Klassen Contributing Writer olivia.klassen@drake.edu

So you’ve moved all your stuff and yourself into a dorm with one or two other people and all of their stuff. Have you seen the Tik-Toks about living in a dorm for the first time asking, “is it always this awkward?” The short answer is yes, it sometimes is; but here’s a few tips that can help lower the awkwardness.

1. Be open and real about yourself: Even though you’ve already moved in and have been trying to find your groove for a few weeks now, it’s important to keep in mind to be true and real to yourself. Don’t tell your roommate that you’re okay with having a TV in the room if you aren’t, then one roommate is stuck with a TV that’s collecting dust.

If it bothers you, politely ask your roommate to not have people over, or ask that they

08 | Commentary

Commentary

Sept. 22, 2021

Conflagration on campus: a ruse? to meet up?

At 11:15 p.m., a fire truck pulled up in front of Stalnaker, only to leave about eight minutes later. Everyone shuffled back inside around the same time.

We heard that the evacuation was caused by someone burning food. Further investigation, however, was clearly necessary.

We stormed the residence hall to search for witnesses and immediately smelled smoke.

An olfactory analysis by Henry helped us determine our top suspect.

“I’m not really a stranger to the smell of burning garlic bread thanks to the questionable cooking methods my aunt uses,” Henry said. “So I’m pretty confident that the smell coming from that kitchen was burnt garlic bread.”

After we cased the building (and were reminded to sign in because we didn’t live there), I obtained witness testimony that confirmed the scene of the crime: the Stalnaker kitchen.

“I know people were in there,” said Drake first-year Edda Peterson, who had been working on homework in the Stalnaker lobby the whole time. “I could smell smoke long before the fire alarms went off.”

A foray into the kitchen revealed a broad assortment of food, including chopped green peppers and onions sitting on

Andrew Kennard News Editor andrew.kennard@drake.edu

It was around 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening when the alarm went off — a faraway klaxon of unknown origin, ringing through the night and into my dorm room.

“What is that?” I asked no one in particular, but I dismissed it. Thankfully, my roommate and fellow reporter, Gannon Henry, recognized the sound for what it was — a fire alarm from another building on Drake’s campus. I grabbed my notebook and phone, and we sprinted to the scene with a third roommate in tow.

What we saw was an enormous gaggle of displaced students outside Stalnaker Hall who had resorted to the default state of chatting and browsing their phones. Bright flashes of white light from the fire alarms could be seen through the windows, but no flames could be seen as the students enjoyed the impromptu hall get-together. One first-year told me she had been writing a paper in her Walmart pajamas when the alarm went off.

One must wonder: did a desperate RA orchestrate the whole thing to create hall bonding? How else would someone get everyone in Stally

[ST. STALLY’S FIRE]: a phenomenon in which a sorry piece of garlic bread is burnt to crisp in a cunning smokescreen to precipitate campfire conversation. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW KENNARD

a cutting board on the counter and a pot of some kind of soup or stew on the stove.

Unfortunately, I was remiss in not searching the place where the culprit was most likely hiding: the trash can. Alas, by the time I thought to check it, I had exited the kitchen and an unknown group of students had entered, the door locking behind them.

In future, I will endeavor to not overlook such crucial steps to an investigation as

essential as this one. It is the Times-Delphic’s responsibility to keep the Drake community informed about the identity of the foodstuffs that attempt to burn down our residence halls.

Having noted my own error, I have to ask: why do things like this have to happen toward the start of year, when first-years are still getting used to Drake?

On one of my first days at Drake, I was sitting at a picnic table near Helmick when people started running and saying

that someone had a gun, and everyone had to run off campus.

It turned out to be a false alarm, but it was pretty scary at the time (I’m not joking; this is a true story).

