The Auburn Plainsman online at THEPLAINSMAN.COM
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID • NEWS SINCE 1893
VOL. 127 • ISSUE 17 • FIRST COPY FREE THEN 50¢
CAMPUS
‘Divided’: Auburn reckons with impeachment By NATALIE BECKERINK and EDUARDO MEDINA Lifestyle Editor and Editor-in-chief editor@theplainsman.com
The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has barely begun, but the political drama inherent in such a process is already drawing the eyes of those on the Plains who either see a man guilty of abuse of power or a leader being falsely accused of betraying his oath of office. The trial, still in early stages, is only the third of its kind in the history of the United States, as Trump now joins the ranks of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton — both of whom were acquitted in their respective Senate hearings. Trump’s impeachment, however, is gripping the attention of many Auburn students who reflect raging partisan divisions that will be tested in November. For some students, the impeachment process was
CAMPUS
Campus clinic certifies sexual assault nurses
flawed from the moment the first charges were pronounced. Max Kleiber, a junior in political science and communications director for Auburn College Republicans, said some of the actions taken by the House of Representatives haven’t made much sense, including the charges placed on Trump. “When you look at the charges, they are very interesting by nature,” he said. “The first charge is obstruction of Congress, which is just a check and balance on the Constitution. President Trump is his own branch, he can’t necessarily obstruct Congress. That’s what he’s supposed to do by Constitutional design.” Aahil Makhani, vice president of Auburn College Democrats, said he believed the House Democrats fairly charged Trump on impeachable offenses. “House Democrats looked at all of the evidence that had been presented at that point in time and found that, like most Americans think, President Trump had, indeed, committed impeachable offenses and that he deserves to be impeached,” Makhani said. “I do find it dis-
heartening that most Republicans chose not to support the action and looked for ways to protect President Trump and the GOP as a whole, rather than uphold the rule of law in order to protect our nation.” The second charge on Trump was abuse of power, which Kleiber said was unjustified. “Abuse of power is not really a crime,” he said. “They wanted to go with bribery, and then they took away intent, which is a pretty large part of it. You couldn’t prove the intent, so they wanted to impeach Trump before the 2020 election instead of just waiting a few months for [U.N.]Ambassador [John] Bolton to testify or the election to happen and the Democrats win, which they said will happen.” After the House voted to impeach Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to hold on to the articles of impeachment for about a month before sending them to the Senate. While many Republicans were frustrated by » See IMPEACHMENT, 2
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
City to hire 12 new officers By CHARLIE RAMO Community Reporter community@theplainsman.com
By TRICE BROWN
same ordinance at its Feb. 18 meeting. If approved, the ordinance would put a temporary, 90-day stop to the construction of private dormitories and academic detach dwelling units within Auburn. Both of these types of housing are typically built and intended for student use. This moratorium comes after over a year of work from the student housing task force,
Council members unanimously approved a resolution to add 12 officers to the Auburn Police Division Tuesday night. This will bring the total count of Auburn police officers from 135 officers to 147. “Police officers will be in your neighborhood more often, in the shopping center more often and just more visible,” said Police Chief Paul Register after the Council meeting. “It’s just the police presence that is a deterrent for crime.” This increase will allow APD to have at least one officer covering each of the City’s 14 beats at all times. APD designates patrol areas, or beats, for police officers. Some officers have had to cover more than one beat on their own. This will increase police presence in currently underserved neighborhoods, Register said. “We have all of the [Auburn University] campus beats covered with somebody
» See MORATORIUM, 2
» See POLICE, 2
Campus Editor campus@theplainsman.com
Thanks to fundraising from SGA, the University medical clinic was able to certify their nurses as Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. These nurses are now able to perform forensic exams on men, women and transgender people to gather evidence of sexual assault and provide treatment and medication to prevent the spread of STDs. The program at the medical clinic formally began on Jan. 21. Auburn University students can come in and be treated confidentially anywhere from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays at no cost. According to Frederick Kam, medical director for the clinic, forensic exams take four hours to complete, so they need a 2 p.m. cutoff time to fit within their regular hours since the clinic closes at 6 p.m. Though he said the East Alabama Medical » See NURSES, 2
JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER
The future site of Uncommon Auburn on Glenn Avenue on Wed, Jan. 22, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.
Moratorium vote this February: Here’s what you need to know By ELIZABETH HURLEY Community Editor community@theplainsman.com
City Council members are expected to vote on a student housing moratorium in the coming weeks with an end date of May 27, 2020, according to the ordinance approved at the January Planning Commission meeting. The City Council is expected to consider the
SPORTS Auburn football coaching news aplenty Auburn is down another assistant, Steele is being extended and the offense is changing hands. Page 8
www.theplainsman.com
go online
News 24/7 on our website Go online to theplainsman.com SCAN ME!
@TheAUPlainsman
@TheAuburnPlainsman
@TheAuburnPlainsman
news
2
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
THEPLAINSMAN.COM
IMPEACHMENT » From 1
this action, Pelosi was within her rights to do so, Kleiber said. “You want to complain because it’s kind of annoying when there is supposed to be a bicameral action; the House and the Senate are supposed to do something together, and one of them doesn’t pass along the baton,” Kleiber said. “She did have full legal authority to do what she did. It doesn’t say that the speaker of the house has to send the articles over within a certain amount of days.” Makhani said Pelosi’s action was completely justifiable. “She wanted to make sure the Senate would give the President a fair trial, rather than the speedy acquittal he’s gunning for,” he said. “More than 70% of Americans agree that witnesses need to testify, but Senate Republicans voted to block a subpoena that would bring forward witnesses and documents that would ensure the trial against the President is fair and accurate.” Democrats, Republicans and members of Trump’s legal team stood on the Senate floor on Jan. 21, the first day of deliberations to set standards for the trial, and Kleiber, who was keeping up with the trial throughout the day, said the party lines were extremely visible. But it’s understandable, he said, given the political climate and the 2020 election approaching. “From what I understand, things are breaking down on party lines, which isn’t really surprising,” he said. “You do what your party wants you to do, especially when politics are so divided.” Ryan Williamson, an assistant professor in the department of political science at Auburn, said the fact that this impeachment process is reflecting the current polarization in the U.S. is expected because impeachment is dependent on how it was previously carried out, and there
aren’t many examples to pull from. “If impeachment is never used, if it’s never employed, then you could say the bar is too high, and it’s effectively a useless tool,” Williamson said. “But if you constantly dismiss every charge, then it’s no longer an effective tool.” But Williamson maintained that the process as of now is still a politically seismic one. “Regardless of what happens, it’s already a significant, historical event,” Williamson said. “It’s such a rare phenomenon with a lot of gravity, so it’s noteworthy, and this is something that will continue to be talked about for as long as our country exists.” And students know the weight this event will carry looking back, Williamson said. “Even to students here that are just becoming politically aware or active, it’s so apparent that this is a monumental time,” Williamson said. The historical event began when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’d ensure the trial would run smoothly and in a manner that would expedite the process for the sake of the American people. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, began by declaring that the eyes of history are watching the Senate, seeing if it would commit to its constitutional responsibility. Kleiber said he believes the American public will appreciate McConnell’s steadfast approach. “Personally, I’d like to see this finish up as soon as possible,” Kleiber said. “I’m a policy person, and this is a bit dramatic, very petty of what each side does to one another. I think America is tired of this, so I think Mitch McConnell is doing us a favor.” Members of the Democratic party don’t necessarily see what McConnell is doing as effective, Makhani said, adding that it may, in fact, be hurting the integrity of the legal system. “I think Senator McConnell’s statements ignore the truth of a trial, in that in order for a trial to be fair and accurate, all evidence must be taken into consideration,” Makhani said.
JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER
President Donald Trump’s impeachment is only the third in the history of the United States.
“Calling out Democrats for ensuring that all the facts and witness testimony are taken into account is frankly the latest in a long line of partisan jabs and attempts to consolidate power.” Paul Harris, chair of the department of political science, said listening to students’ different opinions on this issue speaks to the intense interest and attention the case holds. “It’s drama — national political drama that plays out on Capitol Hill,” Harris said. “The trial has a foregone conclusion. Unless something completely unexpected happens, Trump is going to be acquitted, and, knowing that, the whole process becomes even more politically driven. That’s when the drama of it all begins to kick in.” Harris compared it to when Auburn plays a homecoming game against an unranked, small-
JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER
Uncommon Auburn is currently under construction and will open in fall 2020.
MORATORIUM » From 1
which Mayor Ron Anders created shortly after he was sworn in as mayor in 2018. “We looked at a lot of different things including having some learning sessions with different groups of students on campus through student affairs at Auburn University,” Anders said at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting. Council members Jay Hovey and Tommy Dawson served on the task force along with several other community stakeholders, including Au-
NURSES » From 1
Center offers access to SANE nurses 24/7. Unlike the EAMC, the clinic does not have the resources to provide these services after hours, Kam said. But the clinic does provide something the EAMC cannot: location. It was brought to campus after SGA requested it so that students who can’t go to the EAMC due to distance still have access to this resource. “[SGA was] prepared to fund it, to help raise the funds to support it,” Kam said. “So we committed to doing it on those conditions. It’s an effort to make it more convenient — both geographically and timeline-wise.” According to Kam, many victims of sexual assault wait a few hours before reaching out for help, because they are rationalizing the situation. So if they are assaulted at
NEWS
burn University staff. The end result of several task force meetings was the production, presentation and finalization of a comprehensive student housing inventory, which was completed in November 2019, according to documents given to the Planning Commission for their Jan. 9 meeting. At the Dec. 3 meeting during the Committee of the Whole Anders asked council members to consider asking city staff to draft a 90-day moratorium ordinance for the Council to vote on. After several Council members asked City Manager Jim Buston some questions, the Council decided to move forward with the mora-
torium, with the goal that the Council would vote on it at their second December meeting. The next step was having city staff draft the ordinance. During this process, city attorneys advised staff, who advised Council members, that it was best for the moratorium to go through the Planning Commission and then the Council because of the possible involvement of zoning in the ordinance. Anything that involves zoning, from an annexation into the city or a change to the zoning ordinance, requires the Planning Commission to hear it, according to city code. That, along with advertising requirements, is how the Council went
night, they will still be able to receive a forensic exam the next day or even the next, due to Alabama’s 72-hour window to receive a forensic exam. According to Allison Kennedy, a SANE-certified nurse at the EAMC, most of the patients the EAMC treated through the SANE program waited 12 hours or longer. Kennedy is assisting the clinic in the first few months of their program. Once a victim of sexual assault comes to the clinic, they can use the kiosks to report they were assaulted — without saying a word to anyone. Whenever a nurse takes one of those patients out of the waiting room, that person is their only responsibility for the next four hours. Once a student receives a forensic exam, the results are stored in a confidential location, so that if the student decides to contact the police and report the assault, they will have a body of evidence to support them. Though it is still their choice to inform the police or not.
