The Vermont Cynic MARCH 20, 2018
VOL. 134 – ISSUE 24
VTCYNIC.COM
Students protest gun rights rally Joey Waldinger Assistant News Editor Sawyer Loftus Staff Writer Gun advocates had just started their rally in support of the right to bear arms when a group of protesters in the back stood up, turned their backs on the crowd and walked out. Turning Point USA and the Young Americans for Liberty, conservative youth groups with chapters on campus, held a joint rally March 8 in the Ira Allen Chapel. The rally came less than a month after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at his high school in Parkland, Florida. A group of students protested the discussion standing silently and holding candles in the falling snow. High-profile gun advocates like State Representative Patrick Brennan and William Moore, firearms policy adviser for the Vermont Tradition Coalition, spoke for the Second Amendment, saying there are better ways to reduce gun violence than by restricting access to weapons. “Other than a few misguided people misusing those rights, I think our gun rights are just where they should be,” Brennan said. Junior Alec Collins, a protest organizer, disagreed. “Their viewpoint kills people,” he said. On the campaign trail, Governor Phil Scott promised not to introduce any gun control measures, but recently supported a bill that allows police to take weapons from people deemed dangerous, according
to a Feb. 25 Burlington Free Press article. A nationwide youth-led political movement began after Parkland students appealed to the Florida statehouse, prompting students across the country to follow suit. “Change on the national level is going to take a big push. We’re happy to do our small part tonight,” Collins said. Others, like Eddie Cutler, president of Gun Owners of Vermont, a non-partisan progun advocacy organization, were angered by this change in the political landscape, and by Scott’s endorsement of the bill. “When he came out with those statements, he didn’t contact us,” Cutler said. “He could have contacted us first.” Rather than push a political agenda, protesters were motivated to honor the lives lost from gun violence and
ensure that rally organizers addressed the opposition, said junior Scarlett Moore, protest organizers and a UVM leader of the International Socialist Organization. First-year Jace Laquerre, chief organizer of the rally, was glad to see the protesters and wished that they engaged in the conversation, he said. “For those of you that are here that disagree with our speakers, thank you for coming,” Laquerre said. “We do want to hear from you.” None of the protesters spoke at the rally. Moore said that there is no movement on campus aimed at fighting loose gun regulations. “Because of all the gun violence toward people of color, at this moment in time it is more important to focus on racial justice,” said first-year Eden Harari, secretary of the Inter-
OLIVER POMAZI/The Vermont Cynic Above: A gun advocate, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, listens to a speaker at a joint rally held by Turning Point USA and the Young Americans for Liberty March 8 in the Ira Allen Chapel. Below: Sophomore Mary Robideau and fellow protestors stand silently outside the Ira Allen Chapel March 8. sectional Feminist Collective. Despite the lack of political action, Harari considers gun violence on campus a threat.
“After every single shooting, I’m worried,” she said.
Program board requests further SGA funds Ben Elfland Senior Staff Writer
The students behind UVM’s on campus entertainment may have to start looking for a new source of funding for SpringFest. SGA is reconsidering the $50,000 in annual funding it has supplied to UVM’s Program Board for their yearly SpringFest event, SGA president Chris Petrillo said. The temporary funding deal began five years ago as a startup cost when UPB separated SGA, Petrillo said. With the deal due up for review this year, Petrillo has concerns about whether or not UPB should continue to receive SGA funding, he said. SGA gives UPB a $50,000 grant toward any aspect of SpringFest they choose, he said. “They say that money goes all to talent—we don’t know, we haven’t seen the budget.” Part of the reconsideration is deciding whether funding for UPB events is part of SGA’s responsibilities as outlined in
BEN ELFLAND/The Vermont Cynic UPB holds a trivia night Feb. 21 in Brennan’s. The $50,000 annual funding to UPB for their annual SpringFest event is being reconsidered by the SGA. the SGA constitution, Petrillo said. “We’re deciding if it makes sense for us to be funding SpringFest under UPB, which is an entirely different University entity,” he said. Because UPB receives a majority of its funding
directly from the University, they are not held to the same regulations imposed on most SGA-funded clubs. SGA doesn’t entirely know where UPB’s funding comes from, Petrillo said. “We asked UPB where they get their funding, and their
chair, a full-time staff member, told us he’d get back to us, which is a little bit concerning,” Petrillo said. The staff member, Matt Hayes, UPB coordinator of campus programs, is new this year and is still acquainting himself with the program, said
sophomore Taylor Magda, a member of the UPB concert committee. There is only one member on the UPB team who has been involved the past four years, Magda said. UPB has been in touch with schools similar in size to UVM to assess alternative sources of funding that may be able to improve SpringFest, she said. Senior Jack Hockman, another member of the concert committee, said funding issues have negatively impacted the quality of artists UPB has been able to get for the concert. “The majority of these other schools do source their funding from their respective SGAs,” Hockman said. SpringFest costs UPB a substantial sum of money and thus far there is no replacement for SGA’s supplemental funding that could keep it running at the same level, Magda said. The discussion has been put on hiatus until at least after spring break, Magda said. Once a funding document is finalized, the general senate body will vote on it.
NEWS
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Digital Exclusive Content BSU hosts screening of “Black Panther” at Roxy Cinemas
Students share their reactions to the plot, the cast and the impact of the film.
