The Gettysburgian - September 25, 2021

FR E E

The

Volume CXXIV, Issue No. 1 · September 24, 2021

Serving Gettysburg College since 1897

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‘I’m hoping to really see campus flourish again’ Reflecting on the return to normal

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: On Community

BY KATIE OGLESBY, MAGAZINE EDITOR I’m writing this to you from my on-campus apartment with my three roommates after attending a meeting in the Gettysburgian office to work on this magazine, an in-person class with nearly every seat filled, and an in-person rush event for Alpha Phi Omega.

While I was on campus last semester, my daily schedule looked a lot different. Twice a week, I went to my one in-person class while half of the students stared back at us on a computer screen. A few times a week, I sat with one of my now-roommates six feet apart in my dorm room masked. I stepped foot in the Gettysburgian office twice, both times to distribute magazines, never for an in-person meeting with my news staff nor the editorial board.

We may not be back to normal, and we may still be working through what normal means to each of us, but we’re back together.

Through these semesters of uncertainty, we as Gettysburgians have persevered and we as The Gettysburgian have chronicled it and written a multitude of opinions on it all while dealing with the uncertainty of the situation ourselves in different time zones and different places, unable to be together except through a screen. There was a special sense of happiness that came from meeting in the office as a staff again together. The Gettysburgian served as a crucial connection between me and Gettysburg when I was sitting 2,500 miles away in San Diego, California, missing my friends, that sense of Gettysburg community, and the feeling of in-person classes and in-person events. In short: writing breaking news about the pandemic became my catharsis, one of the few things still giving me that exciting feeling that being in a classroom once had.

Now that our in-person semester is in full swing, it didn’t take much discussion for us to settle on our first magazine theme being healing and recovery. I think I speak for most, if not all of us, when I say this last year and a half took a toll on our sense of community.

However, I’m proud of how we’ve found our ways back to each other, how we have bounced back and are exploring our “new normal” together.

It is my hope that this magazine doesn’t highlight the ways the past three semesters distanced us, but instead the way this semester has brought us together. As we recover from three pandemic semesters, I invite you to explore what it means for us to be together again, rebuilding as an institution and a community of learners.

Katie Oglesby ’23 Magazine Editor The Gettysburgian

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

Impact of COVID on Students

The Gettysburgian interviewed students from each class to compile an analysis of the impacts of COVID on the college and the student experience.

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Afghanistan Opinions

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Home Away from Home

First-years and sophomores reflect on what makes Gettysburg a home for them.

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Dining Services ShortStaffed, Under-Resourced

Vanessa Igras ’24 and Ziv Carmi ’23 give their opinions from across the aisle about the Afghanistan War and 9/11.

Dining services faces under-staffing and a lack of resources due to COVID, leading to some changes.

10 Postcard from Abroad

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Carter Hanson ’23 shares his experience abroad in Palermo, Italy before heading to Tunisia for the rest of the semester.

Students and faculty share their perspectives on how the college should heal from the pandemic.

Senior Spotlights

Learn more about the senior theatre and art projects of Britney Brunache ’22 and Merlyn Maldonado Lopez ’22.

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Student Athlete Impact Leaders

Student Athlete Impact Leaders (SAIL) work to generate more conversations about mental health in athletics.

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The Start of the Fall Semester in Photos

See the way campus has changed since the 2020-2021 academic year

Photo Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian

Student and Faculty Perspectives

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THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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NEWS

A “NEW NORMAL:” THE IMPACT OF COVID ON STUDENTS

BY NICOLE DEJACIMO AND KATIE OGLESBY

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ollowing the spring 2021 semester and the announcement that the fall semester would be fully inperson, President Bob Iuliano emailed the rising sophomore, junior, and senior classes with class-specific notes about the path their education would take over their next years on campus in what he anticipated would be “far more traditional in nature.”

Institutions of higher education across the nation, including Gettysburg College, face a new challenge: how does a campus with a disconnected community welcome a new class of students and return to normal?

Few students spent time on campus before the pandemic, many spent multiple semesters online, and none have had a consistent college experience.

According to the email President Iuliano sent over the summer to the class of 2022, “Each class will count on you to apply your many talents to make this campus and new academic year as vibrant and joyous as we all know it can be.”

In a Forbes article about the changes to higher education this fall, education reporter Brian Busteed finds that the demand for normal could be challenging, “Let’s hope it is not the case, but there’s reason to believe this fall could be one of the wildest and most worrisome ever with a surge in binge drinking and alcohol-related sexual assaults combined with substantial mental health issues (which

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were already growing and have been further exacerbated by the pandemic).”

As Tom Cassara ’23 put it: “[Normal] means being able to experience Gettysburg for what it is, without a pandemic’s lens obstructing your view.”

Most of the problems the campus faced in a prepandemic world are still apparent: printing and the desire to go paperless, low wages for student workers, sustainability efforts, and the divide between Greek and nonGreek students.

“I think the division between Greek Life and non-Greek students should stay in the past,” said Cassara. “With the hope of normalcy for this semester comes the resurgence of Greek activities.

With my position in Greek life and in student leadership, I hope to mend that gap in the wake of the pandemic. We’ve all been so divided in recent memory, stuck inside fearing what the next day might bring.

That needn’t linger beyond the pandemic if we prioritize unity and love.

“[Normal] means being able to experience Gettysburg for what it is, without a pandemic obstructing your view.”