Lisa Harmon, nursing manager at the medical clinic, said patients are informed of resources to help their mental health, such as Safe Harbor, student counseling services and Rape Counselors of East Alabama. According to Kam, becoming SANE certified was completely voluntary. Fortunately, all five nurses at the clinic agreed to become certified. “Having five fully trained SANE nurses in a building at one time is truly a unique situation that is actually going to be a luxury,” Harmon said. She said it says a lot that SGA wants to provide this service. On Tiger Giving Day, SGA will be releasing a video to get more funds for the program. “The student body came to us,” Harmon said. “They want this. They requested that, and we are working very hard. Every nurse here was completely on board and excited to do it because they want to provide the service for the students.”
er school. People will watch, fans will support their side. But everyone knows Auburn will come out on top. It’s almost inevitable. The same goes for Trump, Harris said. “If the Senate were controlled by Democrats, the stakes would be a lot higher,” Harris said. “But right now, Trump is fine.” But the interest is still there, and Williamson said he added a whole section about impeachment in a government class last semester because students kept referring to it. “We’re living in a time with intense polarization and in an era of negative partisanship,” Williamson said. “People don’t necessarily say they like their own side. They just hate the other party.”
from looking to vote on the moratorium at their second December meeting, to not hearing it until their second February meeting. As the mayor explained his plan for the moratorium at the Dec. 3 meeting, he expressed concerns over the number of available student beds in Auburn. “We’ve got a large number of beds, and we believe that number could be anywhere from 37,000, around that number, of beds that have been dedicated and built for students,” Anders said at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting. “There are some in this room that would argue that the number is greater than that, but we know that it is at least that.” One concern related to the number of beds available for students already was Auburn University’s formal announcement of an enrollment cap at 25,000 undergraduate students. Concerns were also raised over the absorption rate of the student beds. According to the 2018 Danter report — which is a student housing study the City commissions every three years — the City could absorb around 400 student beds per year. This means around 400 additional student beds could subsequently be filled every year if the student population continues to grow. However, the 2018 report took into account that the University would grow by about 500 students per year. With the enrollment cap established in November, that growth number goes way down, likely affecting the absorption rate, Buston said. “There is an overabundance of student beds in our market,” Buston said. “Or if not an overabundance now,
POLICE » From 1
in every beat,” Register told The Plainsman. “Some of the ones in the City, we’ve had to have one unit covering two beats. That’s been going on for 20 years.” Officer training will take 8 to 9 months through the police academy, but that timeframe can be reduced if the newly hired officers are already certified police officers. The City already has multiple applicants for currently vacant positions and can pull from that applicant pool to fill the positions created Tuesday night. “We have been wanting to do this for some time,” Register said. “We’re just at a point now, staffing-wise, where we think we can recruit and hire enough people to fill the slots. Certainly, we’ve had some events that wouldn’t have made that any different.” The Auburn Police Division
there soon will be an overabundance of beds in the market.” Anders and Buston agreed that if the 90-day moratorium is approved, city staff would look to get a better understanding of what the absorption rate of student beds is with the enrollment cap in place. “With 31,000 students and 37,000 beds, I believe that that means that we need to make some determinations and some decisions about is this something that we need to address or not,” Anders said at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting. The 31,000 number only includes Auburn University undergraduate and graduate students. Anders noted that there are 700 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, or VCOM, students, as well as a number of Tuskegee University students, who also live in Auburn. They would add to the 31,000, but he does not think those students would bring the number up to match the number of student-built beds. “It’s my opinion that we are oversubscribed for student housing beds in our community and it’s time for the Council — after a year of study, debate, discussion — to determine whether this is something that we should make a change in,” Anders said at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting. Anders said he hopes that after the 90-day moratorium, if approved, the Council would have more information on Auburn’s current student housing situation and the city staff would have recommendations for the Council on what, if any, further action should be taken related to student housing. uses citizen feedback through the City Council, the biennial citizen survey and special requests to improve the department, Register said. He plans to have increased police presence in shopping centers and neighborhoods. “It is our job to do everything we can to protect the citizens of Auburn,” said Mayor Ron Anders. “When our public safety staff and our police chief bring to us a plan of adding officers, for me, it’s a no-brainer. It needs to be done.” Anders said city staff has tweaked the City’s finances to ensure new officers’ salaries, benefits packages, equipment and vehicles. “What is an expense related to providing more safety to the community?” Anders said. “These are just determinations and decisions we will have to evaluate and make as a city as we continue to grow. The more people that are here, the more we have to invest in our public safety to protect them.”
opinion
3
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
THEPLAINSMAN.COM
OPINION
EDITORIAL
Free speech should be evident on campus By EDITORIAL BOARD Spring 2020
Only weeks into the New Year, and it’s safe to say that 2020 will go down as a landmark year for social change and news topics. It seems like you can’t flip a channel without hearing about the impending election, President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial or another hot button issue that dominates headlines. With the rise of social media, everyone has a chance to weigh in on whatever they feel passionate about, continually exposing us to an ongoing dialogue that’s usually counterproductive. And that’s where it seems to stop, at least in Auburn’s case. An outsider could come to campus and not get a feel of what’s pressing to the student body. It shouldn’t feel that everyone has a homogenized view on everything that is going on around them. Colleges are a place where students are outspoken about what
LOUIS MARTIN \ CARTOONIST
matters to them because they can do it in not only a respectful manner but an intellectual one. It’s important to never run from a divisive topic. As a public institution, Auburn has the right to uphold free speech.
Every view has the right to be challenged but should be given the support to be expressed. If someone poses a different idea than what you believe, it isn’t a personal attack on you — -it’s an opening for healthy discourse. There are Auburn students who are trying to speak up for what they see as right. This is evident from the colored toilet paper idea to promote all-around inclusivity on campus, a singular event intended to improve the general welfare of all students. Instead, they were met by a substantial amount of criticism online admonishing the idea. These comments didn’t provide other examples of how this group could obtain exposure for their cause or channel a decent conversation. All it does is discourage students from speaking their minds. That’s the last thing that should happen right now. Historically, look at campuses around the country during the Vietnam war or students involved in the Greensboro sit-ins. It’s the youth that speaks up the loudest and
has the energy to demonstrate. Students are the frontline of activism — the voices of a generation. Their opinions should be respected by peers, and their voices need to be heard all over. After all, free speech provides a marketplace for ideas. Some thoughts won’t and ultimately shouldn’t be supported by the masses, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be shared at all. That’s what Auburn did well in 2016. The quiet campus came together to assert the displeasure of Richard Spencer coming to speak. This became a part the story. In a mostly peaceful way, the students established that the student body didn’t condone his rhetoric and that they wouldn’t sit idly by as he spoke. Again, during a student’s four years at Auburn, the campus should make them feel like they can be who they truly are. That means exploring ideas and exhibiting what they believe. Ideas shouldn’t be shut out or dismissed. This makes a spirit that’s truly unafraid.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Now is the time for climate change action By David Newton
ect, these actions are impacting rules on clean water, coal plant waste, smog, GHGs On January 15, NASA and from vehicles and power the National Oceanic and At- plants, methane pollution and mospheric Administration more. announced the recent decade Unlike the U.S. governwas the hottest ever record- ment, according to the Ased, caused mainly by burn- sociated Press, the European ing fossil fuels, which increas- Union announced planned ines greenhouse gases, GHGs, in vestments of $1.1 trillion “toEarth’s atmosphere, leading to ward making the EU’s econmore disasters. omy more environmentalWhile evidence of a global ly friendly over the next 10 climate crisis increases, some years.” Last November, the political appointees in Wash- Wall Street Journal reportington are weakening on re- ed the European Investment pealing regulations that will Bank “would end financing save us money and improve for fossil-fuel energy projhealth. According to the En- ects from the end of 2021 onvironmental Integrity Proj- ward … as the EU readies for Contributor
its version of the Green New Deal.” The vast investment firm, BlackRock, recently joined Climate Action 100+, the world’s largest group of about 370 investors ,by assets, which is pressuring companies to act on climate change. Also, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce now supports addressing climate change. With our government acting negatively, many others in the public and private sectors are responding positively. Please contact your elected representatives, especially those in Washington and Montgomery. Urge them to take positive action. VIA UNSPLASH
Correction: The Plainsman made three errors in last week’s issue. We attributed the column “Please, no homophobes at my birthday party” to the wrong author. Tyler Ward wrote the piece. We misspelled R.C. Hagans’ name in a profile story. And we listed the wrong date for Auburn University Dance Marathon. We sincerely regret the mistakes and apologize to our readers.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
OPINION PAGE POLICIES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
COLUMNS & EDITORIALS
The Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students, as well as faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University.
The opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages.
Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. Submission may be edited for grammar, style and length. Please submit no more than 600 words.
LOREN KIMMEL
Managing Editor, Operations
Managing Editor, Standards
ELIZABETH HURLEY
TRICE BROWN
BRYCE JOHNSON
Community Editor
Campus Editor
Opinion Editor
TIM NAIL
MARIE LIPSKI
Assistant Community
This editorial is the majority opinion of the Editorial Board and is the official opinion of the newspaper.
NATALIE BECKERINK Lifestyle Editor
LOUIS MARTIN Cartoonist
The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors. These opinions do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.
JACK WEST
Editor-in-Chief
EVAN MEALINS
CONTACT
Letters must be submitted to editor@theplainsman.com before 4:30 p.m. on Friday for publication.