Cynic Soundbites: Gun Culture Podcast
Podcaster Sawyer Loftis talks about how UVM students view guns.
Students push for more prayer rooms on campus
Leaders of the Interfaith Center are asking for more spaces to pray and meditate on Central campus.
Renaming committee formed
In the preliminary round, bands faced off in Brennan’s. The winner will open for SpringFest.
Inside the UVM greenhouses
UVM has three greenhouses, which serve as more than just homes to plants.
Get the full story at vtcynic.com
Mar. 20, 2018
Stolen rhino horn found by police Lindsay Freed Senior Staff Writer UVM’s black rhinoceros horn has been recovered nearly a year after it was reported stolen. The horn, valued at $200,000, was recovered March 6 by police in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Police received an initial tip that a suspect lived there, according to a March 13 press release from UVM police. The suspect was offered immunity by Ridgefield police because it was determined that the horn would not be returned without it, according to UVM police. “Getting it back took precedence over holding someone criminally accountable,” said Tim Bilodeau, UVM deputy police chief. The case is still open; as information develops it is possible charges may be filed against other individuals, Bilodeau said. “I think it’s a rare thing to get something like this back a year later without it being harmed,” he said. “To get the thing back in the shape it was, for the most part [in the shape it was in] when it was taken, is part of the mission of our department.” Biology department staff discovered the horn was missing from the Zadock Thompson Zoological Collections in Torrey hall April 27, 2017, according a May 12, 2017 Cynic article. The horn was believed to be headed to the black market, according to the article.
Photo courtesy of UVM Communcations
After a year missing, UVM’s black rhinoceros horn, valued at $200,000 and once thought to be headed for the black market, has been recovered by police in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Emeritus professor Bill Kilpatrick, who curates the vertebrates collection, said he found out about the horn’s recovery from a colleague’s email. “I thought it was a joke,” Kilpatrick said. “I thought my colleague was kidding until [UVM police] confirmed the horn was recovered.” Now that the horn is back at UVM, it’s being kept “under lock and key,” he said. “The horn will hopefully be
displayed to the public, with additional security, once the building’s renovation is complete,” Kilpatrick said. Torrey hall is undergoing restoration after the building caught on fire last August, he said. UVM was given the horn sometime in the early 1900s, making it roughly 100 years old, Kilpatrick said. Before it was stolen the horn had been used for teach-
ing, but it also has potential for conservation research, he said. The recovery and return of the horn to the zoological collection is incredible, said senior Diana Gurvich, who was an intern with the invertebrate collection when the horn was stolen. “After nearly a year, the horn’s safe recovery seems nothing short of miraculous,” she said.
Grads search for housing
Provost David Rosowsky has created a committee to investigate renaming campus buildings.
Student musicians compete in Battle of the Bands
The Vermont Cynic
Lindsay Freed Senior Staff Writer
ALEK FLEURY/The Vermont Cynic
Faried Munarsyah representing Infinite Culceasure, Carina Driscoll and Miro Weinberger at the SGA-hosted mayoral debate in the Davis Center Feb. 28.
Incumbents return
Brandon Arcari Breaking News Assistant Editor
Ward 8, the Burlington City district that includes a large portion of the UVM campus, played a significant role in the Town Meeting Day vote March 6. Current Mayor Miro Weinberger and current Ward 8 chairperson Adam Roof ’11 were both re-elected, according to official election results. According to the unofficial results of the election, Ward 8 was the only section of the city to have a majority vote for Infinite Culcleasure, the only UVM graduate to run for mayor in this race, with 42.96 percent of the Ward 8 vote. Ward 8 also had the lowest turnout for Senator Bernie Sanders’ stepdaughter Carina Driscoll, with unofficial results
placing her at 19.44 percent of the vote. Ward 8 rejected the bid by junior JF Carter Neubieser to replace Adam Roof for his city council seat. Roof has held the seat since 2015. The unofficial results place Neubieser with 43.58 percent of the vote. Neubieser is excited to further engage with new students and move forward, he said. “I’m so proud that we made a statement that people are tired of establishment politics,” Neubieser said. The city voted to reject the Air Force’s plan to replace the F-16s currently based at Burlington International Airport with newer F-35 aircrafts. Burlington also voted to raise the age to purchase tobacco products in the city to 21.
The University is considering expanding Trinity campus to house graduate students. The administration is working to find solutions for the lack of residential housing forgraduate students at UVM, and is considering Trinity because it’s near the Medical Center, said David Daigle, board of trustees chair, at the Feb. 2 board meeting. “Graduate student housing is something that we are very interested in trying to figure out how to get more — more importantly to get something that is graduate student only,” said Cynthia Forehand, dean of the graduate college. UVM provided housing for graduate students at the Catamount Lane Apartments in Colchester before it was sold to Redstone in 2015, she said. Graduate student Catherine Duke said she came to UVM the last year graduate-only housing was offered at the apartments. “[When] we pulled up and got in [the building manager] just looked at me and said, ‘I hate to tell you this but we’re selling the place, so you’ve got a year. We don’t know what’s going to happen to you after
that,’” Duke said. Duke and other graduate students living in the apartments have been allowed to stay until 2020, she said. “I did search [for a new apartment] because I thought we would get kicked out, and I came up empty-handed,” Duke said. “Had I known that it was going to be this much of an issue, I would not have come here. I would have gone to a different school.” Incoming graduate students since the housing was sold have trouble finding places to live in Burlington because the timing of leases and availability conflicts with when graduate students arrive in Burlington, said Michelle DiPinto, president of the Graduate Student Senate. UVM has services to help students find housing, such as the Office of Student and Community Relations, and University-affiliated housing open to graduate and undergraduate students, she said. The Office of International Education offers pre-arrival webinars to international graduate students to help acquaint them with the Burlington area and housing market, OIE assistant director Emma Swift said.
