The
Davidsonian September 30, 2020
s e n i L g n i p p o Drmun icat m
in 2
Co
ion
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inside timeline of David2 Ason’s 4 Campus publications since 1914.
Artwork by Chloe Pitkoff ‘21 (she/her)
Complexion and Hobart Park discuss the role community plays in their process.
6
What does communication at Davidson look like in 2020? Erin Papakostas ‘23 reports.
students navi4 Three gate a new communication landscape.
2 | timeline Editorial Note
We’ll skip the small talk. Welcome.
The Davidsonian has traditionally reached readers through a weekly print issue that reports on key news updates and elements of campus life. Since last March, we have been looking inward, beginning a process of self-examination and reevaluation with a couple core questions in mind: What is useful about student journalism in the middle of a global pandemic? Can a campus paper help unite a community attempting to understand its own isolation and loss? And, does examining Davidson’s broader communication landscape hold insights for the challenges of the present moment? This first special issue of The Davidsonian was born of these questions and the need to adapt our own style of communication to a brand new way of life. Inside, you will find art, archival research, a conversation between campus publications, personal perspectives, a traditional news feature, and anonymous
social media commentary on the topic at hand. Through this mix of mediums and narratives, the issue highlights specific windows into the subject of communication at Davidson in order to begin articulating new questions about our community. We will interrogate the role of past and present publications at Davidson and consider how they might adapt to the issues that members of our community are currently navigating. By emphasizing communication in this moment, we hope to use journalism to foster empathy and provide a common thread for understanding the disparate experiences our community faces in this time of universal disorientation. Somewhat ironically, we found that, in publishing an issue that focuses on communication, we have become a new piece of the very communication ecosystem we seek to understand.
THE DAVIDSONIAN (1914) * The First issue of The Davidsonian was realeased on April Fools’ Day in 1924 with this statement: “[The Davidsonian] should be in close touch with every phase of college life and the life of the community about it. Even in a small college, life becomes more and more complex, and as the students are broken up into an increasing number of groups, there is a tendency not to look beyond the questions and the matter in which one man is directly interested. The college newspaper should give live information about every group and department of college activity, keep them acquainted with each other, and thus promote a feeling of mutual interest and encouragement. In addition, these are the things which vitally concern every student, and yet which are not well know or misunderstood.”
THE YOWL (1930-1936) * Filling the space left by The Chameleon, the original Yowl emerged in 1930 with both satirical and creative writing in tow. The publicaiton met its demise in 1936 under pressure from faculty. The image to left shows the cover of the May 1935 issue.
DAVIDSON MONTHLY (1870-1930) *
1930
Published in 1895, the first issue of the yearbook stated, “In this, our first issue, we have striven to produce a volume worthy of our institution, and while we realize our imperfections and shortcomings, we ask of our readers an indulgent criticism and that recognition and that recognition and appreciation merited by all honest endeavor”
1925
1895
1870
1837
QUIPS ‘N CRANKS (1895) *
1914
The Davidson Monthly was a student-created literary magazine whose six editors were chosen by the Eumenean and Philanthropic Literary Societies. In 1897, the publication became The Davidson College Magazine, which endured until 1926 when it was renamed again; The Chameleon lasted until 1930, eventually ceasing publicaiton after a 60 year tenure.
SANITY RARE (1925-1927) * Sanity Rare was a short-lived comedic publication released during Junior Speaking, a social weekend which would eventually become Spring Frolics. The image displays the cover of the publication’s 1926 issue.
9.30.2020 | 3
The Timeline
Here lies our attempt to organize and visualize Davidson’s history of student publication. An important note: this record is, by no means, exhaustive. As The Davidsonian’s favorite archivist, officially Davidson’s Digital Archivist, Molly Kunkel remarked in her email to us at the beginning of this process, “There have been a TON of Davidson publications through the years.” While we did our best to find and display them all, the task was, ultimately, a losing battle. So, we lament those whose pages have been lost to time, relish those whose legacy remains in our archives, and applaud those whose tenure endures. Consider this the issue’s teaser; across 183 years, the
student publication community has faced and adapted to change similar to that which we are currently living through and, all the while, maintained its pride and value. Brava to the countless journalists, satirists, prose artists, poets, and visual artists whose time and effort built the tradition of publication we see before us, and to the archivists, printers, business managers, layout personnel, technology specialists, and all the other underrecognized maestros whose sweat played an equal role in establishing this history -- we thank you too. Enjoy our timeline and this month’s special issue of The Davidsonian.