EDUARDO MEDINA
Assistant Campus
Photo Editor
NATHAN KING
CAMERON BRASHER
Sports Editor
Video Editor
SUMNER MARTIN
JADA WALKER
Assistant Sport
Newsroom: news@theplainsman.com Sports: sports@theplainsman.com Opinion: opinion@theplainsman.com Editor: editor@theplainsman.com Advertising: admanager@theplainsman.com
Social Media Manager
334-844-9108
344-844-9101
campus
4
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
THEPLAINSMAN.COM
CAMPUS
DIVERSITY
Eddie Glaude discusses Dr. King’s modern legacy By SARAH GIBSON Campus Writer
The University’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity continued its Critical Conversations Speaker Series on Jan. 21. Featured speaker Eddie Glaude, chair of Princeton University’s Department of African American studies, spoke to attendees at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. Glaude discussed the vision Martin Luther King Jr. had for the future and how the students and faculty of this generation can succeed in obtaining it. This particular speech was titled, “Reclaiming the Dream: A New Vision for the Future.” “Our society requires an honest reckoning,” said Glaude. “This requires an acknowledgement of what we have done. This begins with the South. There is so much blood in our soil, this region is key to the country’s salvation. Much of our success has depended upon the exploitation of a particular group of people. We have to figure out how we can do otherwise.” “Society believes some people are disposable,” Glaude said. “Dr. King understood each of us is a child of God and should be treated as such.” Glaude said growing up in a working class family with his mother, father and three siblings caused him to become brave and determined, which he credited to his “Mississippi blues ethic.” His mother dropped out of school when she had her first child at an early age. His father finished high school and went into the U.S. Navy to fight in Vietnam. When Glaude was in fourth grade, his father left a lasting impression that influenced his ideology. One of his teachers singled him out for a certain treatment, and he called her a racist and ran out of the class. He was scared to tell his father, but when he did, his father told him if that situation ever happened again, he should do the same exact thing. “Dr. King has turned into a political pawn to hide the ugliness of who we are,” Glaude
COLE TANGYE / PHOTOGRAPHER
Eddie Glaude speaks at The Hotel at Auburn University on Jan. 21, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.
said. “We freeze in 1963, and no one wants to grapple with the King who is killed in the Millenial hotel.” According to Glaude, King thought racism was a congenital disease that needed mending beyond the desegregation of lunch counters. King knew that America’s economic system exploited racism and various labor groups.
SGA
Senators attempt to amend constitution to add new seats By COLLINS KEITH Campus Reporter
In many ways, this week’s SGA Senate was out of the ordinary. Senators held their meeting a day late on Tuesday, Jan. 22 in the Mell Classroom Building, where they attempted to amend their constitution to add 10 more seats in the Senate. This was one of the two times per calendar year where senators could vote to amend the constitution, making Tuesday night a hard deadline. The constitutional amendment was announced, and its purpose is simple: increasing the representation of Auburn students in Senate. Its implementation, however, was called into question by many senators. According to Auburn’s Office of Institutional Research, Auburn has a senator to student ratio of 1 to 896. The amendment would add 10 extra seats to SGA Senate, bringing the total from 34 senators to 44 senators. However, these new seats would not be structured like the ones currently allocated. Instead, each of these 10 seats would represent an organizational category, based on those found in AU Involve. There are 13 organization categories in AU Involve. The amendment would make Senate seats to represent 10 of these categories, including Greek, religious/spiritual, sports & recreational, Student Activity Organizations and cultural. Any student in an organization that falls in one of these 10 categories — that also meets the general requirements needed to run for a Senate position — would be able to run for one of these seats. For example, a student involved
in the Honors College that also meets the requirements set for general Senate seats would be able to run for the seat allocated to the Honors category. All students who are involved with an organization that falls into one of these 10 categories would be able to vote on other students running for the seat allocated to their organizational category; a student involved in Greek life would be able to vote on the Greek Senate seat. Many senators were quick to point out faults in the amendment and call its validity into question. Some senators said there could be a potential conflict within the religious and spiritual group, where the interests of one religious group could differ greatly from the interests of another. The answer posed, mainly by Landon Kramer, senator for the College of Engineering, was that the main idea of this seat was to bring voice to the religious and spiritual community as a whole — not to highlight specific beliefs or theology of its constituents. Senators expressed concern that organizations that hold a majority of a category might be guaranteed a seat each year. Catherine Bryant, senator for the College of Business, gave an example of the Honors College, which would have a majority in the Honors category. Senators also questioned the implications if a senator representing an organization was assigned to the Budget and Finance Committee, where they might be able to direct funds to their own organization. This issue was addressed by senators pointing out that if a senator was found guilty of this, they could then be impeached if necessary. » See SGA, 5
King wanted to push in a different direction by making obvious the ties that militarism, imperialism and capitalism all had with racism, Glaude said. King saw his message get lost in translation to the younger generations of the Civil Rights Movement, Glaude said. His message of love and nonviolence was no longer being
followed, and this disturbed him. Glaude said that during Reconstruction, the role of citizenship was beginning to change in the South. The purpose was to instill an authentic democracy. However, the South instilled ideals such as Jim Crow laws and sharecropping, which he called another form of slavery. “At the birth of American democracy, a serpent wrapped its grip around the document,” Glaude said. “That serpent is slavery.” Glaude said he keeps a safe space for all opinions in his classroom. In each argument, there is not just two sides, but a wide space in between the left and right. Glaude said this often requires education and creating conditions that make it comfortable for students to have their own opinions. It is important for pupils to step into the written work. “Ideas are like prayers,” Glaude said. “It is that space that takes you out of the nastiness of this world and opens you to the opportunities of life.” Glaude said Americans can’t tell the truth about their country because people will stop holding it in high esteem — almost as if we need to believe in its good virtue. Glaude said he comes out of a tradition that had to bear the brunt of these lies. He had to figure out how to tell the story to free people of these demands in his academic role. “The country has a choice what this world will be,” Glaude said. “We have to finally leave this mess behind. We are at a crossroads, and it is up to us to see where we go from here.” The floor opened up to the audience for any questions. One audience member asked him how we can use this space to enact his vision of leaving the old world behind. “These institutions of higher education are under attack by politicians,” Glaude said. “Education is the formation of character and attention. We need to defend these institutions and the teaching of liberal arts vigorously. Higher education allows students to be inquisitive and open-minded. ”
DEVELOPMENT
CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Rendering of the Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex and adjacent Central Dining Hall
ACLC project moves to next phase By TIM NAIL Assistant Campus Editor
The University is hoping to breathe new life into the south-central area of campus with the Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex and Central Dining Hall. The two-building project will soon be entering its second phase, said lead architect Brad Prater, who is enthusiastic about the direction the process is moving toward. “The [project] recently bid, and we are in the contract award process now,” Prater said. “Rabren General Contractors was the low bidder on the project.” Allison Laboratory, which formerly occupied some of the space to be used by the ACLC and Central Dining Hall, was demolished in August. The University has its sights on removing Parker Hall during the spring 2022 semester to allow for the remaining space needed for construction, but in the meantime, classes will continue to be held in the older facility. Prater expressed that accommo-
dating activities in Parker until its demolition is a top priority in the ongoing site work phase of the project. “Included in this phase is the temporary reroute of utilities to keep Parker Hall and Dudley Hall operating, [and] the installation of new permanent utility infrastructure, such as storm and sanitary sewer, domestic water, electricity and telecommunications,” he said. The new utility systems will serve as greatly needed replacements to existing infrastructure built in the area in the 1960s for Parker and Allison Laboratory that has significantly weakened, according to Prater. Most notably, the corrugated metal storm sewer in place is showing its age and is planned to be demolished at the same time as Parker. “The new storm sewer system is constructed of reinforced concrete pipe and will run between the Central Dining Hall and ACLC,” Prater said. “The increased life cycle and improved maintenance of this new system will be a great benefit to University operations.” The upcoming second phase of the
project, or the General Works package, will predominantly focus on the actual construction of both facilities. Prater said this includes “foundations, superstructure, building envelope, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and all of the interior construction.” “Anything needed to make a complete and functional building is included in the Phase II scope of work,” Prater said. “The Phase II scope is anticipated to begin at the end of Phase I, roughly the beginning of March 2020.” Remaining debris from the outgoing first phase will also be cleared and workers will grade the site to “allow for a cleaner transition” as the second phase begins, according to Prater. Facilities Management is especially interested in the new dining opportunities the project aims to bring to students. Current plans indicate a new Starbucks location and another franchise restaurant on the ground floor, as well as seven different food stations managed by Tiger Dining in another area of the Central Dining Hall.
The Auburn Plainsman
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
PAGE 5
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SECURITY
Student sells painted denim jackets By KARA MAUTZ Lifestyle Writer
For the average Auburn student, this past week was full of classes, studying and settling into the new semester after coming back from winter break. However, for Kaiyah King, a sophomore majoring in graphic design, last week was a bit different: she went viral. Last week, King posted a picture of a denim jacket on which she had painted Samford Hall and the War Eagle Wall on Twitter, which went viral overnight. “The tweet now has around 1,500 or 1,600 favorites — it happened overnight,” King said. She said she had not intended for the tweet to get as much attention as it did. “I had been
posting them on my personal Instagram, but I decided to take a leap of faith and post it on Twitter,” King said. “And that tweet started to build.” Since posting the tweet, King said she has received over 50 messages from people interested in purchasing a jacket from her. She has already done a few custom orders and usually sells the jackets for $60 to $125 depending on the level of detail required for the design, she said. King said that since she was young, she has always had “side hustles” and hobbies. Painting the jackets seemed interesting to her. She used to work in a T-shirt shop while in high school, which taught her design skills that she incorporates when painting her jackets. She said she painted the Samford-themed jacket for herself over the summer, and it took her 15 hours to finish. When she wore it to a football game, she says it caught
a lot of attention. While King did not intend to make this into a business, she said she has had a lot of interest from people wanting her to paint a jacket for them, and it seems like it could turn into something more. King is now working on her own website and is exploring the idea of selling the jackets through the website. For now, she is only doing custom orders. King’s mother gave her toilet paper with her logo on it for Christmas. She said she uses it to package jackets that she ships to her customers. While King is a graphic design student and intends to stay in that career path, she says she would be open to working and collaborating with a fashion designer or boutique in the future.
TRICE BROWN / CAMPUS EDITOR
Breezeway entrance to RBD in Auburn, Ala.
RBD offers late-night safety option By TIM NAIL Assistant Campus Editor
CONTRIBUTED BY KAIYAH KING
ORGANIZATION
BSU events provoke polarized responses By TRICE BROWN Campus Editor
Auburn’s Black Student Union aims to create a safe place for black students, students of color and minority students overall, said BSU President Livia Coleman, senior in biomedical sciences. Coleman has been involved with BSU since her freshman year, when she served on the freshman committee. Coleman said BSU tries to look out for the interests of students of color by creating spaces where they can discuss the lack of minority students in leadership positions across campus. As previously reported by The Plainsman, Auburn ranked ninth nationally for “Little Class/Race Interaction.” Coleman said it can be difficult being a minority advocacy group on a campus like Auburn. “Just being honest, it’s kind of hard because you receive pushback a lot on ideas you want to do,” Coleman said. “You see pushback on every other thing, honestly.” In February 2018, BSU invited Opal Tometi, activist and co-creator of Black Lives Matter, to speak on campus as a part of its Black History Month celebration. The Black Lives Matter movement aims to end police brutality and systemic racism against black people. Once it was reported that Tometi was coming to campus, Coleman said that people were quick to respond negatively on social media.