The Vermont Cynic
OPINION
Mar. 20, 2018
The Vermont
CYNIC
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Listening to the other side Staff Editorial
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EXECUTIVE Editor-in-Chief Erika B. Lewy editorinchief@vtcynic.com Managing Editor Greta Bjornson newsroom@vtcynic.com OPERATIONS Advertising Manager Kaysie Smith ads@vtcynic.com Distribution Manager Brittnay Heffermehl distribution@vtcynic.com PR Manager Sara Klimek cynicpr@gmail.com Social Media Sorrel Galantowicz socialmedia@vtcynic.com EDITORIAL Arts Bridget Higdon arts@vtcynic.com Copy Chief George Seibold copy@vtcynic.com Features Maggie Richardson bside@vtcynic.com Life Izzy Siedman life@vtcynic.com Multimedia William Dean Wertz media@vtcynic.com
hen the debate about gun control comes up at UVM, the argument from our politically active, largely liberal student body is so obvious it seems moot. Guns kill people. Restrict or forbid the use of guns and fewer children will die tragically at the hands of an armed shooter. The country is experiencing a special moment. It feels like after decades of mass shootings in schools and malls, citizens and companies are making promising policy changes. Governor Phil Scott heard the words of survivors of the Parkland shooting, and is considering gun control — something he promised constituents he would leave untouched. But those who want to see gun reform in Vermont sometimes fail to see the nuance of the situation. Some state residents say they keep guns at home because of long response times for emergency services. While Scott and the state government step back from letting unvetted citizens carry guns to protect themselves, let’s look at the valid concerns they share when the gun control conversation comes up. People who call 911 in Vermont are sent to a call center. The call center then contacts
Opinion Sydney Liss-Abraham opinion@vtcynic.com Podcasts Chloe Chaobal vtcynicpodcasts@gmail.com Sports Eribert Volaj sports@vtcynic.com Video Kailey Bates video@vtcynic.com Web Connor Allan web@vtcynic.com Illustrations Genevieve Winn illustrations@vtcynic.com Layout Eileen O’Connor layout@vtcynic.com Photo Alek Fleury photo@vtcynic.com Assistant Editors Henry Mitchell (Opinion), Locria Courtright (Sports), Tiana Crispino (Layout), Kyra Chevalier (Layout), Katie Brobst (Life), Joey Waldinger (News), Addie Beach (Arts), Caroline Slack (Features), Sophia Knappertz (Copy), Oliver Pomazi (Photo) Page Designers Meg Stevens, Lindsay Freed Copy Editors Izzy Abraham, Brandon Arcari, Lindsay Freed, Sabrina Hood, Greta Puc ADVISING Faculty Adviser Chris Evans crevans@uvm.edu
James Simpson Opinion Writer
D a local dispatch center. The local dispatch center then contacts emergency services — fire, medical and police — who drive out and respond to the call. An item on the ballot for seven Chittenden County towns on Town Meeting Day March 6 aimed to address the long response times that result from the unnecessarily long call chain. The ballot item would begin developing a plan to consolidate emergency services to one regional dispatch center per county. For a largely rural state like Vermont, a regional call center could make a huge difference, particularly in rural counties. When discussing gun control, school shootings and public safety, it’s easy to shut down the conversation by saying “We’re just not going to agree, so let’s move on.” But those who support gun
GENEVIEVE WINN control could benefit from taking the time to understand the nuance behind the stance. These are not gun-waving, anarchic people — they’re Vermonters with their own legitimate fears and concerns. And those who fear how gun control could change their sense of personal safety deserve time and energy from the local Vermont government to address the issues they face at home. A regional dispatch center is just one alternative to self-protection, and certainly a safer one than the allowing anyone to carry guns.
Staff editorials officially reflect the views of the Vermont Cynic. Signed opinion pieces and columns do not necessarily do so. The Cynic accepts letters in response to anything you see printed as well as any issues of interest in the community. Please limit letters to 350 words. The Cynic reserves the right to edit letters for length and grammar. Please send letters to opinion@vtcynic.com.