SANKOFA JOURNAL (2019) ***
SCRIPS ‘N PRANKS (1936-1965) * The literature (scripts) and humor (pranks) magazine’s innaugural text: We call it SCRIPTS ‘ N PRANKS To those brave souls who Suggested names, we offer thanks– But not congratulations To the editor of the yearbook We offer apologies
To the post office officials Who curse us daily We beg forgiveness To the students Whose tongues it twists We offer sympathy
A literary magazine consisting of original fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography by student and faculty contributors, Hobart Park emerged in December 1978, publishing thrice annually. Now, the magazinecomes out once a year in the spring.
Key *image courtesy of Davidson Archives **image courtesy of Complexion, www.complexions.blog ***image courtesy of The Sankofa Journal, www.issuu.com/sankofajournal
2004
1996
1978
1936
First published in February 1996, Libertas was “conceived by students in response to the recognizable gap that lies between The Davidsonian and Hobart Park.”
2020
To those who cant tell the difference anyway We offer counsel To the rest of you We offer — SCRIPTS ‘N PRANKS
LIBERTAS (1996)*
HOBART PARK (1978) *
Representing student academic publications on this timeline, The Sankofa Journal is a “scholarly venue and collaborative for Davidson College students to publish their original works related to the interdisciplinary field of Africana Studies.”
2019
To the Davidsonian reporters
Who can’t spell it We offer aid
COMPLEXION (2020) ** Born in summer 2020, Complexion is an online publication “by, for and about the community of people of color that make Davidson College vibrant”
THE YOWL TM (2004) * The Yowl reemerged in 2004 after a 68 year haitus. The first issue featured four pages of satire and caracature art with this headline spanning the front page: “Christ deemed ineligible for Board of Trustees membership”
4 | Q&A
Writing Com
A conversa
Interview and Introduction by Alyssa Tirell ‘22 she/her
L
ast week, I was lucky enough to host a conversation in my Zoom room that was so engaging it almost redeamed the digital medium. In this discussion, Cathy Xu ‘21 (she/her), Kennedy Petties ‘23 (she/her), and Marvin Davis ‘24 (they/them) represent two campus publications, one which just published its first issue, and the other of which has occupied Davidson’s communication ecosystem for many years. Though I had intended to steer the conversation towards themes of digital communication and the responsibility of campus publications in an unprecedented semester, nearly every response orbited the concept of community. Far from being abstract, these editors and writers emphasized the practices and structures which allow them to break down the barriers between the writer, the subject, and the reader. Like all good interviews, I found that the conversation elevated inself beyond the plane of my rehearsed questions and established its own argument: one which stressed the importance of communities writing about themselves.
Alyssa Tirrell: Would each of y’all start off by talking a little bit about how you came to be involved with a campus publication? Kennedy Petties: I’ve been working on Complexion, which is actually the project that I’ve founded in the past few months. I was just kind of sitting around Davidson -- and I kept getting different news outlets and whatnot -- and I felt like there was nothing that explicitly represented me. There wasn’t a place where students of color could be represented as a whole, instead of in really fragmented groups. So I worked on founding Complexion and helped put together a lot of the structure in the team. And we got our first publication out last month, and we’re working on the next one now. Cathy Xu: I’m the Co-Editor-in-Chief with Ariel Chung ‘21 for Hobart Park. I started my freshman year as a copy editor [for Hobart Park] because there were a lot of writers who I really admired who were a part of the staff, including a lot of people of color, so that attracted me to the magazine.
