The Maneater Vol. 87 Issue 6

M The ManeaTer The student voice of MU since 1955 | www.themaneater.com | Vol. 87 Issue 6 | April 7, 2021

LOCAL MUSIC

VACCINE

MU students share COVID-19 vaccine experiences

BY SAMANTHA DIETEL Reporter

Claire Rothman

Hitt Records owner Kyle Cook puts new albums on the store’s shelves on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Columbia. The store sells a wide range of albums, from wellknown to rare and obscure.

Vinyl albums sit on a shelf in Hitt Records on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Columbia.

The locallyowned business sells an array of uncommon albums.

|PHOTOS BY LILY DOZIER

Hitt Records’ owner has spent his life collecting vinyls. This love for music is reflected in the unique selection customers find at the store |Story by Elizabeth Derner on 6 READ HALL

Student-led movement fights against plan to demolish Read Hall

BY TEAGAN KING Reporter

MU recently announced the MU Space Reduction and Strategic Relocation Plan, which includes plans to demolish the historic Read Hall. A group of history students are challenging this plan through a petition

and social media campaign.

Many community members support history students Catherine Hutinett, Jordan Pellerito and Bailey Martin’s mission to save this building’s rich history, starting with a petition that already received over 2,000

signatures in a few weeks.

Read Hall, originally constructed in 1903, is named after Daniel Read, the MU president who opened the university to women in 1867. It currently houses the Department of History, but it has served a variety of purposes throughout

its history, including as a 1918 influenza hospital, the university’s student union and the first women’s dormitory at MU. Before the construction of Read Hall, women attending MU had to look elsewhere in Columbia for See Read on 5

Claire Rothman said receiving her second dose of the coronavirus vaccine Jan. 24 lifted a weight from her shoulders.

Rothman, an MU freshman who studies human development and family science, was eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine due to her job with MU Health Care and her preexisting health conditions.

Rothman’s epilepsy and fibromyalgia have been particularly concerning for her since the start of the pandemic. But after receiving the vaccine, she said she has navigated life on campus more freely.

“Epilepsy is a neurological condition that can sometimes be caused by an underlying autoimmune disorder, and given my other health conditions and medications, I honestly don’t know how badly COVID could affect me,” Rothman said.

Before getting the vaccine, she said she was wary of traveling around campus and outside her dorm. Even when walking alone outside, she made sure to keep her mask on at all times.

“Now it’s a little bit nicer,” Rothman said. “When I’m not walking past other people, I’ll take [the mask] down just so I can breathe better. But it’s less scary touching things like door handles than it was before.”

Rothman said despite the challenges of being on MU’s campus, it has been a relief for her, too. Both her mom and sister have autoimmune diseases that put them at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, so visiting home in Burke, Virginia, would increase Rothman’s chances of giving her family the virus.

Rothman has not seen her family since before she See Vaccine on 4

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the MAneAteR | COntents | A pR i l 7, 2021

in this

issue

4 VACCINES

6 LOCAL BUSINESS

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THE MANEATER | NEWS | A pRil 7, 2021

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Two MU freshman among first women to earn Eagle Scout Rank Sophie Froese and Emily Schmidt both achieved the rank within two years of joining the Boy Scouts, which began accepting women into its program in February 2019.

BY EMMET JAMIESON

Student Politics Assistant Editor

MU students Sophie Froese and Emily Schmidt earned the rank of Eagle Scout last month.

They are among the Boy Scouts of America’s inaugural class of young women who achieved the organization’s highest rank.

BSA announced it would open its program to girls in 2017, and it began allowing them to join in February 2019. Girls and boys in BSA scout in separate troops, but both can attain the Eagle Scout rank. To earn the rank, a scout must earn at least 21 merit badges and lead an Eagle Scout Service Project, which they plan and direct to demonstrate “service” and “leadership skills,” according to the BSA Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook. Scouts have until they turn 18 to earn their Eagle, and many don’t. In 2019, only 8% of eligible scouts became Eagles.

Al Schmidt is Emily Schmidt’s father and assistant scoutmaster of Troop 208, Emily’s troop back home in Clever, Missouri. He said he was impressed by how quickly both girls achieved their Eagle.

“It’s not easy,” Mr. Schmidt said. “As a scoutmaster [of a boys troop in the past], I’ve had several boys that achieved the rank of Eagle and never had anybody do it as fast as these girls did it.”

Both girls earned their Eagle in less than two years — Schmidt joined 208 in March 2019 and Froese joined Troop 242 in Columbia, her hometown, in June that year.

Froese, a sophomore, and Schmidt, a freshman, were both Girl Scouts when they were younger. When BSA started admitting girls, Froese’s father, an Eagle Scout himself and a BSA district executive, pushed her to join. Froese said she was hesitant at first but decided to sign up when one of her friends did.

Schmidt’s father and her brother Garret are both Eagle Scouts — Schmidt said she has been around the program her whole life. She said she used to go to her brother’s Cub Scout meetings on Tuesdays and her own Girl Scout meetings on Thursdays, and found that she wanted to emulate Garret’s experience.

“I wanted to go camping,” Schmidt said. “I wanted to build fires. I wanted to learn how to tie knots — I just wanted that outdoors experience. I gained a lot from my experience with Girl Scouts, but it wasn’t what I wanted out of that program.”

Schmidt said she was apprehensive when BSA began accepting girls, as she thought it would be better for Girl Scouts to reform itself than for Boy Scouts

to change its rules. But she said she realized joining BSA would be the only way for her to get what she wanted out of scouting.

“I’m so glad I [joined],” Schmidt said. “I don’t think I’d be the same person I am today had I not gone ahead and joined my Scout troop.”

Froese currently has 36 merit badges, 11 more than the minimum 21. Froese said all scouts aiming for their Eagle must earn 13 required badges — First Aid, Camping, Personal Fitness, etc. — and enough elective badges to meet the total requirement. Froese said earning badges in so many different areas helps one become a more wellrounded person.

She said each badge, even “the straightforward ones,” takes lots of work. For example, when pursuing the required Cooking badge, Froese said she had to cook a meal for several people, prepare trail meals for backpacking, use a portable stove, cook food over a campfire in a foil pack and more.

“It involves so much planning that it got kind of overwhelming,” Froese said. “The merit badge workbook for that was upward of 36 pages, so it took a lot of time to plan out.”

Schmidt has 21 badges. She said her fondest memory of earning her badges is when she taught the Art, Pottery and Leatherwork badges to younger scouts at summer camp. She said teaching them reinforced her own knowledge. As a film production major, she said it was useful because experience with public speaking and leadership would “translate well” into a film career.

The Eagle Project is the final test of a scout’s leadership skills before they can become an Eagle.

Scouts themselves do not directly participate in the project; instead, their role is to devise the project, organize it and direct volunteers to complete it.

Froese, who is majoring in art and psychology, organized a project to paint a mural on the wall of the children’s room at City of Refuge, a nonprofit organization in Columbia that helps refugees adjust to life in America. She said she supports City of Refuge’s mission and wanted to do something to assist them while using her art skills.

“I’ve always had a passion for art, so it just seemed natural to me to pursue something with the arts,” Froese said. “Once I found out about City of Refuge and talked to them, they loved the idea and they were very supportive of it. It inspired me, and I knew I wanted to do something to help them out, even if it could be in such a small way as a mural.”

University of Missouri freshmen Sophie Froese (left) and Emily Schmidt stand in front of Jesse Hall on Friday, March 25, 2021. They are two of the first women in the United States to earn the Eagle Scout rank after spending a respective 18 and 19 months in the program. | PHOTO BY LILY DOZIER

Schmidt rallied volunteers to repaint fire hydrants around her hometown. Schmidt said the hydrants were “crusty and decrepit” and potentially posed a hazard because they blended into the dead grass. Schmidt planned to be in Clever over Thanksgiving break to oversee the painting; however, she became sick with COVID-19 just before break started.

“I ended up getting quarantined the Wednesday before break, and my project was scheduled for that Sunday,” Schmidt said. “I was stuck in [quarantine], and I had to call my scoutmaster in a panic. I was like, ‘Angie, we have a minor problem. I’m quarantined, and I can’t go home.’”

Schmidt couldn’t delay the project, as BSA had granted her two years from when she joined BSA to get her Eagle and time was running out. So with the blessing of the uppermost levels of BSA’s administration, Schmidt directed her volunteers via video call and several group chats.

Froese said she felt “very lucky” to have completed her requirements in time and join the inaugural class. She said becoming an Eagle Scout has allowed her to learn useful skills and meet people who have made her a better person.

“I think the biggest takeaway has been that I can lead myself and others, and I became a far more independent person than I was before,” Froese said. “I feel like getting to this point has almost been less about the actual rank than the self-growth that comes with it.”

