The Gettysburgian - December 2022

The Gettysburgian

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need to do more to promote a safe environment for every student on campus”

Unpacking campus safety in light of recent incidents

We

A Note from the Editor: On What The Gettysburgian Means to Me

When I started at Gettysburg College in fall 2019, I had no idea that I would now be looking for jobs in journalism after I graduate. I specifically didn’t work on my high school’s newspaper because I was insistent that kind of writing wasn’t for me. Now, three years and a few months after I attended an information session for The Gettysburgian in Glat Lodge during first-year orientation, I can easily say that I don’t know where I would be now without college journalism.

In this edition, we asked previous Gettysburgian editors what The Gettysburgian meant to them, in honor of its 125th anniversary, and they all had something to say about the experience it gave them. I can say wholeheartedly that I agree with their sentiments. The Gettysburgian has taught me as much, if not more, about time management, hard work and dedication as my classes have. It is hard to believe I have only one semester left in an office that has come to feel a lot like a home, but I know that all my experiences, even virtual, on this newspaper have prepared me for my time after graduation. The only thing it hasn’t prepared me for is leaving it.

In this magazine, we ask alumni who have gone into careers in politics and law how Gettysburg College shaped their paths. We explore safety on campus, in light of a semester of incidents that have made students question the efficacy of current measures to keep students safe.

Explore student-led calls to action in a petition to bring back off-campus housing, and our analysis of how Greek conduct violations are reported. Read about student’s experiences studying abroad, and reflect on the changes the Center for Global Education is implementing over the next few years.

What I hope this magazine will show to you is that Gettysburg College students have a lot to say about how they want their college to best represent them.

We hope to capture what students really care about today because that’s what college news is: finding the stories that matter on a campus that matters to all of us.

I’ve spent a lot of time pondering what The Gettysburgian means to me, and how it has shaped my college career, and I think it can be boiled down to how honored I am to be helping write our history.

Katie Oglesby ’23 Editor-in-Chief The Gettysburgian

“College Community Reflects on Safety”

By Katie Oglesby, Editor-in-Chief & Alli Dayton, Managing Editor

9

Opinion: “My Fellow Republicans, Let’s Dump Trump”

By Carl DeMarco

“Students Consider Transparency in Greek Organization Conduct Reporting”

13

“Students Support Petition to Reinstate Off-Campus Housing Options”

By Alli Dayton, Managing Editor

“

By Kyle Hammerness, Features Editor

Opinion: “In the 2022 Midterms, Americans Rejected Trump and the

By Vincent DiFonzo

14

By Sophie Lange, Staff Writer

“A Hard-Fought Season for Men’s Rugby”

By Jack Herr, Sports Editor

16

Faculty Favorites: Albums”

Compiled by Mikelyn Britt, Opinions Editor “ What Study Abroad Means to Students Amid Changes to CGE”

By Ava Burchell, Staff Writer

(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)

Far-Right”

“ Professor Annie Morgan’s Pursuit of Human Rights in Guantanamo Bay ”

College Community Reflects on Safety in Light of Incidents this Semester

By Katie Oglesby, Editor-in-Chief and Alli Dayton, Managing Editor

Whenasked about safety on campus, co-chair of the Senate Safety Committee Vivek Rallabandi ’25 said, “There is no question that this semester has been particularly eventful in terms of the safety concerns our campus has dealt with.”

The events Rallabandi referred to include the aggravated assault near Diaspora House in September, a report of a student being “roofied” at an on-campus social event, a vehicle driving around Carlisle Street and Lincoln Avenue shouting slurs and obscenities at students of color, and a hidden phone recording students in the bathroom of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE), violating the privacy of numerous partygoers in October.

These incidents come at a time when Campus Safety, previously called the Department of Public Safety (DPS), has made multiple changes to its procedures and protocols , in addition to its name change.

Amongst these changes included the inability to access other student’s residence halls. In prior years, students could use their ID to swipe into each other’s halls.

Director of Campus Safety Alex Wiltz said, “Students expressed concern about other students being able to access residence halls that are not their own, so the change was made in response to a safety concern communicated directly by students. Students can still let their friends

in to a res hall, but people cannot randomly walk in now.”

Director of Residential Education Danielle Phillips offered her perspective on this change, noting that, “[Residential Education is] excited about…the installation of additional card access on residence halls that did not have card access previously [and] securing residence halls by only permitting access to each hall by the students who reside there.”

Wiltz also said that the uniform and name change were meant to signal differences between police and “safety professionals” on campus.

“Campus Safety changed its name to signal that they are focused

on keeping our internal campus community safe to the best of their ability. Their mission is to serve our students, faculty and staff,” he said. He added that, “The new uniforms are designed to make Campus Safety less police-like. They are not police officers.”

Campus Safety also reduced its office hours to close at 4 p.m. A campuswide email from Wiltz in early October said Campus Safety intended to hire more staff to make it possible for office hours to extend until 8 p.m. and allow for weekend hours between noon and 8 p.m. as well.

Phillips applauded this change, stating that Residential Education is excited about “Campus Safety’s continuing response to challenges with changes such as increasing office hours and ways to contact officers.”

Wiltz emphasized that regardless of their office hours, students should call 911 if it is an emergency, and said this has “always been the case.”

Campus Safety also implemented a text service in October to expand communication opportunities with them.

As well, if a student calls dispatch, Wiltz said, “an auto-attendant asks if the call is an emergency or not. If the caller indicates it’s an emergency, they are immediately connected to a dispatcher. If it is not an emergency, the next available dispatcher takes the call.”

Students have expressed concern, despite these changes, with the way safety is operated on campus.

Dallas Hardee ’23 said, “For the nearly four years that I’ve been at Gettysburg, I’ve always been aware of the danger on campus, especially as a woman. I wish I could say that campus safety conditions have improved throughout my time at Gettysburg, but repeated incidents of sexual assault and racist attacks on students continue to prove that this campus is not safe.”

Clayton Brosend ’24 believed some of the recent changes “demonstrated

failing marks on the part of the administration’s receptiveness to student concerns.”

“The administration’s decision to fund 80 billable hours of increased Gettysburg Police Department presence on campus is a tone-deaf response that does more harm than good in terms of equity and overall campus safety,” explained Brosend. “It is a tragedy that we are calling on police— aggressors with a growing record of misconduct against all demographics of college students— to solve problems for which we have local, more accountable resources to address.”

Eric McGrath ’23 shared concerns about Campus Safety not acting on students’ concerns.

“The truck that had been hurling slurs at people was reported to [Campus Safety] multiple times this semester as well as last semester.” said McGrath. “I feel that the role of Campus Safety this semester has been to get more money out of kids for parking tickets and protecting everyone else except the students.” McGrath also addressed allegations that staff members have verbally harassed students on campus.

“I do not care what your profession on campus is, when I am walking to class at 8 a.m., I should not be called derogatory remarks by employees of the school driving around in Gettysburg College vehicles,” she said.

Sociology Associate Professor Brent Harger shared his perspective on student safety based on his role as a faculty member.

