Letter from the Managing Editor
“I’m running away from all my responsibilities. And, it feels good.” - Michael Scott
Are y’all surprised that it’s me again? Welp, I hope not. Anywho, welcome to the fourth issue of The Patriot for the fall 2019 semester. The semester is going by so quickly now. The days just seem to run together for me.
Opening convo is over and our first football game is this Thursday, how exciting! Since I have your attention, let’s buckle on in shall we?
Issue 4 has a lot of really great topics that our reporters and volunteers covered. We’ve got recaps and sports previews along with some other topics. This issue, I decided to elaborate on my last leditor. On this week’s cover are the most mentioned places where women get catcalled on campus.
Speaking about some pretty heavy topics, I thought I would take time to talk to y’all about global warming. I know that it such a huge topic, especially to cover in such a short segment, so I’ll narrow it down to our plastic use on campus.
As the student body keeps growing, we are using more and more single use plastic. As much as I wouldn’t like to admit it, I’m part of the problem. Chick-fil-A, Tossed and Pete’s Eats use items like plastic containers, plastic silverware wrapped in plastic, straws, plastic foam and much more on a daily basis. How good can this be for the environment? So my question to you is, how can you be more aware of your personal plastic use?
I know it might seem small but try carrying around reusable water bottles or sticking to the eat-in options at Tossed or CFA. UC has done a really great job of installing really awesome bubblers around campus that accommodate water bottles.
Small steps like that can really help reduce our carbon footprint as a campus.
It’s important to be conscious of our decisions around plastic and non-reusable items because we need to take care of the Earth we live on. There’s 7 billion people on this planet and all of our actions matter. There’s no longer time to run away from the problem. We’ve got to face it head on now.
So I’m calling out to you, what can you do for this planet?
Keep surviving and thriving,
Taylor Duke, Managing Editor
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Krzyston
Managing Editor
Taylor Duke
Faculty Adviser
Jeremiah Massengale
Staff
Emilee Agee
Haley Bullock
Whitney Couch
River DePetris
Makayla Durham
Abigail Fletcher
Leanne Gregory
Alex Nunn
Jenna Rose
Sara Sherman
Elizabeth Spires
Maranda Young
Front cover by Mike Krzyston
Back cover by Haley Bullock
Email comments, concerns or tips to: thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu or call us at 606-539-4172
7000 College Station Drive Williamsburg, Kentucky 40769
The Patriot is the student publication of the University of the Cumberlands. Our goal is to provide timely and original content by highlighting campus news and views.
Award-winning member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Kentucky Press Association.
Old Fashioned Trading Days: What’s so great about it?
BY JENNA ROSE AND KENZIE WRIGHT Staff Writer
As a college student it can be intimidating to leave campus and experience what the community of Williamsburg has to offer; however, there are many benefits to getting involved in the small town’s charm. One of the best events we hold as a city, in the opinion of the locals, is Old Fashioned Trading Days. This event consists of booths selling food, homemade goods and manufactured products. It also has fun attractions such as musical performances, face painting and bull riding. It is usually held on the first or second weekend of September which means it has already passed. If you missed out this year, here is why you should be sure to attend next year.
The most common opinion regarding Old Fashioned Trading Days, OFTD, is that it creates a sense of community and family. One booth owner from Pine Knott mentioned that even though she isn’t from Williamsburg, “You make friends when you go to the festival…they will remember you from the year before, it’s almost like they are family.” As a college student, it is incredibly important to get involved in the community outside of campus events. Finding people who will treat you with “southern charm” is, to many, a blessing during their time away from home. There are many ways to get involved in the community and OFTD is only one of them but it can make a large impact. Not only is it a big event, but it is also at the beginning of the semester, meaning it is a great way to get involved at the start of the year.
Another reason to make attending OFTD a priority next year is because it gives people the opportunity to support the community
emotionally and financially. The Cattlemen’s Association sells burgers and other foods in order to raise money not only for their organization, but also for the community. They take some of their profits and help the local Future Farmers of America Club and 4-H Club. As Jake Bennett, an OFTD regular, says, “These small communities like this don’t have a whole lot going for them,” so every event held to help support local organizations and clubs counts.