Julie Stansfield, Froese’s troop leader, said Froese is “selfmotivated” and a “naturalborn leader.” Though she is her scoutmaster, Stansfield said she had little to do with Froese’s accomplishments — she said that was by design, as BSA emphasizes “scout-led” leadership that allows scouts to learn by doing.

Schmidt said the experience of becoming an Eagle Scout boosted her confidence and leadership

skills.

“It made me able to speak well in front of large groups of people,” Schmidt said. “I was the president of three or four different clubs in high school, and then I came to school here and I’m my dorm hall president.

It gave me this opportunity to be comfortable in positions where I have to lead other people.”

Al Schmidt said that he is happy his daughter has become an Eagle Scout just like he is. He said it was “phenomenal” how she accomplished her Eagle Scout rank despite the limited time BSA gave her and her COVID-19 diagnosis.

“I’m very proud of Emily,” Al Schmidt said. “It’s neat that her brother and I and her are all Eagle Scouts — it’s a bond. [BSA] really helps them grow as individuals.

It helps them be very responsible [and] makes them good citizens.

It’s pretty awesome to see all the girls in the troop and how much they grow.”

Edited by Joy Mazur jmazur@themaneater.com

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THE MANEATER | NEWS | A pRil 7, 2021

Claire Rothman, Clara Herrs and Anna Mae Williams discuss how the COVID-19 vaccine has impacted their lives.

From Vaccine on 1

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLAIRE ROTHMAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF CLARA HERRS

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNA MAE WILLIAMS

received the vaccine, but her mom has also been vaccinated, which Rothman said has eased some of her anxieties.

“It’s a nice load off my shoulders knowing [it’s more likely that] I can’t get sick, I can’t give it to them, and that they’re a little bit more protected,” Rothman said. “So it’s a nice thing that I don’t have to stress about that.”

Many MU Health Care employees have been vaccinated since doses arrived in December.

Rothman received both injections of the COVID-19 vaccine in the basement of University Hospital. Rothman said MU Health Care sent out a survey for her and other employees to fill out to determine their risk and how soon they could get vaccinated.

Though she was hired in February as a patient service representative for MU Health Care’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic, Rothman started out as a door screener in August, taking the temperatures of visitors at the hospital entrances.

“It was scary, I’m not going to lie. There’s a lot of people who do come in without face masks, don’t wear it properly, etc.,” Rothman said. “I had to put my fears aside because I knew doing it made other people safer.

And if I got sick, I would rather I get sick than somebody in the hospital who’s on some sort of life support or something like that.”

Rothman said that every day at work, she followed COVID-19 safety measures and frequently used hand sanitizer in hopes that she would limit her risk of getting sick.

“I would feel awful giving [the virus] to somebody else,” Rothman said.

Rothman said she did not have any reservations about getting the vaccine.

“I trust the scientists who worked on the vaccines and the FDA to create a safe vaccine, so there was no doubt in my mind that the COVID-19 vaccine would be safe,” Rothman said.

Because she believes the vaccine is important in order to be safe during this time, Rothman said she hopes that people will overcome any reservations and get vaccinated.

“Even if you know you may not get sick,

you don’t know about everybody else,” Rothman said. “So it’s not only protecting yourself but protects others.”

Clara Herrs

Before MU freshman Clara Herrs received the Pfizer vaccine in January, she knew there was a strong chance of contracting COVID-19 at work.

Herrs is a safety monitor for MU Health Care at University Hospital. Her station varies with each shift. Sometimes she is assigned to a video monitoring room, where she observes patients to make sure that they are not engaging in activities that could harm themselves or others. In some instances, Herrs must sit in a room with one or two patients to prevent any self-harming behaviors.

“I was aware that I was likely exposed [to the virus] almost every shift,” Herrs said. “But I wasn’t super concerned about it just because we have to follow the same guidelines with our masks and social distancing and handwashing.”

Herrs said she was comforted that she was often placed in the video monitoring room, which limited direct contact with patients.

Since getting vaccinated, though, Herrs said her worries about COVID-19 have generally relaxed.

“I wish I could take my mask off, but I know that I don’t want to make others uncomfortable, of course, and I know [the vaccine] is not 100% effective,” Herrs said. “I don’t want to run that risk either.”

Herrs said she had intense symptoms following her vaccination.

She did not have any side effects or illness after the first dose besides basic muscle soreness. Soon after receiving the second dose, however, Herrs said she developed flulike symptoms including chills, fever, nausea, vomiting and fatigue that all subsided within 12 hours.

“I survived,” Herrs said.

“Nothing’s gone wrong.

Just make sure you follow the recommendations.

You probably will experience symptoms, but as long as you can get through those symptoms, you’ll be fine and you’ll be protected.”

Herrs said before getting the vaccine, she was concerned by how new it

was — but that did not stop her from signing up for an appointment.

“I wasn’t overly concerned,” Herrs said.

“I figured if it had passed [FDA approval], it passed, so it was ready to go.”

Anna Mae Williams

For Anna Mae Williams, receiving the Pfizer vaccine meant she was no longer as likely to spread COVID-19 while working at a nursing home.

Williams, an MU freshman who studies speech, language and hearing sciences, was excited to be able to get vaccinated at Faurot Field in January and February due to her job at Sunrise Senior Living in St. Louis.

Williams worked at the nursing home over winter break and plans to return after the spring semester concludes in May. Though Williams is not yet a certified nursing assistant, she helps the nursing home residents with whatever they need, whether it be going to the bathroom or getting dressed in the morning.

Williams said that because she worked this job amid a pandemic, she often found herself terrified on the job.

“It was really nerveracking because I didn’t want to get [the residents] sick,” Williams said.

Williams said while she was working over winter break, one of the floors at the nursing home had to go on lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

“I was so nervous that I was going to get it or just spread it around to [residents],” Williams said. “It was scary. It will definitely be easier now that I have the vaccine and a lot of residents just got the vaccine.

Hopefully, that will make things a little bit safer there.”

Following the first dose of the vaccine, Williams said she couldn’t hang up her coat the next day due to severe arm soreness, but that it was worth it.

Williams said more people should consider getting vaccinated. She emphasized the relief she feels now that she is less likely to miss class or get friends and family members sick.

“It just takes a burden off your shoulders,” Williams said.

Edited by Sophie Chappell schappell@themaneater.com

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THE MANEATER | NEWS | A pRil 7, 2021 MU said demolishing the building will save money, but some community members say preserving history is more valuable.

From Read on 1 a place to live. Read Hall made attending MU more accessible for women, specifically lowincome women.

Beginning in 1940, it served as MU’s student union for several years, during which it housed the headquarters for 11 student groups and the Dean of Students’ office.

The MU Space R e d u c t i o n and Strategic Relocation Plan, announced in a March 4 email, was initiated in 2017. MU News Bureau Director C h r i s t i a n Basi said the university was “very aware that we needed to remove a significant amount of our physical footprint from the campus Catherine because we were not utilizing the space in the most efficient manner possible.”

Every building on campus is evaluated on a rotation once every five years. The university evaluates the buildings based on their physical condition, necessary updates and repairs needed to keep them on par with technology and student demands.

Next, each building is assigned a Facility Conditions Needs Index Number to measure how much must be spent to improve the building’s condition to best serve university needs.

A building with an FCNI of 0.4

or higher must be considered for demolition, as it becomes cheaper to demolish that building and build a new one in its place. Read Hall has an FCNI of 0.61, meaning it would cost 61% of the hall’s worth to repair it.

Despite this high cost, many community members argue Read Hall is worth saving because of its rich history and impact on MU. C a t h e r i n e Rymph, history professor and chair of the Department of History, said the department moved to Read Hall in 1988. It now uses the building mainly as office space and said many of the people who work in the building enjoy its central location on campus.

Rymph said many people in Hutinett the department were disappointed to hear the news of the plan to demolish the building.

“We were pretty surprised to hear that it was happening so soon…a lot of us have been working in this building for a long time,” she said.

Hutinett, Pellerito and Martin shared this pain with the history department, and they decided to act on their frustration and challenge the university’s plan to demolish Read Hall with their petition and social media campaign.

Rymph said the history department is not involved in the movement to save Read Hall, though she said it has

“THERE’S NOT A SINGLE PERSON ON THIS CAMPUS WHOSE STORY CAN’T BE TRACED, AT LEAST IN SOME ASPECT, TO READ HALL.”

been “great watching the history department concern, students take the knowledge it should be a concern for that they’ve learned in their every single student on this history classes and really be campus.”

Basi said he understands empowered by it.”

Hutinett, Pellerito and faculty and students’ reactions Martin started brainstorming to the plan and community ways to challenge the plan members’ attachments to the almost immediately after it building.

“There is never a good time to was announced. Pellerito, a second-year Ph.D. student, make these announcements,” said they wanted to fight back Basi said. “We completely against the plan out of “a understand that there are greater desire to see a more personal connections to these complete Mizzou history be structures.”