“Because I know that too often, when things that are traumatic happen on Davidson’s campus, the stories that are being written aren’t necessarily from the perspective of the people who were hurt by them.” - Kennedy Petties ’23 Complexion, Editor and Founder Marvin Davis: I started working with Complexion after seeing Kennedy’s advertisements on Instagram. I was definitely interested in writing about my experiences and my opinions regarding different things as a POC, as a Black person. And I like writing. So that’s why I joined. AT: You each touched on this, but would you speak a little more explicitly about the mission of your publication and who your audience is? What are you trying to communicate and to whom? Why is a written publication the ideal medium for that [communication]? Do you use other mediums -- like, visual mediums or social media -- to communicate that same thing to that same, or a different, audience? KP: I think our audience is definitely intended to be everyone. I think it was mainly because a lot of the stories of people of color at Davidson only come to light when traumatic events happen. It’s always really sad stuff. And there was so much more that could be shared than those experiences. Mainly, [Complexion is a] written publication on our website. Social
media is often used to promote other people’s stories, not necessarily to exhibit the writing itself. But social media is a place where everyone can feel like they’ve been supported in some sense, so we’re not having the whole ‘some people are getting support, some people aren’t, and it’s really unbalanced and unequal.’ We do our best to follow all of the other student organizations or groups on campus, so they’re equally highlighted, instead of only in places where people of color are going to go. MD: I definitely think Complexion is for all people, but definitely people of color are going to resonate with the content. I think, a lot of times, the only time some people look at POC stories, like Kennedy said, is when something bad happens. It needs to be seen constantly. Our voices do need to be heard 365 days, not just the one day something bad happens. And so even right now, with our first release, I feel like we have like a myriad of stories that vary based on content. And all of our writers are so great, and they write with their soul, and you can feel what they’re feeling. They’re talking about their personal experiences as who they are where they live. AT: Do you feel that not only being a space where people gather and share stories, but also uplifting stories that aren’t specifically in your orbit is a foundational principle of Complexion? KP: I think, yes. I think so much of what we want to do is generally uplift everyone who we’re talking about, and to some extent, to make sure that they’re feeling heard. Because I know that too often, when things that are traumatic happen on Davidson’s campus, the stories that are being written aren’t necessarily from the perspective of the people who were hurt by them. But also, when really positive things happen -- when someone’s been working on a really good project, or they started a business -- it almost only circulates within that community of color and outside people don’t get to see it. And the reality is that even all of us together are still a minority at the campus. There’s just more white students than there are students of color in general. So, [we] kind of give a place for white students to be able to see all the work everyone’s doing. And then a place for students of color to feel like there’s a place where they’re getting acknowledged for the work that they’re doing. Because I know too often it can feel like it’s only in our immediate bubbles that anyone gives us the accolades that we feel like we deserve. So, it’s definitely a foundational principle because that’s who we want to be. We’re very welcome to people reaching out to us and saying, ‘I’ve been working on this thing, would you like to write a story about it, or promote it, or share the hard work that I’m doing?’ AT: Cathy, how does all of that resonate for you, and how do you understand the mission of Hobart Park, especially as a publication that has been around a little bit longer and had a lot of writers and staff members of color that you looked up to as a freshman? Have you seen the landscape of that shift? CX: Yeah, for sure. Hobart Park doesn’t really have a defining identity; it’s just a very general literary and art magazine on campus that’s for everyone. I think we can all agree that most of the editorials or publications on Davidson’s campus are very white-dominant. I think that’s why it was important for me, my freshman year, to see that, ‘Oh, Hobart Park seems to be a magazine that people of color are at least more comfortable with or gravitate towards.’ In my four years, I’ve definitely seen a shift. It’s been gradual, but right now, Ariel [Chung] and I are the two Co-Editors, and we’re both Asian women. In comparison to most editorials on campus, I feel like we have a much more diverse editorial staff. Hobart Park has always emphasized involving the community in our selection process. We have a readership system where we gather selections from everyone, and then we have a group of readers who aren’t necessarily on the staff who then go and rate the pieces. And then based off of their feedback, we then choose the top pieces. And then the editorial staff edits and works together to create the magazine. And so I would say it has always involved the greater community within all of our processes. In addition, given the staff that we have right now, all of us are trying to take advantage of the fact that Hobart Park is a long-standing magazine at Davidson and using that platform that people are already very familiar with in order to start to highlight some more diverse voices in arts communities and to amplify the voices that we think need to be heard more. That’s why in the summer we published a mini-issue, [a] Black artists feature where we had Makayla Binter and Jaelyn Taylor. Only a month or so after we released the mini-issue, I was like, ‘Wait a second. Every single person who’s contributed to this magazine is a person of color. Like, even the editors and the layout editor.’ That was like a moment that was really weird for me, because of how white-dominated editorials usually are. AT: Cathy, a lot of what y’all publish are creative pieces and artistic works.
Alyssa Tirre
Cathy Xu ‘21
And Complexion focused on uplifting tives. What do you think it means for itself as a news publication -- to have that do in the communication landscap
CX: It doesn’t necessarily have to be you talk about a news medium, there’s kind of thing, where the person writin are going to be looking at the people in you talk about what Complexion is doi by people of color, it’s more like you’ like you. It’s more like writing about y ten about, if that makes sense. So, I thi important to have platforms like Comp
KP: I think a lot of it, for us, is that personalizing the experience, like Cath not talking about someone, but [are] think that there’s absolutely nothing wr Davidsonian is a primarily white, all-n the all-news perspective side of things institution. But I think that the intentio and diversify is what matters. I think each publication has its place and its a
AT: How do y’all perceive your role a
mmunity
9.30.2020 | 5
ation with Complexion and Hobart Park
ell ‘22 (she/her)
1 (she/her)
g specific stories and personal narrar The Davidsonian -- which defines a primarily white staff? What does pe of the institution?