-Tom Cassara ’23 President Iuliano also mentioned that he is worried about the underclassmen

transitioning to a normal college experience after many spent the last part of high school and for some, the beginning of college, virtually.

Many seniors, including Student Senate President Syd Quan ’22 and Black Student Union President Britney Brunache ’22, expressed the pressure to aid in that transition, as leaders for the first-years and the sophomores. Others are focusing on graduating, applying to graduate and law schools, and maintaining their mental health after the tumultuous year and a half.

Another “normal” part of Gettysburg College was taking on numerous extracurriculars and on-campus jobs on top of full course loads.

“I don’t think I have ever met a student at Gettysburg who is just one major,” said Brunache.

“Everyone has a minor or is a double major or has a double minor.”

Despite Brunache’s worries of students overworking themselves, she herself carries a heavy workload. As a double major in psychology and theatre arts, she also is the president of the Black Student Union, the campus representative for Teach For America, and the secretary for the Owl & Nightingale Players.

In his email to the class of 2023, President Iuliano recognized that the junior class has had a particularly unique experience at Gettysburg, with only one semester of a fully “normal” college education.

“Perhaps more than any other class, your college experience

guidance.

(Photo Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian)

Over the past year, approximately ten administrators resigned or retired, leaving many openings and new hires to train. All industries are finding that the high turnover causes more instability. This means fewer people in the administration who are able to help the college transition back into inperson learning.

has been profoundly shaped by the global pandemic, and the many health and safety precautions it has necessitated over these past three semesters,” he said. “I recognize how difficult this has been for you. Thank you for your commitment to keeping our community safe during this challenging time in our history, and for your desire and ingenuity to make the very most of the circumstances we have confronted.”

Co-manager for the CUB information desk, Meghan Clark ‘23 explained that the experience of being on campus during the hybrid semesters helped her grow as a student and a person, “I think having this experience enabled me to better understand campus and live independently,” she said.

She was thankful to be able to stay on campus last year, but what she really missed was the sense of community. Now, students can visit professors in person, see their classmates in the dining halls, and live among the orange and blue.

Part of maintaining that healthy community is respecting everyone’s mental health capacities, and Clark emphasized the need for mental health days every

semester instead of just during the height of the pandemic.

“We all need breaks, and this administration has put us all through the wringer,” said Clark. “Now that we can be together, there just needs to be mutual respect for everyone’s mental capacities.”

Other students also emphasized the need for mental health days, in addition to flexibility with class attendance to allow students to stay home when they are sick.

For the sophomores, this is the only kind of college flexibility they know.

“Now that we can be together, there just needs to be mutual respect for everyone’s mental capacities.”

-Meghan Clark ’23 While juniors and seniors have some time on campus as a sort of baseline for college normalcy, first-years and sophomores struggle to find their own.

Quan said while she believes the administration acknowledges that the transition will be difficult, she wishes that they gave more

A spring study from Fidelity, a financial services company, found that 55 percent of higher education faculty “seriously considered changing careers or retiring early,” due to growing burnout. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found similar trends in retention rates for college and university students across the country. National retention rates dropped .7 percent, the largest fall since the NSCRC began following these trends in 2009.

Likewise, the retention rate of the class of 2023 at Gettysburg dropped significantly from the fall of 2020 to the fall of 2021.

According to the Director of Institutional Analysis Suhua Dong, retention dropped from 91 to 83 percent.

The class of 2021’s retention rate as of fall 2019 (their sophomore year) was 91.3 percent and in fall of 2020 (their junior year) was 84.9 percent. This was only a 6.3 percent drop in retention over the course of one academic year whereas the class of 2023 experienced an 8 percent drop in retention during the hybrid online and in-person academic year.

The class of 2025 experienced relevant statistical changes as well. According to Director of Admissions Gail Sweezy, 30 students deferred enrollment, usually to take a gap year, THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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although some of those accepted during the 2019-2020 application process may not end up attending the College at all. The number of students that defer is usually around ten students.

Unlike the upperclassmen and many of the sophomores, the first-year class has not been able to experience even a pandemic Gettysburg semester.

“This is my first year, so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Luca España ’25. “I’ve seen hundreds of movies that take place [at college], so I’m just going through it and trying to get out of my room so I can

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Emma Blackman ’25 said, “I think post-pandemic Gettysburg will be more about students getting into the community, more opportunities and new ways of living. I also think it is more focused on academics because it is more rigorous than we’re used to after being on our laptops for the past year and a half.”

“I think what I’m experiencing now will become my new normal for the next four years.”

-Ratul Pradhan ’25 As an international student from Nepal who also took a gap year, Ratul Pradhan ’25 had a more unique perspective, emphasizing that he didn’t want to take college classes through Zoom.

“Coming from a different country, college does not look like this,” he said. “You take classes, then come home.

Coming to Gettysburg was about having lots of activities to do and spending all my time living here. I think what I’m experiencing now will become my new normal for the next four years.”

Regardless of the interruptions and changes to their college experience, every student interviewed said they were happy to be back on campus.

“I’m hoping to really see campus flourish again. It has been far too long since we as Gettysburgians had so much as a normal week let alone a normal semester or year,” Cassara said. “I miss the vibrant campus we once knew.”

Phoebe Doscher and Alli Dayton contributed to this report.

(Photo Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian)

This increase in the difference of enrollment continued with the 2020-21 application process, with 24 students deferring enrollment into the class of 2025. Sweezy noted that “it is safe to say that behavior changed as a result of the pandemic.”

socialize with people.”