However, Basi emphasized told to students and alumni how MU believes the plan and faculty in general.” would save money Martin, a and make students sophomore more academically s t u d y i n g successful. He said constitutional the eight buildings democracy included in the plan and history, would save MU $2.5 quickly created million annually. a petition to Basi said covering save Read Hall the amount for with the help a Missouri Pell of Pellerito scholarship would and Hutinett be more accessible to show MU once the buildings, the measure including Read Hall, of community are demolished. He support behind said $5,000 is the saving the average amount building.

MU spends to cover Hutinett said the difference in their original tuition between goal was to Christian Basi all other aid and reach just 100 scholarships for signatures, so each student their group has been pleasantly surprised by eligible for the scholarship.

Hutinett, Pellerito and the outpouring of support Martin understand the they have received so far.

They also launched an economic motives behind the Instagram page called @ plan but believe that educating savereadhall, which has over students on the university’s history and promoting 175 followers.

“There’s not a single person inclusion is more beneficial.

“This very rich history of on this campus whose story can’t be traced, at least in the institution is going to be... some aspect, to Read Hall,” forgotten whenever it gets Hutinett said. “It’s not just a demolished and we just didn’t

“THERE’S A BALANCE OF MAKING SURE THAT WE CAN INVEST PROPERLY IN THE RIGHT RESOURCES SO THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE COMPETITIVE.”

want to see that happen,” Martin said. “We truly believe that the cultural impact that this building can have on campus far outweighs some financial aspects,” Hutinett said.

Martin and Hutinett said the building should be preserved to teach the community and campus visitors about the school’s history, referencing MU’s past struggles with diversity and inclusion. They said Read Hall’s construction was a step in the right direction for the university.

Basi said MU still plans to proceed with the demolition because it makes the most financial sense for the university.

“There’s a balance of making sure that we can invest properly in the right resources so that our students are competitive,” he said. “We can’t achieve that balance without taking these buildings down.”

Once demolished, no new building will be built in Read Hall’s place. Instead, the area will serve as open green space on campus.

Pellerito said that though she, Hutinett and Martin are not naive to the building’s costs, they would not be doing their jobs as members of the Department of History and the community if they did not promote saving the building.

“There is this emotional connection to the fact that this is a history so much bigger than any of the three of us,” Hutinett said. “Every single student on this campus, part of their story lies in Read Hall as well.”

Edited by Joy Mazur jmazur@themaneater.com

GRAPHIC BY JACOB LAGESSE

ONLINE THIS WEEK: The Unbound Book Festival unites readers and writers through ‘How to Write Suspenseful Fiction Panel’

BY CATHERINE POLO Post Sex Nachos solidifies its sound with new album ‘Grandpa Slinks.’

BY RYAN WILSON

LOCAL BUSINESS

Rare, strange vinyls — Hitt Records’ owner has ‘kind of seen it all’ Customer Kara Knight said she can find “a little bit of everything” in the store’s crates.

ELIZABETH DERNER MOVE Culture Reporter

Once or twice a year, Kara and Stephen Knight drive to Hitt Records in Columbia — an over threehour round trip for them.

They’ve searched for records back home in St. Louis to grow their collection, but Stephen Knight said Hitt Records’ unique selection makes the drive worth it.

The store currently

has around 10,000 records to choose from. “[I like] spending time digging through records and finding that diamond in the rough,” Stephen Knight said.

Kyle Cook, an owner of Hitt Records, said he’s on “a never-ending search” for the most diverse vinyls he can find. Shipments of new records and represses of popular albums arrive at least three times a week. Cook also seeks out entire collections and interesting finds. Last week he spent a whole day sorting through old records from someone’s basement.

The store is 10 years old, but Cook has been collecting records and learning about

Newlywed couple Kara and Stephen Knight browse through vinyls at Hitt Records on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Columbia. Kara said since she bought Stephen a new record player this past Christmas, it added even more “fuel for the fire” for them to purchase vinyl albums.

| PHOTO BY LILY DOZIER

music his whole life. When he searches for new vinyls, he said he has a sense of what people might buy or never touch.

He stocks the store with rock, classical, hip-hop, folk, country, jazz, R&B and electronic music, but also takes a chance on odd records he comes across. After seeing thousands of records throughout his life, he said he’s “kind of seen it all.”

“You find wack, weird things,” Cook said. “One is called ‘Disasters’ and it’s all recordings of car, train and plane wrecks and things exploding. I don’t know where to put that.”

He also has a Phil Collins interview album. The record pauses between each of his answers and it came with a script. Cook said if you time it right, you can pretend to interview Phil Collins, which he finds hilarious.

Cook sells some of the unusual records he finds in the “odd, eccentric dollar bin” in the back corner of Hitt Records and at the ends of alphabet sections in the center of the store. He said these are popular with customers.

“Those are the records you can take a chance on and they’re not going to break the bank if it ends up being something you’re not into,” Cook said.

Records he’s brought to the store include “Candy, the Talking Doll,” in which ventriloquist Muriel Linton

Hitt Records co-owner Kyle Cook goes through a shipment of brand new records at the store on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Columbia. He said of that shipment, the Phoebe Bridgers album “Punisher” is a vinyl that has been popular recently. | PHOTO BY LILY DOZIER

sings songs about the Bible, a 1980 Ronald McDonald birthday party album, the 1968 soundtrack to the musical “Man Of La Mancha” and a 14-lesson “Train Your Bird To Talk” album for parrots and parakeets.

While searching for vinyls, Cook also finds rare, valuable albums he puts on the top shelf, like Big Star’s “#1 Record.”

“A lot of those things are first-ever pressings of now what are considered to be definitive or cult-status records…things we’ll never see again,” Cook said.

Stephen Knight said he considers these limited edition vinyls the most interesting finds at Hitt Records. While searching for

something to take home, he found Uncle Tupelo’s “No Depression” alternative country album and hopes it’s his new favorite record.

He said he likes a little bit of everything, and Kara Knight does too. Looking at records around the store, she searches songs on Spotify to discover new artists and see if she wants to buy their albums. She said getting absorbed in music makes her feel “lost in another world.”

“It’s nostalgic,” Kara Knight said. “Everything is so instant in the world that we live in right now and when you come here, it’s just a slower pace.”

Edited by Angelina Edwards aedwards@themaneater.com

ART

American Women Since the Vote exhibit showcases women’s art since 1920

BY SARAH PARISIEN

MOVE Culture Reporter

Intertwined with the permanent collection at MU’s Museum of Art and Archaeology are various pieces on display as part of the American Women Artists Since the Vote exhibit to honor women artists.

The exhibit, which includes all pieces in the museum tagged with purple stickers, “celebrates the centenary of the Nineteenth Amendment and the achievements of

American women artists from every decade since 1920,” according to the exhibit description on the museum website.

The temporary exhibit opened in person on Nov. 3, 2020, and includes various types of art. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum has provided a more extensive version of the exhibit online.

“I wanted to include pieces by American women artists from the past 100 years,” Dr. Alisa McCusker, curator of European and American Art at the museum, said.

“I wanted to include as many different voices as I could, trying to think about what individuals’ cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds or family heritages might be as well.”

The exhibit includes pieces of many forms including paintings, sculptures, printmaking, works on paper, fiber arts and ceramic arts. Some of pieces haven’t been showcased for years.

As one of the developers of this exhibit, McCusker believes exhibits showcasing women’s

work is of the utmost importance, noting that museum exhibitions are dominated by white men. In U.S. art museums, 87% of the artists are men and 85% are white, according to the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One. “Essentially our historical narratives, including the narratives of arts and culture, are dominated by white, mostly affluent men,” McCusker said. “It’s an unfortunate reality that in our patriarchal See Art on 7

Walter Hancock’s “Mother and Child,” cast in bronze in 1938, sits in the Museum of Art and Archeology in Columbia. The sculpture, according to the description provided, is representative of a “sacrifice, this mother offers her child — a son to serve in the military — for the greater good of the nation and humanity.” | PHOTO BY CHRIS YALUNG

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THE MANEATER | MOVE | A pRil 7, 2021

ON NETFLIX

‘Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal’ exposes a deeper meaning in the chaos Netflix’s new documentary shows there is more pride in achieving honestly than taking a side door.

DOMINIQUE HODGE MOVE Angles

Picture this: You have dedicated your high school career to getting a perfect GPA and took 3 years of AP classes in hopes that you will make it to an Ivy League university. You have dreamed of going to an Ivy League school, and did everything you could to have a fighting chance in a university that accepts only 10% of applicants. Yet, you receive a rejection letter telling you that you were not Ivy League material.

“Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal” reminds us of the way the rich and famous took the “sidedoor approach” to cheat deserving applicants and the U.S. university system.

The Netflix documentary is intelligent and effective in the way it compiles news clips, re-enactments and testimonies from individuals involved and educational professionals to demonstrate the lengths of the tumultuous scam.

The timing of its release could not be more perfect than now as current high school seniors are making their college decisions.