this way, but I think that whenever s always going to be a subject/object ng the news or doing the interviews nvolved as a subject. Whereas when ing or taking creative pieces that are ’re writing about yourself, or people yourself, rather than like being writink that’s the distinction and why it’s plexion.
t we want to make sure that we’re hy said, and making sure that we’re in conversation with that person. I rong, honestly, with the fact that The news publication. There’s a need for s, and Davidson is a primarily white onal effort of The Davidsonian to try The Davidsonian has its place, and audience.
as student journalists and editors in
Kennedy Petties ‘23 (she/her)
Marvin Davis ‘24 (they/them) regard to transparency and communication on campus, specifically during the time of COVID? Do you have thoughts around COVID and being part of this ecosystem of communication at Davidson? MD: I wouldn’t say COVID has affected my writing yet, but I definitely think that going into the future, or as election season is coming up and as time progresses through January, I feel like all of our writings will definitely be much more affected by COVID. Not necessarily in terms of how it’s written, or how it’s received, but the context in which it’s written. I definitely think that people who are writing articles about what’s happening and having COVID as the context, especially if they’re writing about how COVID has affected the country and they’re focusing on how it’s affected the minority population, it will definitely be much more prevalent. CX: Hobart Park is an annual magazine that comes out in the spring semester, and clearly that was disrupted. Before, we were only a hardcopy magazine publication, and we really prided ourselves in our fancy, nice, little hardback copies of our magazines. Since COVID, we’ve gone digital, and so we made an Instagram. I think by going digital, it feels like we’re actually becoming a little bit more visible. The format we’ve done is we have an issue video and then we’ll do highlights of each artist that contributes to our magazine. And that makes them even more part of the process and everyone gets to like, share it on their stories. It feel a lot more like a community rather than just like dropping off copies of the magazine at people’s door.
KP: Our original intention was to have a hardcopy, but we ended up moving into the digital front purely because of Corona. But I think it’s really allowed us to kind of expand what we can do because we have Instagram in the same way that Hobart Park does. It’s been so interesting to see the community that gets built around everything that we post, seeing it, like you said, on other people’s stories or their social media and like, people have been able to get a lot more involved. People can also comment on it and share it with friends and family so much more easily than a hardcopy. I think it’s had its ups and downs. We wish we could have in-person interviews with people and meet with the team and have an office and all that. But it also has its ups of, like, people are honestly so much more engaged than I would have expected. CX: Yeah, whenever I’m on Instagram, I see that someone’s family members started following us. And it’s just really nice to be able to see that people are connecting and this is spreading to an extended Davidson community. KP: On that same front, Nahi wrote an article, and her family in Lebanon actually got to read all about it, which was so cool, because we could see it on the little WordPress thing. I think Corona has, on one hand, separated a lot of us ‘cause we just can’t see each other in person. But because we don’t have to worry about being in person to get to know someone, we’ve been able to learn a lot more about other people.
Dropping Lines
Pandemic Challenges Transparency and Communication within Campus Community
6 | feature
W
Feature by Erin Papakostas ‘23 (she/her)
While preparing to move onto campus this past August, Jack Magner ‘23 received an unexpected email. As COVID-19 cases were starting to rise on Davidson’s campus, the school prohibited guests from being in residential rooms. It was August, and COVID-19 cases were beginning to rise as more students began moving in. In response to reading the email from the college, Magner remarked, “The communication on that email was framed in a way that was more so blaming students than it was talking about the systemic reasons that the cases were going up.” Magner shared his worries on Twitter and posted screenshots of his tweets to his Instagram stories. His tweets reflected his concern about town members adhering to COVID-19 guidelines while on Davidson’s campus, dining while social distancing, and athletic practices. The college responded to Magner, who was satisfied with the response and did not take his concerns further. Davidson College’s Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Mark Johnson explained how Communications determines which questions to answer on social media, town hall meetings, and on the FAQ page. In an e-mailed response, he commented, “questions often are posted on social media for purposes other than for eliciting an answer. We try to respond when a questioner truly seeks information or the question requires an institutional response or the answer would be helpful to the community or any combination of those things.” Since the start of the pandemic, Davidson’s community’s needs have changed drastically. The college has worked to satisfy those needs and communicate information that ensures the safety and wellbeing of everyone. In order to quell anxiety and confusion, the college kept faculty, students, and staff updated throughout the spring and summer about what to expect in the Fall 2020 semester. Magner received notice about Davidson’s new move-in day policy in early August. He was bothered that even though his move-in day was pushed back, the college maintained its policy regarding the date by which a student could choose to move back home. His time to deliberate the decision to stay on campus the entire semester decreased from eleven days to just three days. Ellie Lipp ‘22 also received a new move-in date from the Residence Life Office (RLO). Lipp’s parents took time off from work to help her move in, but they had to change their schedules when Lipp got notice that her move-in date had changed. “I wish the administration would have recognized the stresses of having to transition to a new environment while you’ve already started classes,” she said. Lipp was a hall counselor last year. When students were sent home at the start of the pandemic, she com-