SGA
» From 4 James Sadie, senator for the College of Business, suggested a brief recess to organize arguments and consolidate questions. After this recess and a recounting of atten-
CONTRIBUTED BY LIVIA COLEMAN
BSU host many events during Black History Month, including the Unity Project.
“People were like, ‘Why would they allow this terrorist person on campus?’ and things of that nature,” Coleman said. “I feel like it kind of dimmed the light of what she was actually speaking [about] during our event, which kind of lowered the numbers of attendance because people thought we were actually bringing a terrorist group on campus … it was just a speaker.” She said she thinks BSU’s words are often misconstrued. “When we say things that we want or that we need, people may look at it as us being a kid who’s not getting their way, instead of
dance, it became apparent that there were not enough senators to pass an amendment. The Senate needs fourfifths of its total members to be present in order to vote on a constitutional amendment. One of the senators changed majors during their term, thereby for-
a person who wants the same opportunities that everybody else gets,” Coleman said. But she still remembers the positive reactions the Auburn community has had to some of their events. For Black History Month, they host an interactive art project called the Unity Project on the Greenspace. 38 poles are spread out with identifiers on them, such as “I was born in America” or “I am LGBTQ+.” Participants take a roll of yarn and use it to connect all of the identifiers that describe them.
feiting their seat. So the four-fifths was calculated based off of 33 senators instead of the original 34. The attendance needed to vote on a constitutional amendment was 26.4, rounded up to 27. After a set of recounts, it became apparent that the number of senators pres-
“Once everybody does it, it creates this web of amazingness, and it looks great,” Coleman said. She said it got a positive response from the community because it was open to everybody. Coleman is graduating this year, and she has happily accepted that she is at the end of her Auburn career. “My goal for the future of BSU is just to continue to push the envelope and really ask for what we need as students,” she said. “It’s not 1978. We should be able to ask for what we want and be able to get it without people looking at us crazy.”
ent was only 26. As a result, even if every senator present voted to pass the proposed amendment, it could not be passed. Even more, due to the fact that constitutional amendments can only be voted on twice per calendar year and only once per semester, this was
the current Senate’s last opportunity to pass this amendment before their terms ended. Some senators expressed visible frustration with this, but nothing could be done, said SGA Vice President Carlos Smith. The amendment was forced to be tabled indefinitely.
Late nights at the library are a staple of every student’s college years, but nobody should have to brave them alone. That’s why RBD provides a nighttime security escort service for those stepping out into the dark on their own after a long study session. “Since we’re open 24 hours, some people feel uncomfortable [late at night],” said Jayson Hill, director of communications and marketing for Auburn University Libraries. Beginning at 5 p.m. and lasting until 7 a.m. the following morning, the RBD Library After Hours Escort allows students exiting the library to go with a trained security guard hired by Campus Safety and Security. The University contracts employees from Allied Security Professionals. “With us being here, it just gives students that real sense of security,” said Davontay Robertson, one of the guards on the security team. “I know when I was here from my freshman to my senior year before I graduated, I would see a few of the officers patrolling the library. At first, I didn’t even know it myself, but it just [creates] that sense of ease.” RBD initiated the service in 2009 as concerns about walking on campus in the dark were raised by the student body. Hill briefly discussed the process for making use of the service. Guards are tasked with chaperoning students to the Comer Hall parking lot, the library parking deck or the Quad from the Mell Classroom building. “All you do is you go down to the circulation desk and if you ask there, they will point you over to the security desk, which is right next to the doors to the parking deck,” he said. “There’s a person sitting there, and you just ask them to walk you to your car. There’s no charge. You just ask for it, [and] the person walks out [with you] and they walk back.” When the security service first began 10 years ago, an average of 10 to 15 students made use of it each night. However, Hill says the number of interested people has dwindled to only one to two people every night in recent years despite recent circumstances raising apprehension among students. “Depending on the part of the semester, such as close to finals week, we’ll have more of a flow of students that come in here,” Robertson said. “When we do, we’ll average around three to four escorts during the week or during the day. Usually, a lot of people don’t come in here just by themselves. We see maybe a group of about four to five people coming in studying as a group together, but we are here just in case.” The guards also function as night watchmen for the library itself with the building being less populated at hours after dusk, meaning fewer eyes to notice a potential incident. “We typically have three officers,” said Tony Cochran, supervisor for the service. “One on the Mell side, one on the RBD side and then we have an officer that controls the floor.” Robertson said one of the best parts of his job is when students pass by and share their appreciation and positive feedback for the guards’ duties as monitors for the library. “A lot of the students [tell me] when I’m over at my station, ‘Thank you for being here and watching over us,’” he said. “For me, it kind of feels weird because I’m still in that age group with them, but I’m just here doing my job.”
community THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
6 THEPLAINSMAN.COM
COMMUNITY
PHILANTHROPY
Opelika musician starts online festival By EVAN MEALINS Assistant Community Editor
Fans of independent music, charitable giving, portmanteaus and staying at home may be in luck thanks to the music festival Couchella. Couchella is the creation of Abby Miracle of Opelika, who started the festival in 2019 to bring together independent musicians and raise money for charity. “It started out as bringing independent music to other independent musicians and to people who like independent music,” Miracle said. The festival maintains the same basic premise as a typical in-person festival: the attendee gets to watch a bunch of different musicians perform all in the same place. That place is typically a field or a downtown park, but with Couchella that place is on a computer. Videos are uploaded to Couchella’s website throughout the length of the festival, which Miracle plans to last for three days this year, April 17–19, during which Coachella will also be held. This idea is not new. In fact, Miracle was inspired to start the festival after a similar festival that she performed in, Couch by Couchwest, which was held for the people who couldn’t attend South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, was discontinued. So, taking the spirit of Couch by Couchwest and combining it with a desire to help others, Miracle decided to start Couchella, choosing to send the proceeds to the music therapy organization MyMusicRx. “I just kind of decided on a whim, I was like, ‘I kind of want to do this because I enjoyed Couch by Couchwest so much, and I like the cause of MyMusicRx’” Miracle said. “I thought it was so cool.” MyMusicRx is the flagship program of the Children’s Cancer Association that aims to help hospitalized children manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life. Musicians visit these children and play some songs, or teach them how to play an instrument. “It’s kind of like music therapy to keep them going while they’re stuck in bed,” Miracle said. “I feel like that’s a cause that’s close to my heart, so I wanted to do something to help them get the instruments and stuff that they need.” So, Miracle got to work, alone. She set up a Facebook page, and started messaging musicians she knew that had original songs. “I think it was March, I started planning it, and it was going to happen in April,” Miracle said. “I just messaged some friends I knew that
CONTRIBUTED BY ABBY MIRACLE
Abby Miracle got the idea for Couchella from the Couch by Couchwest festival she performed in in 2015.
had original songs and said, ‘Hey is this something you’d want to do? All you’d have to do is upload your original song performance on YouTube, and I would do the rest.’” She got a few responses in that time, as some musicians filled out the application on the Couchella website and sent her their original songs. There were various reasons why they signed up, whether sympathetic to a humanitarian cause or simply interested in a neat idea. But as a musician, there were some career-related perks to agreeing to perform in the festival, Miracle said, despite it being entirely non-profit. “Other than the focus of raising money for [MyMusicRX], it’s to bring the musicians together and bring their music to new crowds that maybe wouldn’t have found them by chance without a festival like this,” Miracle said. So within her network, word spread. But one person in particular helped recruit a large portion of the lineup: her friend, Grammy-award winning musician Larry Mitchell,
GOVERNMENT
who lives in Opelika when he’s not on tour. Miracle met Mitchell at a music camp in 2016, where Mitchell helped the campers record a song together. “We just kind of clicked as friends,” Miracle said. They kept up after the camp, recording songs, performing at each other’s gigs, catching a movie — basically, being “normal friends that play music sometimes,” Miracle said. When Mitchell heard about the festival, he saw no reason not to invite some other performers. “Why not? I thought it was a good thing, and Abby’s cool,” Mitchell said. “I contacted a few of the musicians that I knew that I thought would be good for it, that would be into doing it, and a few responded nicely and participated.” Ultimately, 14 musicians submitted their videos and performed in the first Couchella in 2019. When the time of the festival arrived, Miracle got to sit back, watch her hard work and listen to the music of fellow independent mu-
sicians. “I loved sitting down at the end of the day when I had done all of the social media posts and promotion and everything, and just kind of watching the festival myself as if I was kind of separated from it. As if I wasn’t the one behind the website and all,” Miracle said. Videos from the first festival are still up on the Couchella website, couchellafest.weebly. com, and can be viewed by anyone. She’s unsure how many people “attended” the festival, meaning watched the videos of the musicians as they were uploaded, but she said she raised around $200 last year. That money came entirely from donations and T-shirt sales, since there’s no price for admission. Miracle said she hopes to raise $300 this year. She’s been working on planning and organizing the festival since November, which, as a one-person operation, she said takes a lot of time. “Oh gosh, it takes a lot,” Miracle said. “I pretty much work on it everyday for about two hours. It’s kind of tedious, but it’s rewarding in the end.” Until Feb. 20, when the application for performers closes, she’ll be sending emails and reviewing applications. For the month following, she’ll be reviewing performances and getting them ready to go on the website. And all throughout that time, she said she’ll be trying to spread the word via social media. The work she puts into Couchella is managed around her schedule of working as a transcriptionist to pay the bills and trying to get a gig playing music somewhere. The festival can be a nice break from typical day-to-day responsibilities, she said. “It’s like an outlet that I’m familiar with, but also something completely different,” Miracle said. “It’s giving me a creative outlet without it being just my music.” The festival is a bit of a relief from being a career musician, which is tough, Miracle said. It’s a mixture of “fun, and discouraging as well.” But Miracle said she still believes in music, in its power to lift someone out of a low place and its therapy. “Sometimes it’s a lot easier to write [music] when you’re sad or when you’re hurting, because it’s like they somehow feel like stronger emotions — I guess because they don’t feel as good as positive ones,” Miracle said, chuckling to herself. “You can have music that you play or you write or that you listen to that’s so connected to a memory or a feeling, it’s almost like it can kind of take you to a different place.”