The documentary opens with live reactions of students opening their admission letters — a pivotal moment in their lives. The emotion in both getting accepted and denied

demonstrates what it means for teenagers to get into college nowadays.

The anxiety and pressure that is placed on their shoulders is the perfect opening to unveiling this network of corruption created by Rick Singer.

Rick Singer is the c h a r i s m a t i c mastermind who used his knowledge a b o u t admissions processes and connections with athletic coaches to create this scheme. He is portrayed as a dedicated and effective business man who is willing to go the distance to make his business plan work. On top of this, he used to tutor kids on their SATs and learned how to negotiate with and reassure worried parents.

These aspects communicated through the documentary are necessary to know when it comes to the creation of the “side door approach.”

The process begins with parents giving Singer money based off of the guarantee that he can get their kids into the prestigious university of their choice, all under the guise of their kids being athletically gifted.

Singer starts to contact his inside connections at highly sought-after universities and tells them to keep an eye out for those students.

Singer, the parents and athletic directors and

coaches ultimately collaborate to make a kid seem like a competitive a p p l i c a n t .

Singer uses d o c t o r e d photos, lies about spots in athletic teams and gets SAT/ACT proctors to give the student the desired score. Money from the families eventually distribute to everyone involved and all kids are welcomed into the university o f c h o i c e .

Everybody gets something out of the deal, even if it means lying to universities, cheating the system and stealing opportunities from students who took the honest way.

The documentary has a great narration of the entire story with re-enactments of phone calls, testimonies and expert breakdowns to explain the exposure of the scheme.

With the “side door approach” brought to attention and beloved celebrities facing prosecution, it all made for a disaster.

The documentary brings to light the deeper meaning of this chaos with the stigma that going to an exceptional college sets you above everyone else. Do not let admittance into a university or rejections determine your value — that is how they profit. Not going to college is an option, too, and going is no promise of success.

This scheme provides a testimony to the average, stressed college student when they say, “college is a scam.” Test proctors, athletic directors and coaches were willing to collectively open a door for a handful of rich kids out of greed.

There was no guarantee these kids would succeed afterwards, but the status that comes with being accepted to these prestigious schools was good enough.

The respect for impressionable, aspiring students throughout this documentary makes it a good watch. The documentary emphasizes that college should not define who the students are, and every time these people succeed in admittance during the documentary, there is someone to say, “I bet they did not think about this,” or “I bet their kids would have liked to have achieved that on their own.”

To hear educational professionals actively say that kids are being too hard on themselves and acceptance should not define them is a boost of reassurance to the impressionable and aspiring who are watching.

Edited by Chloe Konrad ckonrad@themaneater.com

GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED GET VACCINATED

MU Museum of Art and Archeology exhibit shines light on pieces from women artists that have not been previously displayed.

From Art on 7 systems, as we try to understand, dismantle and overcome them, that this [exhibit] is necessary, and we have to go through these processes of recognizing achievements by individuals and groups that are not part of that dominant culture.”

To the public, this

exhibit is meant to shine light on women’s art in the Columbia community.

“It’s about looking at people’s experiences, like each piece of art is something that the artist was experiencing or was just wanting to share,” museum visitor Elizabeth Olree said.

“That’s not something you would see otherwise

if you didn’t take the time to look at the art.”

Museum Educator Dr. Cathy Callaway emphasized the importance of having art in Columbia itself.

“There should be free and accessible art in every town in Missouri,” Callaway said.

Callaway, an employee of the museum for 15 years, was also involved

in compiling the pieces for the online and in-person exhibit with McCusker.

The exhibit will be open for the rest of Women’s History Month and closed on April 4. The museum allows up to 20 visitors at a time and is ADA accessible.

McCusker believes exhibits that center around women’s art is a

sign of progress toward more equitable art demonstrations.

“Exhibitions like this are starting to chip away at rigid expectations that people have of museums, of who should be exhibited, what kind of art and what kinds of artists should be represented,” McCusker said. “I hope people take away from

this exhibition that yes, we should see just as many women artists as male artists.”

For more information, refer to the museum website.

Edited by Angelina Edwards aedwards@ themaneater.com

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DIVERSITY

SAFETY

MU Diversity Award excludes Asian American students NAMRATHA PRASAD Guest Columnist

The Asian American community has faced a spike in hate crimes relating to COVID-19. This is not surprising, given former President Donald Trump used racist language to describe the virus, continually blamed the Chinese government and hired people who spewed conspiracies of the virus with racist undertones to help in his efforts to address the virus. Unfortunately, the ramifications of this blatant racism have reared their ugly heads.

Eight Asian Americans were shot and killed at a spa in Atlanta on March 16. Some media outlets continue to overlook this shooting as a hate crime. The Asian American community has had enough. We are tired of being ignored.

This is not only a national problem.

It is local, and it is here at MU. The Diversity Award at MU does not include Asian Americans on their list of minorities. That is a huge issue that has not been talked about nearly enough when this university boasts its “diverse population.”

The Diversity Award is granted to students who are members of “a racial or ethnic minority group that is underrepresented in relation to the University’s goal to achieve educational benefits of a diverse student body,” according to the MU Financial Aid office.

The scholarship is not a small amount of cash, either. Out of state students can receive up to $15,000 in financial aid through this award.

When asked to comment on why Asians are not considered for this scholarship, Christian Basi, director of UM system media relations, said that the scholarship aims to retain a “critical mass” of minority students.

The scholarship is intended to “encourage them to participate in the classroom and in campus life without feeling isolated in the campus environment.”

He made no mention to the Asian community.

“Accordingly, this scholarship has been provided to students from minority groups that are in greatest need in relation to those goals,” Basi said.

Again, no mention of the Asian community was made in his response.

Basi said there are approximately See Diversity on 10

The safety of Asian American women is not their battle to fight alone CAYLI YANAGIDA Guest Columnist

For women, our childhoods are preparation for a lifelong fight on the battlefield.

It’s a soldier’s life.

My younger years were controlled by a list of unwavering guidelines: Never be unaware. Never trust a stranger. Never walk home without some way of protecting yourself.

Therefore, my paranoia became my defense. As I grew older, I was given my weapons. My pepper spray became my sword, my keen senses my shield.

When I became a woman, I was forced to replace my armor. Never wear anything provocative. I complied.

My clothing became my disguise. After all, it was my responsibility to stay hidden.

It was my responsibility to not be harmed.

We are told this is how we stay safe. We are told that if we follow these guidelines, nothing will ever hurt us.

The maintenance of our

safety is placed upon our shoulders. The protection of our lives is our burden to bear alone.

In some ways, my precautions did protect me.

My armor deflected racist remarks until they had no impact. My paranoia alerted me when men followed me home. And yet, it was never fully enough. I could never completely protect myself, not when so many sought to break through my armor, to flatter my defenses, until I let my guard down.

When I was 13, I learned about fetishes. When I was 15, I was told being called “pretty for an Asian” was a compliment. When I was 17, I learned the devastating news that my homecoming date lied to his friends and claimed we had been sexually involved, and my race played a large role in the positive responses to his apparent conquest.

Women are told to protect ourselves in every way possible. But what happens when we are targeted — not

because of our lack of safety — but because of our race?

What happens when we can’t avoid an attack — not because we were unsafe— but because we were simply living our lives as people of color, working at a spa to make ends meet?

What happens when our society makes us try in vain to prevent attacks instead of teaching men to control their feelings?

On March 16, eight people were shot dead in Atlanta in an Asian spa. Six of these people were Asian American women, and the killer had targeted them because of his “sex addiction” and fetishization of Asian women.

When I read the news, my heart sank. In the last year, COVID-19 and racist scapegoating sparked an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes. My heart had been aching for my community, but this crime was different.

I no longer felt only anger and sadness.

Now, I feel endangered. I

feel like prey.

I am an Asian woman. What happened to those women in Atlanta could have happened to me. I have met people who have thought in the way the shooter thought. I even dated a boy who proudly claimed to have an Asian fetish. At the time, I was too young to understand the true severity of his words, as everything was masked as a compliment.

You’re pretty for an Asian.

Those words are burned into my mind.

The Model Minority Myth — a harmful stereotype painting Asians as submissive and docile — creates a deadly outcome for Asian women. “Asian” is one of the most searched keywords on Pornhub.

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, 41% to 61% of Asian women have reported experiencing violence by an intimate partner throughout their lifetime.

These two facts correlate.

See Safety on 10

10

THE MANEATER | OPINION | A PRIl 7, 2021

MU’s Diversity Award is confirmation for what it feels like to be looked at and treated differently on this predominantly white campus. And yet, the Asian American community receives almost no recognition for the diversity we bring.

of our scholarships, specifically related to minority scholarships, and determined that they complied with the law,” Basi said.

Basi explained that adding the Asian American community to the list of minority groups that are considered for the scholarship would cause an imbalance in who gets the scholarship as of right now.