mented that RLO was frantically trying to find the best solutions to support students as they transitioned home. “Eventually they got a solid plan in place, but the initial message was basically, ‘hold tight while we figure it out,’” she said. According to Lipp, RLO addressed issues as they arose and made adjustments based on student needs, such as by allowing students to stay on campus if necessary and coordinating with the Student Government Association (SGA) for students to store their belongings. Lipp was the first Davidson student to enter quarantine on campus, and she was in constant communication with her bosses at RLO at the time. “Simultaneously, as I appreciated [the support], I was getting all these messages from my coworkers having no idea what to tell their residents,” Lipp stated. Her fellow hall counselors were struggling to respond to their residents’ questions. Ben Sempowski ‘23 is currently a hall counselor and remarked that RLO works to ensure students are clear about how COVID-19 policies affect their roles as student leaders. When the RLO student staff members returned to campus earlier this semester, they received specific training about how to respond to various coronavirus-related scenarios. Each week, members of RLO have a meeting with their residential areas, allowing students to talk about their concerns as well as providing the Area Coordinator—a live-in coordinator who supervises the student staff of a residential area—the time to share pertinent updates. According to Sempowski, any time the COVID-19 response team releases an email with an update or policy change, like when the visitor policy changed on August 27th, hall counselors receive an email within a few hours clarifying what the changes mean for them. As August approached, students and staff prepared for orientation. Macy Lawton ‘22 was an Orientation Team Leader (OTL) during first-year orientation this year. Lawton said the OTLs were in constant communication with each other and the Student Activities Office throughout this past spring semester and the summer. She commented, “Any questions that we had as OTLs about what the school was thinking about the fall, even if [Student Activities] didn’t know the answer, we talked about it more than I was hearing from anyone else.” Orientation went smoother than Lawton anticipated and she was grateful that her Orientation Team Members (OTMs) were patient and realized that she did not have all the answers. Roman Fenner ‘22 was also an OTL. He remarked that the OTMs were tasked with the responsibility to inform first-year students about the college’s COVID-19 policies, even though they too were adjusting to a different campus than previous years. “One of the things we were trained on was how to handle those tough questions and how to respond and be informed but also be positive about it. It was really hard to be positive about it,” Fenner said. When students transitioned to online classes last spring, the college originally instructed faculty members to make their own decisions about virtual learning until the administration released a wide-spread plan of action, according to Dr. Amanda Martinez, Chair of the Communication Studies Department. She said it was especially worrisome for junior faculty who did not have the same liberty to make decisions as tenured professors did. “A lot of us on the faculty side felt a sense of relief
9.30.2020 | 7
for that leadership and top-down communication was actually a good thing because it horizontalized the communication in a way that was less ambiguous,” Dr. Martinez said. Every department has different dynamics surrounding communication, and the pandemic’s impacts have not been limited to one group of faculty in particular, according to Dr. Martinez. For many faculty, explicit communication needed to come from the administration. “I do think that people felt — and this is just related to the anxieties surrounding experiencing and living through a pandemic — like they wanted more information, more clearly, sooner,” Dr. Martinez said. Dr. Martinez explained that one cause for concern among professors was course evaluations. Administrators framed them as optional, and they would no longer have to count for junior faculty who are more vulnerable to the data from the assessments. Dr. Martinez would have preferred not to administer evaluations at all; given the circumstances, she felt course evaluations seemed unnecessary. “I know that some of us pushed back,” said Dr. Martinez. “Let’s just not have course evaluations because people are going to feel this extra anxiety, like they still have to be performing in a way as though they’re not experiencing stress and anxiety because of the pandemic, and the remote shift that was sudden.” On May 21st, President Carol Quillen hosted a town hall event, moderated by SGA representative Wren Healy ‘23 and geared towards answering questions from the classes of 2022 and 2023 about the upcoming semester. Lipp believed that students were looking for concrete answers at the town hall, but many came away with more anxiety. “That town hall for me was like placing a Band-Aid on a bullet wound,” expressed Lipp. “I think it might have incited more anxiety than it helped, but at least they were trying to communicate with us and providing that platform to share our concerns.” Johnson described the thought process behind Davidson’s communication to students, commenting: “We focused on unprecedented topics [through various channels], such as: how the campus is being cleaned, how classrooms and facilities have been reconfigured, how meals are served, even how the ventilation system works. We worked to emphasize safety protocols to the campus community and campus visitors through emails, social media messages, signs and posters.” Fenner said that it was difficult for OTMs to answer questions from first-years about interacting with students outside their residence halls, what clubs would look like, and general concerns about establishing themselves on campus during a pandemic. He commented that the Town Halls did not discuss the practicalities of social life, which put a burden on OTMs. Sempowski, whose mother is a member of the Facebook Group for Davidson parents, said that every day before the fall semester started, she saw comments from first-year parents confused about Davidson’s policies. “It sounded like their children weren’t communicating what they were being communicated,” he said. He recognized that first-year students might not have been accustomed to regularly checking their college email, which could have led to a disconnect. To communicate with students over the summer, the college opted for channels such as email, social media, and Zoom panels. The number of emails were overwhelming for some Davidson students. “It seemed like it was a lot of emails for a long time that were like, ‘we don’t know how things are going to look,’ and that was less reassuring than what a lot of people were looking for. I would have preferred something more clear,” Lawton said.