FUNDRAISING
No vote on cell tower By ELIZABETH HURLEY Community Editor
In a rare occurrence Tuesday night, the City Council did not take a vote on a proposed cell tower. Since no action was taken, the issue died on the table and was effectively denied, said Assistant City Manager Megan Crouch. Plans for the Verizon cell tower came before the Council for conditional use approval after the Planning Commission recommended approval of the project in a 6–2 vote at their meeting earlier in the month. Since the tower required conditional use approval, both the Planning Commission and the Council had to hear the application. The plan was to construct a 260-foot cell tower on Wimberly Road. The tower would have been near the Woodland Park neighborhood. Several residents of the neighborhood and surrounding areas spoke during a public hearing on the tower. They voiced concerns over the height of the tower and the possibility of it falling. “Depending on how tall it is, our homes are within the fall radius or close there to,” said Darren Olsen, an Auburn resident who spoke during the public hearing on this issue. Other residents seconded those concerns while bringing forth their own worries about property value. Several residents of the neighborhood said they thought the tower would lower their property value, making it difficult for them to resell their homes. “We pay a premium for our property because we love Auburn, and I am afraid that value would go considerably down [if the tower is built],” said Mur-
ray Guy, another Auburn resident that spoke during the public hearing on this issue. A representative for Verizon was present at the meeting. The representative said the tower was to address a coverage issue for calls and data in the area surrounding the tower. The tower, like most new cell towers, would be a 5G tower. The tower’s proposed height would require it to have lighting on top to signal the tower’s presence to aircrafts. After the public hearing on the tower, no Council member made a motion on the conditional use approval of the tower, so the issue died on the table. In order for the Planning Commission, and subsequently the Council, to reconsider the tower, the applicant that requested the conditional use Tuesday night would have to show significant change to the plans in order for the tower to be brought up again for that land. In the later portion of the meeting, during citizens’ open forum, several residents continued their concerns from the last Council meeting about the closure of the East Alabama Medical Center HealthPlus Fitness Center heated indoor pool. Mayor Ron Anders said he and other City leaders and staff meet with staff at EAMC on Friday to discuss options with the HealthPlus pool. Anders said he thought the meeting was productive and expects to hear from hospital staff soon about what action, if any, can be taken to keep the pool open. Visit theplainsman.com for more on issues the City Council considered Tuesday evening.
FILE PHOTO
The Auburn Polar Plunge helps raise money for the Lee County Special Olympics.
Participants prepare for polar plunge By FIELDER HAGAN Community Writer
The City of Auburn Parks and Recreation Department will hold its eighth annual Polar Plunge to benefit the Lee County Special Olympics on Saturday, Feb. 1. The event begins with a costume contest, which many participants dress up for before jumping in the water. Members of the community then judge the costume contest. Following the contest, the attendees step outside to get their body temperatures acclimated to the cold, then “The Plunge” takes place when each participant jumps into the pool. Ryan Molt, the founder and coordinator of Polar Plunge, began the event eight years ago in his backyard pool and raised $4,000 among 15 of his friends that first year. The idea for the Polar Plunge came from a coworker of Molt’s, who posed the idea since events like these are common to raise money for Special Olympics programs, Molt said.
“After the first Polar Plunge we began to think maybe this could turn into something bigger to raise more money for the Lee County Special Olympics,” Molt said. The event has since moved to the Samford Pool, located behind the East Samford School, and has grown since the first year. “This is probably one of the shortest events you’ll ever go to — lasts 15 minutes once we get going,” Molt said. “People don’t really want to hang around when it’s February and they had just jumped in the water.” The money raised through the event benefits the Special Olympics athletes by keeping costs down for the parents of the participants. This ensures that all they have to worry about is how much fun the participants have, Molt said. The ages of “Plungers” range from 8 years old to 70 years old. Most contestants’ ages range from 16 to 35 years old. “I want [Lee County] to see a wellrun event and people having fun, as well as raising awareness for our programs
that we have for special-needs athletes,” Molt said. Although the majority of attendees come from Auburn and Opelika, this event benefits Special Olympics athletes throughout Lee County. Safety is one of the top priorities for Polar Plunge, Molt said. A number of lifeguards, EMTs, firefighters and police officers are scattered throughout the event, and an ambulance is there on standby. The firefighters and police officers even help judge the costume contest. “We’ve never had any sort of issues, but if [any] were to arise, we have plenty of emergency personnel on-site ready to go,” Molt said. In 2019, the event raised more than $16,000 with around 70–80 participants, including Aubie, who was not afraid to jump in and join the festivities. “We get a great response every year,” Molt said. “I suppose we had 150–200 people just watching the event, which always makes it feel a little more festive and fun for the Plungers when they have a crowd out there cheering them on.”
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
The Auburn Plainsman
PAGE 7
DEMOGRAPHICS
Input sought through biennial Citizen Survey By CHARLIE RAMO Community Reporter
The City of Auburn is preparing to send out its Citizen Survey to a sample of Auburn residents within the next month. The goal of the survey is to learn about residents’ thoughts on various issues in Auburn and to help the City Council make budgeting decisions, said City Manager Jim Buston. “Basically, the Citizen Survey is geared to get the citizens’ feedback on how well their City government is operating,” Buston said. “This is not a political document. This is a document that helps us set budget priorities for the coming year.” Questions on the survey range in topic from City schools and libraries to police and traffic flow. The City wants to ensure that residents get a good return on their tax dollars through
available City services, Buston said. The survey does not directly cover topical issues, instead looking for general trends over time. “We have seen, in the past, a trend with traffic congestion,” Buston said. “In this last budget period, we had a City-wide traffic study done. We did a lot of work at different intersections downtown, which caused more traffic [during construction].” The City has been conducting the Citizen Survey for the last 30 years, Buston said. The City typically has increased budgets in services that residents rate poorly. Every department in the City uses information from the surveys to improve internally. The survey will have 35 questions, Buston said. Many of the questions will have multiple items. Respondents will be asked if the issue in
question would warrant an increase in taxes or a diversion of funds from another project. It will also include questions about residents’ social and economic demographics in order to create an accurate representation of the City’s population. These surveys will be mailed to a sample of residents who will then have the choice of mailing a completed form back or filling out the survey online. Respondents will be asked to rate various City services, Buston said. There will also be an opportunity to voice additional opinions in a free-response question. About 2,600 residents throughout Auburn will receive the survey. This sample size will ensure with 95% confidence that the responses reflect the general population. Additional responses would not change the data since it is of a valid subsample of the population, Buston said.
The survey creation and implementation is outsourced to ETC Institute, a national survey firm. This was done in response to concerns about biased questions in previous years. “[ETC Institute] has to make sure the samples they’re getting in the City are geographically equally distributed,” Buston said. “We want to make sure we’re getting results from North Auburn as well as South Auburn.” ETC Institute compiles ratings into census blocks, Buston said. The City will be able to see problems experienced in different neighborhoods but cannot identify which individuals completed the survey. Residents who receive a survey and do not fill it out will receive an email from ETC Institute as a reminder. City Council will see the complete list of questions the ETC Institute created by the end of January, with the surveys being mailed out shortly after.
RECREATION
Auburn and Opelika host joint ribbon cutting for new skate park By FIELDER HAGAN Community Writer
People young and old zoomed through the newly opened skate park on bikes and skateboards Tuesday afternoon as the Auburn Chamber of Commerce and Opelika Chamber of Commerce held a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new skate park was completed late November 2019. Auburn Mayor Ron Anders was in attendance and spoke about the importance of building the skate park. “My responsibility and the Council’s responsibility is to provide amenities for everybody that lives in our community,” Anders said. “I believe this is a great opportunity for those who enjoy skateboarding and bicycling.” He said he wanted to include all activities in the community that will continue to unite everyone who lives in Auburn. “If something is good for one part of our community, then it’s good for all of our community,” Anders said. Juan Reyes, a skateboarder who has lived in Auburn his whole life, was in
the skate park filming tricks of other skaters around the park. “I love this park,” Reyes said. “It is a great beginner park, and I love to see younger kids getting out to learn how to skate.” Kevin Kelly, a project manager for the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department, said during the ribbon cutting that the community had wanted a skate park for a while now. The closest skate park is in Columbus, Georgia. Now that the skate park in Auburn is open, many people of all age groups have a safe place to skate. “I see young adults, little kids and even 40-plus-year-olds out here on skateboards,” Kelly said. “They’re really happy there’s no need to travel far to skate.” Trammell Shell, 13, joined the Opelika and Auburn city leaders at the ribbon cutting on his bike at the skate park. He said he likes the park’s design because it is not designed just for skateboards. “I had been wanting and hoping for a skate park to be built for a while,” Shell said. “I love the bowl and ramps — they’re good for bikes.”
IRELAND DODD / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mayor Ron Anders and other city leaders from Auburn and Opelika gathered Tuesday, Jan. 21, to open a new skate park in Auburn.
Finding and applying for scholarships can be hard work. With the Auburn University Scholarship Opportunity Manager (AUSOM), it has never been easier. Through AUSOM, students view available scholarships for which they may be eligible, complete applications for consideration, accept scholarships awarded and more. Students must complete the scholarship application through AUSOM at auaccess. auburn.edu by 4:45 p.m. CST on the following dates: • February 1 for accepted incoming transfer students and current students • June 1 for nursing or veterinary medicine students accepted into the professional program and pharmacy students enrolled in the professional program Students should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)*, available October 1 at fafsa.ed.gov. Students selected for FAFSA verification will not be eligible for financial aid, including need-based scholarships, if this process is incomplete. The FAFSA and other requirements, if necessary, should be received by February 1 for priority consideration of financial aid. For more information on AUSOM and available scholarships, visit auburn.edu/scholarship. * The FAFSA is the only form a student is required to complete to be considered for student assistance from any of the Title IV HEA programs, except for information needed to ensure the student’s eligibility for such assistance (e.g., information needed to complete verification or to demonstrate compliance with the student eligibility provisions of the HEA and the regulations). Additional information, if requested, will be listed on the student’s AU Access My Finances page after results of the FAFSA are received. For additional information, visit auburn.edu/finaid.
ausom@auburn.edu
/AUScholarships
/AUScholarships
sports
8
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
THEPLAINSMAN.COM
SPORTS
FOOTBALL
Reports: Malzahn handing over offense By JAKE WEESE Sports Reporter
After a 2019 season in which head coach Gus Malzahn called the plays for Auburn, it appears he is handing the reins over to offensive coordinator Chad Morris, according to multiple reports out of Mobile, while Malzahn is there for the Senior Bowl. “Chad Morris, in my opinion, is one of the best offensive minds in college football,” Malzahn said, according to Giana Han of AL.com. “He’s going to take our offense and he’s going to run with it. I’m very excited about that.” Morris, the former SMU and Arkansas head coach, was hired after former offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham left for the offensive coordinator job at Florida State. Morris joined the Tigers ahead of the Outback Bowl and was on the sidelines during the game.