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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OPINIONS

AN END TO THE WESTERN OCCUPATION IN AFGHANISTAN

BY VANESSA IGRAS

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wenty years and two trillion dollars later, Afghan citizens are left with an overthrown government and a splintered Afghanistan, all in the American spirit of enforcing Western-style democracy and keeping terrorist organizations at a theoretical bay. This 20year tragedy has exposed America’s false sense of ideological superiority among the East. The truth is, the United States did not set realistic goals in Afghanistan.

Its nation-building objective was beyond the American capability, not because the U.S. lacks the military authority to enforce a rule of law but rather because it does not know how to suspend its Eurocentrist values. What can the United States learn in this retrospective period?

Foreign-imposed regime change rarely leads to effective governance, especially in poor, mostly illiterate, ethnically divided, and conflict-ridden societies. We see this to be true in Central American countries but also now, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghan society is not meant to fit the standard of American governance. In adopting this goal, the U.S. had taken on nation-building in a country it barely understood. Historically, Afghanistan has long endured as a patchwork of ethnic factions; it was never meant to act as one whole nationstate, and so the presumption that one could be imposed by American force was terribly

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misguided.

Nevertheless, U.S. policymakers assumed that by using the “top-down” approach, which establishes overwhelming military dominance over a region, that the Afghan people would comply. The fact is, however, U.S. leaders should have known better. This situation was not unprecedented; America adopted a similar top-down strategy in Vietnam, and it backfired spectacularly.

Poppy eradication programs left Arghan farmers impoverished and even aided the Taliban’s recruitment of locals. In an attempt to train Afghans to fight alongside the U.S. military, Afghan forces became dependent on U.S. contractors for technical advice, maintenance, and logistical advisers. And in spending billions to prop up a central government that turned out to be fueled by corruption, the government’s frail legitimacy was undermined. During the Obama administration, the U.S. tried to micromanage Afghanistan’s internal politics in supporting Western-educated technocrats while leaving the locally influential politicians to fend for themselves. The Eurocentric take on Afghan institutions compromised the foundation of building a government that reflected Afghanistan’s ethnic and tribal realities. The United States should have worked more closely with different local groups rather than pouring resources into

a corrupt and nonrepresentative regime.

To clarify, I believe it is essential to be critical of America’s false sense of ideological superiority, however in arguing that I am not taking away from the detriment of 9/11. The fundamental strike back on AlQaeda is not what went wrong.

Twenty years and two trillion dollars later, both Afghans and United States forces suffered tremendous losses in the name of nation-building. It is not a surprise that the United States failed to leave behind a stable, law-based society given its strong need to impose Western-style democracy and customs.

It is now up to educational institutions to adequately teach students about America’s longest war and properly criticize what went wrong. The next generation of government officials can benefit greatly from learning the techniques of cultural relativism. Had U.S. officials taken the time to look at Afghanistan in the light of its customs and norms, it is evident that beyond the success of nation-building, Afghanistan would not be left back in the hands of the same extremists the U.S. went in to fight.

AFGHANISTAN: BIDEN’S FOREIGN POLICY DISASTER BY ZIV CARMI

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(Photo Maggie Galloway/The Gettysburgian)

or the past few weeks, Americans have been watching the events unfolding in Afghanistan. Perhaps some felt shock, others horror. The botched American withdrawal from Afghanistan was an avoidable foreign policy failure on the behalf of Joe Biden and his administration, and the effects of this disaster will reverberate both at home and abroad for years to come.

After 20 years, it seems that the sentiments about ending American involvement in Afghanistan is one of the few things that both parties agree upon these days. However, the White House’s approach to the withdrawal was catastrophic.

Instead of abandoning Bagram Airbase before evacuating American civilians and our Afghan allies, Biden should have maintained an American military presence there as a deterrent for the Taliban. While the Taliban might still have ultimately taken Afghanistan, this approach could have, at least, bought America enough time to evacuate our citizens and allies.

The abandonment of Afghan allies is, without question, one

of the most tragic parts of this disastrous withdrawal. As Kabul fell this summer, a friend of mine told me how her brother received a message from an Afghan translator he had worked with and befriended during his service there. I do not exactly remember what it said, but the gist of it was that he felt betrayed by the American government, who had promised him better, and that he feared for his wife and children’s safety after the Taliban killed him. As I write this, I cannot help but wonder if this translator, like thousands of other brave Afghans who helped America, has been brutally murdered by the Taliban.

The deaths of our allies, as well as the 13 soldiers who died at Kabul Airport, were avoidable.

Had American leaders prepared for a Taliban surge, it is possible that the withdrawal could have been far smoother.

Indeed, as recently as July 8, less than a month before the collapse of Afghanistan, Joe Biden is on record saying that “a Taliban takeover [of Afghanistan] is not inevitable” and that “there’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of [the American Embassy in Kabul].” While, of course, hindsight is 20/20, statements like Biden’s seem to indicate that the administration did not plan for the worst (and indeed, the reference to the helicopter evacuating the American

Embassy does seem ironically prophetic).

While the loss of life is without a doubt the worst ramification of this messy and chaotic withdrawal, the abandonment of American weapons to the Taliban is one of the other terrible consequences.

Leaving such powerful military equipment in the hands of our enemies may have dire ramifications in the future.

These weapons might be used against America or our allies in the region, something which could take more innocent lives and, perhaps, draw us into another extended conflict in the region.