Sempowski felt similarly, commenting, “We got an email every other day with some changing of information or reiterating the same information. It felt overwhelming at times with the information that we were receiving about coming back.” As the semester progresses, Davidson continues to use email to update students on campus-wide policy changes. However, some noted that one email is not sufficient to expect students to process and successfully execute the changes. “Emails get piled up and sometimes people aren’t checking those all the time,” expressed Fenner. He added that students should not be the only ones responsible to remind each other of the new policies. Fenner suggested the college use the SAFER system to remind students when a major policy changes.
How has communication in your social life changed with COVID-19
?
“The transparency has to be clear when it comes to protocols and procedures and shifts. I think we need repetitive communication around that because sometimes it’s really easy to go back to business as usual,” Dr. Martinez said. Magner thinks multiple information channels might be helpful for students, calling for “any way to put that information in places where students are interacting on a daily basis, on the place where you log your symptoms, just to constantly remind students what the new policy is.” He acknowledged that posting flyers around campus to remind students to maintain the proper health guidelines is a step in the right direction, but he wondered if professors or residential advisors could also play a role in reminding their students when the college changes a rule. Sempowski added that, while the COVID-19 dashboard has proved helpful, he thinks the college should release the number of students in quarantine. “One case is small, but if that one person came into contact with 20 people, and then those 20 people are in quarantine, that’s information that we should know,” he said. Sempowski said that he was originally confused by the different styles of classes and did not understand that “hybrid” classes would mean something different to every professor. He commented that he was surprised to discover that each of his classes has a different format this semester. Dr. Martinez explained that professors had control over the teaching mode for their classes this semester, and these decisions were based on individual circumstances and safety needs. When the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) banned international students from entering the country if enrolled in online classes, Davidson faculty worked to create a model that was inclusive to the international population. Since students are now more isolated from one another, they no longer have the luxury of engaging in authentic interactions to share information with one another. As a result, individual students might become confused about all the information they receive. Similarly, faculty members no longer have the same channels for informal debriefs to share opinions and discuss information with one another. “The professors joke about it as being ‘meetings before the meeting’ or ‘meetings after the meetings,’” Dr. Martinez commented. To act in place of those casual interpersonal interactions, the COVID-19 Response Team began releasing the “Davidson Non-news,” a rumor debunking series that supplies clarity on hearsay. During a time of crisis, Fenner emphasized how rumors can be dangerous, so the college’s attempt to clarify its policies provides reassurance to the Davidson community. “That’s a nice thing about Davidson: they handled student critiques and modified their plan,” Lipp said. “And it’s showing by our COVID numbers — we’re not spiking, and we’re a month into school.”
“I don’t respond nearly as much as I should bc of my moods.” “I have to be much more intentional in my relationships.” “I find I no longer need an excuse to contact someone if I just think of them.” “Less energy to see people -- scheduling takes a lot more energy for me.” “So much Facetime.” “It’s a lot harder to talk to friends :( (I’m remote btw).”