Basi said that as it stands, the university is utilizing a finite amount of scholarship money in a way that effectively aligns with their goal “to have a diverse student body, where students from any particular group do not feel marginalized

and are able to interact with all students from different backgrounds providing our students with the experiences that can lead to successful careers in today’s global economy.”

This is a loophole MU has created to save itself money. While it is understandable there is a set amount of scholarship money MU is allowed to give its students, just because there is a “critical mass” of Asian students, that does not change the fact that the Asian community on campus is underrepresented in the context of a large public university.

The Asian American community is once again being overlooked.

This scholarship is performative diversity.

The university boasts about its diverse campus, however, the Asian American community is considered diverse only when it is convenient for the university.

Regardless of “critical mass,” it does not change the fact that we still feel all the effects of being underrepresented.

And this award is an instance of that underrepresentation.

“We are only recognized when the school tries to promote itself, but never in any other regard. Not a lot of money goes into our organizations and we aren’t given much to work with in terms of spaces we are provided,” Mizzou Asian American

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818 Asian American students on MU’s campus, and 858 international students from Asia.

“We’re not denying that the group is a minority – it’s about the critical mass,” Basi said.

“Observations and data that we have collected over time indicate that we are further away from a critical mass with our Black and Hispanic students compared to our Asian students. As such, we have to make decisions to prioritize our resources.”

Approximately 1600 students are not that many students in the context of a public university with 30,000 students in total. That is approximately 2.7% of MU’s population.

That, by definition, is an underrepresented group on this campus. That is what the Diversity Award is for.

Basi said that this “critical mass” he talks about is an educational concept, and not a numerical goal.

Diversity is not an educational concept.

The Asian American community is not an “educational concept.”

They are people. Not a curriculum.

However, another problem lies in the fact that MU does not consider 2% of the student body as an “underrepresented” minority group.

The fact that Asian American students are not considered for the award is all in the fine print. Nowhere on MU’s financial aid website does it say that Asians are not considered for the scholarship. If MU has a legitimate cause to not list Asian Americans as a minority, why hide it?

“It’s also important to note that in 2012, the federal Office of Civil Rights completed a thorough review

Am er ic an

From Diversity on 9

Association member Dzuy Nguyen said.

As a part of the South Asian community, I feel overlooked. I see this underrepresentation manifest itself frequently. I am usually the only one who looks like me in my classes. I see the stares as I walk through Memorial Union and the MU Student Center. I feel underrepresented when this school makes no effort to be inclusive or to support the Asian-led clubs they make sure to advertise to incoming students.

MU can start to foster a community of inclusivity by recognizing Asian Americans as the minority group they are on this campus. Diversity

is not simply something you can add to your list of attributes when you show no support to the Asian American community, MU. With the recent spike in hate crimes against the Asian Americans, it is more important now than ever to show support to the community. Stop AAPI Hate is a national organization that tracks and responds to Asian American and Pacific Islander related hate crimes. To donate and learn more, visit stopaapihate.org.

Edited by Sofi Zeman szeman@themaneater.com

The Atlanta shootings triggered the fears of Asian American women. One Asian American MU student highlights the connection between sexualisation and violence.

From Safety on 9 The sexualization of Asian women promotes the violence carried out against them.

In the minds of the shooter and the boys I encountered in my life, I am not a person with feelings. In their minds, I was nothing more than an object to be used, belittled and fetishized.

Just as my experiences with fetishization were masked as “compliments,” people

justified the shooter’s actions.

According to the former spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, the shooter “had a bad day.”

My rage grew. Somehow, it is my job to ensure that my existence alone doesn’t provoke someone’s desires.

Somehow, I am expected to pay the price for men who don’t have to fix their own problems, and can instead subject the world to their violence and instability.

Our very existence provokes racist, sexist attacks. The only thing we can do to keep ourselves safe is not exist at all.

Instead of preparing our daughters for their inevitable dehumanization, we must teach our sons not to see women as objects. Instead of teaching Asian girls that we must accept our roles as hyper-sexualised, subhuman versions of ourselves, we must teach men that Asian women

do not exist to fulfill their sexual desires.

I do not exist to be dominated, devalued, or to be a conquest in a fictional story about homecoming night. I do not exist to be controlled by a partner, to live up to racist stereotypes or to be responsible for someone else’s actions or feelings.

To create real change, we all must prepare our children to be respectful human beings.

To create real change, we

cannot expect girls to don their armor and brandish their weapons in the hopes they will remain untouched by a poisoned society.

This is not only our responsibility. This is not our burden to bear alone.

In order to create real change, we must all fight back.

We must all be soldiers.

Edited by Sofi Zeman szeman@themaneater.com

THE MANEATER | OPINION | A PRIl 7, 2021

11

LABOR

Amidst declining membership, unions are essential as bulwarks against exploitation Revitalizing unions as a potent force within American society can ensure that fair and safe labor standards remain protected and that workers have a voice.

BY GALEN ZALAVA SHERBY Columnist

For decades, union membership in the U.S. has been declining at a steady pace. Fewer people are in unions than at practically every other point in modern American history. From a peak of approximately 35% in the 1950s, the current percentage of unionized workers has settled at around 10%. The material impact of this trend is reflected in the day-to-day lives of every person in this country and informs much of what what workers can expect to receive from their bosses in the form of wages, benefits and safe working conditions.

The history of the American labor movement goes back almost 200 years and played a critical role in defining the degree of control workers had over the terms of their employment. Through strikes, sit-ins and other militant labor actions, the working class achieved many luxuries people now take for granted.

The 40-hour work week, 8-hour work day, mandated lunch breaks, workplace safety standards, etc. were all won through union demands.

Now, American working culture has shifted decisively in opposition to universal union membership, and many people seem to have lost touch with the original reasons unions played such a key role in building this country.

Wealth disparities are growing larger while more and more people find it necessary to work multiple jobs or forgo basic necessities just to stay afloat. It should go without saying that organizations by and for the working class should be more prevalent than

ever. Through some bizarre capitalist manipulation, the opposite appears to be the case.

So why has the trend moved so vigorously in this direction?

A number of factors are at play in this phenomenon. One of the most critical is the shifting job market and the amount of jobs in sectors such as automotive production and electronics production that have been lost as the economy fluctuates and demands ebb and flow. For example, overall employment in manufacturing has gone down decisively as more jobs are outsourced overseas. With many factories being shut down, formerly unionized workplaces no longer exist as the ultra wealthy seek out new labor markets to expand their bottom line.

Another major factor has been the massive lobbying interests pushing for the passage of right to work laws all over the country. They undermine the ability of unions to organize in the states

where such laws are enacted and empower corporations to more effectively issue antiunion propaganda to dissuade their formation. These laws consistently drive down wages for workers and have been a major barrier to organizing efforts nationwide.

This must be taken as a wakeup call for all American workers, especially as COVID19 continues to wreak havoc on American society. At a time when unemployment has skyrocketed, unionized workplaces have maintained higher rates of employment compared to their non-union counterparts. It may feel as if union membership is superfluous now that active: woekers have won basic rights, but unions serve as a way of ensuring that the ruling class can’t act with complete impunity. A world without unions would be one in which employers have absolute control over the standards their employees adhere to; it would be a return

to the robber barons of the early industrial revolution.

Demands for better working conditions or pay raises from individual workers will almost always be overlooked in favor of cost-saving measures and expanding profit margins.

It’s impossible for workers to bargain with their employers on equal terms when they approach them individually. Through union representation, workers can mobilize their workplace, industry or even the entire nation to leverage their collective power.

Statistics show that more people have a positive view of unions now than in the past 40 years. Forty-eight percent of all non-union workers in a 2017 survey indicated that they would join a union if given the opportunity to do so. Workers have the power to reintroduce unions as a potent force in American society, and one of the very few institutions that truly represents the interests of

working people at large. Recent efforts by Amazon workers in Alabama to unionize their workplace mark a potential turning point in not only the attitudes of Americans toward unionization, but as a possible shift toward the unionization of more economic sectors.

Americans cannot ignore the opportunity the nation is presented with to have workers’ voices heard and ensure fair compensation for all working people. When workers agitate for the right to form a union, renegotiate their contracts or go on strike, society shouldn’t reprimand them for doing so. Everyone has a right to be heard and to advocate for their own wellbeing, and Americans should do everything in their power to enable that.

Edited by Sydney Lewis slewis@themaneater.com

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SportS

ONLINE THIS WEEK: Missouri softball bounces back from shaky weekend to shut down Western Illinois.

BY CALEB LOGUE Schreiber’s impressive SEC Championship performance propels Missouri to program-best sixth place.

BY JONAH HAMMEL

GYMNASTICS

A family ignited: How a cut program in Chicago brought Missouri gymnastics a star

BY JONAH HAMMEL Sports Reporter

Five days into her freshman year at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Alisa Sheremeta walked into the gym for an early morning meeting. On her way in, she noticed her coaches’ distraught faces, who’d been there for 30 minutes.