Malzahn had stepped back from play-calling during the 2016 season but decided to give it another go after the 2018 season. Morris and Malzahn have known each other since their days of coaching high school football, and, during the 2018 season, Malzahn spoke highly of Morris’ coaching ability. “I always knew he had something special about him,” Malzahn said. “He’s a great person and one of the good guys in our business, and he’s one of the best coaches that I’ve ever been around.” Morris was hired Dec. 9 to replace Kenny Dillingham as both OC and quarterbacks coach after Dillingham rejoined his old mentor, Mike Norvell, on Florida State’s staff. “I’ll just continue to learn things about him, learn how he does things,” quarterback Bo Nix said of working with Morris. “... Hopefully we can be a great team.”
MALZAHN’S PLAY-CALLING HISTORY • 2016 — Gives up play-calling to OC Rhett Lashlee three games in • 2017 — Calls play-calling for a head coach “unrealistic” and vows to hang up the clipboard for good when new OC Chip Lindsey is hired • 2018 — Re-assumes play-calling duties when new OC Kenny Dillingham is hired • 2019 — Says giving up play-calling in the first place was “a mistake” • 2020 — Gives up play-calling to new OC Chad Morris
BRANTLI DENNIS / GRAPHICS EDITOR
TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN ATHLETICS
Chad Morris directs the Tigers offense during a bowl practice on Dec. 18, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.
FOOTBALL
Steele signs 3-year deal through 2022 By CHRISTIAN CLEMENTE Sports Writer
Auburn has announced the extension of defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Steele’s new deal will last through the 2022 season. Head coach Gus Malzahn announced the extension on Tuesday. “Kevin has done a fantastic job with our defense the last four years making it one of the best in the country,” Malzahn said. “This will provide great stability and leadership for our defense in the future. I’m appreciative of Kevin’s hard work.” Steele first took over as defensive coordinator in 2016 and was able to quickly transform the defense. In 2017, Steele was a finalist for the Broyles Award for the top assistant coach in college football. The Tigers ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense and 14th in total
defense in 2017. During the 2019 season defense was the strong suit of the Auburn team, only allowing more than 24 points to Alabama and Minnesota. Over the past four years under Steele, Auburn’s defense has been ranked in the top 20 nationally for scoring defense. Auburn is also one of only five FBS programs to hold opponents to under 20 points per game over the last four seasons. Going into the 2020 season Steele will have to replace defensive line playmakers Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson. Along with the defensive line, four of the five starters in the secondary will have to be replaced. In 2019 Steele was the fourth-highest paid assistant, earning $1.9 million. The monetary details of the extension have not been announced.
JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER
Kevin Steele walks onto the field prior to Auburn vs. Alabama on Nov. 30, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.
FOOTBALL
DB coach Woodson reportedly leaves for FSU By SUMNER MARTIN Assistant Sports Editor
WADE RACKLEY / AUBURN ATHLETICS
Marcus Woodson during an Auburn football practice during the 2018 season.
Gus Malzahn has lost another assistant coach to Florida State. Noles247 reported Wednesday morning that Auburn assistant coach Marcus Woodson will be joining Mike Norvell’s staff at FSU. He joins with former Auburn offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham — who left earlier in the year before the Tigers’ bowl game — in Tallahassee. Woodson will be reunited with Norvell, who hired Woodson in 2016 while at Memphis. He has served as the Tigers’ defensive backs coach for the past two years and will be filling the same role for the Seminoles. Last season, under Woodson’s guidance, the Auburn secondary fielded one of the top secondaries in the country, ranking eighth nation-
ally in yards-per-pass allowed at 6.1. Off the field and on the recruiting trail, the loss of Woodson will have a lasting impact for Malzahn’s staff and its reach into neighboring states. Woodson was considered one of the top recruiters in the Southeastern Conference, and was even more impressive with the Tigers’ recruiting efforts in the state of Mississippi. He served as the lead recruiter for Derrick Hall, Charles Moore and Jaren Handy, and was named to Rivals’ Top 25 recruiters of 2019, helping Auburn land the No. 12 class. Woodson serves as the third assistant Malzahn has been tasked to replace this offseason; Dillingham’s opening was filled by former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris, while Jack Bicknell Jr. was hired as O-line coach after J.B. Grimes’ departure. Those searches took four and six days, respectively.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
The Auburn Plainsman
FOOTBALL
Projecting Tigers’ 2020 depth chart By CHRISTIAN CLEMENTE Sports Writer
QUARTERBACK 1. Bo Nix 2. Cord Sandberg 3. Chayil Garnett This one is cut and dry. Barring an injury or something else unforeseen, rising sophomore Bo Nix will be starting against Alcorn State and every other team the Tigers play next season. Nix was awarded SEC Freshman of the year after passing for 2,542 yards and 16 passing touchdowns. He added 313 yards on the ground and seven more touchdowns. Nix had his fair share of struggles on the season while playing away from Jordan-Hare, but improved down the stretch and played some of his best games all year against Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama. While Nix didn’t have a bad season, Auburn will need him to improve for his sophomore season. In limited playing time since arriving at Auburn, former baseball player Cord Sandberg has played well, completing 5-of-7 passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns against Samford, but he won’t compete for the starting job. Sandberg will likely continue his role as signal-caller in his third year with the program and play in scrap time. Three-star freshman Chayil Garnett will likely be redshirted. RUNNING BACK 1. Boobee Whitlow 2. D.J. Williams 3. Cartavious Bigsby OR Shaun Shivers 4. Mark-Antony Richards OR Harold Joiner 5. Malik Miller Simply put, Auburn has an overload of talent at running back and can’t get them all carries. With Boobee Whitlow electing to return he’ll likely remain the starter going into next year but he may not end the 2020-21 campaign as the starter. In his two years as a starter he’s had 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns, but has struggled with ball security, totalling eight fumbles over the past two seasons. When Whitlow was hurt this year, freshman D.J. Williams came in and immediately played a big role, racking up 400 yards and two touchdowns in limited action. His breakout game came against LSU where he had 130 yards on just 13 carries. Five-star incoming freshman and early enrollee Tank Bigsby will also be in a position to consistently get carries. Bigsby is Auburn’s highest rated running back since Roc Thomas and was described by head coach Gus Malzahn as a “one-play drive type of guy.” Similar to Whitlow, Bigsby struggled with fumbles in high school but will still receive his fair share of carries during his freshman campaign. Redshirt freshman Mark-Antony Richards is a guy to keep an eye on next season. Richards was hurt before the 2019 season and was forced to redshirt, however he practiced for the Outback Bowl and will be good to go for next year. Coaches have compared Richards to a young Kerryon Johnson and there’s a good chance he plays a significant amount next year. Used primarily as a receiving back in 2019, 6-foot-4 back Harold Joiner will be looking to crack the rotation more next season. There’s also a possibility that with his size, Auburn experiments with using him at H-back. Joiner impressed in scrap time, but really has yet to see real snaps at running back. Shaun Shivers will continue to be used in jet sweeps and on kickoffs, but with Bigbsy and Richards coming in, Shivers role may decrease next year. Senior Malik Miller may continue to see some snaps as the primary blocking back, but won’t play much of a role in the offense. Miller will become the lone senior in the running back room and will help mentor his younger teammates. TIGHT END/H-BACK 1. John Samuel Shenker 2. Jeremiah Pegues OR Luke Deal OR Tyler Fromm After losing both Spencer Nigh and Jay Jay Wilson, Auburn will be forced to find someone new to fill the H-back role. While tight ends are rarely used, new offensive coordinator Chad Morris consistently uses tight ends and will probably try to implement them more. John Samuel Shenker started last season at tight end and is the most likely to begin the season as the starter. Both Luke Deal and Tyler Fromm redshirted last season and will get playing time. Incoming freshman Jeremiah Pegues is someone that could quickly rise up the depth chart and instantly make a big impact. Pegues is listed at 6-foot-2 and 285 pounds and along with playing tight end, has played some wildcat quarterback. While Pegues isn’t even on campus yet he is someone that could finish the season as the starter.
PAGE 9
LEFT TACKLE 1. Austin Troxell 2. Alec Jackson After J.B. Grimes stepped down, Auburn not only had to replace four starters on the offensive line, but the coach as well. Jack Bicknell Jr. was named the new offensive line coach, and he’ll have a tall task ahead of him. Austin Troxell has struggled to stay healthy after having three ACL surgeries, the latest coming in the spring of 2019. Had that not occurred, Troxell would’ve been a serious candidate to challenge for playing time this past season. Troxell played right tackle previously, but could protect Nix’s blindside in 2020. Auburn brought in JUCO transfers Kilian Zierer and Brenden Coffey but neither will be participating in spring practice. Due to that, former defensive tackle Alec Jackson is currently listed as the backup but either of the JUCO transfers could back up Troxell. LEFT GUARD 1. Tashawn Manning OR Keiondre Jones Similar to Jalil Irvin at right guard, Manning was the backup to Marquel Harrel in 2019 and slides up the depth chart to start next season. Manning started his Auburn career at defensive tackle and doesn’t have much experience, but nonetheless be the starter next year. Guard is a crowded position for Auburn with Kam Stutts, Keiondre Jones, Jeremiah Wright, Justin Osborne, Kamaar Bell and Tate Johnson all vying for playing time. With Stutts backing up Irvin, Jones could play behind Manning. Jones is Auburn’s highest-rated guard since Braden Smith and could take on a starting role before next season is over CENTER 1. Nick Brahms 2. Avery Jernigan Nick Brahms is the only returning starter on the offensive line and will start next year as the starting center.
Brahms took over for Kaleb Kim in 2019 and played well during his time as a starter. Behind Brahms is early enrollee Avery Jernigan. Jernigan will get some snaps but will likely redshirt and play sparingly during his freshman season.