Be skeptical of ResLife changes
News Lauren Schnepf news@vtcynic.com
Isabella Abraham Opinion Writer
L
iving/Learning Communities seem like the way to maximize a residence hall experience, especially for firstyear students — that’s definitely what ResLife wants incoming first-year students to think. There are numerous LLCs spanning all of UVM’s campus this year, and ResLife is planning on maintaining or increasing this standard for the 2018-19 academic year. It has been confirmed that ResLife is pushing to steer all incoming first-years into LLCs. While ResLife may truly be looking out for the best interests of first-year students, it is important to be skeptical. Some believe that ResLife is trying to narrow the pool of first-year students through the required applications of students who have already been accepted to UVM but who are still hoping to be placed in one of the LLCs. Once these students are placed in an LLC and they arrive in August, ResLife may try to steer them into shallow experiences and relationships. ResLife builds a facade of fostering lifelong relationships and meaningful lessons. Yet when ResLife places students in the same residence hall simply because they just have one tiny overlapping area of academic or extracurricular interest, it may be difficult for the new college students to create meaningful re-
Resisting rent control
SAMANTHA GRAHAM lationships and experiences with their peers. So why create these fake experiences in the first place? ResLife looks to increase retention rates, or the number of students who return to the university after their first year. By forcing social connections and interest in certain topics, ResLife is seeking the return of past first-year students, and along with them, money. Luis Vivanco is a professor in the Anthropology department and plays an active role in one of the LLCs in the Living/Learning Center. While proud of the progress he has made with this LLC — the Integrated Social Sciences Program — he is skeptical because he knows significant reforms to his program and others are under way for next year. Vivanco fears a “mass production model to create the sense of belonging, intimacy
and connection so that [students] will stick around,” he said. Don’t be fooled. These tweaks to first-year living — more students being encouraged to apply to an LLC, the creation of new LLC programs around campus and amenities like interesting classes or embroidered sweatshirts given to those in the LLC — are nothing new. They have already taken over in the Wellness Environment, LLCs in the Living/Learning Center and others. On-campus residents, be warned as your dwelling too will probably be reformed.
Isabella Abraham is a firstyear English major. She has been writing for the Cynic since 2018.
ue to the high cost of housing here in Burlington, many residents might find the idea of rent control attractive. But rent control is bad economic policy, and would hurt the people it is supposed to help. Rent control is a government-imposed price ceiling on rent. Landlords would not legally be able to charge more than the mandated price cap. However, there is near unanimity among economists that rent control is a harmful policy. In a 1992 survey of 464 economists published in the American Economic Review, 93 percent of economists agreed that rent control would “reduce the quantity and quality of housing available.” There are a couple reasons for this. First, rent control discourages the construction of new, affordable residential property. When there is a cap on what landlords are allowed to charge, the profit they stand to earn is reduced. This causes investors to spend their money on more profitable types of property, such as commercial property or housing for the wealthy who are able to buy their property outright. Second, the reduced profits landlords can earn lead to deterioration in housing. When landlords cannot charge market prices, they have less disposable income to spend on maintaining their properties. When they can’t charge a higher price, there is simply no incentive to improve their properties. Third, rent control leads to housing shortages. At a lower rental price, more tenants want to rent apartments, but landlords might only want to rent out their apartments at a higher price. While some people are willing to pay more than the rent cap, that choice is removed and everyone ends up competing for the same apartments at or below the cap, leading to a shortage. This mismatch between supply and demand is what leads to decreased residential construction, housing deterioration and housing shortages in rent-controlled markets. To help alleviate the cost of housing here in Burlington, more housing should be built in order to increase the supply. One thing that should not be done is artificially control ling prices, because doing so only hurts consumers and the economy.
James Simpson is a junior political science major interested in the welfare of Burlington’s economy. He has been writing for the Cynic since 2016.
ARTS
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The Vermont Cynic
Mar. 20, 2018
Dancers revive community tradition Keely Lyons Staff Writer The sound of a fiddle and a country band blasted over an amp as people twirled and spun in their socks, laughing and talking over music. As snow fell on a Sunday evening in late February, six members of the Mad Robin Callers Collective gathered in the Rose Street Co-op, a living and community space for artists in Burlington’s Old North End, to begin an afternoon of contra dancing. Dances are hosted by the collective on the fourth Friday of every month. Beforehand, the group meets to practice calling contra dances before the community events. “A caller is the person that’s up on stage and they’re walking people through the dance,” senior contra dancer Sam Pettorini said. “They’re telling you what moves the dance is comprised of.” Contra dancing is American folk dancing that experienced a cultural revival in the 1970s, according to Don Stratton, a Mad Robin Caller and a senior lecturer in plant biology. “It has roots in French and English country dancing. Those were precursors to contra dancing, and it was more formal back then,” Pettorini said. There are three elements that make up the contra dance: the caller, the dancers and the
Photo courtesy of Mad Robin Callers
The Mad Robin Callers Collective is a group that meets to work on calling contra dances. They gather at the Rose Street Co-op, a living and community space for artists in Burlington’s Old North End, to begin an afternoon of contra dancing. band. Callers designate the moves of the dancers, who move in unison to folk music, Pettorini said. “It’s modular. There’s a set of moves and you put them together,” he said. With the band, caller and dancers all working together, contra dancing creates a sense of unity other forms of dancing sometimes lack. “Everyone in the room is doing the same thing at the
same time. The whole room is part of the dance,” Stratton said. There are two roles in contra dancing: the lead and the follow role — traditionally called the “gent” and the “lady.” In contra settings, the lead and the follow role are traditionally danced along gendered lines. “Any person can dance any role, as long as you’re in the spot in the dance where that
role should be standing,” senior Lucy Rogers said. Rogers added that while contra dancing is an old tradition, it is changing in a lot of ways, specifically in being forward-thinking about gender roles. “It feels like you’re connecting with a tradition but it’s also changing a lot,” she said. Since people do not often come with partners to contra dances but instead find them
at events, contra dancing can create a sense of community. “It’s a special connection you can have with people. It’s cool to have that with a group of people, some of whom are your friends and some of whom maybe are strangers,” Rogers said. Rogers met half of her friends through contra dancing, she said. The only thing someone who wants to learn contra dancing has to do is show up and “know your right and left hand,” Stratton said. Out of the 100 people that usually attend the Mad Robin Callers’ dances, usually 15 of those are beginners, and every dance starts with a walkthrough, Stratton said. “Every dance gets taught and then danced,” Stratton said. The Mad Robin Callers will host a dance 8 p.m. March 23 at the First Congregational Church in Burlington. Admission is $5 for individuals. A beginner’s workshop begins at 7:45 p.m and refreshments will be served.