Harger said, “In my time on campus, we’ve had notable celebrations of Muslim and trans students but both of these were in response to campus speakers. Ideally, students would not need to feel threatened before others decided to show them that they are valued members of the community.”

Further, members of the campus community expressed the need for additional changes to improve their

feelings of safety on campus.

“We need to do more to promote a safe environment for every student on campus,” said Hardee.

Michelle Perez ’26 said, “A friend of mine…didn’t feel heard when she went to [Campus Safety] for an issue. I believe one way safety could be improved is [Campus Safety] making sure to follow up with even the smallest issues.”

Rallabandi called for students to reflect on their behavior in order to improve safety.

“I think it is essential that all of us are kind and gentle with one another. What makes Gettysburg special is the community that exists here, and the well-being of this community is in the hands of every one of us,” said Rallabandi.

Harger emphasized the role of the College in addressing incidents that occur on campus.

“If…there are more of these sorts of incidents occurring now than in the past that makes it even more important to think about what may have changed to affect people’s behavior and what the College can do to protect people in groups that have been targeted,” said Harger Similarly, McGrath conveyed a desire for more open communication from the College.

“One of the main things that could improve safety on campus, in addition to the obvious maintenance with keeping streetlights lit and making sure blue lights are always in sight, would be accountability and honesty,” said McGrath.

McGrath continued in reference to the SAE bathroom video recording, “Vague emails that barely give any information other than to try to be good people will do me no good when people have been recording me going to the bathroom.”

(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)

Professor Annie Morgan’s Pursuit of Human Rights in Guantanamo Bay

By Kyle Hammenness, Features Editor

Annie Morgan ’06, adjunct professor of political science, comes from Frackville, PA, a small rural town in a large military recruiting area. When it came time for her to go to college, she had to forge her own path and with the help of a high school teacher, she found that Gettysburg College was the right fit.

At Gettysburg, Morgan double majored in political science and philosophy. She recalled waking up for Professor Gimbel’s 8 a.m. logic class and credited him for “a perfect on the logic section” of the LSAT. After graduating from Gettysburg, she worked with human rights and international law at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. She enrolled at George Washington University Law School to become a human rights attorney.

Morgan remembers her career counselor saying she “needed to quit law school and join the Foreign Service, and that human rights law jobs didn’t exist.”

Before her 3L year, Morgan was accepted into the Air Force becoming an Air Force Judge Advocate (JAG). Every new Air Force JAG starts as a prosecutor and, from there, the best are selected for defense work. This experience as a prosecutor taught Morgan that she enjoyed criminal law, but not prosecution. It was not satisfying to her.

“I really liked the courtroom but am a terrible prosecutor. Plus, I am really good at advocating for other people,” she said.

She has defended everything from drug offenses to sexual assault to

murder. Morgan excelled, and she began taking cases at the appellate level. When someone is convicted, they have a right to an appeal. As a defense attorney, her job on appeal was to have the conviction thrown out or the sentence reduced.

This defense work placed her in a great position to take advantage of new opportunities. A former Air Force Appellate Defense Division mentor contacted her to be on Abd al-Rahim Al-Nashiri’s capital murder case. Currently, Al-Nashiri is detained in Guantanamo Bay for his alleged involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000. At the time, she was about to go on maternity leave. Morgan applied and was let out of her military contract and began working on this case with sixmonth-old twins at home.

When asked about what she does

daily for Mr. Al-Nashiri, she said, “for example, today, I filed a motion to declassify certain people and conversations. Some of the more trite examples are when I fight routinely to make sure [Mr. Al-Nashiri] can get the CD’s he wants so he can listen to pop music because we tortured the guy for four years so maybe just like a moment of his life can be beautiful instead of terrible.”

This case definitely affected how she views the legal system. She referenced the Martin Luther King Jr. quote about the moral arc of the universe bending towards justice; however, she put her own twist on it: “I love my country so much, but the moral arc of Guantanamo Bay is broken, and until that is fully recognized and embraced, I don’t know if my faith in my country will recover.”

She continued, “It’s constantly a battle for transparency, and the government continues to engage in prosecutorial misconduct and unethical behavior which is why we are still here 11 years later. They’ve said even if my client gets acquitted that they’ll hold him indefinitely. [These cases] are the literal definition of show trials.”

Because of the reputation of the man she defends, she has faced some professional backlash including being called “an adversary of America” in open court by a one star general. Her response was “If you think that’s an insult because I’m standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law. Do you think I’m an adversary of America after serving in the armed services?”

(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)

Postcard from Abroad: 10,000 Miles From Home, Yet the World Has Never Felt Smaller

By Caroline Jordan

Wollongong, Australia – I have been here for five months, and just this week, I found myself running across the Sydney Harbor to catch a boat that I ultimately missed. No matter how perfectly organized, it wouldn’t be the first time things simply did not go to plan.

When I chose Australia, I envisioned a semester of endless sunny skies, jammed-packed days spent going to class, and afternoons on the beach. However, during my first few months here, it frequently rained, with weeks where the weather app predicted rain constantly. Before Australia, I typically spent rainy days in my dorm watching movies. But after spending a few days doing that here, I knew I had to make the most of it despite the weather. Thus, no matter how gray the weather was, my friends and I would put on our raincoats and umbrellas and explore the city. During these adventures, I learned many things, like how no matter the weather, a good attitude makes a world of difference and that my raincoat is not actually waterproof.

More recently, the weather has been on our side. And with it has come some of the best adventures I will look back on for years. In September, I traveled up the east coast to Brisbane, where I went to Australia Zoo. At the zoo, I saw copious amounts of Australian wildlife, ranging from koalas to kangaroos. I then headed north to Cairns, where I snorkeled in the Greater Barrier Reef, which was full of multicolored coral, schools of fish, and miles of crystal blue sea. Closer to home, I have special memories of the Sydney Opera House, Bondi Beach, and the Blue Mountains.

Throughout this semester, my suitemates were composed of other international students from around the world, like the United Kingdom. While I did not expect this, it was a wonderful surprise that enhanced my time abroad. Living and studying at the University of Wollongong, I have been immersed in Australian academia and culture and the cultures of my suitemates through cooking, chatting, and exploring. Some of my favorite nights have been at local restaurants with my fellow international students and Australians and chatting about all our various experiences and interpretations from our different cultural backgrounds.

I have also learned to take time for myself. Everyone has a pretty different schedule here, and I have learned that it is good to explore places whether I have someone with me or not. Thus, every Friday, I explore the local market. While it is important to travel the country and see all the touristy spots, some of the best conversations and experiences I have had are in my local town. My home here is a host to some of the best food I have had and the most incredible places, like Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the Southern Hemisphere.

Overall, living abroad is not just sunshine and rainbows. It is days with ups and downs and a series of things not going to plan. But what I have found here that I haven’t found before is a sense of how big the world can be. And yet, no matter how different our distant hometowns are, I have found nothing but commonality with the people around me. Somehow, this makes the world feel smaller and a little less daunting than before, so much more interconnected than I had realized. And as I wrap up the semester, I know that I will always look back fondly at my time down under.