Angie Hill of Hill Family Farm Handmade Soaps believes, “It’s one of the best ways to get to know Williamsburg…you get to see what we have to offer.” Old Fashioned Trading Days is a summary of the nature of Williamsburg, Kentucky. For anyone who is not from this area, OFTD is one of the best places to learn what to expect from the town that is now his/ her home. If you aspire to get involved outside of campus, learn more about Williamsburg, and eat delicious food as a bonus, don’t miss out on “The big event of the year” in 2020.
Photo by Elizabeth Spires
Freshman Lillie Abbott enjoying her visit to the 36th annual Old-Fashioned Trading Days.
A man of history
Daniel Gullotta speaks about the life and time
of President Andrew Jackson
BY LEANNE GREGORY Staff Writer
History is born from memories, woven through ink and paper. Like all stories, it strives to paint portraits of the individuals who tell it. It is only by parsing through the embellished idiosyncrasies that historians can piece together the past as it once used to be, and why its traditions remain to this day. This is the culmination of what occurred on Thursday, Sep. 12 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall when the Upsilon-Upsilon Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, UC’s history department’s honor society, hosted an event called Constitution Celebration Day: Andrew Jackson and the Separation of Church and State.
Daniel Gullotta, a graduate of Yale’s Divinity School and the Australian Catholic School, with a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies respectively, was the primary speaker for the event. After an opening introduction and prayer by Dr. Aaron Coleman, a professor of history and political science at UC, Gullotta began the program. He began with an oral presentation given from behind a podium on the stage with a salvo of jokes and a small fact about him being from Brisbane, Australia. Gullotta’s talk then transitioned into Jackson’s life, and exploits through retellings of personal anecdotal stories that included: Jackson’s unknown origins of birth, time in the war as a prisoner that spawned many of the myths surrounding Jackson’s personality, the misconceptions about the number of duels he fought throughout his lifetime, the religious controversies surrounding his marriage to Rachel Donelson, whose first marriage to her husband was never officially annulled when Jackson came to court and marry her, forcing the two to remarry, that later influenced how he felt about overly moralistic evangelic Christians, his exploits during the revolutionary war, how his rise to presidential office was both fueled by religious minorities, such as deists, and Jews, who looked to Jackson as Thomas Jefferson’s successor in terms of protecting the countries religious liberty, and filled with more controversy, such as continuing to work with an man who was seen as being morally unfit for office due to supposedly being married to another man’s wife because he understood the man’s plight, and how Jackson, despite being around sixty years of age and a thin sickly man whose body had been ravaged by disease since his run in with small pox as a child, chased down and beat his would be assassin with a cane while attending a funeral.
After the presentation, Gullotta opened the room up to questions during which he: shared some of his favorite Jackson stories both true, a party in the white house that turned into a over excited mob through which Jackson’s daughter had to help him escape through a window to keep from being crushed alive by the crowds who wished to greet him, and untrue, wherein Jackson was thought to have stated that his only regret upon leaving the office was that
he hadn’t shot and hanged some of the men he worked alongside throughout his tenure, Martin Van Buren and John C. Calhoun, debunked Jackson’s association with the pirate Lafayette by explaining Jackson’s association was through Lafayette’s brother who offered his brother’s help to Jackson in defeating the British in exchange for Jackson not prosecuting his brother for his crimes, expounded upon the ways Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson were similar, both men having an avid following, and different, offering as evidence their treatment of women and political experience, and even spoke about his plans to become a US citizen.
“History doesn’t repeat itself,” Gullotta reasoned during his presentation, “but it does rhyme.”
Gullotta’s knowledge of Jackson’s life arises from a lifetime of academic study that was inspired by his relationship with an American woman, seeing that many individuals would talk about and study the events before and after Jackson’s era of history but hesitate to really explore the events that happened during them, and an interest in the contradictions that encompassed the man himself. Gullotta’s research is primarily focused, according to his official website, on Christianity and its traditions, leaders, and branching mythos throughout America’s early modern history, the traditions of American witchcraft and the occult, and how the bible is interpreted and received by the American people in their cultural mediums. Gullotta is also the member of myriad religious and historical organizations, including the American Academy of Religion and the American Historical Association, has authored his own book and several publications for literary journals, and academic reference works, and is a prolific speaker, having both given presentations around the country, and syndicated his own, ongoing, podcast series concerning the Jacksonian era of history.