Join in the Dance! 8 p.m. March 23 First Congregational Church, Burlington Admission is $5
Red Sparrow leaves viewers uninspired The Cynic Cineaste Hunter McKenzie
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here’s fashion, sex, espionage and violence, but not even Jennifer Lawrence can make this bloated spy thriller work. “Red Sparrow” follows prima ballerina Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) who, after a career-ending injury, is forced to join a Russian secret intelligence school that trains students to give their bodies over as “weapons for the state” and become the world’s most cunning spies. Dominika soon meets an American CIA agent (Joel Edgerton) who tries to take her away from it all. Lawrence gives a solid performance in a movie that is wasted by uninspired filmmaking and a boring script. Her character’s shyness turns to coldness and gives over to a blunt viciousness, offering different sides for audiences to see. Unfortunately, Lawrence doesn’t fulfill the more tender moments required of her in the half-baked love subplot Stand-out moments of the film are Lawrence’s training as a Sparrow — with an underused Charlotte Rampling as
her teacher — but those scenes with the most interesting ideas of the movie are hurried along in order to get to the international espionage bits, which fall flat. The film exposes its desire to be sexy and smart, but results in an uneven story that’s ultimately exploitative and uninteresting. Director Francis Lawrence (“Hunger Games” franchise) reunites with Lawrence for this surprisingly quiet spy-thriller. “Red Sparrow” lazily introduces timely themes of female agency, the line between sexual power and exploitation, as well as international relations between Russia and the U.S., but leaves them largely unexplored. The film tries to pass off its moments of cruelty, rape and torture as setups for the ultimate empowerment Lawrence employs as a Sparrow. It leaves one feeling uninspired by feminine power, and disturbed by the useless excess of images displaying violence against women. Read the rest of this review at vtcynic.com
Hunter Mckenzie is a junior English major and an avid movie-goer. He has been writing for the Cynic since 2018.
The Vermont Cynic
Mar. 20, 2018
FEATURES
5
Aubergine Dreams F
ood is culture. I am a first-generation Romanian-American, but I don’t know much about Romanian food. My father fled the country in the height of Ceausescu’s dictatorship, and once he moved to the United States, he was dedicated to being an American. He won’t speak Romanian around my brother or me often, and when we eat together, we usually go out for noodles. Sometimes he will talk fondly of his grandparents’ farm, how they would grow plums and eggplants and he would help care for the animals. He still goes back there at least once a year to see the family that lives there now. My cooking has never been very culturally inspired, only driven by local availability, price and my deep love for fresh vegetables. I know how to prepare zucchini, and I have developed some second-nature intuition for the tenderness of oven-roasted root vegetables. For years I’ve been committed to the leafy greens and squashes of farmers’ markets. I have spent many afternoons perfecting my vegetable hash, a recipe-less medley of seasonal produce, dusted generously with salt and pepper and cooked in stages, so that the potatoes are golden-brown and the kale isn’t crispy or the garlic burned. Once, in an attempt to be more creative in the kitchen, I bought the prettiest vegetable I had ever seen at the farmer’s market. It was an eggplant: oblong and shiny, a deep magenta with delicate white stripes. I had eaten plenty of eggplants before, but I had never cooked them myself. I excitedly brought the eggplant home, treating it more like a new houseplant than a food, and placed it on my kitchen counter. Overconfident and more accustomed to cooking straight-forward potatoes, I chopped the eggplant into chunks and threw it into a pan of hot oil. The skin quickly turned grayish, and the once-spongy white flesh absorbed all of the oil within seconds. I had no intuition for the vegetable. It wouldn’t sizzle. It wasn’t firming or softening. I seasoned it, waited and then reluctantly forked the pieces onto my plate. Whatever I had done was not right. I had naively mistaken it for any simple fry-untilgolden-brown kind of vegeta-
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ble. I soon became fascinated with the art of cooking eggplant. It started with a phone call to my mom. She joked I was living my Romanian grandmother’s dream — Mica loved eggplants, she told me. My great-grandparents grew them on their farm outside of Bucharest, and Mica used to make a luscious Salată de Vinete, a traditional Romanian eggplant spread. I had only met Mica once, when she came to the United States to see how my brother and I had grown and could only say “hello” and “I love you.” When she died a couple years later, the farm was left to my father, a self-proclaimed city boy. He grew up in a town outside of Bucharest infrequently visiting his grandparents’ farm, and never spent enough time in the kitchen to know the magic behind his mother’s eggplant dishes. Having about as much knowledge of my cultural heritage as I did the proper preparation of the eggplant, my affinity for the vegetable only grew. Online, I found countless recipes, histories and iconographies. I read every nostalgic narrative that accompanied traditional recipes, with stories of growing up eating eggplants cooked in Romania, Turkey, Egypt and India. Despite all of my research, when it was just me with a cutting board and a four-burner in my tiny kitchen, I was intimidated. For the next eggplant I bought, I wouldn’t begin with any attempt at my grandmother’s Salată de Vinete. I would try and cook it in a pan, like I had before, but this time I was aiming for the velvety richness I had read about. I stood at
BRIGITTE RIORDAN firm and spongy to soft and luscious as “the collapse.” I waited for the collapse. I added a little bit of salt and pepper. I flipped them. I started to see them soften. I didn’t break any windows. I sat with my plate; the slices of eggplant were cooked through. Though my dish wasn’t all that interesting, the vegetable itself was. I felt connected to my father, to Mica, to my great-grandparents. One day, I’ll try and make the Salată de Vinete. One day, I’ll go to Romania with my father, I’ll see the farm and eat the eggplants of my ancestors. For now, I’ll sit alone in my kitchen with an eggplant, sliced thinly and cooked to collapse, salted and peppered and with every intention to cook another one tomorrow.