Opinion: In the 2022 Midterms, Americans Rejected Trump and the Far-Right

By Vincent DiFonzo

DuringBiden’s first two years, his administration oversaw steps in improving infrastructure, covid recovery, and fighting inflation, among other accomplishments. Inflation was seen as the top issue by both parties, with many democrats also viewing abortion as the most pressing issue. The midterm elections, held on Nov. 8, are seen by many as a referendum on the president›s performance.

On the eve of Election Day, pollsters predicted bleak results for Biden. This was expected, as midterms are very difficult for the incumbent president. In the 2010 midterms, Obama and the Democrats lost six Senate seats and 63 house seats. In 2018, Republicans, under Trump, lost 41 seats in Congress.

Just hours after the polls closed, it became clear that this midterm was different. As opposed to predictions and historical trends, the elections were a huge win for President Biden and the Democratic party. Biden has boasted of losing the fewest seats in Congress than any other Democratic president in their first midterm in the past 40 years.

The GOP›s unprecedented shift towards election denial and far-right politics is the cause. Going into the election, the Republican Party had every advantage. Biden’s relatively low approval rating, record-high gas prices, and inflation are all issues fresh on voters› minds, many of whom blamed the incumbent president. Instead, Democrats have held the Senate, and the race for control of the House of Representatives is much closer than expected.

An unprecedented amount of Trump-endorsed, far-right candidates ran this year. They also lost their races across the country. In Pennsylvania, Republican Doug Mastriano—a far-right extremist, conspiracy theorist, and GOP gubernatorial candidate—lost to Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Despite Pennsylvania’s status as a swing state, Mastriano lost to Shapiro by a staggering 14.4 percent. Mehmet Oz, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, lost to John Fetterman, but only by a margin of four percent. Oz proved himself to be a much more moderate candidate than Mastriano, but his anti-abortion stance and ties to Donald Trump lost him the election.

Georgia’s gubernatorial race went the opposite way than Pennsylvania’s. Republican Brian Kemp famously stood against Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He easily defeated Democrat Stacy Abrams. On the same ballot, GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker, a Trump-endorsee, received fewer votes than Democrat Raphael Warnock, with the race advancing to a December runoff.

These results, also seen in countless other states, are not a coincidence. Americans are rejecting election denial and other extreme positions taken by the GOP. As Trump prepares to announce his 2024 run for president, it›s time for the GOP to recognize that Trump was a mistake.

Trump’s divisive rhetoric does not resonate with Americans the country, and this year›s midterms proved this. Americans have proven to care about democracy more than what their party tells them. Republicans and Democrats across the country recognize the danger in Trump’s actions and behavior during and after the 2020 election.

The message from voters is clear—they are tired of Trump and far-right politicians following in his footsteps and will reject far-right extremism, even when the Republican Party endorses it. Had the GOP nominated more moderate candidates in all these cases, the party would have seen better results nationwide.

If Republicans want a fighting chance, it is time they reject the far right and appeal to moderate voters. Until the GOP shifts, it will become more and more out of touch with the country and plague the party ’s chances at the ballot box.

Opinion: My Fellow Republicans, Let’s Dump Trump

By Carl DeMarco

A“redwave” should have swept the country on election night. Almost all the polls and experts pointed in that direction, but the “red wave” was barely a ripple. So why did the Republican party fail to live up to the expectations of their voters, pollsters, and political pundits? The answer is simple: Donald Trump. For the third election cycle in a row, former President Donald Trump leads us down the road of defeat. His handpicked candidates promoted Trumpian rhetoric, the propping up of election-denying candidates (no thanks to Democrat interference in the primaries in states like Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois) and a poor response to the fears of Americans after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. If the Republican party is to survive, we must take a deep look inside ourselves and recalibrate our message and image across the country. Republicans could have won states such as Pennsylvania if we did not nominate a TV doctor from New Jersey or a reactionary state senator for governor. Arizona and Georgia could have been flipped red if competent and trustworthy candidates were selected. While working in Washington, D.C. this summer, I wrote an article warning my fellow Republicans that, after speaking with experts, concerns were arising that “weak” candidates were threatening the Republicans’ chance of taking back the Senate. Almost from the beginning, our Senate candidates in key states were underperforming in the polls and in fundraising. Candidates such as Pennsylvania Democratic Senator-elect John Fetterman were out fundraising their opponents despite their radical policies. Our candidates for critical seats were weak because of their loyalty and similarities to former President Trump that many moderates, independents, and disenchanted Democrats could simply not get behind. Election-denier candidates in Pennsylvania and Arizona scared many voters, including Republicans, causing them to stay home or split their ballots.

Some of my fellow Republicans will deny this unfortunate reality. Their blind zeal and loyalty to a man who misleads the party will prevent them from seeing beyond the veil of truth. But there is a simple test that can be done to support this idea. Non-Trumpian candidates in Georgia, Florida, Ohio, and New York saw massive victories. In Georgia alone, Republican Governor Brian Kemp—a public enemy of Trump—defeated Stacy Abrams, his opponent, for the second time by almost eight percentage points while Trump-endorsed Herschel Walker failed to deliver a victory. In New York, many of the candidates for Congress and Governor distanced themselves from Trump and in doing so picked up three more congressional seats and defeated the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It is because of gains made in states like New York, Oregon, and Virginia that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will have to pack her bags come January and send a Republican to take the Speaker’s gavel. Overall, the “red wave” did not come because of our own doing. The GOP needs to purge itself of Donald Trump if we want any hope of declaring a legitimate victory in the future. The baggage Trump brings to the party vastly outweighs the benefits of his policies and campaign style. We are about to enter an interparty civil war because of these midterm results, and while some may cheer this as the destruction of the GOP, I see this as the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. The party can bounce back from this. We have learned our lesson and will not make the same mistakes twice.

Students Consider Transparency in Greek Organization Conduct Reporting

By Sophie Lange, Staff Writer

In2017, the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life (OSAGL) began publishing conduct reports for all fraternities and sororities on campus that recorded all policy violations by these organizations. The reports were organized in a spreadsheet format, with the first tab being a tally of violations and the second tab being a basic description of the policies violated. These were published beginning in the fall semester of 2017, yet OSAGL stopped publishing them after the spring semester of 2019

OSAGL Director Jon Allen explained that his office ceased to publish the reports after 2019 due to staffing shortages and the need to prioritize other tasks during the pandemic. While the most recent conduct reports have not been released, Allen said that OSAGL identified the need to release the reports from previous years and return to the practice of updating them regularly. Currently, the reports are housed in a Google Sheets format, so they can be easily altered as new misconduct reports arise.

Allen explained that the reporting process for organizational incidents is very similar to that of individual conduct reports.

Students can report incidents using an online form or by having a discussion about the incident with either Campus Safety or the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities. OSAGL is able to take reports to the Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities for follow-up meetings. However, they report anything found as individual misconduct rather than

organizational misconduct. He also mentioned that although it is an option, self-reporting by organizations is extremely rare, and the vast majority of reports come from people within the campus community or Campus Safety.