Every men’s and women’s gymnast at the school waited anxiously, curious as to why they called the meeting.

Sheremeta, who is from Circleville, New York, sensed something was up.

She missed a class for the meeting, and both teams never met at the same time and place.

“What are they gonna tell us?” Sheremeta thought.

As she suspected, it wasn’t good. Before she started her first season for the Flames, she discovered it would be her last.

More than 20 NCAA Division-1 schools cut their “secondary sports” such as tennis, track, or gymnastics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lives of hundreds of studentathletes at schools like Minnesota, Stanford and Clemson changed forever when their programs were taken away.

Now a junior at MU, Sheremeta heard the news when nobody saw it coming.

“I thought they meant they were cutting the funding or something like that,” Sheremeta said. “It hit me a couple seconds after.”

Two years later, Garrett Klassy — who UIC hired as athletic director in 2018 — left the Flames for a smaller role at the University of Nebraska. His first decision

Missouri gymnast Alisa Sheremeta strikes a pose during her floor routine in the Tigers’ competition against Auburn.

| PHOTO COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

See Sheremeta on 13

BASKETBALL

How Kobe Brown reshaped his body to become a force in the paint

BY JACK SOBLE Sports Editor

W he n M is s o u ri sophomore forward Kobe Brown was in high school, he took shortcuts on defense. Instead of moving his feet and playing man-to-man defense with proper technique, he generally allowed offensive players to go wherever they wanted.

Why? He knew he was more than big enough to meet them at the rim.

“I would always have to make him go back and do it the fundamental way because I knew it would catch up with him later

on,” Greg Brown, Kobe’s father and high school coach, said.

Brown had to break that habit — and many more — for the task he would undertake once he got to Missouri.

Listed at six-footseven-inches and 220 pounds coming out of high school by 247 Sports, Brown was typically the biggest guy on the court at Lee High School in Huntsville, Alabama. That changed when he arrived at See Brown on 14

FOOTBALL

Franklin brings new energy and plenty of coaching experience to Missouri football’s defensive staff

BY KYLE PINNELL Assistant Sports Editor

Former Southern California defensive coordinator Rocky Seto remembers the interview as if it was yesterday.

In front of a room full of the university’s coaching staff and administrators, a then40-year-old Jethro Franklin interviewed for the Trojan’s defensive line coach position as if he was a player.

He didn’t draw up schemes or give a sequence of generic interview answers. No,

Franklin passionately acted out every play in a high-energy interview, which left administrators, Seto and even then-coach Pete Carroll with little doubt as to who would replace the team’s previous defensive line coach, current LSU coach Ed Orgeron.

“He was banging on the board, getting all fired up and demonstrating his moves,” Seto said.

See Franklin on 15

13

THE MANEATER | S poRTS | A pRil 7, 2021 A newly-hired Athletic Director and unquestionable talent carried Alisa Sheremeta’s torch to Columbia.

From Sheremeta on 12

at UIC meant 31 gymnasts could also only continue their athletic career at another school.

“I really didn’t know if I would have an opportunity to transfer or not,” Sheremeta said. “I thought I was going to be there for the rest of my college years without gymnastics.”

Despite the news, Sheremeta and her teammates did their best to have the program reinstated through their performances. She competed in every meet that season, posting season-highs of 9.9 and 9.85 on floor and beam. At the 2019 USAG Nationals, UIC finished second in the team competition and Sheremeta took home second on the floor exercise. Her teammate, Kayla Baddeley, earned her third All-American first-team nod and won the national vault competition to go along with the conference all-around title.

Although donations and tens of thousands of petition signatures ultimately failed to revive the program, the players’ spirits were as high as they could be.

“We had a lot of achievements that year, so I think it was a really big success,” Sheremeta said. “We all just made the

most out of it.”

When she first moved into UIC, Sheremeta shared an entire floor with other gymnasts.

“We did everything together,” Sheremeta said. “[We] went to the dining hall together, went to the training room together. Some of us even had classes together and we all practiced together, so we were all really close.”

Although they hadn’t competed together, the UIC program felt like family, a feeling that helped draw Sheremeta to the university in the first place. The program stuck out to recruits with co-head coaches Peter and Mary Jansson, who shared the role since 1990.

“They were really supportive of anything you did,” Sheremeta said. “They took care of us like their own kids.”

Mary Jansson, affectionately known as the team’s “mom,” won a Big Ten Championship on the balance beam with Illinois in 1982. Moments like her embrace with Sheremeta at the 2019 USAG National Championships reminded the freshman of her mother, Tanya, who coached her on the beam until the age of 16.

“Everything [Jansson] said correlated to what my mom did,” Sheremeta said. “It was

an easy transition — very comfortable — and it helped grow my confidence on beam especially.”

With both parents as former gymnasts, the Sheremeta household didn’t lack passion for the sport. In addition to Alisa, her younger sister, Deana, recently committed to George Washington University on a gymnastics scholarship.

“I think it runs in the family,” Alisa Sheremeta said. “Judges and other coaches always said how we competed, our technique, how we performed our floor routine, is so similar.

They said basically my sister is like a mini-me.”

Just like UIC, GWU competes in a league banded solely for gymnastics rather than its usual conference. The East Atlantic Gymnastics League also consists of ACC programs like North Carolina and Pitt.

When it came to her sister’s decision, Sheremeta said she wasn’t convinced right away.

“Personally, [I was] just a little bit worried,” Sheremeta said. “I know a lot of times gymnastics is one of the first sports to go.”

Just a week after her final competition as a Flame, Sheremeta visited Columbia and decided to play for the Tigers.

She finished the school year

training back home in New York and moved out of her dorm at UIC before starting the gritty end of the transfer process. As she transferred credits, enrolled in classes and found new roommates, Sheremeta spent two whole months training in Missouri and figuring out her routines for the upcoming season.

In her first season with the Tigers, Sheremeta quickly showed off her unmatched consistency. In just a few meets, she established herself at the 9.8 mark, a bar she rarely fails to reach. Although the NCAA ultimately canceled the 2020 postseason, Sheremeta’s sophomore campaign earned her spot in the lineup on bars, beam and floor.

Missouri didn’t start the 2021 season as planned. On top of the season-ending injury to 2020 All-SEC freshman Helen Hu, Sheremeta was ruled out for the first meet of the season.

The move was precautionary and stemmed from virus-like symptoms, but it threw off the junior’s rhythm just a little.

“It’s definitely scary at first,” Sheremeta said. “Everybody’s a week ahead of you and you gotta catch up to everyone.”

But it didn’t take long for Sheremeta to find her stride.

In her first event of the season, she scored a career-high 9.825 on the bars, and she stayed

above her trademark 9.8 line on beam and floor in every meet until the last. She starred in Missouri’s first win against No. 19 Auburn, picking up career-highs of 9.9 on floor and an impressive 9.95 on beam.

Missouri’s head coach, Shannon Welker, competed at UIC as a gymnast for four years and earned NCAA AllAmerican honors in 1996. After Sheremeta’s performance on February 12th, Welker had nothing but praise for the former Flame.

“As soon as she got back, she really has been on fire,” Welker said. “9.9 is a pretty darn good score and she had two of them tonight. That was really cool to see.”

As Sheremeta displayed unbelievable mental toughness at the start of the season and prowess on the beam event, strong character and irreplaceable coaching definitely came to light. In her mindset for the end of the season, it’s not hard to see how past experiences have helped form who she is today.

“Just look at the positives,” Sheremeta said. “Keep going and don’t look back.”

Edited by Kyle Pinnell kpinnell@themaneater.com

TRACK AND FIELD

From Yambol to Columbia: The journey of Georgi Nachev Nachev has endured the difficulties of moving to a different nation, and he now gears up for the end of his illustrious career.

BY PARKER GILLAM Reporter

The journey from Yambol, Bulgaria to Columbia covers 5,627 miles. Georgi Nachev made the gutsy decision to leave the country he called home and start fresh in the U.S. as a college student to pursue his dreams of becoming a track and field star.

Nachev grew up in Yambol, a mediumsized town in southeast Bulgaria surrounded by beautiful nature and deep-rooted history. At home, the track was always calling to him, but the facilities and coaches could not keep up with his talent. He competed in both the under 18 and 20-year-old European championships for his home nation, but bigger things were on the way.

Those competitions are where Missouri assistant track and field coach Iliyan Chamov spotted Nachev’s talents. Chamov hails from Yambol as well and began to recruit Nachev when the prodigal track star was 17 years old. At the U20 championships in Italy, Chamov pitched Nachev on Missouri, and the rest is history.

“I wasn’t in the best environment with facilities and equipment over there, and coach Chamov was very nice in his communication with me,” Nachev said.

So, Nachev hopped on a flight to the opposite hemisphere to compete for Missouri. The culture change in coming from Bulgaria to the midwestern U.S.

was stark to say the least.