With this in mind, veterans might wonder whether what they endured in Afghanistan was worth it; gold star families might be feeling that their loss was for naught. I would like to conclude this editorial by speaking directly to any veterans or gold star families who might be reading this.

Your sacrifices were not in vain. No matter how poorly the withdrawal was handled, one thing remains clear: The men and women who served in Afghanistan were all heroes.

And no matter how history remembers the end of the war in Afghanistan, we will, to borrow from Abraham Lincoln, long remember the men and women—your comrades, your siblings, your children, your parents—who gave everything for America during this conflict.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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FE AT U R E S

POSTCARDS FROM ABROAD: EXPLORING THE MEDITERRANEAN

BY CARTER HANSON

PALERMO – On Sunday, I climbed up to the Chiesa Madonna della Rocca, a small, granite-grey

church at the top of a cliff, and I leaned against the stone railing facing toward the Mediterranean, thinking about how ridiculously lucky I was to be there. The church and its landing protrude from the top of a terraced hillside, looking like something out of a Wes Anderson film, except for the modern, tourist-ridden town at the base of the cliff and continuing off into the rolling hills behind. Below, I watched the orange-red roofs swelter in the Sicilian sun, the city of Taormina faintly buzzing with life. The faded red brick of a 2,500 year old Greek amphitheatre—expanded and renovated by the Romans—gleamed at the edge of Taormina, suspended on a ridge high above the cerulean blue sea.

I came to Sicily—the Italian island in the central Mediterranean between the European mainland and Tunisia—to study the European immigration system, which shares an ethos of inefficiency and cruelty with the American system. I am now a few weeks into my stay in Palermo, a city of about 1.5 million situated in the north-western corner of the island. In a week and a half, my study abroad program will relocate to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia; there, I’ll study democratic development and religious toleration in one of the few democracies in North Africa and the Middle East.

So far, what I’ve learned—in lectures on immigration law and in visits to non-profit and government organizations that aid refugees—is that the parallel between the American and European immigration systems runs deep. In both America and Europe, thousands of people leave their home countries for legitimate humanitarian reasons, as well as for economic opportunity. Additionally, both the United States and the European Union are bound by international law to respect these legitimate claims to asylum and cannot return migrants to countries where they would be in danger.

And, finally, both have repeatedly failed to respect the human rights of refugees, bowing to a political current of fear and ignorance.

I draw this equivalence between the U.S. and the E.U. because it makes the experience of learning about European migration more meaningful to me personally. Thinking in terms of its similarity to the situation in the U.S. gives me a way to apply my education; it allows me to process all the suffering and injustice this program has exposed me to and to turn it into some kind of engagement—though I’m still trying to figure that out.

Because another thing I’ve learned while abroad is that I hate the idea of saviorism. What I mean by saviorism is the mentality that ‘this person is suffering, so I must alleviate their suffering’—but without including those suffering in the solution. It’s saying ‘I know best how to help people, but without asking them what help they need.’ Though it comes from a place of empathy, it transforms into a form of selfishness and chauvinism, as it doesn’t respect those it tries to help and it doesn’t treat them as humans.

But I think part of travel is knowing that you don’t deserve it. The feeling of not doing enough only increases when you learn more about the world, which drives you to do more. I don’t think that feeling ever really goes away, and that’s a good thing, because it keeps me moving—looking for a way to make a difference.

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(Photo provided)

Here in Italy, because migration is visible, I have to confront my privilege in a way I’ve never had to before. I am so lucky to be here, to climb the Rocca di Taormina and watch the sea and only have to worry about being at the station on time to catch my train back to Palermo.

WHAT MAKES GETTYSBURG A HOME?

BY GRACIE MEISNER

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or many college students, finding a sense of “home” on campus is no easy task.

Indeed, the concept of home looks different for everyone.

Whether it’s a place, a person, or an intangible feeling, home is a sense of comfort and belonging. For Michael Allessi ’25 and Gabbi Lombardi ’25, the people make a place a home.

“It’s going to sound cheesy, but home to me is wherever family is, and wherever I feel most comfortable and loved,” said Allessi.

“I’ve moved around quite a bit my whole life because of the nature of my dad’s job,” said Lombardi. “Right now, Singapore feels like home.

Not just because it’s the last place I lived, but because it’s where I made the strongest connections with my friends.”

For others, home is a physical location where one consistently spends time.

(Photo Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian)

“For me, home is where I sleep at night,” said Toni Esquivias ’25. “If I’m sleeping in a place consecutively, it becomes home for me, because it’s the place I rest.”

While every student at Gettysburg College experiences the transition to college in a different way, there is no doubt that life on campus is different than before, especially in regard to finding a sense of belonging. Often, the initial change of leaving behind familiarity leaves students missing that sense of home they knew previously.

“What I miss most is my family,” said Liam Nelson ’25.

“I’ve never been separated from them this much in my life, so it’s an adjustment. I miss my mom’s cooking, and places in my town, and my friends.

I miss having my own room, bathroom, and a little more space than I have here.”

“I miss being with all my friends and really knowing the land of Singapore like the back of my hand,” said Lombardi. “It’s definitely much, much bigger here. Singapore is a very small island. You can get from one side of the island to the other in 45 minutes by car. So it’s very different.”

The transition to feeling at home on campus might not happen overnight, and it’s normal to experience intense emotions. Being in a new place surrounded by new people can be exhilarating and incredible, but it can also be lonely and isolating, and that’s okay.

Kayla Tursack ’25 sees being on her own as both a positive and challenging aspect of her transition to Gettysburg College.