Further, Allen noted that whether the organizations involved in incidents are responsible for organization misconduct is determined through the College’s judicial process.

Allen stated that OSAGL defines organizational responsibility using the following criteria: “The organization is a sponsor; it occurs in conjunction with or as a result of an activity that is sponsored by the organization (ex. after parties); organizational resources, including financial resources, are used; some or all members are required, or believe they are required, to participate in by the organization; it occurs in a facility controlled by the organization including residential buildings and reserved venues on or off campus; it occurs in a residence that is controlled by members of an organization; the majority of those present are members of the organization; or a person could reasonably believe the organization is a sponsor or has the authority to act to prevent a violation of College policy.”

The entire organization does not have to be directly involved in an incident for OSAGL to find the organization responsible.

Allen explained that the criteria for organizational responsibility by an individual or several individuals

involves the individual(s) being representatives or acting on behalf of the organization; believing that they need to do something, which can be due to someone within the organization specifically telling them or simply a belief that they are required to do something based on inferences; or using resources belonging to the organization to carry out the action.

These violations are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and according to Allen, “If none of those criteria are met and/or the organization as a whole took reasonable measures to try to prevent the violation and/ or the organization could not reasonably have known that the violation was occurring, barring any other aggravating or mitigating circumstances, they would not be found responsible.”

Zach Davis ’25 disagreed with these criteria, stating, “I believe that an organization is responsible for the actions of the collective and the individuals associated with it. If an individual associated with an organization violates school policies during an event the organization is hosting, both the individual and the organization should be held responsible.”

Allen also discussed the individuals in charge of determining whether organizational misconduct occurred. Who conducts the process is dependent upon how significant the incident was, the necessity to protect the identities of those involved, the extent to which the OSAGL was involved in the reporting or investigation, and other recent violations by the organization.

(Photo Will Oehler/ The Gettysburgian)

If possible, incidents are reviewed by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) Judicial Board, but if this is not possible, Allen or another staff member within OSAGL will review reports. If the case is reviewed by IFC, the Judicial Board members work closely with an advisor to make recommendations for appropriate sanctions based on the incident.

Allen reviews the report and the associated sanctions and decides whether they are suitable. He either approves them, approves them with a modification of the sanctions, or denies them. If the proposed sanctions are denied, the organization involved is referred to a conference process with a staff member.

When asked why sexual assault and Title IX violations were not included in the existing reports, Allen said that this was because “no chapter has been charged with a sexual misconduct or Title IX violation, and we only report when a chapter has been found responsible for a policy violation. If a chapter were to be found responsible for one of those violations, we would include it in that year’s report.”

Students indicated that if these reports were more visible to the student body, then the findings may influence their decisions about which Greek organizations to interact with on campus.

Annie Bolenbaugh ’26, said, “I feel that it is very important to understand the conduct of these organizations, especially when so many people interact with them. By reading these conduct reports, students can actually understand where they will be safe on campus.”

Rachel Herr ’26 shared a similar perspective. She said, “A few of my friends and I have discussed Greek Life before—from both the perspective of which frats we want to visit and to joining particular sororities next year; having some type of resource to see where certain conduct issues have arisen in the past would help us as first years make more conscious decisions about our potential involvement in Greek Life.”

Additionally, students within Greek organizations viewed these conduct reports as important to inform how they plan events with other organizations.

Tri Sigma member Hannah Repole

’25 said that she was “glad there was transparency from OSAGL regarding Greek life on campus.” She continued, “In my opinion, we should know about the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to Greek life. These reports would shine a light on Greek life at Gettysburg. Maybe we will get more transparency with these reports. As a member of a Greek life organization, I believe it would be beneficial to know about these reports.”

Similarly, Ronald Moyer ’23, a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of Sigma Chi, commented, “I believe that these reports could be important in allowing the campus community to develop an understanding of the issues that Greek life perpetuates. Many of these issues are constantly repeated by the same and different organizations. As a member of a Greek organization, I do believe that these reports need to be more accessible to a broader audience of students. Without transparency, Greek Life can hide behind the mainstream narratives of the party scene and continue to lay claim to the dominant source of social life.”

A Hard-Fought Season for Men’s Rugby

By Jack Herr, Sports Editor

While club sports do not fall under the purview of the sports section very often, they are a vital aspect of campus life. Club sports offer the opportunity for non-student-athletes to maintain their athletic careers or start new ones and compete in sports like fencing, equestrian, and ultimate frisbee.

One of these teams, men’s rugby, recently ended their fall season, losing in the first round of the postseason against upper-division opponent Susquehanna. While the team would have loved to advance further, this was president Josh Myers’s ’23 first-career playoff appearance and the culmination to what he called a “special” season.

Myers is a senior business major from Northern Virginia. Along with running the men’s rugby team as president, he is Risk Manager for Sigma Chi. Club teams like men’s rugby are almost exclusively student-run. While they do have an acting coach, all of the other day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the student executive board, which includes Vice President Erick Miller ’23, Merchandise Chair Ben Murphy ’23, Match Secretary Sam DeBrandt ’24, Safety Officer Quinn Klaiman ’25, and Social Media Chair Logan Sodl ’24. Myers commended Sodl in particular for expanding the team’s presence on Instagram. Their page, now with over 400 followers, provides fans with final score graphics, schedule updates, game photos, and video clips.

Myers praised the balance in class years the team has maintained in spite of the pandemic, saying the roster consists of around five seniors

and ten juniors, sophomores, and first-years. Injuries make a perfect retention rate hard to achieve, but the men’s rugby team has established a solid program. The executive board also has a healthy mix of seniors, juniors, and sophomores to ensure experienced leadership in future years. As for any club sport, longevity is key.

“ We had the expectation of going undefeated,” Myers said, and the team almost met that expectation. Throughout their season, they tallied a number of massive wins— trouncing, for example, DeSales and Millersville by scores of 60 to 17 and 91 to 17, respectively.

As good as their early season was, the team ended with a five to one record, suffering a loss in their final game against Penn State Berks. When asked about the highlight of the entire season, Myers pointed to their one loss.

“ We were down to about 23 guys to play this game because of injuries,” he said. Rugby is a brutal sport, and several serious injuries to talented players put Gettysburg at a disadvantage heading into the second half. “That was really crushing to us,” Myers remarked.

The team battled on though, something Myers is proud of. “Everyone really stepped up,” he commented. “They have a tremendous amount of heart that carried us the entire season and forced us not to give up even if we were down. That’s what really made it special.”

Despite their eight-point loss to Penn State Berks, the team earned a postseason bid and faced off against Susquehanna, a top-ten program in the national small college’s division. Injuries gave

them an even greater disadvantage this game, and they entered the match with only about 18 healthy players. Against such a tough opponent, they lost, officially ending their fall season.

Myers said that “there was a tremendous change in culture” this season, involving an increase in work ethic and leadership across the board. “I enjoyed seeing fellow seniors blossom into leaders, who will then be role models for future leaders.”

Rugby, both men’s and women’s, is open to everyone, Myers emphasized. Like most club sports on campus, no experience is required, the commitment is flexible, and joining is a great way to make friends.