“The speaker was very entertaining to listen to,” Max Emerson, a UC senior stated, “I could tell he knew what he was talking about and offered an interesting take on a controversial president. I subscribed to his podcast, The Age of Jackson, after he spoke to us.”
The presentation was open to all UC students who were able to utilize the event as an alternative credit for UC engage if they missed the opening fall convocation, and for students who were enrolled in Dr. Coleman’s history classes there was an opportunity to receive extra bonus points for attending the presentation.
Photos by Maranda Young
Uncomfortable, embarrassed and objectified.
Cat got your tongue?
Women on campus experience higher rates of catcalling
Those are the most common words that women were using to describe their catcalling experiences.
Sydney Holcombe, a University of the Cumberlands senior, was walking through the parking lot for Archer and Hutton Halls, when a car full of men drove past her. Their windows were rolled down when they shouted, “Hey pretty girl, where ya headed tonight,” and then whistled, according to Holcombe.
This isn’t the first time Holcombe has experienced street harassment but she thinks it won’t be the last either. Unfortunately, Holcombe isn’t the only woman on UC’s campus experiencing an increase in catcalling this semester.
Perhaps the increase in the number of students on campus correlates to the increasing catcalls on campus.
So what exactly is a catcall? Catcall is slang for street harassment.
According to Kentucky statue, 525.070, a person is guilty of harassment when, “In a public place, makes an offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or display, or addresses abusive language to any person present; follows a person in or about a public place or places; engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which alarm or seriously annoy such other person and which serve no legitimate purpose.”
The statue has a special clause for enrolled students.
“Being enrolled as a student in a local school district, and while on school premises, on school sponsored transportation, or at a school sponsored event… creates a hostile environment by means of any gestures, written communications, oral statements, or physical acts that a reasonable person under the circumstances should know would cause another student to suffer fear of physical harm, intimidation, humiliation, or embarrassment,” the statue continues.
BY TAYLOR DUKE Managing Editor
Catcallers do not have the power to comment on what you look like. Only you can do that.
Senior Faith Titus said catcalling makes her feel violated. She can’t help but feel more self-conscious leaving her room. This is a common theme amongst those who have been catcalled.
“I think it’s extremely immature for a man to do that and is demeaning to women who deserve dignity and respect,” said Jared Swank, a UC sophomore.
“I feel unsafe walking around campus now,” said Holcombe. “I refuse to walk alone at night now and I think that there is a strong likelihood of harassment getting worse if nothing is said or done.”
A UC student who wanted to remain anonymous said, “There’s a pack of guys at the viaduct who always say something. I purposefully go on another path now.”
Another UC student, Lexi Perkins, said she doesn’t even feel comfortable walking alone during the day time.
“It seems like everyday someone at work or one of my friends is talking about getting catcalled,” said Savannah Wagers, a senior.
“But like how do you even report these guys when you don’t even know who they are,” asked Wagers.
UC student success coordinator Keely Peterson, who is also a current Title IX investigator, said, “If they don’t know the person, or want to report an incident students can speak to me, Dr. Emily Coleman or Steve Allen. And if they have the date, the time and location, then we can go and investigate that information. Reporting can keep track of where it is happening on campus, how often and stuff like that.”
Harassment is considered a Class B misdemeanor.
Unofficially, the talks of women on campus experiencing these remarks has risen.
Catcalling might not seem like a big issue, but it’s a part of a bigger issue. Along with the comments, catcalling shows a general disrespect towards women.
“I get angry because catcalling is pointless. Nothing productive ever gets accomplished from it. I never feel flattered from it, I feel objectified,” said sophomore Lexie McCarty.
The 2019-2020 UC student handbook states, the complaint may be made by telephone, email, regular mail, or in person. It goes on to state, “The University will take appropriate steps to eliminate sexual harassment as quickly as possible.”