“I’m on my own, and so I don’t have my parents to help me stay on top of things. But I like being on my own and it feels right to me now. I feel comfortable going back to my room and getting some space,” said Tursack.

the opportunity to grow and develop as an individual in a new environment.

“Here, there is freedom and room for you to grow as an Individual and find what suits you best,” said Krepp. “You have the opportunity to find the friends you want to have, and discover where your priorities lie.”

Ultimately, while students are at different points in their transitions to college life, many feel they will eventually be able to call Gettysburg College a true home.

“For me, Gettysburg and home are two very different situations,” said Allessi.

“But even in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve began to feel more comfortable, which is typically something I associate with a feeling of home.”

“At home I have my friends and family, but I’ve been able to find that same sense here,” said Nicole Cesanek ’24.

She added, “I think what’s different is that at home, friends and family are separate, but since you live with your friends here, they become your family.”

Transfer student Morgan Krepp ’24 believes that a positive aspect of her new home at Gettysburg College is

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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NEWS

Dining Short-Staffed and Under-Resourced Due to COVID BY PHOEBE DOSCHER

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ettysburg College’s Dining Services has faced delays and shortages with food supply in addition to being under-staffed as a result of the pandemic.

Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Mike Bishop explained the implications of these challenges and ways that the department has adjusted their operations with all students back on campus this semester.

Hiring Challenges OverBurden Current Staff Bishop identified staffing as the biggest challenge at the moment. They are currently working to fill 17 vacant, fulltime positions, and have seen a 25 percent decrease in student applicants, a pool that typically has 80 positions.

“Student employees are generally great for us because they can work shorter periods of time,” Bishop said. “It’s very, very short-staffed … [We’re] trying to provide the service that we can, as best we can, without limiting services with the staff.”

Unlike restaurants, Gettysburg’s Dining Services must remain open each day of the week in order to provide students with regular meals. Without an adequate amount of staff members, some have to work overtime

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to fill the gaps.

Other supplementary solutions include reduced service options—such as fewer entrees, no deli option at Servo during dinner, and limited choices at the yogurt bar.

“We’ve tried to bring some of the [service options] down smaller. We haven’t reduced hours really at all, we’re strapped still trying to keep our hours open but that is probably the biggest struggle—trying to staff for longer periods of time,” Bishop said.

Not only are kitchen and service employees shortstaffed, but they currently lack housekeepers, leaving Dining to outsource to companies or

use their own cooks to help clean. Servo alone has over ten bathrooms that require maintenance, and the floors need to be mopped each night at close.

“Right now we’ve asked our cooks to sweep the floor, mop—things they are not normally used to doing that makes them stay around an extra half hour, an hour sometimes after we close. So it’s all a struggle, it’s just a rolling set of problems.”

Reasons for Being ShortStaffed and National Trends The food service industry took a hit during the pandemic across the board. Some restaurants closed their doors

for good, and employment numbers reached disparate levels. According to a study

by Restaurant.org, 54 percent of casual and family dining operators report their staffing levels are more than 20 percent below normal.

The study also showed that in the range of 16-to-34-yearolds, 2 million fewer now work in the labor force. This age range comprises the highest percentage of workers in the food service industry.

(Photo Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian)

Gettysburg’s Dining Services typically relies heavily on students in this age range, both from the college and high schoolers in the surrounding area, and those numbers are down too: “We’ve had no applicants from the high school,” Bishop said. “Those students don’t necessarily want to come and work, so it’s a struggle, but … we’re advertising for jobs all the time.”

Bishop said low employment numbers could be linked to “a variety of issues,” including caution with working in food service due to potential COVID risks or an aversion to wearing masks.

Not only has Dining struggled to hire new employees, but they also saw a decrease in staff after long-term employees chose to retire early, including Bishop’s former boss, whom he replaced.

“There’s been a lot of departures, and so there’s a brand new staff all over the place and … you lose that continuity and that consistency throughout your time,” Bishop said. “It takes me longer to do something than my previous

boss because I just don’t know how to do it.”

Bishop said that some staff members in the athletic department have volunteered their time in Dining, “An hour or two from a coach or a trainer goes a long way to help us out … So it’s amazing to have that,” he said.

Delays and Shortages Limit Food Options Bishop explained that food shortages and backups with deliveries limit Dining Services’ ability to provide varied options. “Normally, Servo runs a four-week cycle menu, so that things come up every four weeks and you get a different variety, and we’re still trying to follow that but that is a challenge,” he said.

Vendors have cut down the frequency of their deliveries from five days a week to two—due to anything from problems with manufacturing to truck drivers. This limitation has caused Bishop and Dining staff to rethink their normal operations.

“We actually rented an additional freezer to keep chicken in, so that if can we get the product, we have it on hand so that we can give it to our students,” Bishop said. “But again, it’s a problem of actually getting it to us.”

Gettysburg has identified a number of temporary solutions to compensate for these limitations, including outsourcing from local purveyors, including Weikert’s Egg Farm.

“We have a local butcher and a local guy who grows our beef for us,” Bishop said. “We’ve

been working with him to say, ‘Hey, on short notice, can we get an extra thousand burgers,’ and usually he takes care of that for us.”

The entrees depend on whichever options are available.

For example, the planned entree might be replaced for omelettes if Servo has eggs in stock. Options like bread and veggie burgers have also shrunk since the pandemic, leaving students with fewer varieties of gluten-free bread, for instance.