Myers and the squad now look forward to their spring season, where they will again face tough competition and have more chances to prove themselves. After graduating in the spring, Myers hopes that “the team stays on the path of success” they have developed this year.

Students Support Petition to Reinstate Off-Campus Housing Options

By Alli Dayton, Managing/News Editor

Last year, Director of Residential Education

Danielle Phillips announced to Student Senate that the College decided not to renew off-campus leases due to decreasing student enrollment. She also cautioned students not to sign any offcampus leases in the future.

Now, students are taking action against this decision through a petition calling for the College to reinstate off-campus housing options.

The petition, created by Emily Seymour ’24, is available through a Google Form that opens with the statement, “This is a petition to fight for the opportunity to live off-campus as a senior at Gettysburg College. The removal of off-campus housing at this institution is sexist and unfair. I believe that off-campus housing is vital to the Gettysburg College experience and prepares college students for adulthood in a way that dorm life cannot.”

Seymour said that her decision to create the petition was spurred by her own desire to live off-campus with her friends. Additionally, she identified the value of independent living for college seniors.

She shared that in her opinion, “Off-campus housing prepares students to be able to communicate respectfully with a landlord, pay utility bills, and figure out to coexist peacefully in a home with others.”

Seymour noted that many students view the decision to

remove off-campus housing options as unfair to certain groups.

“ Men not involved in fraternities are upset that they are not receiving an equal opportunity to live in a home with their friends, as [are] women in sororities,” said Seymour.

Based on responses to the petition, the class of 2024 is particularly upset with the College’s choice.

“ The class of 2024 feels extremely angered by the removal of offcampus housing because they chose this institution with, essentially, the promise of an opportunity to live offcampus as it has been a tradition here at this college for many years, and it was taken away,” noted Seymour.

Kevin Muhic ’24 explained, “Living off-campus was something I was looking forward to since I was a freshman. This decision strongly influenced my roommate’s decision to transfer.”

Further, Jackson Dino ’24 shared, “The College’s decision to prohibit upperclassmen off-campus housing is particularly damaging to student organizations. As Treasurer of the only off-campus fraternity, Alpha Chi Rho, we now have considerably fewer options in terms of housing in the future as a direct consequence of the new policy.”

Alumni have also expressed their discontent with the decision.

Seymour said, “Alumni have expressed feelings of sadness and compassion because current students are getting traditions that they loved taken away from them.”

The Gettysburgian previously reported on the experiences of alumni Chris Kohn ‘17 and Michael Moore ‘17 who purchased two properties in Gettysburg in 2020 and 2021 for Gettysburg College students to rent.

Kohn, Moore, and other alumni expressed their concerns to President Bob Iuliano last year about the removal of off-campus housing, but Kohn felt that their concerns were dismissed.

Kohn also worried about disruptions to the local economy due to the loss of work that landlords, cleaners, handymen, and other individuals will experience after off-campus housing is no longer available.

So far, Seymour’s petition has received 340 signatures, and the number continues to grow daily. Seymour is gathering additional signatures by hanging posters on campus that direct students, faculty, and alumni to the petition and by circulating the petition to student organizations like sororities.

Seymour said that she hopes her petition “inspires the administration to be open to a conversation about change.” She continued, “I want this petition to also work as an outlet for students, alumni, and parents to share their feelings and frustrations surrounding the removal of offcampus housing.”

Faculty Favorites: Albums

Compiled by Victoria Staub, A&E Editor

As music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music released annual wrap-ups at the end of November, here’s what four professors had to say about their five favorite albums and why they enjoy them so much:

Timothy Shannon, Professor of History

“In order of release year (I am a historian, after all):

The Kinks, Muswell Hillbillies (1971): Many great musicians released great albums in 1971, but this an underappreciated masterpiece. Ray Davies’ songwriting is at its peak in a remarkably intimate portrait of post-WWII Britain.

Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks (1975): For a child of the 1970s like me, the 1960s Dylan was a previous generation’s music, but this comeback produced a new legion of fans, of which I have remained one.

The Clash, London Calling (1979): The best album to come out of punk, and for a work defined by a particular time and place, it still has a timeless quality.

James McMurtry, Too Long in the Wasteland (1989): Yes, he is novelist Larry McMurtry’s son, and he inherited his father’s talent for storytelling. A great songwriter in the Texas tradition of Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, and T Bone Burnett. He’s produced a great catalog since, but this debut album is what got me hooked.

Crash Test Dummies, The Ghosts that Haunt Me (1991): Kind of a personal, oddball choice for me. This Canadian band is known as a onehit wonder because of a single from their second album, but their first album has the folky acoustic sound I like (some fiddle, some accordion), and every song is a gem.”

Douglas Page, Assiant Professor of Political Science

“I rarely listen to albums these days. I’m more into individual songs, but I think this list works for me:

So by Peter Gabriel. In 2016 (on the night of Brexit, actually), I watched Peter Gabriel crush Sting in a ‘battle of the bands’ concert in DC. Every Breath You Take followed by Sledgehammer was epic.

Hounds of Love by Kate Bush. I once ate a mountain of spaghetti and garlic bread while listening to this album from start to finish. Excellent decision.

Discovery by Daft Punk. This was my way of celebrating during middle school. My parents patiently allowed me to play One More Time many many many many times on our car rides.

Since I Left You by The Avalanches. I became addicted to this album during the pandemic, and ‘I found the world so new!’

Document by R.E.M. ‘Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom!’”

Bruce Larson, Professor of Political Science

“Prince, Purple Rain. This is quite possibly the best album ever by anyone, anytime, anywhere. Prince is a master song writer, musician, and performer.

Cassandra Wilson, New Moon Daughter. Wilson is an awesome jazz vocalist. On this record she gives her own interpretation of a variety of jazz, blues, and folk numbers.

The Police’s first album (just called The Police). Just raw new wave music but with lots of space and syncopation.

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run. I’m from NJ, and this album nails the NJ of my time.

Hiromi Uehara, Alive. Hiromi is a somewhat new and extraordinary jazz pianist. This album (with her trio) will blow you away!

Weather Report, Heavy Weather. This is a really cool fusion album by some of the greatest players in jazz (Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Joe Zawinul, etc.). I play electric bass, and Jaco was reshaped how people thought about the instrument.

The Beatles. Revolver. I love this album because it’s situated musically between the Beatles’ earlier and later music.

I could give you so so many more, including albums by the Pretenders, Queen, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, Norah Jones—and even so many more! But I’ll stop now.”

Sarah Principato, Professor and Thompson Endowed Chair in Eviornmental Studies

“Rubber Soul by the Beatles - I love many Beatles albums because it reminds me of my parents. We listened to their tapes over and over again on road trips when I was a kid. ‘In My Life’ is one of my favorite Beatles songs, so I guess that is why I am choosing this album over the others. Our Time in Eden by 10,000 Maniacs - ‘These are Days’ is such an uplifting song, and it makes me happy every time I listen to it. Natalie Merchant has a beautiful voice, and I like her solo album, too.

