The Index Vol. 112 Issue 4

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Truman State University tmn.truman.edu THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020

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SPRING SCHEDULE responds UNDER REVIEW to COVID Rec Center

GENEVIEVE TLUSTOS Staff Writer

The Truman State University Executive Leadership Team will be making a decision during the coming weeks about the spring semester calendar. The main factors being considered for the decision are Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and student and faculty feedback. A survey was sent out to students, faculty and staff asking them to rank four options. The first option was a typical spring semester with breaks, including spring break. The second option would eliminate spring break, but would start a week later. With the third and fourth options, the semester would start at the same time, but instead of spring break there would be smaller breaks divided throughout the semester, each option having different days off. Janna Stoskopf, vice president of student affairs, said the data from the survey had not been fully analyzed as of Oct. 16, but there appeared to be differences between the preferences of the faculty and students. “A lot of the decisions that we make about how to handle things like COVID and decisions about the semester are really done with a lot of intentionality, keeping in mind what the CDC is saying, keeping in mind what other universities are looking at doing and really trying to find what is the right place for us to be and what is in the best interests of our students, which may or may not be the same as what other campuses are doing,” Stoskopf said. Janet Gooch, vice president for academic affairs and provost, said she hopes a decision will be made soon so students can plan accordingly. She said the decision will most likely be made

within a week or two. Gooch said the Executive Leadership Team is trying to anticipate and plan for the spring semester without knowing what the COVID-19 situation will be. However, she said she thinks the situation will be similar to what it has been in the fall semester. Gooch said it is important that the

spring calendar promotes not only what’s in the best interest of Truman students, but also what’s in the best interest of the world. She mentioned that it was around spring break last year when the pandemic heightened, so students returning from traveling and gathering back on campus was a major concern. See SPRING page 3

GENEVIEVE TLUSTOS Staff Writer There have been several changes in staffing and programming at the Student Recreation Center. These changes come in addition to the safety measures the Rec Center has been taking since the beginning of the semester. Instead of high-risk intramurals like football and soccer, there will be pickleball, badminton and tennis. Steps are being taken to eliminate shared equipment and to sanitize any equipment that is used. Inside the Recreation Center patrons must wear masks and maintain six feet of social distance. Staff members clean every half-hour and patrons who use equipment such as ellipticals, treadmills and mats must sanitize them before and after use. See REC Center page 3

Sophomore Allison Ligschlaeger studies at the Pickler Memorial Library. A survey was sent to the Truman community to see what spring schedule they preferred. Photo by Bidan Yang

Senior Deacon Owens lifts at the Student Rec Center. Students are now required to wear masks at all times. Photo by Rachel Becker

Fraternities do fall rush online BRITTANY MORROW Staff Writer Truman State University Greek life conducted rushing virtually this year in response to COVID-19. Previously, Greek fraternity rushing has involved week-long, in-person events, but this year that has changed to five days of virtual meetings. “Instead of starting off with an in-person assembly and then individual events from each chapter throughout the week, it was instead virtual for the assembly and virtual every day for the

chapters,” Interfraternity Council President Dalton Kaeshoefer said. Laura Bates, director of the Student Union and campus activities, said the Interfraternity Council originally planned on in-person events with limitations, but as the date came closer for recruitment, it decided on an entirely virtual recruitment. While the recruitment numbers this year have gone down compared to last year’s numbers, this change was not necessarily affected by the pandemic, Kaeshoefer said. See GREEK page 3

Local movie theater reopens amid pandemic ANAKIN BUSH Staff Writer Kirksville’s Downtown Cinema 8 movie theater has reopened with limited hours and is now offering retro showings of movies. Downtown Cinema 8 reduced its hours of operation to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was previously open throughout the week, but the low amount of customers and lack of new films releasing prompted the reduction of hours. Due to the lack of new movies, the theater is offering retro showings. Downtown Cinema 8 is currently showing “The Goonies,” “Hocus Pocus” and “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” as their retro movies. The theater has put COVID-19 precautions in place to allow for reopening. Movie-goers are told to separate from other groups by at least two seats if in the same row, while leaving an empty row between groups. With these recommendations, only about 33% of the theater is usable. Social distancing and masks are

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being recommended by Downtown Cinema 8, but are not required. After each show, the employees have additional cleaning. Employees write down where people are sitting in the theater and clean around those areas after the film. An overnight cleaning crew cleans the entire theater at night after closing. Jim Fitzpatrick, manager of Downtown Cinema 8, said COVID-19 has had negative impacts on the film industry overall. With the lack of new films coming out, trying to do retro showings is an attempt to bring in profits. Fitzpatrick said they got lucky with being able to show “Hocus Pocus” near Halloween. The movie did well during the first weekend, but slowed down the following weekends. New release movies, such as “Tenet,” have been underperforming as well. Fitzpatrick said the film did poorly nationwide, and there is not much Downtown Cinema 8 can do to combat that. “We can’t do much about it ourselves,” Fitzpatrick said. “We are at the liberty of what film companies will do.”

New movies are not being released regularly, with many blockbusters, such as “Wonder Woman 1984,” being

pushed back. Many theaters across the country remain closed, with some even going out of business.

Downtown Cinema 8 has taken COVID-19 precautions, like recommending masks and only filling to 33% capacity. However, few new movies are coming to the screen. Photo from TMN Archives


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