8 | perspectives
Salvaging the JSU Community
B
Ethan Rodier ‘23 (he/his)
efore arriving at Davidson, it would be putting it lightly to say that Judaism had an impact on my life. If anything, it’s been a cornerstone of many significant experiences that I had growing up. Seeing and living in a flourishing Jewish community was all I knew for the first 18 years of my life. I went to a thriving synagogue with membership in the thousands. I actively participated in the biggest Jewish high school youth group in the world. Simply being Jewish gave me the opportunity to talk with my U.S. Senators about climate change policy and speak in front of the Connecticut State Congress to mandate Holocaust education in schools. So, given all this, why would a small Presbyterian school in the south appeal to me so much? Having a strong Jewish community around me has always been a source of comfort, and I was worried I wouldn’t find this at Davidson. But first-year year, I learned this wasn’t the case at all. I was eager to get to my first Shabbat at Jewish Student Union in hopes of finding enthusiastic members of the organization. This was exactly what I found. It was a great surprise to learn one of the co-presidents at the time went to the same synagogue as I did. This created an instant connection. After just 10 minutes of getting to know other members of JSU, any fears I had about a lack of a Jewish community at Davidson went away. I was able to talk comfortably with everyone, and the environment really couldn’t have been more inclusive to me
and the other first-years. I knew that the Jewish community wouldn’t be as big as the one I was used to, nor did I need it to be. I just needed it to exist. However, with circumstances changing out of our control, this feeling has been lost. I was looking forward to being an upperclassmen who eased the concerns of Jewish first-year, but that role feels diminished now. I rarely see JSU members outside of our virtual meetings; I miss seeing them around and sparking up conversations. Now, all we get are virtual events that are severely lacking in the attendance. On top of this, it doesn’t help that half-hearted recognitions of the Jewish community by the college such as a Commons’s Yom Kippur break fast served on the wrong night, remind us of the greater religious dynamic of the college. The sad reality is that these changes are an expected consequence of a global pandemic. Yes, the Jewish community is still out there, and we are doing our best to maintain our thriving group, but it would’ve been hard to predict how much transitioning our meetings to Zoom would have changed things. To the first-years out there, know we are here to support you and make you feel welcome; nothing is going to stop that. Until we are able to see each other in person in a large group again, we will continue to adapt to our ever-changing circumstances to create the best experience possible for the Jewish people of Davidson. Ethan Rodier ‘23 (he/his) is an intended Political Science major and Data Science minor from Fairfield, CT. He can be reached for comment at etrodier@davidson.edu.
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Skylar McVicar ‘23 (she/her)
must admit, entering college as a Jewish student coming to a small, Presbetaryan school in the South, I was nervous. While I was not too involved in religious life during high school, I knew Judaism was a part of my identity and something I wanted to learn more about. Knowing that only five percent of the student body identified as Jewish, I feared I would not find a supportive and accepting community of peers. Immediately after stepping foot on-campus in the fall of 2019, my nerves subsided as I was bombarded with emails from an enthusiastic Jewish Student Union inviting me to a welcome event. After hesitantly greeting the other first-years outside the Spencer Weinstein Center, we entered the building and were greeted by cheers and introductions. An overwhelming amount of upperclassmen JSU members and friends flooded my eyesight and started up conversations here, there, and everywhere. I was so impressed and shocked by the genuine kindness and inclusivity present in this group of people and immediately felt a sense of belonging and purpose in the JSU. Throughout the year, I cherished our in-person holidays, Jewish exploration trips, speakers, and other religious events. Since many JSU members are culturally Jewish, our community events allow for bonding and friendships built from shared experiences and familial connections. Along with meeting other Jewish peers, our Shabbat dinners and holiday events were often frequented by non-Jewish Davidson students.
Because we could share food, talk about our lives, and teach people about our culture and faith, I felt even more included and valued as a Jewish member of the Davidson community when our events were frequented by JSU members and non-members alike. All of this has changed under the COVID restrictions. As Shabbat Chair, I planned to continue the tradition of Shabbat dinners as an intentional time to share food, stories, and meet people. This was a time to come as you are, say a prayer with a group of peers, and make conversation with people you have never met. Virtual Shabbats do not have the same lighthearted feel. I do everything I can to safely provide food, plan virtual games, and facilitate conversation, but the glaring silence of muted microphones interferes with the ease of a natural and comfortable Shabbat atmosphere. I’m especially worried about including first-years who don’t know what it’s like to live as a Jewish student at Davidson and might not feel included in a virtual atmosphere. Because most of us have established friendships, communication over text, email, and Zoom is much easier for returning JSU members than new members. I hope communication between JSU members in official and casual contexts will improve as we all adapt to the restrictions on-campus. Until then, I want everyone to know that we are all here to support each other, even if we can’t physically be together. Skylar McVicar ‘23 (she/hers) is an intended Political Science and Psychology major from Los Angeles, CA. She can be reached for comment at skmcvicar@davidson.edu .