At least the residents of Stalnaker used this opportunity to get to know each other a bit better. And you, the Drake community, can rest assured that if garlic bread (or any other foodstuff with nefarious intent) strikes again, the Times-Delphic will be there to investigate.

inoculation imposition and student body fission Bryson Rea Contributing Writer bryson.rea@drake.edu

President Joe Biden put a nationwide mandate in place to fight COVID-19 this past week, mandating American employers with 100 or more workers to require vaccination across their entire workforce.

This mandate has not only sparked nationwide outrage among those who believe vaccination should be a choice, but it has also opened the door to various vaccine mandates in the near future. One of those doors leads to university mandates on all on-campus residents, something that at this point seems more conceivable than ever.

While a university mandate here at Drake once seemed far-fetched, this new mandate unlocks that door, should the university ever want to open it. Granted, the University would face a fair amount of backlash and negative effects surrounding funding, but the door still exists.

Due to this, students around campus are discussing the possibility of a vaccine mandate, along with settling on whether they believe a vaccine mandate is morally right. On one side, students believe that public health is the end all be all, while students on the other end of the spectrum believe they have the right to say no to a COVID-19 vaccination. Most students fall

somewhere in between these two points.

When recording the responses of over 50 students across campus, this statement stood true. To start, when asked if they believe a vaccine mandate will eventually be put in place at Drake University, roughly 65 percent of students believed the University would, but only in the case of dramatic Delta-variant spikes similar to the Thanksgiving surge of 2020. Along with this, nearly 90 percent of students believe COVID-19 is still enough of a threat to warrant a vaccine mandate on campus.

When discussing whether a COVID-19 vaccination mandate will be put in place for students across campus, a deeper question arises: is a vaccine mandate morally right?

The question that students seemed to cause the most variety in terms of responses was, “Do you believe unvaccinated people’s health concerns about the vaccine are valid?” In response students were split across three primary answers.

To start, roughly 30 percent of students did not believe health concerns regarding the relatively new COVID-19 vaccine were valid. One of these students summed their perspective up clearly: “This is a private college. You are choosing to go here. I feel the college can and perhaps should mandate certain vaccines such as COVID, measles and the flu shot depending on cases in the

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

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

C’MON MAN... get the Benzedrine--- I mean, vaccine--- already! Woof, the Benadryl sure is kicking in... One writer presents both sides of the ledger to the vaccine question, philosophizing on the ethics of dragooning students into Moderna-ing their arm. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

area.”

This perspective seems to be shared by many other students who noted that living oncampus and attending Drake is a choice, not a requirement.

On the other hand, roughly 24% of students believed their concerns were valid.

One student said, “I feel like it violates the basic human right to delegate what does and doesn’t go into one’s body. It makes students choose between their education and their freedom of choice.”

Several other students agreed with the idea that a vaccine mandate would violate the rights of students on campus, along with the idea that exemptions should be granted.

The most prominent response (roughly 47 percent) was that vaccine concerns were valid, but all students should get the vaccine regardless.

One student said, “I think it is necessary for public safety.

Unless one has valid medical or religious reasons why they cannot get a vaccine, I believe

they should get it.” Most students on campus tend to fall into this group, believing that public health should be prioritized over personal preference.

No matter where students fall on this issue, all can agree that a vaccine mandate instituted on campus would lead to substantial backlash and conflicts among those who disagree. Only time will tell if Drake University students face a vaccine mandate down the road.

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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Emailed letters can be sent to emma.brustkern@drake.edu.

ADVERTISING POLICY

The Times-Delphic’s business office is located at 2507 University Avenue, 124 Meredith Hall, Des Moines, IA 50311. The Times-Delphic is published on Wednesdays during the university’s fall and spring academic terms. The newspaper is distributed for free around the Drake University campus. All advertising information is to be submitted noon Sunday for the Wednesday edition. Advertisements can be designed by The Times-Delphic or submitted via e-mail. We accept cash and check. A 10 percent discount is offered for prepayment on advertisements. The business office can be contacted at 515-271-2020.