“They just don’t have the staff to make it,” Bishop said.

“Sometimes [the veggie burgers] come, sometimes they don’t. So today, it might be this brand of veggie burger, tomorrow might be a different one, just because the suppliers don’t have them.”

Adapting This Semester: “Patience and Understanding” Bishop and Dining Services Coordinator Lindsay Stevens advised students to follow Dining Services on Instagram to stay up to date on changes and seek answers to questions.

Above all, Bishop cautioned students to be patient with Dining Services as they navigate pandemic-dependent changes.

“Just be patient with everyone,” Bishop said. “We’re trying, we’re not doing anything intentionally. We’re not cutting the quality of our product to save money, it’s not about that.

It’s just that we can’t get it.”

He added, “We’ll continue to work very hard to provide high quality food service as long as we can keep going throughout the semester.”

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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OPINIONS

Syd Quan `22

PRESIDENT OF STUDENT SENATE, BIOLOGY MAJOR, PEACE AND JUSTICE STUDIES MINOR

HOW SHOULD THE COLLEGE HEAL FROM THE PANDEMIC?

“There’s more pressure for seniors to lead by example. Whether that be in Greek life, clubs, or organizations, there has to be more emphasis on seniors, especially in leadership, knowing what Gettysburg College was like pre-COVID, and somehow translating those same experiences and opportunities to our younger students here.”

COMPILED BY GEORGE MALIAN

Hakim Williams

PROFESSOR OF AFRICANA STUDIES AND PEACE AND JUSTICE STUDIES

“I think that healing will look differently for different aspects of the community. I think that it’s important that faculty, and many already do this, be increasingly welcoming to students bringing their whole selves, as much as they would like to, in very intentional ways, into the classroom. Faculty are not therapists, but I think too often students leave many non-academic issues out of the classroom.

We should allow students to bring more of themselves into the classroom space because I think it enriches their experience.”

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Clinton Baugess

RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN

“For some, this was the first time seeing the educational inequalities in our own community—such as being able to gain access to textbooks and other course materials, having a safe and quiet environment for studying, and even a stable internet connection. I hope that what we’ve learned isn’t forgotten in a rush to return to life before COVID. The issues remain and require solutions.”

Roy Dawes

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

“People should continue to be careful. Uncertainty is hard to deal with but we can all hope that things will get better sooner rather than later.”

Colin Hughes `23

VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT SENATE, POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJOR, MIDDLE EASTERN AND ISLAMIC STUDIES MINOR

“In order to heal in a post pandemic world, all students must join together in changing the status quo. A big problem I see in achieving change on campus is a lack of coordination between students advocating for change and the Student Senate has an important role to play in coordinating different student efforts. However, the Student Senate must also inspire involvement and coordination by showing it is willing to fully implement the student body’s will, such as by meeting the goals set out in last year’s opinions regarding increasing access to Plan B and disability accessible entrances.”

Ethan Wilt `23

(Photos provided)

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY MAJOR

“With the pandemic exacerbating students’ physical and mental health, I believe the college needs to repair its relationship with the student body by, first, communicating more effectively and concisely about issues on campus and, second, giving more leeway to students during these times and offering enhanced counseling and academic services. In addition, Gettysburg College, in order to regain its distinguished and undeniable spirit and community, must allow for the return of the ideals, traditions, and events that characterized the college before the pandemic.

Overall, we cannot go back and change the past but what we can do is work together to offer a path forward that will better advocate for and concentrate on the needs of the student body, the backbone of Gettysburg College.”

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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A&E

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Merlyn Maldonado Lopez

BY NOELLE MUNI

M

erlyn Maldonado Lopez ’22, a double major in art history and an individualized major titled “Magazine and Popular Culture in Media,” is the curator of one of Schmucker Art Gallery’s newest exhibits “Martin Puryear: 40 Years Since Sentinel.” Reflected in the marriage of her majors, Maldonado’s drive toward curation came to her as a combination of her love of art and communications. After taking her first class in art history here at Gettysburg, she knew that it was something she wanted to continue.

The exhibit, a reflection on Martin Puryear’s stone sculpture on the college campus, the Sentinel, contains not only the history of the sculpture, but also many original two-dimensional drawings and prints from the now widely successful artist.

Maldonado completed her fellowship under the guidance of Professor Shannon Egan, Director of the Schmucker Art

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“Martin Puryear: 40 Years Since Sentinel” isn’t Maldonado’s first exhibit here at Gettysburg, though. When taking her art history methods course, Maldonado worked alongside her classmates in the collaborative curation of another exhibit, titled “From the Yellow Springs to the Land of Immortality: Chinese Art and Artifacts.” During this process, she and the rest of her class worked together to prepare the exhibit, which displayed Chinese artifacts from the College’s Special Collections.

This first collaborative show taught Maldonado how much she enjoyed curation, particularly the research process behind curating an exhibit.

Curating the Sentinel exhibit, however, was a different beast: instead of being the collaborative effort of many students, she was doing the research and writing exclusively on her own and with the guidance of her advisor.

She described the individual nature of the project to be the most challenging part of the

experience, especially while completing her fellowship remotely. Presenting the exhibit at her Gallery Talk on Sept. 8 was “a relief,” she said, as she now feels confident that all her work is finalized, on display, and being enjoyed by the Gettysburg community.

When asked what the greatest takeaway from her experience curating at Gettysburg was, Maldonado said that she would advise anyone, especially younger students, to actively engage with the campus.