Having about as much knowledge of my cultural heritage as I did the proper preparation of the eggplant, my affinity for the vegetable only grew. my kitchen counter, and slowly sliced through the dark purple skin and cut the flesh into thin, spongy white ovals. Each piece had to be salted, soaked in a colander, rinsed and then left to dry on paper towels. I heated up the oil in the pan, carefully placed the slices oneby-one, and waited. Every recipe said eggplants take time. My mother told me that once, when my grandmother came to visit, the oven became so hot from her eggplants roasting for such a long time that the window above the stove shattered. Some recipes online described the transition from
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Brigitte Riordan Staff Writer
Brigitte Riordan is a senior and first-generation Romanian-American. When she’s not writing for the Cynic, she loves to cook.
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6
LIFE
The Vermont Cynic
Mar. 20, 2018
Campus seeks solution to cat-calling Isabella Alessandrini Staff Writer
Even the women experiencing sexual harassment have trouble defining it, a December 2017 NPR article states. “They understand sexual harassment is wrong, but no one has taught them what it is. That’s the problem: nobody quite knows that line,” the article states. Though Burlington has laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, the police department’s data transparency portal doesn’t have a category for sexual harassment crimes to display statistics. “Street harassment is often dismissed as ‘humor’ or ‘just a compliment,’ but compli-
AUTUMN LEE/The Vermont Cynic
ments come from a place of respect, while harassment comes from a place of power and entitlement,” said Sarah Mell, education and outreach coordinator of the Women’s Center. Burlington is perceived as a protected, family-friendly area where “in most instances, a majority of students feel safe,” sophomore Luke Belleville said, but the city is still not free of street harassment. “Part of the problem is idealizing where we live, and the fact that Burlington is often portrayed as a safe, progressive area brushes over it entirely,” junior Jack Carmody said. Carmody is a member of
1 in 4, an all-male sexual assault peer education club. The group teaches men about how to support survivors of sexual assault, and how to safely intervene in risky situations, the SGA website states. “Most people don’t see [catcalling] as a big issue, but it’s a strong part of rape culture that people need to realize is not okay to do to someone, ever,” Carmody said. Junior Emma Naprta has been followed more than once when walking alone downtown, and each time is conflicted on how to react, she said. “I see myself as a strong and independent woman, but
Rallython funds hospital Lily Merriam Staff Writer
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One professor has no illusion of safety in idyllic, liberal Burlington and is taking action against cat-calling. Cat-calls are loud and sexually suggestive calls directed mostly at people who are female-presenting. There is no legal repercussion for cat-calling and no clear social consensus on whether or not it falls under the category of sexual harassment. “Hopefully it won’t be legal for long,” said Marian Fritz, an adjunct professor at UVM who is working to pass legislation against street harassment. “So many women are afraid to walk to their jobs in Burlington and something has to be done about it,” Fritz said. “Ignoring the problem is just not working.” Fritz is working with police Chief Brandon del Pozo to make street harassment illegal and punishable by fine, she said. As of now, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines sexual harassment as “sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical harassment.” “The law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments or isolated incidents that are not very serious,” the EEOC wesbite states.
I’m also torn between calling my boyfriend to come walk with me or just sticking it out,” she said. The law is not the only way to combat social ignorance surrounding street harassment. Fritz also wants to offer a session about street harassment prevention open to everyone in Burlington, she said. Clubs like 1 in 4 also take action against catcalling. “We give presentations to primarily male-presenting groups, like fraternities and sports teams, and talk to them about how we are part of the issue but we don’t have to be,” Carmody said. Beyond teaching men about sexual harassment and prevention, we must also work to teach women how to respond, Mell said. “Feeling stuck, not being able to say anything or even accidentally saying ‘thank you’ are normal responses, even if they feel weird,” she said. “I know some women who whip around and retort, which is awesome.” But this kind of response is not required of any woman facing harassment, she said. “It all depends on the situation,” she said. “Do what feels safe in the moment and know that it’s never worth beating yourself up over.”