“The language barrier was the biggest struggle for me,” Nachev said. “Early interactions featured me translating what someone said into Bulgarian and then translating my response into English. It took me two to three months to start thinking in English and speak without thinking too much.”

The language barrier challenged him, but perhaps an even more concerning issue arose upon arrival in the U.S. “The Bulgarian cuisine is what I miss the most,” Nachev said. “I had stomach problems for a while because all the food is processed over here.

Everything in Bulgaria is farm-grown and organic, so the food over here is very different and hard to adjust to.”

However, Nachev also cited many positives in his decision to come to the states, both on the track and off.

“The facilities and environment at Mizzou are great compared to what I used to have,” Nachev said. “People are always pushing me to the max to become great, and meeting so many people from different cultures on the team really helped.”

The diversity of the men’s track and field team is something to behold, with nine athletes hailing from outside of the U.S. This includes a fellow Bulgarian, junior Martin Prodanov, who is from the larger city of Plovdiv.

In terms of track and field work, Nachev said training is far more intense at Missouri. American coaches place more emphasis on weight and speed training, and twice-a-day practices

Missouri track athlete Georgi Nachev sprints during a spring track and field competition.

| PHOTO COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS have been a new challenge.

The bold move paid off for Nachev, however, as he has enjoyed a standout career for the Tigers. The junior competes in a variety of events but specializes in the triple jump, and he has five first-place finishes in the event throughout his career.

On top of his accomplishments on the track, Nachev excels in the classroom. He was a member of the 2020 Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll and is pursuing a major in electrical engineering.

As Nachev enters the latter stages of his college career, he aims to compete on a professional level.

“I was injured during the COVID19 cancelation last spring, and the quarantine period gave me more time to get back to normal,” Nachev said.

“Lockdown was tough, only being able to practice on my own, but I got back to

normal activities in August.”

Following a stellar 2021 indoor campaign, Nachev qualified for the D1 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on March 11-13. As with everything, Nachev has defined goals laid out for this meet.

“Jump 54 feet or above, finish in the top eight, but most importantly, go out and have fun,” Nachev said.

Georgi Nachev’s journey has been a long one full of difficult decisions and adjusting to a completely foreign nation. Thanks to a great supporting cast around him and an improvement in available resources, Nachev has become one of the stars of Missouri track and field, and a bright future awaits the kid from Yambol.

Edited by Kyle Pinnell kpinnell@themaneater.com

14

THE MANEATER | SPORTS | A PRil 7, 2021

The Missouri men’s basketball forward switched from the three to the four and remodeled his game.

From Brown on 12 Missouri and he noticed the instant he stepped on campus.

“I was like, ‘We have three or four guys taller than me,’ and at the time they were bigger than me, so it’s like, ‘I can’t let them go by and jump with them because I’ll probably get dunked on,’” Brown said.

It makes sense, then, that when Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin approached him about switching positions, he suggested playing him at the four-spot and working him in the post.

That contrasted Brown’s role in high school, which was playing the three-spot and working on the perimeter.

Wait, what?

Brown played on the perimeter in high school and was under the impression he’d be doing that once he got to Missouri. It put him in a position to lead Lee to a state championship appearance and earn an offer from the Tigers.

But Martin saw a different opportunity for Brown. He said Greg Brown put him in a position to succeed at the three, but Kobe Brown wasn’t taking advantage of the mismatches solid driving ability at his size would get him.

Martin compared the situation to the one Jontay Porter faced when he arrived at Missouri in 2017.

“Jontay was sixfoot-11, so skilled, but his game was on the perimeter,” Martin said. “If you face up in the post, he’s kind of off the block to shoot a jump-shot. And then a year later, Kobe didn’t get a chance to see it.

He dominated in the post because he was so physical and strong around the rim, and he still had the other parts.”

Missouri also has plenty of perimeter players. Guards Xavier Pinson, Dru Smith and Mark Smith locked down starting spots at the one, two and three heading into the season, which Martin believed would provide the Tigers with plenty of dribble-drive scoring and outside shooting. Javon Pickett started two games this year and most of last year — Brown’s freshman year — at that spot, too.

“We thought that he would only be at the three, two to the three,” Greg Brown said. “And maybe he’ll occasionally go to the stretch-four some. But I guess with the personnel, there’s more time available at

the four-spot.”

So Martin asked Brown if he would be willing to transition to a less flashy but equally useful role.

“Coach needed someone to do the tough stuff,” Brown said. “So I was like, ‘Why not me?’”

When Brown switched positions, he first prioritized changing his habits in the weight room.

“I would say [the most difficult part of the transition was] just getting stronger,” Brown said. “Just getting my body ready to bump with the big guys.”

Much of that responsibility fell on Nicodemus Christopher, director of athletic performance for Missouri Men’s Basketball. Christopher said Brown was raw in the weight room when he arrived in Columbia, and that might be an understatement.

“When he first got to Mizzou, it’s learn[ing] how to do the basic fundamental m o v e m e n t s , ” Christopher said. “Learn how to squat, learn how to lunge, learn how to hinge, learn how to do a pull-up right, learn how to do a press right. And he was very raw, and you’d be shocked, those were things he struggled with.”

Brown quickly impressed Christopher with his workout habits, though.

He called Christopher almost every day to discuss the lifting and eating plans he had for the day.

He also had help from his teammates. Mark Smith and Tilmon are frequently in the weight room themselves, and when Brown arrived on campus, they would bring him with them.

“It became part of his routine,” Christopher said.

While many players who come in underdeveloped will suffer a learning curve in the weight room, Brown didn’t. He put on 20 pounds — he’s listed at 240 as opposed to 220 — between the end of his high school career and the start of his sophomore season.

Brown’s change in body composition regarding fat loss and muscle gain, even just in that first summer on campus, was one of the best Christopher had seen in recent years.

Lifting is a big part of that, but so is nutrition.

Brown’s diet had some serious flaws in high school.

Christopher said Brown ate about

Missouri basketball forward Kobe Brown drives to the hoop in Missouri’s 54-53 win against Bradley on Dec. 22, 2020.| PHOTO COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

five foods on a regular basis, and they were not inspiring.

“Chipotle, Chipotle, Chipotle,” Christopher said. “He wanted a chicken bowl with rice.

Maybe a little sour cream and some cheese. That’s it.”

Breakfast wasn’t much better. Typically, Brown would get Smoothie King and maybe a biscuit with bacon.

“That was his meal plan,” Christopher said.

“We’re talking about a high-level athlete and that’s his meal plan.”

These days, Brown enjoys fruits and vegetables, and one of his favorite meals is steak, potatoes and green beans. This past summer, Brown proved that he was committed to eating more substantial foods fit for a Division-I basketball player.

“He went out and bought a smoker and a barbecue grill,” Christopher said. “He and Mark Smith, every Sunday, would go to Hy-Vee and they’d buy a ton of poultry and they’d barbecue enough meat for the week.”

Christopher has the scouting report on Brown’s culinary skills: He needs to season his protein better, but he makes excellent wings in his air fryer. Christopher looks forward to a prospective air-fryer wings cook-off.

With Brown switching to the four, he also needed to eat more than he had in high school.

The newfound ability to cook helps.

“He was one of those guys where interestingly enough, he didn’t eat

enough,” Christopher said. “So [it was] getting him to understand, ‘Hey, let’s eat a little bit more but let’s eat the right things.’”

Brown started almost every game of his freshman season, despite being underdeveloped physically. He showed flashes of the player he could be in games like a 10-point, ninerebound performance in Missouri’s win over Auburn, but Martin still wanted more.

Even early in the 202021 season, when Brown put up 12 points and eight rebounds against eventual No. 1-seed Illinois, Martin wasn’t satisfied.

“I think he has to get better, especially when he had [Illinois center] Kofi [Cockburn] on him, taking advantage of that matchup, taking him off the dribble,” Martin said after the Illinois game on Dec. 12, 2020. “I thought he settled for a three early. Because Kobe’s good off the bounce. He got a big guy like that on him like that, he can make plays.”

Once Brown got stronger and healthier, Martin knew he could be both a walking doubledouble and a walking mismatch for…really anybody. A big, less mobile center shouldn’t be able to stay with him off the dribble, and smaller guard or a similar-height, lighter forward shouldn’t be able to contain him in the post.

Brown settled for spotup threes too often, and Martin let him know. “‘Do you understand

what I’m saying? Like, look at that small guy defending you, man,’” Martin would tell Brown.

“Where I was from, that was considered an insult, just smaller guys guarding me around the rim.”

With many teams — including Oklahoma, who Missouri faced in the NCAA Tournament — transitioning to fourguard lineups, those matchups should’ve been Brown’s dream.

Martin doesn’t recall exactly when it happened, but he remembers the moment he knew Brown had figured it out.

“He was posting up,” Martin said.