“If you want to do something on campus, put yourself out there!” she counseled.

“There are always so many opportunities and [so many] people willing to help you.”

Regarding her future plans following graduation, Maldonado is keeping her options open. “I do not have any post-grad plans aside from graduate school,” she explained. “I am not attached to a location, so [I’ll go] wherever I have a good opportunity.”

“Martin Puryear: 40 Years Since Sentinel” will be on display at the Schmucker Art Gallery through Nov. 6, 2021.

(Photos Maggie Galloway/The Gettysburgian)

When asked about how she came to curate the exhibit, Maldonado explained that it had been in the works for quite some time. It was during the spring of Maldonado’s sophomore year that her art history advisor, Professor Nicholas Miller, first mentioned the project to her as the 40th anniversary of the Sentinel statue approached. During Maldonado’s time as a Kolbe Fellow this past summer, the project fully came to fruition.

Gallery, and over the summer completed all of the research and curation of the show as her Kolbe Fellowship project.

She said of her time in the fellowship, “My experience with the Kolbe Fellowship was great.

All the people involved were very supportive and willing to help you and your project out. I would absolutely recommend it to other students.”

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Britney Brunache

BY LAKEN FRANCHETTI

(Photos provided)

B

ritney Brunache ’22, a senior theatre arts and psychology double major, always knew that theatre was going to play a major role in her time at Gettysburg College. In the summer of 2020, she wrote a play adaptation of the novel Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell. This sparked a deep interest in writing and directing her own piece of work. Now, a little over a year later, she is preparing to present her original play, It’s Not Black or White.

to the audience about what it was like to live during that time.

“It’s a historical fiction play about Haiti in 1960. It’s based on the dictatorship [of] the Duvalier regime,” Brunache explained. Her interest in this topic came from a documentary she watched months before beginning to write, and the exploration into her own heritage intrigued her as well.

“My professor Susan Russell … was the one who nominated me to apply for the Fellowship.

I didn’t think I could do it [at first], because normally, the people that get in are doing research projects or writing research papers. I didn’t know if me proposing to write a play would be good enough, but it was, and they were actually really interested in it,” Brunache recalled.

“I found the topic interesting because I’m also Haitian,” Brunache said. “I didn’t know a lot about my Haitian history until I started watching this documentary. My parents were alive during that time, so being able to ask them what it was like during that dictatorship was very interesting.”

Inspired, she began the writing process. Brunache intends to pair It’s Not Black or White with an educational aspect by inviting a panel of family members to the play to talk

The play, which Brunache plans to show from Nov. 20 through 21, showcases her writing and directing skills and serves as the culmination of her senior capstone project. Having completed two independent studies in directing, she always knew her capstone would involve her directing, yet the subject matter was never clear until a professor suggested she apply to the Kolbe Summer Fellows Program.

After finishing her first draft of the sixty-page play in one month, Brunache used the remaining month of her Kolbe Fellowship to revise, rewrite, and edit the play so that it would be ready to see the stage this fall.

Brunache is passionate about is giving first-year students the opportunity to be on stage, regardless of whether they have previous acting experience. Having heard first-

years’ apprehensions to get involved in theater due to the suspected seniority of roles, Brunache wanted to take an approach to casting for her play that would allow first-years the opportunity to be featured in major roles. Additionally, she has been a voice for getting people of color onto the stage at Gettysburg College.

“Something that has been a mission of mine is to diversify the [theatre] department, because when I came in as a first-year, there were only two people of color. And so, every play that I direct, I make sure to have it be a predominantly colored play… I just want to make sure to have more inclusion with that, and so now with my capstone that was another thing that I [was thinking] about. Having people of color in theatre is very important to me.”

While her long-term goal remains directing, Brunache will be a high school English teacher in Philadelphia after graduating this spring, a job she secured through the Teach for America program last year.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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SPORTS

SAIL Program Works to Improve Physical and Mental Health in Student-Athletes BY COLIN LAWLESS

T

he Student-Athlete Impact Leader (SAIL) program at Gettysburg continues to reinvent the way athletes adapt and respond to mental health in its third year. SAIL is a part of the Student Athlete Well-Being Program on campus, with the mission to bringing together “a group of student-athletes who are invested in the well-being of themselves, their teammates, and peers at Gettysburg College.”

The physical dimension of SAIL pertains to how studentathletes can stay physically fit whether in season or out. Sully Williams ’23 is a member of SAIL’s physical dimension. “[SAIL] brings together all of the programs on campus to form another amazing support system made up of both students and faculty to help us develop important leadership qualities while also being there when we need someone to listen,” Williams said.

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physical dimension, along with help from the many strength and conditioning coaches on campus, work hard to make sure that all of the teams are getting the right work done on the field, in the weight room, and when recovering to ensure athlete success.

Along with strength and conditioning comes the nutritional aspect of physical

(Photos Luca España/The Gettysburgian, Graphic courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)

The group is made up of two to three members from each sports team on campus, along with their respective coaches.

They come together monthly to discuss new ideas of how to grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially on and off the field. They have divided their attention to four dimensions of well-being: physical, social and emotional, professional, and community.

Williams is a big proponent of physical well-being and is excited to get more involved in SAIL this year. Each individual sport demands a different aspect of physical ability; for example, athletes might need to do more cardio in a sport like soccer, but work on weight-lifting and strengthening for a sport like football. Those involved in the

well-being. Coaches encourage nutrition by offering meal plans and supplemental ideas of what to eat before and after games, during recovery, and in the offseason. In addition to nutrition, the physical dimension emphasizes the importance of sleep for student-athletes.