RIGHT GUARD 1. Jalil Irvin 2. Kameron Stutts While the tackle positions are likely to go the way of Troxell and Brodarious Hamm, both guard positions are tough to figure out. Irvin was the backup to Mike Horton last season and will slide up the depth chart to fill the starting role next season. Behind Irvin is Stutts, who will get playing time, but may not be able to push Irvin out of the starting spot. RIGHT TACKLE 1. Brodarious Hamm 2. Prince Michael Sammons Hamm is the clear-cut starter at right tackle. Hamm played backup to Jack Driscoll last season but was consistently talked about as someone that was impressive in practice. With Troxell and Hamm, tackle isn’t much of a concern for the Tigers on either side. Behind Hamm is Prince Micheal Sammons. Again, look for the JUCO transfers to potentially become backups, but they’ll need time to learn the system. DEFENSIVE TACKLE 1. Tyrone Truesdell 2. Coynis Miller OR Daquan Newkirk 3. Jaren Handy OR Jay Hardy Replacing Derrick Brown and his production and presence on the field will be simply impossible for Auburn. Brown will be a top pick in the NFL draft and had 54 tackles and four sacks his senior season. » See DEPTH CHART, 10
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
NOMINATIONS
OPEN
MARIE LIPSKI / PHOTO EDITOR
Eli Stove (12) carries out a play-action fake during Auburn vs. Georgia on Nov. 16, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.
WIDE RECEIVER — SPLIT END 1. Seth Williams 2. Ze’Vian Capers WIDE RECEIVER — SMALL SLOT 1. Anthony Schwartz 2. Kobe Hudson WIDE RECEIVER — BIG SLOT 1. Shedrick Jackson 2. John Samuel Shenker WIDE RECEIVER — FLANKER 1. Eli Stove 2. Matthew Hill Even with Sal Cannella and Will Hastings graduating, Auburn is not lacking talent at wide receiver. Seth Williams will continue to play the role as the top receiver after a 2019 season that saw him haul in 59 passes for 830 yards and eight touchdowns. If he chooses to return to play football, Anthony Schwartz will continue to play a big role in the offense. Schwartz has been a dynamic threat during his first two years at Auburn and nothing will change next season. Redshirt sophomore Matthew Hill was thought to play a role in his freshman year but ended up redshirting. It was then expected that he’d play a lot his second season but was mostly a special teams player. In his third year Hill will push to become a starter and play more of a role in the offense. Another name to keep an eye on is senior Zach Farrar who was a transfer from Youngstown State but saw very limited snaps. Against Samford he caught two passes for 31 yards and both were for touchdowns. At 6-foot-4 he can become a red zone threat for Auburn and play a bigger role in his season with the Tigers. Along with all the receivers Auburn brings back, it already has 4-star Kobe Hudson on campus as an early enrollee and he’ll be joined by fellow 4-stars Ze’Vian Capers and J.J. Evans. Three-star Elijah Canion has also signed his letter of intent.
Each year, Auburn University recognizes the efforts of three individuals who represent our institution through their humanitarian leadership and contributions to the community. Recipients of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award include one male and one female student from the 2020 graduating class as well as one non-student member of the campus community. Faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends of the University are encouraged to nominate individuals they believe are deserving of this prestigious honor. Visit for more information.
@AuburnStudents
studentaffairs.auburn.edu
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
The Auburn Plainsman
DEPTH » From 9
However, senior Tyrone Truesdell could become a solid starter for the Tigers next year. Truesdell was a rotational guy in 2019 but still managed to record 31 tackles, five for loss and three sacks. Truesdell is the true veteran of the group but will get help from three 4-stars in Jaren Handy, Coynis Miller and incoming freshman Jay Hardy. Expect senior Daquan Newkirk to get some rotational snaps, but the youngsters will rise up the depth charts. DEFENSIVE END 1. Big Kat Bryant 2. Zykevious Walker OR Colby Wooden Senior Big Kat Bryant will become the marquee player on Auburn’s defensive line, and they’ll need him to play like it. Bryant recorded just 16 tackles in 2019 and only had 1.5 sacks. Numbers don’t tell the full story as Bryant looked good when he was on the field, but he’ll need to put up better stats next season. Auburn will need him to fill the role of Marlon Davidson who had 48 tackles and 6.5 sacks his senior season. Auburn players and fans are expecting big things for Bryant, especially after Davidson called him a future All-American just like he did Derick Hall and Truesdell. After his freshman season was derailed by Mononucleosis, expect Colby Wooden to play a big role in his second season. Even if he’s not a starter he’ll get rotational snaps and be an important part of Kevin Steele’s defense. While Auburn returns Caleb Johnson, it will be Zykevious Walker that looks to be the main backup to Bryant next year. The freshman is already on campus and will be huge for the Tigers next year. BUCK LINEBACKER 1. Derick Hall 2. T.D. Moultry OR Romello Height While Hall played some buck and defensive end in his freshman campaign, he’s listed on the Tigers roster at buck so that’s where he’ll be on here. Hall saw limited action his first year but made good use of it when he did, impressing coaches, fans and fellow players. Hall only had 13 tackles but is quick coming off the edge and was called a future All-American by departing senior Davidson. Early enrollee Romello Height also could get some rotational snaps at buck. LINEBACKER 1. K.J. Britt 2. Owen Pappoe 3. Zakoby McClain OR Chandler Wooten 4. Wesley Steiner OR O.C. Brothers Without a doubt linebacker is the strong suit of Auburn’s defense next season. Returning all three starters in Chandler Wooten, Owen Pappoe and K.J. Britt will make a good linebacker room great. Zakoby McClain will return after a big late season surge and will continue to play a big role. Auburn not only returns everybody at linebacker, but brings in 4-stars in Wesley Steiner, Desmond Tisdol and Cameron Riley. All three incoming freshman will get the opportunity to play in their freshman year, and linebacker is a position Auburn fans won’t have to worry about for a while. CORNERBACK 1. Roger McCreary 2. Nehemiah Pritchett OR Devan Barrett 3. Jaylin Simpson OR Marco Domio The departures of Javaris Davis and Noah Igbinoghene hurt, but Auburn will still have talented players to fill the cornerback position. Junior Roger McCreary slowly got more playing time his sophomore season and it paid off as he’ll be the top corner for the Tigers next year. He ended the year with 36 tackles and an interception against LSU. Behind McCreary is where cornerback gets less clear. Call it a hunch, but former running back Devan Barrett could become a starting cornerback next season.
PAGE 10
Barrett was a talented athlete coming out of high school and could end up being similar to the former wide receiver Igbinoghene. Behind those two is JUCO transfer Marco Domio, who won’t arrive in time for spring practice, but is talented enough to come in late and still play a big role in the defense. Nehemiah Pritchett only played against Kent State and Samford but will become a rotational corner next season. NICKEL 1. Christian Tutt 2. Jordyn Peters OR Zion Puckett OR Ladarius Tennison Christian Tutt has been heavily involved with the defense since he arrived at Auburn and nothing will change for his junior year. After recording 31 tackles and two interceptions in 2019, he’ll once again be the starting star in 2020. Behind Tutt is senior Jordyn Peters who will play a fair amount of star and cornerback for his senior season. STRONG SAFETY 1. Smoke Monday 2. Chris Thompson Jr. OR Ladarius Tennsion FREE SAFETY 1. Jamien Sherwood 2. Eric Reed Jr. With both Jeremiah Dinson and Daniel Thomas graduating, Auburn will have a pretty smooth transition to its new starting safeties. Both Smoke Monday and Jamien Sherwood have plenty of experience and will makeup a solid safety duo. They’ll likely have some first-players behind them, with blue-chip defensive back prospects Chris Thompson Jr., Eric Reed Jr. and Ladarius Tennison coming in. KICKER 1. Anders Carlson This one is no surprise. Anders Carlson had a rocky second year as Auburn’s starting kicker but found his groove against Alabama, going 4-of-4 from 43, 43, 44 and 52 yards out; that’s not counting a made 54-yard field goal that was neutralized by an Alabama penalty. Auburn will look to replace Sage Ledbetter and find a new backup kicker. PUNTER 1. Patrick Markwalter After Arryn Sipposs elected to forgo his senior season and declare for the draft, punter became an immediate hole for Auburn. Quarterback Bo Nix is the only player on the current roster to attempt a punt as Patrick Markwalter was a backup, walk-on punter for 2019. Look for Auburn to bring in a late addition to the 2020 recruiting class or hit the transfer portal before next season starts. KICK RETURN 1. Shaun Shivers OR Matthew Hill While Igbinoghene had a kick return for a touchdown in the Outback Bowl, replacing him as a kick returner shouldn’t be overly difficult for Auburn. Igbinoghene already split the role with Shivers and he’ll become the starter now. Hill was the secondary return man for part of Auburn’s 2019 season — serving as a lead blocker — and he’ll likely keep that role in 2020. PUNT RETURN 1. Christian Tutt 2. Anthony Schwartz After taking over punt return duties from Ryan Davis, Tutt had an up-and-down season as the punt returner. At times he looked electric and looked like he may return one for a touchdown; at other times he made sloppy mistakes, including a key muffed punt in the Outback Bowl. Barring an unforeseen change, Tutt will remain the starter for 2020. Behind him is unclear, but the speedy Schwartz caught one punt in 2019 and would make for an interesting option to return punts.
lifestyle THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
11 THEPLAINSMAN.COM
LIFESTYLE
ENTERTAINMENT
FILE PHOTO
10,000 Hz hosts live music events and sells new and used vinyl records.