“Even when Tilmon was on the floor, he was posting up, because he got an advantage, like, ‘Coach, I got it.’ That was the biggest thing, him recognizing it and him saying it. I don’t remember the game, but [I remember] him saying it from the sideline, ‘Coach, I can post this guy up.’”

Whenever announcers talk about Brown on TV broadcasts, they always go right to “This is a big, strong guy,” and they point out his height and weight. That doesn’t happen without a commitment to lifting and eating right.

Brown averaged 10.7 points per game from the Alabama game on Feb. 6 on, and the rebounding prowess has arrived, too.

Brown’s 6.3 boards per game rank second on the team, just behind Tilmon’s 7.0.

“I’ve just gotten better [at rebounding],” Brown said. “That’s just a will

to do that. Last year, I was trying to find my way around, just getting used to it, trying to find my role on the team.”

He’s also improved his defense — Greg Brown said it’s gotten twice as good since he got to Missouri, which he and his son credit to working under Martin, a defensive-minded coach. Suffice to say he doesn’t take shortcuts anymore.

“Being able to make adjustments on and off the floor, consistency with his classes — I love what he’s doing academically. I think that’s off the charts,” Greg Brown said. “I’m just proud of him for who he is and what Missouri’s having him become.”

For everyone who’s worked with Brown, seeing his work on the court, in the weight room and in the kitchen pay off in the form of an NCAA Tournament berth is what it’s all about.

Greg Brown said Brown’s dream has been to play in the Tournament for years.

“Sometimes you gotta soil the seeds, you gotta toil the ground, you gotta water the seeds and then eventually they grow, but we all know that trees and plants and things of that nature don’t grow overnight,” Christopher said. “It’s the exact same thing with the body. The results don’t necessarily show overnight, so for him to stick with it and to show some resilience and to, keep trucking… I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Edited by Kyle Pinnell kpinnell@themaneater.com

15

THE MANEATER | SPORTS | A PRil 7, 2021 The Tigers’ new defensive line coach has 30 years of coaching experience and hopes to reignite “D-Line Zou.” From Franklin on 12 “I was like, ‘Man, this guy is incredible. He was pretty dynamic, and it was pretty neat.’”

Seemingly everyone remembers the first time they met Franklin and learned firsthand about the energy and passion he has for football.

Sam Anno, now a defensive coach with the San Diego Strike Force indoor football team, coached with Franklin for six years — both with USC and the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders — and speaks fondly of his fellow Californian.

Anno and Franklin first met at one of USC’s high school football camps. They both coached the defense, but Franklin often stayed with the kids longest and pushed them hardest.

“I remember going out there, and there was Jethro standing tall with his whistle and all the kids,” Anno said.

“We would do these drills and he’s just blowing the whistle, making those kids go about 100 yards.”

Former USC defensive lineman Lawrence Jackson’s first vivid memory of his new coach came during an earlyseason meeting. Seated in the first row, he murmured, “What kind of name is Jethro, anyways?” just loud enough to think only those next to him would hear the jab.

But Franklin stopped in the middle of drawing up a play and spun around.

“My grandfather gave me that name,” Franklin said.

“And I’ll let you say nothing else about it.”

Years later, Jackson acknowledged his slip-up, but also said it was the day he gained another level of respect for his new position coach.

Over time, Franklin has garnered that respect at each

and every stop he’s made in football, and for good reason.

Those that knew him well had plenty of stories to share. He started his coaching career at his alma mater, Fresno State, where he coached the Bulldogs’ defensive line unit for seven years. Since then, he’s made nine other stops, from USC and the University of Miami to the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.

In January, Missouri made Franklin its first defensive hire under new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. And if his past is any indication, Franklin will bring plenty of energy and personality to the Tigers’ defensive staff as he looks to re-establish “D-Line Zou.” “He’s always fired up and enthusiastic,” Seto said. “He loves people, he loves coaching football and he makes a big impression immediately.”

“Yo, Figga!”

It’s hard to be around Franklin for any duration of time without hearing him referenced as “Figga,” or “Bigga Figga.”

Franklin received the nickname during his time as a player at Fresno State, and the name has a bit of regional significance. Those who grew up in California’s Central Valley Region gave one another nicknames based on the area’s fruits, and San Jose, California, — where Franklin grew up — and Fresno, California, are cities known for its figs. Since then, the nickname has stuck.

“You can never understand how that makes sense unless you lived in California and you had a history around the farm,” then-USC defensive assistant Pete Dalis said.

Franklin is now listed as “Figga” in Jackson’s phone

contacts, but that’s a name that neither he nor any of his young teammates called the coach directly when they played for him. Players referenced Franklin as “Figga,” or “Bigga Figga,” in private circles, but they needed to earn his respect to call him that in a loose setting.

And just how players had to develop respect to call him “Figga,” Franklin needed to gain his players’ respect, too. The coach arrived in Los Angeles for the 2005 season, the year after the Trojans won a national championship under Carroll and position coach Orgeron.

Like in many of his prior stops, Franklin earned that respect quickly because of his openness and honesty with players. He had the coaching acumen, energy and past experiences, which stood out to college athletes. And many of the guys on USC’s defensive line related to him naturally just because he was a Black coach.

“It was that NFL players coach with the fact that he was also Black,” Jackson said. “That helped out tremendously, especially for me, knowing that I had someone who identified with what I was going through.”

Off the field, position group dinners never had much to do with football, and he had the reputation of the coach that showed up at each game as one of the best dressed.

“I’d like to find a D-line coach in college football that’s going to be able to relate more and motivate his guys more than Jethro will,” Dalis said.

Franklin’s ability to relate to anyone and everyone translated to the coaching staff as well. One day, when the coaching staff drew up play cards after card in the

back room at the practice facility, Franklin began to “play” the trumpet parts to the band Earth, Wind & Fire’s song, “Can’t Hide Love,” with his mouth.

“Coach Carroll made sure that he had the best coaches around, and [Franklin] was one of those guys,” Seto said.

“What was neat to see was that the players took to him, and he loved them well. He has a good energy about him and enthusiasm that most people don’t have.”

In addition to his defensive responsibilities, Franklin coached the Trojan’s field goal and PAT block unit during his time in Los Angeles. The night before each game, the coach went over previous film with players, and as he played clip after clip, he repeatedly drove his point home with his patented saying: “Drive, drive, drive up.”

But the night before USC played Washington State in October 2005 felt decidedly different.

With the lights dimmed in a conference room at the downtown Marriott the team used to stay at, those in USC’s pre-game day special teams meeting could only make out Franklin’s silhouette, projected against the screen.

On that night, the players beat Franklin to the punch.

“Drive, drive, driiiiive uhhhhhhp!,” they parroted at Franklin, as he showed the same clip again and again. For minutes on end, the energy in the room crescendoed until the room filled completely with noise. The next afternoon, the Trojans beat the Cougars 55-13 and blocked multiple kicks. It was a moment that stood out amidst a long season, and one Dalis will never forget.

“He couldn’t even get a word

out,” Dalis said. “I remember being in the box, and I believe we blocked something that weekend. I remember it because the enthusiasm in that meeting the night before was off the charts, and sure enough, you get a field goal or PAT blocked in that game.”

Franklin coached defense, but he helped young players realize the importance of special teams — of how being able to consistently block kicks and save one or two points eventually adds up.

If anything, it’s the perfect example of how players bought into what he taught.

“It was a special moment, and I think that that game, and blocking those kicks was a big deal,” Lawrence said.

“Not just for the field goal block team, but the defense because it was most of us. We took that attitude back over to traditional defense.”

Franklin brings that animated energy in every aspect of his coaching, whether it be instructing a player oneon-one or chewing into the entire unit. Dalis likened Franklin’s gravelly voice to that of a preacher because of the way his voice inflected when coaching, which made a normal practice feel anything but monotonous.

“The guys will know that the drills are over, but he’s still blowing the whistle,” Anno said. “There will be guys half his age out there that won’t have the energized focus that he will have.”

Next season, Franklin will bring that energy and passion to Missouri’s sideline. Wilks hasn’t coached with Franklin before, but the pair’s paths have crossed multiple times before, and they both have mutual respect for one another.

“He is a guy that I feel like is going to bring a lot to the program just with the mere fact of him being a fundamentalist,” Wilks said.

Already in spring practices, Franklin has gone right to work. While working with the Tigers’ linemen, he hasn’t been afraid to stop a drill and jump in himself to give an example. He’ll give a player individualized instructions on the side.

And with 31 years of football coaching experience at every level, he brings a resume that bolsters coach Eli Drinkwitz’s entire staff.

“He knows how important and how critical D-line is,” Jackson said. “To me, he’s the D-line specialist and D-line guru. If Missouri makes it feel like home, then it will be home.

And it will have a defensive line unit that will lead the team for years to come.”

Edited by Jack Soble jsoble@themaneater.com

Missouri football coach Jethro Franklin instructs his defensive line unit during a spring practice.| PHOTO COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

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