The next dimension within SAIL is the social and emotional dimension. Its mission this year is to help manage the stresses and pressure that athletics puts on a student-athlete’s mental health, especially as students come back fully in-person.

They have developed the acronym B.R.E.A.T.H.E., which stands for break, relax, express, act, teach, habits, and edit, to help all students manage their stress.

The third dimension is professional. Jenna Vadinsky ’23 plays for the field hockey team, and serves as a member of the SAIL Executive Leadership Team in the professional dimension. She

understands the importance of professional development.

“Preparing for your futures in the professional world is extremely important,” she said.

“It’s never too early to start reaching out to people to ask about their careers and to pick their brains about what might suit you in the future. Building a network of connections is a huge part of what we are trying to do here with SAIL.” The professional dimension helps student-athletes grow their professional network, polish their resumes and LinkedIn accounts, develop financial literacy, and set themselves up for success. The College has alumni networks of former athletes and non-athletes alike to help students take steps toward the professional world. The dimension aims to make career development and professional conversations less daunting.

The fourth and final dimension

of SAIL is the community dimension. The goal of this dimension is to ensure that all of SAIL’s members are comfortable within the SAIL community and any other communities on campus.

Once they become a member of a community, the goal is to establish some sort of influence within the group, whether that be with your peers or superiors. Once this is achieved, students move to become fully integrated within the group. SAIL strives to foster this sense of community by welcoming people, and setting them up to go out and foster that same acceptance toward others.

SAIL is a growing group made up of people committed to self-improvement. It serves as a safe space for studentathletes to speak their minds while also coming up with new ideas of how to better develop themselves so they can help the people around them.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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P H O TO

BACK TO SCHOOL Students settle into campus for the fall 2021 semester in person Photos by Aly Wein

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THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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OPINIONS

EDITORIAL: AN OPPORTUNITY TO REBUILD

BY THE GETTYSBURGIAN EDITORIAL BOARD

W

hen the pandemic began, the word most often used to describe this period was “unprecedented.” Lockdowns were unprecedented, widespread masking was unprecedented, and the thought of draining our lives of the company of others was also unprecedented. Hardly anyone living had previously survived a public health crisis of this magnitude.

(Photos Aly Wein/The Gettysburgian)

With more than a year and a half behind us, “unprecedented” is no longer how we can describe our current predicament. We know what ensues when cases rise and mask mandates fall. Although vaccines have altered the trajectory of this crisis, Americans continue to die from COVID-19 every day.

The pandemic is far from over and the physical cues of our new reality remind us that our altered world treads on.

“When [the pandemic] is over, we’ll be stronger for having gone through it. The difference between there and now is where hard work and sacrifice lie.”

Despite our gloomy prospects, we have started to unburden ourselves of the fear that has characterized the past two years. For better or worse, we have grown comfortable with it. Vaccines help protect us from others and eases some anxiety about the virus. We are fatigued and to some

degree desensitized by the strangeness and tragedy that the pandemic has handed us.

The phrase “the new normal,” as irritating and clichéd as it may be, remains true. The world we knew in 2019 doesn’t exist anymore. We have experienced something deep and vast that has changed all of us. When it’s over, we’ll be stronger for having gone through it. The difference between then and now, however, is where hard work and sacrifice lie.

If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that we are capable of adapting. Within weeks of its start, terms like “social distancing,” “lockdown,” and “quarantine” jumped into the everyday vocabulary of all Americans. We grew accustomed to seeing our friends and neighbors in masks. We acclimated to better hygiene and while we grew frustrated with online classes and a restrictive spring semester, we learned to roll with the punches. For a time, when pre-pandemic images of large crowds and unmasked encounters reappeared they almost seemed unnatural.

This demonstrated our ability to adjust and shattered the notion of a dependable future.

We never imagined that an extended spring break would evolve into the emotional muddle that has bogged us down for much of our collegiate careers.

Now, as we attempt to escape the pandemic’s halt, we should use this moment as an opportunity to reevaluate the

dependability of the structures that existed before this crisis.

There are crucial deficiencies woven into the foundation of the ordinary institutions we once took for granted. At the start of this semester, we reclaimed Gettysburg College from the pandemic’s grasp and are now presented with a chance to build a better campus than the one we left in March of 2020.

“We have a duty to engage in nuanced discussions about the underpinnings of the systems we partake in.”

We should begin by having serious conversations about a culture that condones sexual assault, pays workers a measly wage, tunes out the concerns of students, and does far more in words than actions regarding diversity and equity.

Our mission statement places “the free and open exchange of ideas and the exploration of their ethical and spiritual dimensions” at the center of this college’s values. If we are to reap the full worth of a Gettysburg College education we have a duty to engage in nuanced discussions about the underpinnings of the systems we partake in. Any less would be a disservice to the health and prosperity of the institution in which we have all trusted with a portion of our lives.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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The Gettysburgian Staff: Phoebe Doscher, Editor-in-Chief Nicole DeJacimo, Managing Editor Katie Oglesby, Magazine Editor Alli Dayton, News Editor Anna Audia, Features Editor Casey Ottaway, A&E Editor George Malian, Opinions Editor Jack Herr, Sports Editor Aly Wein, Director of Photography Dr. Scott Boddery, Advisor

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Interested in joining us?

Contact editors@gettysburgian.com for more information.