Particpants in an all-night fundraiser danced from 4 p.m. March 3 to 4 a.m. March 4 to mimic a nurse’s 12-hour shift. Rallython, Miracle Network Dance Marathon’s yearlong fundraising culmination event, raised money for the UVM Children’s Hospital and the local Miracle Network Children’s Hospital. “It’s so incredible to see a group of students come together,” Rallython President senior Meg Morrison said. Every dollar raised can provide the hospitals with new equipment and help families with expenses, according to the event’s website. “It just feels like you’re giving back to a cause that’s so much bigger than yourself,” senior Grace Wagner said. This year, they raised $86, 714, according to the Rallython website. “The energy in there, you have to go in and experience it. Just to see so many people bound together for such a good cause,” Wagner said. More than anything, Wagner was amazed by how tangible the rewards of their efforts were, she said. “When the families share their stories you realize why you put in all the effort to raise money. Why you stay here all night and dance until your feet
hurt,” she said. Many find that dancing is fun, but it can get physically taxing after a full 12 hours. “We really encourage everyone to stay standing because twelve hours represents a nurse’s shift,” sponsorship Chair senior Margie DesLauriers said. Not only was the Grand Maple Ballroom packed with dancing students, other rooms on the fourth floor of the Davis Center were occupied as well. A craft room, a room for families and a video game room were some of the options. This year, the organizers introduced a bouncy house room. The team that raised the most was rewarded with the first 30-minute turn in the bouncy house. “If you don’t dance but stay on your feet, you can still make an impact,” Morrison said. The more money dancers raised, the more points they got. Points could be used to get Rallython water bottles, bracelets, t-shirts and premium food access, DesLauriers said. But nothing was better motivation than the stories from families that were shared every hour, she said.
The Vermont Cynic
Mar. 20, 2018
7
SPORTS
Women’s basketball shows potential Sabrina Hood Staff Writer
The UVM women’s basketball season ended in defeat, but the team believes the program’s future is bright. The season ended March 3 when they lost the America East quarterfinal game against the No. 2 seed University at Albany 60-42. “The Albany game was our worst nightmare, because they found a way to consistently beat us by being more athletic and more physical,” head coach Chris Day said. Albany led during the entire second half, scoring 29 points, according to UVM athletics. This game highlighted the shortcomings the Catamounts can improve during the off season. “We are focused on our strength, quickness and core,” Day said. “All of those physical traits that were troublesome throughout the season.” First-year guard Kianna Funderburk expressed similar sentiments about shortcomings after the home game against Stony Brook. “As a team, [we need to work on] playing together, making shots, playing defense, getting teammates involved and just communicating,” Funderburk said in a Feb. 25 Cynic article. Earlier this season, UVM defeated the University of New Hampshire on the road 58-53, and three days later defeated Albany at home 62-57, according to UVM athletics. “Beating UNH on the road, and then three days later beating Albany who was ranked first [in the conference], and
Photo courtesy of UVM athletics
The UVM women’s basketball team’s season ended March 3 when they lost to Albany in the America East Championship game. “We wanted to play for each other, and as a team put our all on the court,” first-year guard Kianna Funderburk said.
a team UVM hadn’t beaten in eight years, was a really big accomplishment,” Day said. “The problem was we couldn’t get the energy back to win a few more games.” Another accomplishment this season was having the least amount of committed turnovers in seven years, Day said. The players embraced the importance of doing what’s best for the team. “[We] wanted to play for each other and as a team put our all on the court,” Funderburk said. This season, the team needed a starting point guard, so senior guard Katie Lavelle
assumed the role. “Katie Lavelle played out of position, sacrificing her career to play the point guard position, which is such an amazing thing she did for us,” Day said. The Catamounts will have to replace some key players, such as senior guard Sydney Smith, who averaged the second-most points per game on the team, according to UVM athletics. Junior forward Hanna Crymble, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, will return, and around her will be a large first-year class that starts with a promising point guard. Next season, incoming first-year Rose Caverly will be
the starting point guard, Daysaid. “We finally feel like we are going to have a true steady point guard for four years and now feel like we can truly start building a program,” Day said. The other signees for the 2018-19 season include guard Asha Scott, center Madeline Prestegaard, guard Nicole Crum, guard Eva Widmeyer and forward Abby Settelmeyer, according to UVM athletics. “The biggest thing with this class is we have increased our quickness and athleticism, which will allow the team to apply more pressure and cause more stress to the opponent in a full court manner,” Day said.
The team ended the season 8-22, winning some games at home, but not doing as well with away games. The team went 6-10 at home, but only 2-11 on the road, according to UVM athletics. “Our schedule is set up for success next season as we don’t leave Burlington the whole month of November,” Day said. “We need to capitalize on that. “The goal next year is to only lose one game at home and be 6-1 at home in November.”