Contentment and Self-communication in 2020
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Phoebe Son Oh ‘22 (she/her)
he past six months, which feel like a lifetime at this point, have been challenging, traumatic, overwhelming, and incredibly draining. It is only now that the semester is underway that I feel that I can look back and articulate how I’ve processed and understood this period in my life. It’s now clear to me that transitioning from being quarantined with my family to living alone in an off-campus apartment has drastically changed how I communicate, not only with others, but with myself as well. Though there are those who choose to ignore this fact, we are currently in the thick of a global pandemic that has shone a spotlight onto the oppressive systems and structures that are foundational to this country. While grappling with the realities of our current moment, I noticed a trend on social media of toxic positivity; my feed was filled with captions like “everything will be fine,” “this too shall pass,” and “stay positive, it could be worse.” Although I knew this was the product of wanting to ease the emotional burdens that we were all feeling, I couldn’t lie to myself and say that this time has been a “blessing in disguise,” because that is far from the truth. The truth is that for most people, the last six months have been
too much to hold in one lifetime. Even though I was aware that it was a privilege to return to a safe home, this was still a period of isolation that exacerbated feelings of grief, hopelessness, and loneliness that were already present in my life. One of the toughest challenges quarantine brought for me was maintaining a sense of connectedness without access to physical interaction or intimacy with loved ones. To take care of my mental health, I had to become more intentional with my friendships, as the only avenue available to stay connected was through a screen. I also had to become more intentional about taking care of myself, as spending most of my time on a device took a toll on my emotional wellbeing. The things that once filled up my life–– such as time with friends, extracurriculars, or any sort of physical/social interaction in general––were now gone, and I suddenly felt empty without proximity to these things. The shift from relationships in the physical world to the digital was overwhelming. For most of my life, I’ve always felt more energized around people and often relied on others to find fulfillment. I so frequently depended on external validation from those closest to me because I had never given myself such validation. It wasn’t until I was forced to be more isolated than ever before that I realized how I talked to myself was negatively impacting me and the way I interacted with others. I have always been my worst critic and have constantly belittled my own self-worth, but being alone
and reflecting on my relationship with myself has taught me that, in a world that is already so heavy and soul-sucking, we must show ourselves more love and listen to our own needs, whether it’s physical, spiritual, or emotional. With more alone time than I’ve had in years, I’ve learned to be comfortable by myself and keep myself entertained and fulfilled, which, as an extroverted person, has always been extremely difficult.
I’ve learned that the point isn’t to be happy 24/7. I believe that trying to live my life with this toxic positivity mindset actually created a deeper well of emptiness inside of me, because I was constantly chasing an unreachable goal. This is not to say that I don’t value happiness, joy, or optimism, because I do. Rather, I’ve come to realize that life is never going to be just positive, and that the negative moments and feelings are a huge part of living, which
Whereas toxic positivity masks difficult emotions, I found that I needed to create my own way to process the last six months that would allow me to both confront challenges and experience joy in my life. At a time like this current moment, which has been so deprived of the good in this world, it’s imperative to find joy within ourselves and the little things that keep us going. Even though my life is not “full” in the same ways it used to be, transforming how I love and communicate with myself has helped me better manage the weight of the world. It has shown me new ways to build a genuine community, without the need for physical proximity.
is why it’s all the more important to acknowledge where your heart is at, how you’re feeling, and to look deeper within yourself, even when it’s uncomfortable. If I’ve learned anything from this year, it’s that I can love and be content with myself, while simultaneously balancing the spectrum of my emotions and lived experiences, and it has been extremely freeing and fulfilling.
Alyssa Tirrell ‘22 Cathy Xu ‘21 Chloe Pitkoff ‘21 Erin Papakostas ‘23 Ethan Rodier ‘23 Julia Knoerr ‘23
Kaizad Irani ‘22 Kennedy Petties ‘23 Marvin Davis ‘24 Molly Kunkel Phoebe Son Oh ‘22 Raven Hudson ‘21
Sebi Sola-Sole ‘21 Skylar McVicar ‘23 and those who contributed through the Davidsonian Instagram.
I found that I needed to create my own way to process the last six months that would allow me to both confront challenges and experience joy.
Phoebe ‘22 (she/her) is a Africana Studies major from Charlotte, NC. She can be reached for comment at phsonoh@davidson.edu.
Thank You This issue would not have been possible without the help of our staff, peers, and mentors. We would like to sincerely thank the following people for contributing to this issue: