THE HENDRIX COLLEGE
ROFILE VOLUME 107 ISSUE 2
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Letter from the editor 2017-2018 campus crime stats released Swipe up to vote First time voters: how to vote, where to vote “Miss Hendrix” considers a name change What is issue 1? Robert Leflar - issue one Modern loathing: presidential alerts Does my vote matter? The race for senate district 35 Future Arkansas leaders Arkansas attorney general race Educating Bystanders
P ROFILE
Editor-in-Chief: Marlee Bird Managing Editor: Jessica FrazierEmerson Photography Editor: Alice Fan Copy Editor: Peyton Coffman Layout Editor: Monica Martinez Photographer: Graydon Carter Photographer: Sarah Pickering Photographer: Samantha Huckabay Staff Writer: Trey Dyer Staff Writer: Kaitlin Lowe Staff Writer: Alyssa Jones Staff Writer: Julia Kraus Staff Writer: Monica Martinez Staff Writer: Indigo Kroll Videographer: Mary Katherine Nail
ADVISOR Dr. Alex Vernon
MISSION STATEMENT As a student-run and student-funded newsmagazine, The Profile uncovers the smart edge to campus culture: the people, places, ideas and trends that curious, confident students and faculty want, need and ought to know. By critically examining issues important to the Hendrix community, The Profile aims to act as a catalyst for change, a tool for transparency between the student body and faculty and a source of inspiration for its readers to begin thinking globally and acting locally.
A hit towards success Review of Brockhampton’s new album @Hendrixprofile
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The Profile At Hendrix
*Correction: In our last issue, we published a story by Philosophy Professor Chris Campolo, however the second half of his story was cut out. We apologize for this error. To view the rest of his story, go to hendrixprofile.com or https://issuu.com/thehendrixcollegeprofile/docs/combinepdf__1_
{NOTE FROM THE EDITOR} MARLEE BIRD
EDITOR IN CHIEF
I used to say that I hated politics. I thought all politics was fighting and blaming and swearing at the other side. Of course, I wasn’t completely wrong in these assumptions. I think most Americans would say that politics is often a fighting match. What I didn’t realize at the time, however, is that politics is so much more. At its core, politics is about making things better. Maybe it’s about making the Wall Street bankers better off so they can buy another yacht. Maybe it’s about increasing access to higher education for low-income populations. Usually politics is about making someone’s life somewhere better, often at the expense of someone else. And this is the crux of all political issues: there will always be winners and losers. We have a president who knows this notion too well. He once said, “My whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose.” President Trump talks about winning and losing like it’s an essential component of not only politics, but life. I don’t say this often, but I agree with him. However, I don’t agree with the idea that politics shouldn’t try to be anything else. I would like to think that somewhere, somehow, there is a politics where everyone wins. I don’t know if this politics existed twenty years ago, or if it has ever existed, but I know that for democracy to work, it can’t stray from its ideals. As young people who have grown up in a very politically polarizing world, we are perhaps more jaded than any other group. We’ve been
surrounded by a turbulent political environment since we were old enough to think for ourselves, but we can’t let our reality distract us from the goals of democracy. November 6 is Election Day, which means that if we want to aim for the ideals of democracy instead of settling for the status quo, we have to vote. We also have to stay engaged and active in citizenship. We have to keep aiming for a political system focused on compromise and consideration. Our voices do matter, no matter how small a percentage of the total, and our decisions on November 6 will affect the trajectory of the future. Ultimately, we have to get political if we want to make the world better. I used to shy away from this task, but now I embrace it. I hope you will too. Sincerely,
Have a question, response, or inquiry? You can reach us anytime at thehendrixcollegeprofile@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated on the latest stories. OCTOBER 2018
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NEWS
Latest campus crime statistics released Rape more than doubles in new campus crime report Julia Kraus| Staff Writer According to the 2017 Hendrix College Crime Statistics report, there were 14 reported incidences of rape on campus over the course of the year—a sharp increase from the reported six in 2016 and seven in 2015. This statistic comes to light in a particularly agitated cultural moment defined by Me Too, Time’s Up, and the recent Kavanaugh hearing. The statistic was released in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which insures that colleges release adequate information on campus crime. Members of the Hendrix administration discussed the report at a forum on October 9. Dean Wiltgen explained that the report addresses all types of sexual assault
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and requires that the college make public any events brought to its attention, regardless of whether disciplinary action was taken. He revealed that six of the 14 reported rapes took place before 2017 but are included in the statistics because they were reported in 2017. Shawn Goicoechea, Coordinator of the Title IX program, had a hopeful perspective on the situation. Considering the increase in reports of assaults that occurred in previous years, he said that these numbers could reflect a greater cultural awareness of what constitutes sexual assault, as well as a decrease in the feelings of shame that can prevent survivors from speaking out. He noted that after the Kavanaugh hearing, many individuals came forward with previously unreported
accounts of sexual assault, and during the hearing, the National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 300 percent increase in traffic. In other words: the 2017 rape statistics might not be the result of more rapes, but of higher rates of reporting. While the number of rapes reported in 2017 increased from previous years, “fondling,” or nonconsensual inappropriate touching, stayed relatively steady at 11 reported instances in 2017, 12 in 2016, and 11 in 2015. So did stalking, with three reported instances in 2017, four in 2016, and one in 2015. Dating violence dropped from five reported instances in both 2015 and 2016 to zero in 2017. Visit the Hendrix website for the full 2017 Crime Statistics Report.
Photo Submitted by Anthony Bennett
Photo Submitted by Anna Romm
Swipe up to vote
Social media campaign increases voter registration Kaitlin Lowe |Staff Writer After the 2014 midterms marked a 72-year record low for voter participation, 2018’s National Voter Registration day saw a record high for voter registration: over 800,000 people registered to vote in one day, according to CNN. Some of the largest social media platforms—like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat—supported National Voter Registration Day by partnering with TurboVote, an online voter registration application. TurboVote claims that 60 percent of non-voters simply don’t register or vote because of “process issues” such as finding polling places, requesting absentee ballots, or just forgetting. To counteract the problem of forgetting, Facebook reminded users to register with a shareable link that appeared in News Feeds. Instagram sponsored a “story” that appeared at the top of users’ homepages which asked, “Will you register to vote?” and offered a “Swipe up to register” feature. Twitter timelines featured a prompt with a link to register and encouraged users to tweet the hashtag #BeAVoter. Snapchat greeted users with a tab on their user pages that urged, “Register to vote!” in English or Spanish and linked to a registration form that could be completed inside in the app. These campaigns were geared towards the younger demographic—eligible high schoolers and college students—who have earned a reputation of being the more unreliable group of voters. According to the Washington Post, turnout among people aged 18 to 29 fell 25 points between 2012 and 2014, as opposed to 16 points among those aged 60 and older. The 2014 midterms saw not only the lowest overall turnout since 1942, but also the lowest turnout of young voters since 1972. U.S. Census data showed that voters aged 18 to 29 made up 13 percent of the national electorate. Meanwhile, according to the Pew Research Center, 78 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. use Snapchat, 71 percent use Instagram,
and 45 percent use Twitter. Among social media platforms, Facebook still dominates overall, with 68 percent of U.S. adults being users. The majority of those who do use these apps open them at least once a day—around 80 percent for Snapchat and Instagram and 74 percent of Facebook users. These statistics suggest the wide-reaching potential of National Voter Registration Day campaigns on social media, which may help to close the gap between younger and older voter participation. However, other gaps still remain. Voter turnout among the 18 to 24 demographic is even lower for those not enrolled in college, who make up 60 percent of U.S. youth. The Center for American Progress cited U.S. Census data which demonstrated that people of color and lowerincome Americans “are disproportionately burdened by registration barriers.” Research also shows that the success of social media campaigns depends on their nature—the more personalized, the better. A 61-million-person study from the University of California at San Diego found that Facebook users who received a “social message” with an “I Voted” button and pictures of friends who had also voted were more likely to click the button than users who received an “informational message” without names or pictures of friends. Even more effective than social media, email, or text message campaigns are face-to-face registration efforts. A move-in day pilot program at Northwestern University in which every new student had a one-on-one conversation with a peer about registering saw that 95 percent of eligible Northwestern students registered to vote. Voter turnout among students jumped from 49 to 69 percent after the program was implemented between the 2012 and 2016 elections. Colleges implementing similar voter registration programs report comparable success.
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First time voters Indigo Kroll | Staff Writer
Photo by Samantha Huckabay
Where to vote, how to vote If you’ve just turned eighteen or if you’re voting for the first time, voting can seem like a complicated process. The good news is that registering to vote is the hardest part. It can be confusing to get ahold of the right forms, especially for students who want to vote in a different state or county than the one in which they attend school. Submitting an incomplete or incorrect application could delay the registration process, and deadlines are easy to miss for first-time voters who aren’t paying attention. After registering to vote, the most complex part of the process is learning about the candidates and their positions. Most people already know what values and stances they want represented, so navigating the ballot and finding the right candidate is the next step. To help with this, Hendrix will host Know Your Ballot on October 29. It will be held in Mills A from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Dean Wiltgen will teach voters about the newly revamped voting process, and local candidates will speak about their campaigns. After three-minute introductions, all are invited to stay for a meet-and-greet with the candidates. Know Your Ballot is a perfect opportunity for first-time and veteran voters alike. 6
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First-time voters might not realize that, beyond picking a candidate for each position, there are also issues listed on the ballot to vote for or against. In the Arkansas midterms this year, there are five different issues. Their concerns are varied, including problems like civil lawsuits, voter identification, term limits, and minimum wage. While the issues will be explained on the ballot, it’s better for voters to do their own research and form an opinion before they reach the polls. Dr. Jay Barth, Distinguished Professor of Politics, will present the issues on the ballot and outline arguments for and against each of them at the Know Your Ballot event. On the day of the election, Arkansas voters should bring proper documentation with them to the ballots. Luckily for Hendrix students voting in Faulkner County, there will be a polling site set up in Worsham from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on November 6—one of twenty-six sites in the county. If a voter can’t make it to the polls on November 6, they can still cast their ballot through the early voting process two weeks befo Election Day. Voters registered in a county other than Faulkner who cannot make it to the polling sites should cast an absentee ballot.
Miss Hendrix considers name change to promote inclusivity Julia Kraus | Staff Writer Hendrix nonprofit Campus Kitty is currently considering a name change for their most popular charity event—the Miss Hendrix pageant. Tonya Hale, faculty advisor to Campus Kitty, explained the interested in changing the show’s name: since the contest opened itself to drag kings and students of all genders two years ago, it no longer makes sense to crown a non-binary or masculine-presenting alter-ego “Miss” Hendrix. “It’s no one’s particular agenda, it’s not mine, it’s not Campus Kitty’s, it’s more of a campus wide issue, so students are in charge of making this decision,” Hale stated. Upon request, the Hendrix LGBTQ Student Association, Unity, provided Campus Kitty with a list of several possible alternatives for Miss Hendrix, the most popular of which is Mx. Hendrix (pronounced “mix”). Mx. Hendrix maintains tradition—it sounds similar to the original—while acknowledging the growing desire for gender-neutral terminology. Kyle Rutherford, co-president of Unity, expressed excitement with the name “Mx. Hendrix” because it presents an opportunity to add the genderneutral “X” to the Hendrix lexicon. He also stressed the importance of spreading tolerance for trans and nonbinary people in the larger context of drag, referencing transphobic comments made by drag’s most popular name and member of the LGBTQ community, RuPaul. While the push for a new name originated with participants from previous years, this year’s contestants have mixed feelings regarding the potential change. When Hale mentioned the possibility of a name change
Do you think the name of Miss Hendrix should be changed? Total respondents: 229
Photo by Alice Fan
during this year’s interviews, most potential participants supported it, but some were skeptical. 2019 contestant Ploy Freebairn said that they have thoroughly supported the change to a more inclusive name since learning of its potential at this year’s Miss Hendrix interest meeting in September. Freebairn explained that they were inspired to participate in the pageant due to the love of drag they have had since their early teens. “It would be exciting to be the first crowned underneath a new, inclusive name that reflects my own non-binary persona,” Freebairn said. Contestant Brock Sullivan was a bit more hesitant to accept the potential switch. He explained that, while he values students of any gender identity and will respect Campus Kitty’s decision either way, part of what draws him to participate in Miss Hendrix is the name and the history it represents—both in the LGBTQ community and as a charitable event at Hendrix. He also worries that community members who are not current students or are not familiar with gender neutral terminology will be confused by the change. However, in the end Sullivan said, “When it comes down to it, I feel as though the title I am given means little in the context of winning the pageant.” A poll written by The Profile and distributed by student senate found that most respondents are not supportive of a name change. At this point in time, the fate of the show’s name is unknown.
What should the name of the show be? Total respondents: 221
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WHAT IS ISSUE ONE?
Ballot initiative causes commotion across the state and in courts Trey Dyer | Staff Writer
When you vote on November 6, you’ll see five issues on the ballot. One issue addresses term limits, another concerns casinos, another deals with voter identification, and the last one pushes for a gradual raise of the minimum wage. Issue 1, often called “tort reform,” will be on the ballot, but votes for it will not be counted because of a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court on October 18. It’s still important to know what this measure would have done, because versions of it appear on ballots quite frequently. Issue 1 is hard to summarize. Its popular name on the ballot is “An Amendment Concerning Civil Lawsuits and the Powers of the General Assembly and Supreme Court to Adopt Court Rules.” Here’s what the initiative would have done: •Contingencies fees (fees paid to attorneys if a claimant recovers money in a civil lawsuit) would be capped at one-third of the net amount recovered in the lawsuit. •The net amount recovered in a lawsuit would be capped at $500,000 for both punitive damages (damages assessed to punish wrong-doing) and non-economic damages (damages inflicted on the claimant that cannot be measured by a monetary value). •The requirement of a two-thirds vote would decrease to a threefifths vote for the state legislature to amend or repeal court rules, allowing the legislature to change the contingency fee limit and to increase the restrictions on punitive damages and non-economic damages but not decrease them. In short, the initiative would have limited the net amount of money one could earn in a civil lawsuit and would have allowed the state legislature to change certain court rules. If one sued a nursing home for malpractice, this amendment would limit how much money could be won. Issue 1 began as a joint Senate resolution in 2017, sponsored by Senator Missy Irvin (R) and Representative Bob Ballinger (R). The only Democrats to co-sponsor the measure were Representative Steve Magie (D) and Representative Deborah Ferguson (D), both of whom are doctors. The measure was passed by both chambers, finding its way onto the ballot. This amendment has caused controversy across the state, and the battle over it has taken place in courts and the checkbooks of its sup-
porters and opponents. In January, a total of almost two million dollars had been raised by both groups. That number has more than likely doubled since. Groups in favor of Issue 1 include the Arkansas Medical Society, Pulaski County Medical Society, Arkansas Trucking Association, Arkansas Healthcare Association, Poultry Federation, Arkansas Hospital Association, and the Arkansas Economic Developers and Chamber Executives. The Arkansas Chamber of Commerce and the Lieutenant Governor’s office, who also support the issue, did not immediately respond to our requests for comment. Proponents of the initiative say it would encourage economic growth and attract medical professionals, pointing to an increase in the number of doctors in Texas following its passage of tort reform. Opponents of the amendment disagree with the premise that Arkansas hospitals are suffering and suggest that they’re doing quite well compared to neighboring states like Texas, where a dozen or more rural hospitals have closed their doors since 2013. Those who were in favor of blocking the measure included the Arkansas State Bar Association, Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, Protect Arkansas Families, and the Liberty Defense Network. The Liberty Defense Network says this initiative is “government overreach” and that it is an attempt to limit “the value of human life.” Claire Frueauff, a Hendrix alumna, works as an organizer for the Liberty Defense Network. She says the amendment would “embolden big businesses to make reckless decisions at the expense of workers, [and] it blatantly violates our system of checks and balances and would allow corrupt politicians to rig the rules of the courts to protect themselves and special interests.” Both those in support and those in opposition have formed large and influential coalitions to sway voters, but those in favor of the initiative were dealt a devasting blow on October 18. The ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court invalidating Issue 1 comes after an appeal to an earlier decision made by Judge Mackie Pierce on September 6, who ruled that the initiative failed to meet the single-subject requirement. The Supreme Court agreed with this decision, meaning that voters will see Issue 1 on the ballot, but votes will not be counted.
“Tort Reform” in the Arkansas Constitution: Blocked (for Now) Robert B. Leflar | Adjunct Professor of Politics
Issue One would have been the most controversial item on our Arkansas ballot this November. However, the state Supreme Court just tossed it off the ballot. Here’s some background on how the proposal came to be; an analysis of the merits of the arguments pro and con; an explanation of why I would have voted “No”; a review of the Supreme Court’s decision; and some predictions of what’s in store for the future. Issue One is an example of “tort reform,” a nationally coordinated series of federal and state-by-state initiatives over the past two decades and more aimed at advantaging defendants in tort litigation. Tort law is
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the law of personal injury. It’s the realm of law that provides monetary compensation for death, physical and mental harm and disfiguration and for economic loss from defective products, medical malpractice, driver negligence, sexual assault, defamation, and other wrongful conduct. Sometimes courts also issue injunctions against repeated or threatened bad behavior. On the defendants’ side, typically, are product manufacturers, hospital corporations and doctors, nursing home chains, trucking firms, and most importantly, their insurance companies. Ordinary citizens who engage in wrongful conduct are also subject to these rules. A majority of state legislatures have enacted “tort reform” of one sort or another.
OPINION
The Arkansas legislature passed such a law, the “Civil Justice Reform Act,” in 2003. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court subsequently struck down parts of that law as violating the state constitution. In particular, the 2003 law violated two fundamental constitutional principles: • separation of powers, which restricts each of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) from impinging on matters dedicated to the other branches, and • the provision stating that “otherwise no law shall be enacted limiting the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death or for injuries to persons or property.” Foiled by the Court’s interpretation of the state constitution, tort reform’s proponents adopted another strategy: change the constitution itself. The industries and medical providers mentioned above wield powerful influence in the state legislature, and their lobbyists and legislative supporters persuaded the legislature to place Issue One on the ballot for a vote of the people. Arguments advanced by Issue One’s backers include the following: 1. Decreasing lawsuits against corporations and medical providers would create jobs. Companies and medical providers would be incentivized to come to Arkansas. 2. Frivolous lawsuits would be quashed, permitting companies and medical providers to provide products and services at a cheaper price and higher quality, since they would not have to divert as much of their resources to defending litigation. 3. Limiting trial lawyers’ contingency fees would benefit injured plaintiffs, since lawyers would get a smaller slice of damage awards leaving more for injured persons. 4. Many other states have enacted similar tort reform measures. Arkansas would lose competitively by not following them. These are all plausible arguments, deserving to be tested against the evidence. 1. Job creation: Perhaps this should not be a headline argument for Issue One just now: • “State Jobless Rate Hits Record Low 3.5%”— Ark. Democrat Gazette 10/20/18 • “There are now over 60,000 open jobs in Arkansas, half of which are vacant because of lack of skills, no work history, no education or failed drug tests.” Randy Zook, Arkansas Chamber of Commerce and key supporter of Issue One, 8/22/18 2. Frivolous lawsuits: This seems like an accusation without a solid evidentiary basis, but a little evidence does support it. • If lawyers file suits without sufficient basis in law or fact, they’re subject to ethical sanctions under Rule 11 and must pay penalties.
• Plaintiffs’ lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis. They earn income only if they recover damages for their clients. But case preparation’s expensive. If they file a case, invest in hiring costly experts and investigators in a losing effort, they incur substantial red ink. So rational, ethical plaintiffs’ lawyers don’t file groundless claims. • Exception: Some plaintiffs’ lawyers seek to gain the advantage of an in terrorem effect. Defendants may settle cases they would probably win in court, just because their litigating expenses would exceed possible liability for damages. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers try to take advantage of defendants’ prospective litigation costs to force quick favorable settlements on dicey claims. Some courts don’t police these “sweetheart settlements” as closely as they ought. 3. Trial lawyers’ contingency fees: • Injured people usually can’t afford lawyers’ fees (typically hundreds of dollars per hour). Their only road to tort law compensation is to contract with lawyers on a contingency fee basis: “Unless we win, the client owes nothing.” So lawyer-client contingency fee contracts are central to the U.S. civil justice system. • Issue One would have set maximum contingency fees at one-third of “net recovery” (even if cases are appealed, requiring more attorney work). “Net recovery” would be defined by the legislature, which is dominated by interest groups hostile to plaintiffs’ lawyers. So the “net recovery” definition would probably subtract expert fees and investigation costs from total recovery (contrary to current practice), slicing plaintiffs’ lawyers’ income. • Likely result: Rational plaintiffs’ lawyers would find fewer cases economically viable, so people injured by negligence with only moderate provable damages couldn’t obtain legal representation. Negligent defendants would be protected by economics, not law. 4. Arkansas should follow other states by enacting “tort reform,” for competitive reasons. • This argument is a typical “race to the bottom.” It’s analogous to Gresham’s Law, known to every economics student: Bad money drives out good. • Example: Texas enacted “tort reform.” Now physicians are better protected against malpractice lawsuits. • Result: The number of malpractice lawsuits has indeed dropped precipitously in Texas. Hospitals and doctors have less to fear from plaintiffs’ lawyers. • Result: In that legal environment, hospitals and doctors with poor safety records are largely freed of the discipline of malpractice actions. Pa
tient safety at those hospitals has suffered. Example: “A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal” (ProPublica 10/2/18). • Did “tort reform” increase physician supply in Texas? Not according to the best empirical study (Hyman et al., Int’l Rev. of Law & Econ. 2015). You see from reading all that why I would have voted ‘No” on Issue One, had our votes been counted. But the reason why the Supreme Court struck Issue One from the ballot has little to do, at least formally, with the merits or drawbacks of Issue One. (But some of the Justices’ votes may have been informally influenced by their views of that proposal’s merits.) The state constitution allows the legislature to propose, for vote of the people each election, “no more than three amendments” to the constitution, “so submitted as to enable the [voters] to vote on each amendment separately.” The Supreme Court has interpreted this to require that the provisions of any proposed amendment be “reasonably germane to each other and to the general subject of the amendment.” In its 6-1 decision in Martin v. Humphrey (10/18/18), the Court concluded that Issue One’s provisions limiting private lawyerclient contingency fee contracts were not “reasonably germane” to the other provisions giving the legislature more power to set rules for court procedures, or to Issue One’s general subject of courts and judicial power. In effect, voters would have been voting on several amendments to the constitution in the guise of one single ballot issue, which the state constitution forbids. What does this decision portend for future “tort reform” in Arkansas? Simply that the battles are postponed, not ended. The proponents of “tort reform” – the state Chamber of Commerce, the product manufacturers, the nursing home chains, the medical providers, their insurance companies and their lobbyists – will likely return with a more narrowly-drafted constitutional amendment proposal and with more defendant-favorable legislation. The state legislature, as presently constituted, will likely pass those proposals. The proposals will be challenged in court, millions of dollars will be raised again by both sides and spent on lawyering and advertising and political campaigns, the same arguments will be recycled, and perhaps new persuasive evidence might emerge. In short, our system of republican democracy will continue to channel political disagreement into the constitutional structures that the Framers of our government designed. As you participate as active, well-informed citizens in these debates, never forget our state’s motto, “Regnat Populus”: The People Rule.
* Rob Leflar is Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law (Fayetteville), and adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and at Hendrix College. At Hendrix, he taught Health Policy and Law (spring 2018) and is now teaching American Constitutional Law and Federalism (fall 2018). OCTOBER 2018
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FEATURED CARTOON Sam Byrd | Class of 2019
If I force myself to care, this is what bothers me Peyton Coffman | Copy Editor On October 3, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted a test of an alert system designed to inform the public of national emergencies. Unlike weather alerts or AMBER Alerts, users with participating service providers cannot opt out of Presidential Alerts. It would be easy to make jokes here, because so much of Trump’s presidency plays out like a stunt gone wrong, an absurd and dangerous prank on democracy and reason. But the problem with Presidential Alerts isn’t that Trump will utilize them as the new twitter.com/realdonaldtrump—the alert system is managed by FEMA—or that they’re inherently bad. The problem is that they’re useless and redundant; people with cell phones are the people most likely to encounter news elsewhere: in a news app, on social media, via a text or a phone call. If there were an assassination, a terrorist attack, a declaration of war— the kind of dire emergencies that might prompt an alert—we would all want to know. But would we all need to read the news at the exact same time, in some strange, dystopic, singular spasm of panic? Must we be perpetually on call for disaster? And what is the benefit of instant, simultaneous knowledge of a Very Serious National Emergency that would, no doubt, be completely out of the hands of the public? We would all find out soon enough. What do the extra minutes, maybe hours, earn us? It seems strange that the kind of alerts most pertinent to each of us—local weather alerts, children missing or spotted in our area—the kind of alerts that actually require action, are the ones that we can easily switch off. It’s the Presidential Alert, the one that will go out after the Big Bad Thing, that we are required to receive.
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To me, the constant possibility of these alerts feels like one more way we’re all tethered to Trump’s government and its inevitable emergencies. We can’t detach; we can’t opt out. Of course, I’m not suggesting that anyone reading this should detach completely from politics and its real-life manifestations. I hope that we all remain civically engaged, that we care for the people in our communities and in our country. I hope we read carefully about contemporary social and political issues, that we vote, engage in political discourse, contact our representatives, and protest inequity. I hope that none of us favor our own comfort over the comfort of those less privileged, but I also hope that we recognize the importance of breaking away from the anxiety of the news, from incessant reports of doom and failure. Of course, presidential alerts will not be regular; if they occur at all, they will be rare. But they reflect the culture of the information age, specifically the idea that to be good citizens, we need to know everything that happens as quickly as possible. I think many of us have convinced ourselves that we are ethically responsible for bearing witness to everyone’s pain, everyone’s emergency, even if we’re not going to do anything about it (or if there’s nothing we can do about it). But information does not equal helpfulness or productivity. If I’m going to encounter the news anyway, and if I can do nothing to immediately alleviate the damage (this is national emergency here, people), then why do I need this alert? I don’t. When I imagine Trump, in the wake of this hypothetical crisis, giving the go-ahead, some eternal part of me bursts with nostalgia for the town crier.
Does my vote matter? Why young Americans feel like they’re shouting to be heard Kaitlin Lowe| Staff Writer After Melania Trump’s infamous jacket, one of the latest political fashion statements on the American market is Gerrymander Jewelry—a new company whose commercial made the rounds on social media because it seemed more like an SNL skit than a real advertisement. For $195, you can buy a gold pin or necklace with a pendant shaped like one of six ridiculously gerrymandered districts. There’s TX-35, which in real life runs 100 miles long from Austin to San Antonio; in wearable, miniature form, the thin metal looks easy enough to snap in half. This district is shaped, Gerrymander Jewelry suggests, “for no other reason than to pack Democrats into one district.” There’s also NC-6, a district drawn so that the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical college—one of the ten largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S.—is split down the middle. If a student were to move from the East to the West side of campus, they would have to vote in a different district. The tongue-in-cheek project (which benefits Democratic candidates in local swing state elections via OMG WTF) gets at just one of the deeper issues that have disillusioned voting-age Americans to the point that an unimpressive 55.7 percent of them voted in the 2016 presidential election. Voter turnout is worse in state and local elections; while nearly 92 million eligible Americans didn’t vote in 2016, an estimated 143 million didn’t vote in the 2014 midterms. Among its 32 mostly democratic peers in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. placed 26th in Voting-Age Population (VAP) turnout. Meanwhile, countries like Belgium and Australia lead the VAP turnout pack, ranking 1st and 4th, respectively. Both countries enforce compulsory voting. However, they’re the only countries in the top ten who do—so countries like Sweden, Denmark, and South Korea can clearly encourage voters to get to the polls without compulsory voting laws. A 2017 Pew study asked registered voters who didn’t vote in the 2016 election why they refrained. The most common response, which resonated with 25 percent of respondents, was “didn’t like candidate or campaign issues.” 15 percent of respondents “felt their vote didn’t matter”—the second most popular response. Chalking up low voter turnout to stereotypical American laziness or millennial ignorance is inaccurate and doesn’t address the deeper issues that plague American politics. Many voters simply feel that their vote doesn’t matter, like those who live in strategically gerrymandered congressional districts with arbitrary borders designed to marginalize one party and favor the other. Democrats who felt sure of Hillary Clinton’s success are still reeling from her loss to the “silent majority” who elected Donald Trump. Even if they don’t or can’t agree on much, Republicans in California and Democrats in Alabama likely feel that their votes are equally useless in states that always go red or blue. Independent voters are similarly, if not more, underrepresented. The last independent candidate to take an electoral vote was former Governor of Alabama George Wallace in 1968. Those who voted for third party candidates in the 2016 presidential election received their share of ridicule after the unexpected results, as were those who voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party in 2000. Claire Fleming, ’20 is familiar with the pros and cons of being an unaffiliated voter. Though she feels empowered and freer to choose candidates based on individual agendas and viewpoints, she also notes “a sense of hopelessness.” “When people tell me, ‘The ideals of independent voting make sense, but to vote for a minority party is to throw away your vote,’ it sounds contradictory and truth-shaming,” Fleming said. “Is the purpose of voting not to
Photo by Alice Fan
voice what resonates most with your beliefs?” Fleming thinks that the increasingly polarized two-party system “may just end one of the longest-lasting democracies in existence.” (Politifact rates the claim that the U.S. is the oldest democracy in the world—once made by Paul Ryan—as true.) “The many popular beliefs on how issue stances can be combined are too various to be constrained to just left and right,” Fleming said. “We need minority parties to have the resources and opportunities currently taken for granted by our large parties in order to better serve the needs of our people.” Though Fleming is from Michigan, which was a swing state in the 2016 election, she votes according to where she presently lives “because it is easier to talk about about and understand local candidates when I am physically immersed in the local community they will be impacting.” While some students like Fleming feel that their vote matters more when voting where they currently live, some students studying abroad or in other states feel connected to where they’re from. Anna Noman, ’20 registered to vote absentee for the local elections during her fall semester in D.C. with the Hendrix-in-Washington program. “Being in D.C.,” Norman said, “has made me hyper aware of the importance of our governing bodies acting as a representation of its citizens. Though it’s really easy to put off sending in an absentee application, I knew I would regret it if I didn’t do my part to make sure our politicians are doing best by all Arkansans.” When asked how she feels about being a registered Democrat in a consistently Republican state and district, Norman remained optimistic about her party’s success., “If every Democrat doesn’t vote because they think a red Arkansas is inevitable, then change is never going to happen.” With midterm elections just days away, we’ll soon find out just how much change is possible.
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FEATURE
The race for Senate District 35
Incumbent Jason Rapert works to fend off challenger Maureen Skinner Trey Dyer | Staff Writer Hendrix resides in Senate District 35. Vying for that State Senate seat in November are current Senator Jason Rapert and Conway resident Maureen Skinner. Rapert has served as senator since 2011 and is well known in the Conway area. As a Republican, Rapert is endorsed by well-known Arkansas conservatives like Senator John Boozman (R), Governor Asa Hutchinson (R), Lt. Governor Tim Griffin (R), and former Governor Mike Huckabee (R). Arkansas Right to Life, an anti-abortion non-profit organization that has endorsed dozens of Arkansas Republicans, currently backs Rapert as well. The National Rifle Association gave Rapert an A+ rating. He’s known for his sponsorship of the Arkansas Ten Commandments Monument Act, which created the Ten Commandments monument currently in front of the state capitol building, and the controversial Arkansas Heartbeat Protection Act, a measure that proposed prohibiting an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Rapert attended the University of Central Arkansas, where he studied Political Science and Sociology. After graduating from UCA, he became a financial advisor and investment representative and eventually co-founded an investments and wealth management firm in Conway. Rapert founded his own Christian ministry, Holy Ghost Ministries, of which he is President. He is also a member of countless organizations including Rotary International and Gideons International. Rapert said that helping individuals financially made him realize that the public in general was at risk, causing him concern. “That began to work on me, and I thought, my goodness, some of us are going to have to leave private practice here and go help,” he said. “It’s not glamorous in some people’s eyes, but the bottom line is that economics [is] fundamental to the economy.”
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Rapert said he sees that the country is divided and struggling, and that worries him. “You may sit down [with someone] and disagree on an issue,” he said, “but I don’t have to say that Vickie is a terrible person because she disagrees on an issue.” Rapert thinks this kind of political atmosphere didn’t always exist, but he could see it happening when he was first elected. Talking about the missionary work he has done—building churches and schoolhouses, particularly in Ghana—he said, “I think there would be less conflict in our nation if all of us had to spend a little time overseas to see what the rest of the world was really like.” The race for district 35 has been fairly
controversial so far, consisting of namecalling, the threatening of lawsuits, and the filing of a lawsuit against Rapert by the American Atheists, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for atheists and ensuring the separation of church and state. The lawsuit alleges that Rapert’s use of social media— particularly his habit of blocking users from seeing his content—violates users’ first and fourth amendment rights. Rapert sees this atmosphere as indicative of elections happening around the country. He points to the political action organization Our Revolution’s endorsement of his opponent, Maureen Skinner, as adding a new degree of discourse.
Social media has been where most of the contention manifests. Rapert said that Skinner’s behavior online is “inappropriate,” but “it’s up to the voters to decide if this is the kind of person [they] want representing [them] in the Arkansas Senate.” Rapert’s online behavior has been equally, if not more heavily, criticized. The lawsuit against him begs the question: what does social media mean for free speech in modern politics? Rapert has labeled the lawsuit as frivolous and said that he has rules for “blocking” users from his content. If intimidation, vulgar language, or bullying exists, a user is blocked. “First of all, that’s not acceptable anywhere,” he said, “so we’re not going to let people do that on my pages.” Critics, however, say that anyone who frequently disagrees with Rapert online eventually gets blocked, regardless of whether or not they were bullying. Critics also point to Senator Rapert’s remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, specifically the Conway Pride Parade, which he has attempted to stop all together. His inflammatory comments about Islam also frequent his social media. When asked about his views of Islam and the LGBTQ+ community, Rapert said, “Let me tell you this: on September 11, 2001, it wasn’t a bunch of Baptists who flew planes into the world trade center. It was radical Islamic Muslims. If I were an LGBT person, if I were a homosexual, I think I would think twice about the Muslims because guess what, they throw them off of buildings in their countries over there... If I were a homosexual, I think I’d be a little concerned about the Islamic faith as well.” Rapert went on to say that a leader would be an idiot to ignore threats of violence from people who say they’re going to kill. “And I completely support Donald Trump and the Republican administration and the safety and security that we’ve seen restored in the country,” he said. Above: Photo Submitted by Darian Dyer
This poll represents 200 responders
Rapert went on to further address his views on LGBTQ+ constituents. “I don’t hate anyone,” he said. “Before I became a politician or an elected official, I actually am a Christian...I am not going to deny my faith on anything...I believe that any number of things that are sin are wrong, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you. In terms of those, I definitely am going to maintain my Christian world view.” On the Democratic side of the ballot is a licensed psychological examiner who practices independently in Conway. Maureen Skinner said the transition from her job to that of State Senator would be easy. “Listening and problem solving is what I do.” When asked what drove her to run for District 35, she said it goes back to the 2016 Presidential Election and what she sees happening in this district. Without naming individuals, Skinner said we see similar political styles from certain elected officials in our area. When she saw that someone was needed to run against “that guy,” she said yes. Skinner is endorsed by the Progressive Arkansas Women PAC, and she does not have a rating with the National Rifle Association because she refused to fill out the questionnaire, saying it was “bullying” in nature. Skinner recognizes that this race has been contentious so far, but it’s the campaign that keeps her going. “The whole concept of a campaign is working together with people and that’s what I’ve gotten to
do,” she said. “I’ve gotten to meet all of these incredible people in my community.” She also said that the way in which they are campaigning is unorthodox; they’re running with other candidates in the area, which they were told not to do. “And now it’s happening all over the state,” she said, “Democrats are all doing it together.” Addressing the tension between she and Rapert, Skinner said that there have been barbs back and forth, but the campaign itself has been positive. Skinner denied Senator Rapert’s allegations that she provoked her supporters to vandalize yard signs. “None of my supporters nor myself would condone that sort of behavior,” she said. “My campaign is definintely not working in any kind of unethical fashion. If I was able to incite or encourage or make people do anything, it would be to make them vote.” Senator Rapert has repeatedly labeled Skinner as an atheist, and her faith has been a major point of criticism from Rapert himself. When asked about her faith, Skinner was very private. She theorized that Rapert labels her an atheist because the Constitution of Arkansas technically says no atheist may hold civil office. But she is not an atheist, and those kinds of restrictions were ignored after a Supreme Court case in the 1960s. “I do have my own spiritual practice,” she said, “but I don’t feel like this arena is an appropriate place to put that out there. I’m going to be representing more than just people who believe and worship like I do. I feel like it’s
a really important thing to not put that out there so people worry that they may be discriminated against based on my personal beliefs.” When Rapert hears “Medicare-for-All,” he disparagingly labels it “socialism.” When Skinner hears this, she asks, “Who paves his roads? Where does he get his electricity? We already have socialistic type things in place that we all benefit from and we like. Public schools are along those lines as well.” She went on to explain that we have enough resources to support a decent life for everyone. When talking about the campaign, Skinner says there is a lot of positivity and a lot of young people. “Which is maybe my favorite part, because you’re all so much smarter than me,” she said. “You guys have everything we need.” Most members of Skinner’s campaign team are in their 20s. As unorthodox as her campaign can be, she said that “campaigning is not the job.” To find out more about each campaign, visit Sen. Jason Rapert and Maureen Skinner’s campaign websites. Early voting starts on October 22 and Election Day is November 6.
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Alyssa Jones | Staff Writer
Democrat Jared Henderson Versus Incumbent Republican Asa Hutchinson
The Race for Governor 14
On Nov. 6, Arkansas will elect a governor. Republican Asa Hutchinson is the current governor of Arkansas and has been since 2015. The other candidate on the ballot is Democrat Jared Henderson, whose campaign is geared towards education, lowering healthcare costs, lowering teenage pregnancy rates, and a small business growth. “A few of the central ideas that the campaign is running on are public education and making public-school teaching as attractive, respected, and sustainable as possible,” Henderson said. “We’ve talked about ways to equip entrepreneurs and knock down the barriers for small business creation in rural communities, breaking the cycle of childhood poverty by addressing our nation’s leading teen pregnancy rates. When it comes to healthcare, the discussion we need to be having is ‘how do we lower costs?’” This is Henderson’s first political race. He was inspired to run for office by the 2016 election. “A broad aspiration I have is to break some old obsolete debates and put some fresh ideas on the table that I think could unlock opportunity for people living all across the state, particularly people that
Photo courtesy of http://amppob.com /democrat-jared-henderson-looks-change-game/
are living in areas that are struggling,” Henderson said. “I’ve always believed that state government—particularly a smaller state like Arkansas—can be an opportunity to make sure more people have access to opportunity, justice, and equity.” “About two months ago we released a plan to make teaching more attractive and sustainable. We try to build something that was doable and clear but also comprehensive. We talked to dozens, if not hundreds, of teachers over the campaign. I’ve worked with teachers for over a decade. Some of the things you’d expect are there, like raising pay and protecting benefits, but some of them are frankly simple things but things you’d only know if you talked and did research with teachers.” Henderson said. Henderson commented on his disappointment in the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. “It increased my resolve to stay in this arena the rest of my life if necessary,” Henderson said. “What we’ve seen in the Supreme Court nomination and other examples in recent years is a political party that thinks if they have the power to do it, it’s okay.” Profile staff reached out to the Hutchinson campaign and received no response.
Photo courtesy of https: //governor.arkansas.gov/ about/governor-hutchinson/
The Race for Attorney General Controversial Incumbent Leslie Rutledge Faces Off Against Mike Lee Indigo Kroll| Staff Writer The ballot in November will include the race for Arkansas Attorney General, the state’s chief legal advisor and law enforcement officer. Responsibilities include representing and advising Arkansas in legal matters, prosecuting fraud and corruption, and protecting consumers. The position also counsels the Solicitor General, Civil Department, Criminal Department, and State Agencies Department. Until 2014, the position had only been filled by Democrats, like Bill Clinton and Mike Beebe, who each served as attorney general before his time as governor. On the ballot this midterm are Republican incumbent Leslie Rutledge, Democrat Mike Lee, and Libertarian Kerry Hicks. Rutledge—Chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association and vocal Trump supporter—became the first woman and first Republican to serve as attorney general for Arkansas in 2014. Her key stances are her support for pro-life laws, veteran rights, protection of the Second Amendment, and defense of religious freedom. Her campaign website lists domestic violence, the opioid epidemic, internet safety, and scam phone calls as the issues she aims to tackle. She has implemented the Prescription for Life program to teach students about the dangers of drug abuse. She has created the Military and Veteran’s Initiative, Metal Theft Prevention Initiative, and Cooperative Disabilities Investigations. In past statements, she has opposed DACA and LGBT anti-discrimination laws. Lee is an industrial engineer and attorney. He has served on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lee first filed to run for House District 31 Representative, but he withdrew, choosing to run for attorney general instead. He said that his top priorities are consumer protection issues, like fighting online scams and other cybercrimes. He also wants to combat the opioid crisis, and he’s pushing for stricter ethics laws in local government. Lee calls himself “a real watchdog” who will bring the focus back to Arkansas. He has been quiet on LGBT, immigration, and abortion issues. During the course of his campaign, Lee has slammed his opponent for controversy found in the Department of Human Services files. In 2007, leaked emails from the DHS put Rutledge on a “do not rehire” list. There was speculation that Rutledge quit her job abruptly, but some files claim that she was fired. Such documents were given to the media before being handed over to a Pulaski County judge, but the Arkansas Democratic Party has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Rutledge’s full personnel file. Rutledge faced backlash again in 2007—this time for a racist email mocking social service clients. When the issue surfaced, she said that she did not write it; she “simply forwarded” the email. Lee himself has not been immune to allegations. The Arkansas Republican Party filed a complaint against him for violating campaign finance rules. Among the allegations are failing to attach “paid for by” to yard signs and accepting food and drink from a restaurant during his campaign. It’s uncertain how or if this controversy will affect the voting results for attorney general, but the race is expected to be contentious. Contact either candidate’s campaign to find out more information about their stances, goals, and plans. OCTOBER 2018
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Educating Bystanders
The new Title IX training requirement promotes student involvement in the prevention of gender misconduct on campus Monica Martinez | Staff Writer On Oct. 3, students received an email from Dr. Allison Vetter announcing the deadline for the new Title IX training, which educates students on how to prevent sexual violence and gender misconduct. In years past, only athletes were required to complete this training. Now, all students are required to complete this digital training annually. “[Completing the training will] help students know how to be good bystanders and know when to intervene in situations,” Title IX Investigator & Education Coordinator Dr. Allison Vetter said. “We want [students] to know who to contact if something happens.” “I am hopeful that a training with a focus on bystander intervention will provide all our students with tools and ideas for how they can participate in preventing genderbased misconduct,” Title IX coordinator Shawn Goicoechea said. “Our students are safer when they play an
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active role in ensuring each other’s safety.” The training contains a series of educational videos and simulations that promote a better understanding of consent and healthy relationships. The training lasts 20 to 30 minutes and is to be completed by all students before Nov. 1. “The online training is just one piece,” Vetter said. “It is not meant to do everything. It is sort of the definitions and the serious side of the issue that sets up all the groundwork for sexual assault prevention.” The Committee for Gender and Sexuality (COGS) will be hosting a week-long series of events from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26. These events will consist of entertaining activities that will further teach students about healthy relationships, consent, and sex education. Both this event and the Title IX training aim to help students understand boundaries and how to spot dangerous situations.
“I think these and other studentdriven activities go hand-in-hand with the broader effort on campus to ensure our students are knowledgeable and aware on a variety of related topics,” Goicoechea said. “Students come to Hendrix from diverse backgrounds with diverse experience of sex education, because not all k-12 programs talk about consent. Being knowledgeable about healthy relationships and consent not only assists the students in those relationships but helps their friends and community be better bystanders [if] intervention is needed.” Dr. Vetter also sees the benefit of having both students and faculty promote gender misconduct awareness. “[COGS week and the training] complement one another,” Vetter said. “[Students] go to the COGS events and recognize the conversations that are introduced from the training that they already completed or vice versa. The more times we
Photo by Sarah Pickering
can get the message to students, the more it helps them remember and recognize [dangerous] situations.” Since the discussion about sexual assault intensified last year with the Time’s Up Hendrix protests, faculty have noticed a heightened awareness of sexual misconduct on campus. Conversations have produced changes to campus policy and the process for examining claims of misconduct. Additionally, a staff member, Allison Vetter, has been added to the Title IX team. A number of committees have been engaged in the conversation about gender misconduct to ensure the campus continues its productive dialogue between faculty and students. “In the past year, increased awareness has led our campus to actively engage in some very difficult conversations that are productive and beneficial to the climate and overall efforts to address the issue of sexual assault,” Goicoechea said. “I hope to
see positive engagement from the campus community in Dr. Vetter’s efforts on the areas of prevention and education, an area in which there is a great deal of opportunity for engagement and positive change.” “If we are all taking responsibility for our campus, we’ll call each other out if we are not behaving like we should as a good community member,” Vetter said. “Also, if something happens, we will know how to report it.” Student organizations and faculty members alike are taking extensive measures in developing forms of communication and increasing awareness on gender misconduct. However, faculty believe it is the responsibility of the individual to take both training and educational efforts into consideration in order to prevent gender-based misconduct. “Preventing sexual assault and relationship violence is an ongoing and community-wide effort that can-
not be solved by one office or a few individuals,” Goicoechea said. “The work of student organizations such as COGS and programming activities from other offices, such as the great work Tonya Hale does in Student Activities, are all important pieces to awareness and education efforts on campus.”
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A hit toward success
Alyssa Jones|Staff Writer
Softball team awarded NFCA academic honors
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The Softball team received the Easton/NFCA Academic Honors award for the 2017-2018 school year. Nine players with grade point averages above 3.8 were recognized as scholar-athletes. Nationally, the team ranked 28th based on their combined GPA of 3.51. “We’ve been ranked before. This is the highest we have ever been ranked. My players work really hard in the classroom, and they understand the importance of showing up and doing the work every day,” Coach Amy Weaver said. Setting up a routine allows for better time management. Whenever a new player joins the team, she must learn to balance softball with academic life. “It’s not easy; it’s a challenge at times. It’s a routine of: go to class, go to practice, go do your homework, and then go to sleep. You just do that for the entire season. You use road trips as time to do homework. It’s a real give and take kind of thing.” Sophomore Brooke Lowry said. Freshman year provides an adjustment time for players. To ensure that they manage their time well, freshman players are required to attend a mandatory study hall overseen by upperclassmen. Once a freshman player earns a GPA above 3.0, she is no longer required to attend study hall. Weaver prefers players to have a cumulative GPA of 3.5. “Your freshman year, you are given some leeway; everyone’s allowed to play. Once you get past your freshman year, you have to make a certain GPA to even be allowed to play in games,” senior Savannah Draud said. “[The award] shows that our team can collectively push each other to do better,” senior Emily Stockalper said. “It’s really exciting. It’s good for the Hendrix community as a whole. There’s not this divide of ‘you do sports’ and ‘you do school.’ I think it’s helpful for people who want to come here and do both. You can get good grades and you can have all of these different extracurriculars.” The softball team also offers incentives for players who do well in class. Students who don’t receive interim reports are allowed to skip certain workouts. “[Sports and academics] don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” Weaver said. “Obviously, the softball coach wants them to win games, but it’s about them in four years walking down the aisle and receiving their diploma. You don’t graduate with your glove; you graduate with a diploma.”
COULD HAVE USED A LITTLE MORE SATURATION BROCKHAMPTON’s ‘Iridescence’ pales in comparison to previous work Jessica Emerson |Managing Editor If you’re into moshing and haven’t had your boy band heart stolen by gangly English boys singing about your inability to conceive your beauty, than the men of BROCKHAMPTON may be the guys for you. Last year, the 14-member rap collective released a three album project called “SATURATION” and were referred to as Hip-Hop’s best Boy Band. They embody the ideal, “by us, for us,” featuring members of both white and black, queer and straight communities. They introduced their sound and defined their brand as fluid, all-caps reckless emotion. “SATURATION” reclaimed the whine of police sirens, addressed issues of racism, poverty and homophobia. On September 21, 2018 BROCKHAMPTON released “IRIDESCENCE,” the first installment of their new project “the best years of our lives.” While the album certainly has its points of rash emotion, parts of it felt like counterfeit anger. Some of this may be due to the loss of Ameer Vann, one of the group’s core members, after multiple women accused Vann of sexaul misconduct. The band scrapped the project they were working on, cancelled a tour, and at their Boston Calling Festival set they stood silent during Vann’s parts. “IRIDESCENCE” does encompass a vibe of change, whether it be an entire dynamic change due to the loss of a member and friend, or a change due to fame, the group is attempting to play with their sound. The shortcomings of “IRIDESCENCE” could simply be growing pains. “IRIDESCENCE” opens with NEW ORLEANS, a heavy, synthesized track that feels a little scatterbrained at times. BROCKHAMPTON is known for having unchecked energy, but it feels like it runs a little too freely sometimes, specifically in this song. SAN MARCOS was aimed at being that
looped track you play when taking emodrives at 11:18pm on a Tuesday. But, the ballad feels like it lacks genuine feeling, relying on cliched sentiments regarding mental health that don’t leave a strong impression, like “Is you drinking for the pain, is you drinking for fun?” or “I’m afraid of commitment, don’t know how to fix it,” fall short compared to intimate lines like “Told my mom I was gay, why the fuck she ain’t listen?” that we heard in SATURATION. While all of these lines are written by different members of the group, there is a collective lack of intimacy. WEIGHT is the impactful tracks on the album. It’s carried by Kevin Abstract, the only member of the group that is openly gay. It opens with a strings sample, and carries a fluid melancholic vibe. Abstract reaccounts a time in his life when he was learning more about his sexuality, “I was writing poems ‘bout her, dawg, in study hall, and she was ‘cause I never wanna show her off, and every time she took her bra off my dick would get soft. I thought I had problem, kept my head inside a pillow screaming.” This song has a lot of the emotionally strong elements of BROCKHAMPTON that carried the bands success last year. One of my favorite tracks on the album is SOMETHING ABOUT HIM. The song is dripping with something sugary and saccharine. Abstract is the primary vocalist on this track. While it’s simple in lyric, it feels like a breathable track, like Abstract is experiencing a freedom and a happiness with this person, and it feels fresh and unknown. Tracks like “HONEY,” “J’OUVERT” and “VIVID” still hum with the band’s traditional blame-the-world anger, but it feels less poignant and pointed. I found myself missing an album saturated with emotion, feeling, something, BROCKHAMPTON?
SEPTEMBER 2018
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1600 Washington Ave. Conway, AR 72032