Opelika record store holds live music event By FIELDER HAGAN Community Writer
Live music is coming to Opelika on Feb. 1 at 10,000 Hz record store at 8 p.m. The solo set list begins with Janet Simpson from Birmingham, Alabama, then Reid Johnson of Sun Studies from Durham, North Carolina, and Joshua Carpenter from Asheville, North Carolina. Since August 2018, 10,000 Hz has been putting on gigs so Opelika locals can get an experience of musicians in the DIY-scene in the city. Russell Baggett, owner of 10,000 Hz and avid musician, has numerous musical connections and said finding musicians willing to play is as easy as calling up old friends he used to have jam sessions with. Johnson began writing his own music in middle school, and songwriting has since progressed into something he finds therapeutic, especially during long walks or drives in the evening. Johnson said he sees creating music as a process that should naturally progress. “It ebbs and flows without definition,”
Johnson said Drawing inspiration from singers and songwriters Moses Sumney, Sonny and the Sunsets, and others, Johnson makes a goal to challenge his audiences and relate to them on a personal level, he said. Johnson embraced this challenge under the name of his solo project Sun Studies. “Sun Studies is a moniker for the wide-ranging baritone and shrewd songwriting,” he said. “Since the mid-2000s, I accumulated a respected catalog with the melodic left-of-center band Schooner & others. Sun Studies is a more intimate, sparse affair.” Carpenter has been a musician for 15 years and has been a part of a number of different bands. He said he gets inspired by how he compares music like flowing water, always moving and never stagnant. There is new music to be made, and Carpenter said he cherishes the idea of never growing complacent in his music. “When I’m doing the grunt work, when there’s half a song on the table, just to get it to where you can play it from front to back and then you can start putting on the lacquer,”
Carpenter said. Currently, Carpenter shares his musical talents with Schooner, Floating Action, Better Twin and Emily Easterly. Carpenter also has released two solo albums: Full Flight in 2011 and Prey Tells in 2017 under his name. Johnson and Carpenter are currently touring together and usually play with full bands. Johnson plays with Schooner, a band that both Carpenter and Baggett have played with throughout their time as friends. Janet Simpson has been a musician her whole life. Those who knew her at a young age claim she was singing before she began talking. This early introduction to music grew as she began piano lessons at seven years old, wrote songs at 10 years old and started her own band at 14. Much of her inspiration comes from feelings that create uneasiness in her heart that spill out of her mouth and onto pages full of perspectives of loneliness and homesickness, she said. “Songwriting can be a way to deal with feelings I can’t articulate, or trying to tell a funny story that I couldn’t do well in conver-
sation,” Simpson said. Since moving from Atlanta in 1999, Simpson has been a member of the Birmingham music scene and has played for numerous groups. From 2002 until 2015, Simpson toured across the Southeast and East Coast while writing and fronting for the indie-folk band Delicate Cutters. While folk may have dominated her time with Delicate Cutters, she by no means has been caged into that genre. Simpson has flexed her versatility alongside psych-punk band Teen Getaway and the more dreamy duo that is Timber. Simpson also explored her love for jazz and blues through her use of vocals. Simpson has been a part of numerous albums throughout her career and even scored original instrumental pieces for film and television. Now, Simpson has announced her first-ever solo album in 20 years. “Being out in nature gives me headspace for ideas to begin seeding,” Simpson said. “Touring does, too. I keep journals on every tour, and a few songs usually end up on those pages.”
CELEBRITY
Emerge welcomes star of “Grown-ish” to speak to students By KARA MAUTZ and JIAJIA LIU Lifestyle Writers
Yara Shahidi recently spoke and shared her story with Auburn students. Known for her work on the ABC comedy “Black-ish” and the Freeform show “Grownish,” along with activist work, Shahidi’s career began many years ago when she starred in her first commercial at age 6. “My first movie I booked at 7, and when they first called me to audition for the movie, I said no because I was only interested in commercials,” Shahidi said. However, it was doing this movie that got Shahidi “hooked” on the television and film industry. She got her big break when she was cast in the role of Zoey Johnson in “Black-ish.” “I was 13 when I booked ‘Black-ish’ and 14 when I started the series, and then I was 16 when the creator of the show called and was like, ‘What if we follow Zoey to college?’” Shahidi said. This conversation was what sparked the idea for “Grownish,” the spin-off of “Black-ish” that follows Zoey Johnson as she navigates life in college. When asked if there is a difference between being on “Blackish” as a recurring role and being a lead in her own show, “Grown-ish,” Shahidi said that there is absolutely a difference. “‘Grown-ish’ gave me an opportunity to continue to create a family environment because everyone has to work together to make the show work,”
she said. “The goal is to have a great time because we aren’t saving any lives in the immediate moment, so we might as well be having a good time and creating powerful content that does some good later.” When asked how she manages to stay true to herself in the midst of life as a Hollywood star, Shahidi said that it is her family and their support that keeps her grounded. “It’s my family who helps me grow up, to help me figure out myself,” she said. All of Shahidi’s family works in the entertainment industry, and they run a production company together, which makes it easy for them to support and encourage each other. Shahidi said having her family as a support system has helped her to be able to enjoy every step of her life without having to grow up too fast, but because she was young when she began acting, Shahidi said she had somewhat of an untraditional childhood. “I have done a variety of learning from an all-girls Catholic school to an online form of learning, but it has made my education self-guided, which led to my love of education today,” Shahidi said. Education and activism are very important to Shahidi, who said that the political issue about which she is most passionate is education within voting and, more specifically, educating voters on the power that they contain. “Right now, I am most passionate about voter education and registration because it is where all of the issues con-
verge; it is hard to feel that there is any one issue worth prioritizing,” Shahidi said. Shahidi said that voting is important because there are so many young people worried about a multitude of issues, but they have a shared investment in how they are voting and in understanding voting policy. The problem with this generation is not the lack of passion about issues, Shahidi said, but the lack of access to use their voice and educate themselves on how to make change. Shahidi also explained that fashion is another way she likes to use her voice and express herself. “Fashion has always been a space of creative freedom for me,” Shahidi said. If there was one piece of advice that Shahidi would give to the young adults of her generation, it would be to stay close to a support system of people, whether that be family, friends, teachers or peers. “That has been one of the most influential forces in my life because I have people to turn to who get it and a team who really understands who Yara is as a full person,” Shahidi said. Having a support system can help you grow and branch out by learning and trying new things, she said. “Pouring into relationships without expecting anything in return is crucial; when the relationship flows, everything flows,” Shahidi said.
CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Yara Shahidi has starred in several TV shows and recently visited campus.
The Auburn Plainsman
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020
PAGE 12
BUSINESS
NATALIE BECKERINK / LIFESTYLE EDITOR
Big Mike’s Steakhouse recently moved to the previous location of Stinky’s Fish Camp in Auburn, Ala.
Steakhouse owners share passion for food with community By ABIGAIL MURPHY Lifestyle Writer
It started with three friends who had a passion for food and hospitality, and they are carrying that passion across Alabama. Big Mike’s Steakhouse opened their fifth branch last week at 610 Shug Jordan Parkway, Auburn, Alabama. They are open Wednesday–Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.until 9 p.m. They are closed Monday and Tuesday and do not take reservations. Michael Cole, owner of Big Mike’s Steakhouse, said they focus on steaks and making them the best they can be. Their menu does have some seafood options inspired by coastal South Alabama, but steak is who they are, he said.
To Place an Ad, Call 334-844-4130 or email admanager@theplainsman.com
“We try to keep it simple,” Cole said. He said they serve certified angus beef that’s cooked over a wooden fire. Cole said they have been planning to come to Auburn for a while. “Everyone kept telling us, ‘You got to come to Auburn. You got to come to Auburn,’ and we got a look and just fell in love with the place,” he said. They had been looking for a place to start the restaurant for two years, and when this building was offered to them, they took it, he said. Cole said they are still in the opening process and are focused on getting the restaurant ready to be open seven days a week. They have their TVs on the Auburn basketball games, but right now they’re hoping they will be able to do something more for
the football season. Cole said cooking is something he loves, but before Big Mike’s Steakhouse got started, he was a teacher in government and economics. He also coached football and would cook on the weekends at his mother and father-in-law’s restaurant, Dining Jim’s. After teaching for 20 years, he wanted to do something different, Cole said. “I talked to two of my best friends into coming in with me. One ran a tree service, and one ran a lawn care business. I knew how to cook, and us three opened up a restaurant in Thomasville, Alabama, and kind of haven’t slowed down since,” Cole said. He said Scott Powell and Caine Conway, his best friends and fellow owners of Big Mike’s Steakhouse, focus on managing the front of the house while he focuses on the
kitchen and maintaining the menu. “We laugh,” Cole said. “There’s no way one of us could do it on our own ever, or would want to. We are just three buddies doing what we love to do.” As a father, he wants Big Mike’s to be a place people can come with their kids and still have a nice meal. They have butcher paper on the tables so kids can color on them and have a fun time. He wants it to be a place people feel they can come to for any occasion. “If you come to our restaurant in Thomasville, Alabama, there are nights where 90% of people have camouflage on,” Cole said. “They can come out of the woods hunting or they can be in a coat and tie. We want everyone to feel relaxed. Just be relaxed and have a good meal.”
TIGERMARKET
Line Classifieds
Display Classifieds
15 words................$6 Extra Words............40c Bold Outline.....$1 per ad
Local.......$11 per col inch National..$16 per col inch 1col x 4 min to 1col x 8” max
The Auburn Plainsman is not responsible for the content of the ads. Ads that seem too good to be true usually are.
Print Deadline: Noon three business days prior to publication.
FOR RELEASE JANUARY 5, 2020
THE TV CROSSWORD by Jacqueline E. Mathews
Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews
ACROSS 1 Doris or Dennis 4 Simon of “The Mentalist” 9 Marg Helgenberger series 12 Retirement acct. 13 Ascended 14 “__ in Cleveland” 15 Curved bone 16 “Return to __” 17 90 degrees from NNW 18 Shish __; BBQ favorite 20 “The __”; George Peppard series 22 Actress on “The Conners” 26 Late for school 27 “Not __ Stranger”; Sinatra movie 28 Actress Larter 29 “Snakes __ Plane”; Samuel L. Jackson film 32 Thickheaded 35 “Dancing with the Stars” host 39 Program for Al Roker 40 __ Michelle Gellar 42 Garden tool 43 “The flowers that bloom in the spring, __…” 47 FBI crime lab evidence Solution to Last Week’s Puzzle
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.
1/5/20
1/5/20
48 49 50 51 52 53
So. state Sultan’s wives Suffix for differ or exist __ Aviv Sajak or Trebek Bread variety
DOWN 1 Actor __ Benedict 2 Sign of spring 3 “__ Dabba Doo!” 4 “__ Black Sheep”; Robert Conrad military series 5 Ulna’s place 6 Backyard pond fish 7 Suffix for host or heir 8 Recommendation to an addict 9 Series for Ted Danson 10 Hyundai sedan 11 Dating couple talked about 19 Actor Carney 21 “__ and Sympathy”; Deborah Kerr film 23 “Eighth __”; 2018 Elsie Fisher movie 24 Ne’er-do-well 25 “The Invention of __”; 2009 Ricky Gervais film 29 Peter or Annette 30 “Deal or __” 31 “I __ Rock”; Simon & Garfunkel hit 33 “__ Street” 34 Historical period 36 “Saved __ Bell” (1989-92) 37 “Law & __” 38 Fran Fine’s position 39 “__ ’70s Show” 41 “10 Things I __ About You”; Heath Ledger movie 44 Male animal 45 “Joan of __”; film for Ingrid Bergman 46 Brandon or Jason