The Very Best of Aretha Franklin: The 60’s - This album contains some of Aretha’s greatest hits, and I especially love her cover of ‘The Weight’ by The Band.

Sweet Revenge by John Prine - I love many songs by John Prine because his lyrics are just so clever! He was a fantastic song writer. I wonder if the Eisenhower Institute has considered making ‘Grandpa was a carpenter’ one of their theme songs?

Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 by Dave Matthews Band - I wish I had been at this concert, but I didn’t live in Colorado until 1999. It is one of the first CDs I ever bought, as previously I only owned records or tapes. Red Rocks is also an amazing venue. I have only ever seen it from the outside, but the surrounding geology is fantastic, too.

If I could have included more than 5, I would have also listed albums by U2, Vampire Weekend, Jack Johnson, Tori Amos, Taj Mahal, The Cure, Ella Fitzgerald, and more! My 14 year old daughter loves current pop music, so she has had me listening to Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift a lot recently…”

What Study Abroad Means to Students Amid Changes to CGE

By Ava Burchell, Staff Writer

AtGettysburg College, studying abroad is an integral part of the student experience. About 50 percent of the student population spends a semester abroad. Not only is studying abroad required or “very strongly encouraged” for certain majors like German and French, but it is also an experience like no other.

German Studies Associate Professor Kerry Wallach said, “Study abroad provides access to a unique set of opportunities that simply cannot be replicated on a college campus in the United States.”

“ The idea is that becoming more fluent in a foreign language will unlock access to more literary works, films, and other cultural texts in that language. In other words: studying abroad opens the door to a deeper understanding of another culture,” said Wallach.

Kayla Ellis ’23 spent two semesters abroad, one in Athens, Greece, and one in Aix-en-Provence, France.

“ Both semesters have been incredible. I’ve really loved living independently in a new city. Learning new languages and cultures has been a fun challenge that only makes me want to travel more,” said Ellis.

If a student is contemplating going abroad, they are encouraged to speak with the Center for Global Education (CGE) where they will discuss their study abroad plan, work through applications, and communicate about the financial

aspects of studying abroad.

Assistant Director of the CGE Bekah Hurwitz ’19 said, “In general, the way that the billing works is what we call a homeschool financial model, so students pay the same tuition that they pay when they go to Gettysburg, and then they pay what’s called a global study fee. That fee is about the same as room and board, so it covers your board and additional administrative fees like all the orientation activities.”

Due to this home-school model, scholarships, loans, and grants from Gettysburg and federal aid still apply to students when they are abroad, making global education more accessible to all students. In addition, students are not on their own when paying for flights, visas, and program deposits. Some of these things are credited back to students or students can apply for scholarships.

“One of the [scholarships] that our students most primarily use are our internal CGE scholarships, and these are funds that have been given to us by generous donors, alumni, and friends of the college. Students can request up to 1,000 dollars to cover the cost of a variety of things,” said Hurwitz. “As long as students are able to kind of justify how those funds will help support their global study experience, they can request money for that.”

Students are also encouraged to apply for external scholarships like the Boren Scholarship through the Department of Defense or the

Gilman Scholarship through the Department of State.

Some students take matters into their own hands to find financial help for their study abroad experiences. For example, Daisha Quezada ’24 created a GoFundMe page to support her in her travels to Salamanca, Spain.

“ I decided to create a GoFundMe in hopes of raising money as well as support to sustain me abroad and potentially travel while I’m there or just to pay off the fees that I needed to pay for my program,” said Quezada.

She anticipates using the money she raises for her flight, visa, travel to other European countries, and emergency funds.

When asked about the future of the CGE, Hurwitz explained that the office is looking to expand its array of domestic programs.

“ The student body on campus will notice that we very much try to emphasize that we’re the Center for Global Education, we are not study abroad, and so that also means US domestic programs in terms of access for all students, but especially thinking about DACA students and things like that. So one thing that we’re really trying to work on is bolstering these domestic programs. We have the Lutheran College, Washington, D.C. program, which is fabulous,” said Hurwitz.

The mission of CGE is to make global education equitable for students. The increase in domestic programs and the home-school

(Photo Sofia Gutierrez/The Gettysburgian)

payment model are ways the office supports students in choosing the program that best fits their academic interests, not what works best for their citizenship status of financial situation.

However, according to Interim Director of CGE Jesse Phillips, some new changes are going into effect starting with the class of 2027. Students will only be able to study abroad for one semester and flight vouchers will be need-based.

Molly Weidner ’23, who studied abroad in South Korea, shared how making flight vouchers need-based may deter some students from studying abroad.

“Gettysburg’s choice to only give certain people money could turn people away from studying abroad because it’s very expensive,” noted Weidner. “Just because students don’t necessarily appear to need a flight voucher based on their family’s income doesn’t mean they actually don’t. They could be in a situation where they are paying for the study abroad from their own

savings, rather than their parents paying for it, so they may actually need that flight voucher.”

Wallach explained that this change may cause issues for students who are double-majoring in two languages, given the requirement of studying abroad for some language majors.

“ In the future, it may become difficult for students to double major in two languages, and it may be impossible for them to do two different semesters abroad,” said Wallach.

Ellis, who came to Gettysburg because of the opportunity to study abroad in two different countries, noted her unhappiness with these changes.

“ The school is making a huge mistake by barring eager students from being able to spend two semesters learning a new language, culture, and way of life. For a school that brags [about] having a large global community, I’m disappointed that they felt like the only way to run the study abroad

office is to stop students from chasing opportunities like this,” said Ellis. “Not many people in the world are lucky enough to have the opportunity to live in different countries throughout their lives, especially while they’re young, and can really appreciate the value of their time abroad.”

Ellis continued by explaining how the change altered her perception of Gettysburg College. “This new rule impacts how I view the intentions of Gettysburg College. If the administration is dedicated to educating and helping their students, there is no reason for this rule,” she said.

From Gettysburg to the Republican National Committee: The Journey of Gabriella Bucci ’19

By Gracie Meisner, Assistant News Editor

ForGabriella Bucci ’19, venturing outside her comfort zone and leaning into alumni connections mark her journey from a student at Gettysburg College to Deputy Director of Media Affairs at the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Bucci always knew she wanted to work in Washington, D.C. It was spring semester of 2019, she recalled, right before her graduation, when a few alumni from her sorority came to visit. One visitor, Corrine Day ’17, was just leaving her job at the RNC, and struck up a conversation with Bucci about her future job plans.

“She told me, ‘why don’t you come down to D.C. and stay with me for two weeks when you graduate, and we’ll figure something out,’” said Bucci. “So I came down, stayed on her couch, and tagged along to different events.”

At one event, Bucci met a member of the Media Affairs Team at the RNC, who introduced her to the Director of Media Affairs at the RNC, Johanna Persing ’11. A fellow Gettysburgian, Persing invited Bucci in for an interview. Two weeks later, Bucci received and accepted a position for the RNC as Radio Booker.

Bucci’s time at Gettysburg College prepared her for this career; she took advantage of the many opportunities to build her leadership skills and develop as a student and learner. A political science and art history double major and business minor, Bucci was also the president of Gettysburg’s Alpha Delta Pi sorority chapter, an Eisenhower Institute Fielding Fellow, and an engaged student who sought out

mentorships from her professors.

“At Gettysburg, we have some phenomenal professors. Most students over the course of their careers there will find a handful of professors that they really feel a kinship with who can mentor them,” said Bucci. “For me, that was Dr. [Shirley Anne] Warshaw, Professor [Scott] Boddery, and Professor Drew Murphy. Professors at Gettysburg love to see their students excel and enjoy what they do.”

Bucci explains that these mentorships provide unique opportunities down the road.

“If you extend a branch to your professors while you are at Gettysburg, they are always happy to connect you down the line with others. Never be afraid to ask about jobs or putting you in touch with someone. Most of the

time, people are more than happy to go out of their way to do that,” said Bucci.

Today, Bucci has worked her way up from Radio Booker to Deputy Director of Media Affairs at the RNC, within the Communications department. The beauty of the job, Bucci explains, is that there is no “typical” day.

“For the most part, my week consists of talking to almost every show on TV, building relationships with the TV bookers, and checking in and seeing what they have going on for the week, what stories they are following, and if we can help. We field requests, pitch things to different shows, but it’s a lot of personal connections and building relationships. I always joke that my day consists of watching quite a bit of television,” said Bucci. “We’re really involved in every aspect of Republican television.”

Bucci offers advice to students who hope to find careers in Washington, D.C. in similar fields to her own: lean into alumni connections.

“The Gettysburg alumni network in D.C. is huge. Alumni are really eager to see Gettysburg students come to their companies and succeed. They know your background and that you have a good work ethic that Gettysburg instilled, so you already have that common ground,” said Bucci.

“My best advice is to physically come down to D.C. and meet as many people as you can. There is always an opportunity to be found,” said Bucci.

At the Intersection of Politics and Technology: Kat Atwater ’07

By Kyle Hammerness,

Thebillions of dollars spent on elections often overlook the people on the ground who work tirelessly to campaign and build vast networks of groundbreaking technology to direct this money to where it is needed most. Kat Atwater ’07 is a Gettysburg alumna who works in Washington D.C. and has a hand in this campaign work.

Growing up in Denver, Colorado, Atwater knew that she wanted to attend a small liberal arts school— landing her at Gettysburg College. She majored in political science while also focusing on creative writing. While at Gettysburg, she completed a semester in Washington D.C. interning with CNN on a path towards journalism.

When discussing her transition from college into the job market, she stated, “I thought that I wanted to be a journalist and after school, I did a writing externship on [Capitol] Hill…I realized that I wanted to be doing and not just writing about it.”

Atwater left D.C. and borrowed her parents’ car to head to Iowa to work on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. She traveled to seven different states during the primary season, and she caught the political bug.

When asked about her time on the campaign, Atwater said, “joining that first campaign is always such a huge leap of faith… You learn so much about the process and that true statement that all politics is local. My first campaign I still love, and I would walk through fire with everyone I was with.”

With her organizational background

Features Editor

supported something like 8000 campaigns across the country with data and technology service while also getting prepared to pull the engine out and replace it before the 2020 election. We were holding up older infrastructure and working with the pitfalls of that while trying to translate the data to the candidates and campaigns.”

in the campaign, she joined the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in late 2008. By the 2012 election, Atwater had become the Campaign Operation Director for SEIU managing a fund of 25 million dollars for the presidential campaign.

“In 2012 while I was at SEIU, we spent 100 million dollars to reelect President Obama. It was the number one expenditure by an outside group… [the money] was spent on what we call the soft side and that’s Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign and labor unions like SEIU.”

Her experience working at SEIU taught her that technology was very important in building successful political campaigns, and Atwater began working for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as their political director for tech right before the 2018 midterm elections.

“[I] joined the DNC at a crucial time of change for the organization. We

After 2018, Atwater, as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer, overhauled the DNC’s technology and databases in preparation for the intense 2020 primary and general elections. Atwater stressed the importance of the neutrality of the DNC during the primaries, and a critical part of that neutrality was giving equal access to technology.

“We were able to support all 24 campaigns flawlessly and allowed them to access this incredible data analytics platform with quick customer service,” she said. “When we transitioned to the nominee, we were able to support the Biden campaign in ways the DNC had never been able to before. We helped them better target where TV ads should go and to be able to run their models and to know that they were super competitive in Arizona and Georgia and continue investing resources there.”

After the 2020 election Atwater began her own organization called Community Tech Alliance. She provides data and technology services to civic engagement and political organizations on the soft side of politics. She hopes this work will help these organizations efficiently deploy monetary resources to the places they are needed the most.

What Does The Gettysburgian Mean to You?

In Reflection of 125 Years of Publication

By Mikelyn Britt, Opinions Editor

I joined The Gettysburgian before I even stepped foot on campus my first year, so in many ways, the publication has grown up with me as a student and guided me on a personal and professional level. I am indebted to The Gettysburgian for helping me get connected to campus life, making me feel more confident as a writer and editor, and bringing me closer to an incredible team of writers, editors, and photographers. Above all, I am honored to have been able to play a role in uplifting the voices of students, staff, and faculty and in documenting Gettysburg’s history.

The Gettysburgian was my most important college experience. Being on the staff from 1961 to 1963 enabled me to work closely with wonderful brilliant friends such as Betsy Graves, Bob Manning, and Jerry Spinelli. It was an exciting time to write about national affairs such as the beginning of the civil rights movement and student protests. Representing the college as a student journalist at conferences with students from other colleges opened up new ideas and experiences that served me in my future education and career.

At its best, The Gettysburgian has the capacity to help Gettysburg College be the best version of itself. As an editor, I could be a little aggressive—or at least persistent—to shine a light on what did not seem right, but it was always in service of trying to uphold the institutional values to which we said we aspired. To do that with a team of people as big and heterogeneous as our staff was made for an awfully special experience that, among everything else I did in Gettysburg, provided more fond memories than just about anything else.

Phoebe Doscher ’22

Carol Billings ’63

Ben Pontz ’20

The Burgian was such an important part of my time at Gettysburg. It really emphasized to me what a small community we are; I would walk across campus and someone would come up to me and ask, “You’re the editor of the paper, right?” It was such a distillation of what college should be—I learned how to be a leader and improve real-world skills, but it was also just so much fun. Late Wednesdays, figuring out what the editorial should be about, talking about everything. Sure, it drove me nuts sometimes, but I’m incredibly proud of what we did.

The Gettysburgian was the training ground where I learned many of the skills I use today at Cornell University: leading a team; working with students, faculty and staff; planning ahead — but having contingency plans — and working through crisis. Those lessons were never more important than in the fall of my senior year. On September 11th, it felt like the world was falling apart. The staff pulled together to help our audience process a life-defining attack, a nation at war and the loss of our collective innocence. For the current staff, that defining moment may be the pandemic. I hope one day they’ll look back on this moment as a source of personal growth, battle-tested resilience and dedication to telling the story.