Peterson continued to say that Student Services wants to be more proactive but they can only do so if they know what is going on. Anyone experiencing catcalling is encouraged by Student Services to report it to a Title IX coordinator on campus. Accountability isn’t available if reports aren’t made.
Peterson said that when students only talk between themselves, the administration can’t do anything about it.
Illustration by Taylor Duke
Charging toward the new season
UC football team sets big expectations
BY ALEX NUNN Staff Writer
The University of the Cumberlands football team has started off their season strong, having won their first away game. The team has expectations to keep the momentum going one game at a time. The team has quite the line up of opponents to face before the season is over.
Sophomore defensive end, Joshua Johnson, spoke briefly about the upcoming season, starting by commenting on the freshman by saying, “A lot of freshmen have been proving themselves, and some have even made it over to the varsity team, so we’ve got a really good group.” Johnson continued by talking about people stepping up, “Robbie Garvin and Brad Montgomery are leaders, and are really taking control of this year and helping us, as a defense, get better.”
Johnson finished by sharing briefly his goals for the Patriots and for himself personally, “As a team, the goal is to win a ring and the championship, but for me personally I want to show the coaches I have what it takes to play.”
Coach Matt Rhymer spoke about how the season has gone so far, “It’s a work in progress, trying to get better every day and find our identity, always searching.” Rhymer continued by saying, “Every team is different, although we have a lot of guys returning from last year’s team. But it’s a new year, a new team, and each team has to come into its own, building its own character.”
Coach Rhymer followed up by commenting on the strength of the
leadership on the team, “There’s a long list of athletes who’ve played a strong leadership role, all of them are great people, and great students. They do everything we ask and do it right.”
The football team has a long season ahead of them and each opponent will be tough. As Coach Rhymer put it, “We aren’t looking at it as one team is more difficult than the other. We take each opponent as a challenge. We haven’t set our view to one team in particular. Our next game is always our next important.”
Coach Rhymer concluded by saying “Our team really appreciates all the support we have by everybody. We’re really strongly tied to the Patriot pledge and want to use our platform to make a great impact,” following with, “This will be an awesome year. As adversity comes hopefully we’ll handle it well because when our team plays it’s about more than themselves, it’s about playing for something bigger than just individuals, it’s playing for the Patriots and all we stand for.”
The Patriots have their first home game on Thursday, September 19th against Webber International University. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Courtesy of UC Sports Info
Senior Linebacker Tyler Pendleton makes atackle against Ave Maria. His breakout defensive performance won him an MSC Defensive Player of the Week title.
Looking back
Advice to the new freshman to go forward
BY MIKE KRZYSTON Editor- in - Chief
When I was 18 I thought I had it all figured out. I feel like a lot of college freshmen have the same feeling on move-in day. After my parents helped me move in to my tiny dorm room, I actually couldn’t wait for them to leave campus so I could settle in to my new life—I know that sounds awful, but it was true. I was beyond excited.
Then real life hits, and it hits hard. You lose the girl you really thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with. You start doing poorly in classes you need for the career you want after school. You start to feel a type of loneliness you haven’t felt before.
The winter of my freshmen year was the loneliest and saddest time of my life. I had become a different person I wasn’t sure I was ready to become. I didn’t reach out for help because I truly thought that I had it all figured out.
Looking back, that time molded me into someone I can accept now, but if I had the chance to write a letter to my younger self, the only
advice I would tell myself is to be patient.
Although it seems fast, life is very long. There is so much time to do the things you want to do if you truly care about doing them. I think I, and many other new college students, get caught up in the end result rather than the process it takes to get there. It took me six months of college to realize the biggest lesson I’ve learned here: I will never get those days back. There are so many emotions I haven’t felt yet, so many songs I haven’t heard, so many people who haven’t impacted my life yet, but they will. All it takes is a little bit of patience.
At the end of the day it is all trial and error. If I hadn’t tried and failed in a major I didn’t love, I would not have met Jeremiah, or become a journalism student, or pursued photography and making videos or anything that has made me into the artist, and man, I’m working on becoming every day.
So to all you freshmen, just wait. It gets better. I promise.
Songs to get you ready for the football game featuring some that the UC Marching Band will be performing.