Hours of hard work reward record-breaking runner Nickie Morris Staff Writer Junior sprinter Justin Liechty broke the 400-meter school record for the third time this season at the America East Championships. The meet took place Feb. 23-24 in Boston. The men’s team finished seventh overall in the meet, while the men’s 4x400 relay team, also led by Liechty, broke another school record. Liechty’s 48.31-second run was good for fourth in the event. He previously broke the record Feb. 3 at the New England championships in Roxbury, Massachusetts, according to UVM athletics. The relay team finished with a time of 3:15.52, and would re-break the record a week later at the ECAC/IC4A Championships with a time of 3:15.41, according to UVM athletics. While Liechty runs in other events, such as the 200, assistant coach Kasey Hill said he was more focused on the 400, and was trained to get the best outcome in that race. This record comes after a stress fracture took away much of his indoor track season last year. “Coming back from injury,
Photo courtesy of UVM athletics
Junior sprinter Justin Liechty broke his own record for the third time at the America East Championships. “Coming back from injury, I wanted to do something special,” Liechty said.
I wanted to do something special,” Liechty said. “The record was always a goal of mine after coming really close my first year.” Liechty excels in the classroom, too. As a first-year in 2016, he was named on the America East Academic Honor Roll, according to UVM athletics. With outdoor track start-
ing shortly after break, head coach Matt Belfield emphasized a three-season focus on track training. “Records in winter and spring are set up by fall fitness levels, and dynamic rest in between while still gaining aerobic strength,” Belfield said. “Training year-round like this allows the body to get back up to peak with five or six weeks of
preparation.” The 4x400 relay team broke their record in the final race of the meet, according to UVM athletics. “There were four guys on that team with at least three more possible runners who could have ran for them,” Hill said. “The depth we have there gives us a good possibility to break the outdoor record as
well.” Breaking a record in the indoor season differs from one broken in the outdoor season. “Typically in track, you see better times outdoors as it’s a little easier to race outside. For them to beat the outdoor time indoors is huge for us,” Hill said. Liechty believes his numerous record-breaking times this season came directly from tougher training, he said. “We definitely did some harder workouts this year than in the past, and hard workouts pay off so you feel stronger in races. I just kept thinking, ‘if I can survive a workout, I can run a 400,’” Liechty said. The team’s health is a high priority this spring over immediate record breaking. “Having a high percent of health in the spring season is a challenge, as it’s a tough transitional period with spring break and the break between seasons,” Belfield said. But the record-breaking performances do not go unnoticed. “People in very different events appreciating other records is good for the whole team, especially when it’s an enthusiastic leader of the team like Justin,” Belfield said.
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SPORTS
The Vermont Cynic
Mar. 20, 2018
Catamounts stunned on clutch shot Locria Courtright Assistant Sports Editor With one swish of the net as the seconds ticked away, the University of Maryland Baltimore County broke the hearts of the Vermont Catamounts and their fans. Jairus Lyles made a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds to go as the Retrievers celebrated the America East tournament title at Patrick Gym after a 65-62 win over the Catamounts. The 3-pointer was part of Lyles’s career game, as he scored 27 points and went five for seven from 3-point range. Vermont led for most of the first half, but Lyles drained a 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to send UMBC into the locker room with a 3735 lead. UVM came out strong in the second half, opening up a 9-point lead thanks in part to their ability to get to the freethrow line. But like the Catamounts, who faced the same deficit in last year’s title game against Albany, UMBC rose from the dead just as the game seemed to be getting away from them. Despite starting point guard KJ Maura, America East Defensive Player of the Year, sitting on four fouls, the Retrievers roared back. With 1:19 to go and Vermont leading, an out of bounds call on UMBC was overturned, giving the Retrievers posses-
LINDSAY FREED/The Vermont Cynic
Senior Trae Bell-Haynes drives to the basket, battling through two UMBC players to get the shot off at the America East Men’s Championship game. UVM lost with 0.6 seconds to go when UMBC player Jairus Lyles made a 3-pointer bringing the score to 65-62.
sion. Lyles hit a floater from inside the lane to tie the game at 62. For UVM’s turn, they looked to senior guard Trae BellHaynes, the America East Player of the Year, who had contributed to many past wins. Bell-Haynes’s shot was blocked by Joe Sherburne, and UMBC had the ball with the shot clock off and less than 30 seconds to go. Lyles dribbled the ball just over half court, waiting for his shot.
Despite Bell-Haynes’s best efforts on defense, Lyles drained the shot. The Retrievers fans, who had made the trip from Maryland, erupted while the gold-clad UVM fans stood stunned. “I thought he was going to drive it,” Bell-Haynes said. “I thought I contested it well, but he made a tough shot.” Vermont turned it over on the inbound, and the Retrievers stormed to center court to celebrate.
Bell-Haynes finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Payton Henson ended with 14 points and junior guard Ernie Duncan had 10. For UMBC, Lyles was the lone player in double figures. “[UMBC were] the better team today,” head coach John Becker said. “They made the plays down the stretch, and at the ends of halves they did a really good job.” The Retrievers headed to
the NCAA tournament, while the Catamounts were sent to the National Invitational Tournament. UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to upset a No.1 seed in the men’s NCAA tournament with a 74-54 win over the University of Virginia. UVM fell 91-64 in the NIT by the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders March 13, ending their season with a record of 27-8.