The Gettysburgian will always be my fondest memory of my time at college. No matter what else happened, pandemic included, The Gettysburgian staff kept me grounded and inspired. There are lessons I have learned in that basement office I will never forget: (1) write well, no one can take that skill away from you; (2) write with integrity; (3) write for your community, not yourself; and (4) always write the truth. I hope The Gettysburgian will continue to be a place where students can find their purpose and their community, because I know it’s where I found mine.

“TheGettysburgianwasmymostimportantcollege experience”-CarolBillings ’63

Barbara Dickson ’00

Robin Roger ’02

Nicole DeJacimo ’22

New Age for the King of Horror: Review of Stephen King’s “Fairy Tale”

By Mikelyn Britt, Opinions Editor

Stephen

King’s newest novel “Fairy Tale” follows Charlie Reade, a high school athlete, through his, sometimes troubling, life. Charlie was ten when his mother was killed in a hit-and-run which drove his father to alcoholism. While his father searched for sobriety, Charlie gets mixed up with the wrong people, causing him to feel intense guilt over his wrongdoings. In the name of repenting his misdeeds, he aids his elderly neighbor Howard Bowditch after he has an accident when trying to clean the gutters. What was meant to be a short-term act of kindness blossoms into a complicated friendship between the pair and Bowditch’s beloved dog, Radar. In true King fashion, Bowditch is not what he seems. There is a mysterious noise in the shed and a pail of gold pellets in his safe, all begging the question: What is that old man hiding? He succumbs to a heart attack before Charlie is able to learn his bizarre past, but he has left tell-all tapes with all the answers: his past, the shed, and, yes, the gold.

“ Fairy Tale” has spent nine weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, showing that Stephen King is still the King, though the novel differs from anything else he has written. On his website, King says that early in the pandemic he asked himself, “What could you write that would make you happy?” The question perfectly encapsulates the work; this is a feel-good book filled with King’s mystic imagination and addicting writing. His breakaway from tortured protagonists into a work surrounded by the mystic imagination based on stories readers will remember from childhood showcases a limitless variety of King’s craft.

The father-son relationship is heartwarming and relieving to read, especially in King’s portfolio, of abusive and murderous male characters. Readers are welcomed into the Reade household and feel the warmth and love in the little family. The narrative is built on the foundation of the father’s grief-induced alcoholism. The loss of the mother comes in true Disney-storytelling fashion. I wish that there was a larger focus on the father-son relationship part from the first third of the novel, especially after the death of Bowditch, a substitute grandfather figure.

The familiar fairy tale aspects of the story are reinvented in the modern age, though I feel the cliches can fall flat. While the novel is inventive and authentic, the focus on historical fairy tales feels predictable, especially at the beginning of the novel. There are constant references to Jack and the Beanstalk and Rumpelstiltskin. While this can be argued to be the motivation of the story, there is a point where the reader loses interest. Stephen King carries a higher expectation of narrative unpredictability as he is the founder of dozens of amazing stories that bled their way into popular culture, becoming these recognizable cult classics. By having a novel on the basis of stories already within the popular consciousness of audiences, King is setting up a higher expectation of working outside of the stereotype, one that can happen to fall flat.

Fans of Stephen King come running to read any new work from the master of fiction. The household name has saturated the market for decades, leading to high expectations and a lifelong battle with past success. Tried and true fanatics will be happy to find a new wave of heartwarming literature with the well-loved King characteristics. The novel is set apart from the rest of his portfolio, indicating a shift in his own take on narrative purpose from his older works. If you want what King is known for, start elsewhere. If you want something new from the undeniable best-selling horror author of our generation, you’ll find it in “Fairy Tale.”

(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)

The Unnecessary Cost of Watching Sports in 2022

By Max Ferguson, Staff Writer

The advent of streaming services has made watching your favorite TV shows much more convenient and cost effective than cable. Consumers save money by only purchasing the streaming services with the content they want to consume. According to US News and World Report, the average American household’s yearly cable cost is $2609.04. The four major streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+) total up to $602 per year. Add on the fact that 82 percent of American households have an Amazon Prime membership— which includes Prime Video for free—and it becomes clear that streaming is a far better option. Streaming would have killed cable by now if not for one outlying factor: sports. However, whether someone has cable or not, watching live sports in 2022 is extremely complicated and expensive. The biggest hurdle for people trying to watch sports without paying for cable is regional blackouts. Regional blackouts occur when a league sells the broadcasting rights of a game to a local cable company. Because that local cable company owns the exclusive rights to broadcast that game, it cannot be streamed.

The MLB’s streaming service, MLBtv, only broadcasts in-market games. To rub salt into the wound, the MLB sells out all the rights to playoff games. Per the MLB, “Due to Major League Baseball exclusivities, during the MLB Postseason, all live games will be blacked out [...] in the United States.” Simply put, if you do not own cable, you cannot watch the World Series. But the MLB is not

an exclusive offender when it comes to complicating the availability of broadcasts. The NBA’s streaming service, NBA League Pass, is also plagued with regional blackouts. The NFL is no different. The NFL has two different paid services to watch games: NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL Redzone. When asked, 72.7% of Gettysburg College students did not know the difference between the two. Like the MLB, the NFL sold the rights to broadcast their games to generate capital. However, in anticipation of the current season, the NFL launched a direct-toconsumer streaming service called NFL+. Still, out-of-market games are blacked out during the regular season. Additionally, NFL+ is only compatible with smartphones and tablets. Even if you were to subscribe to NFL+, you would not be able to watch games on a smart TV. NFL+ is a step in the right direction, but there are still some kinks that need to be worked out.

In a survey of Gettysburg College students, 60.6% of 33 respondents

said they did not find it easy to watch any given sports event on live TV. Brendan Loder ’23 said, “Many of the sporting events I want to watch on TV, such as UFC, are not easily accessible without paying.”

Cooper Leszczuk ’23 said, “With the exponential increase in streaming services it has become difficult to find a certain game I want to watch when they are aired on different channels everyday.”

Some students noted in the survey that they could not watch their home teams on campus due to blackouts. Others admitted to resorting to piracy.

The writing is on the wall for professional sports leagues. It is in their best interest to buy back the broadcast rights to their games in order to retain a generation of fans. Younger consumers aren’t willing to bother with the hassle of buying multiple sports packages, let alone cable. The hefty shortterm loss of buying back broadcast rights to build a direct-to-consumer streaming network will lead to the long term retention of younger fans.

(Photo Luca España/The Gettysburgian)

The Gettysburgian Staff:

Katie Oglesby, Editor-in-Chief

Alli Dayton, Managing & News Editor

George Malian, Magazine Editor

Gracie Meisner, Assistant News Editor

Kyle Hammerness, Features Editor

Victoria Staub, A&E Editor

Mikelyn Britt, Opinions Editor

Jack Herr, Sports Editor

Anna Audia, Lead Copy Editor

Lauren Chu, Social Media Manager

Eric Lippe, Director of Photography

Dr. Scott Boddery, Advisor

CoverPhotobyBornaGanji/TheGettysburgian

StaffPhotobyBornaGanji/TheGettysburgian