vanderbilthustler WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM
VOL. 127, ISS. 25
We cover all things autumn, from Halloween scares to pumpkin fare
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LIFE SPECIAL FEATURE
AX story of courage: part II
InX the second installment, members of Lambda fight to include sexual orientation in the university’s nondiscrimination policy
PAGE PAGE128
From junior college to the SEC Outside linebacker Nehemiah Mitchell has come a long way to earn a starting job for the Commodores
OPINION
Not so “outstanding” Guest columnist and senior Shawn Albert examines the harmful themes present in the Homecoming contest
SPORTS
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news
CAMPUS UPDATE Vanderbilt’s Naval ROTC is presenting their ‘2015 National Security Symposium: General John Hyten on Space and Cyberspace’ on Friday, Oct. 23 from 4:30 to 5:30 pm in Sarratt Cinema.
Student raises money for ill dining worker
Junior Julie Hornsby is raising money to send former dining employee Donna Ferguson on a trip to Scotland By ANNA BUTRICO News reporter --------------------
After Julie Hornsby’s Chemistry lab ended every Wednesday night at 8 p.m., she would head to Munchie Mart for a late dinner. Donna Ferguson, one of Vanderbilt’s dining workers, would be cleaning the tables outside Munchie Mart. “When I was little, my parents would always tell me that I should say hello to people who clean the tables and work around you and make sure the environment is clean and livable. Donna was always one of those people who made sure Rand was kept really nice for us. So I would always say ‘hi’ to her. If you give her the chance, she will talk to you, basically. She’s always looking for someone to talk to, I think.” Hornsby said. As week after week passed, Hornsby and Ferguson formed a close friendship. “We would always talk about everything. We’d talk about her family and how they were getting new horses, about her donkey (named Junior) living in her backyard,” Hornsby said. “It was just the most random facts about her life, about when she was young, about what she did, what she didn’t do. She’d stand there and talk for me for a half an hour.” Hornsby was distraught when she didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to Ferguson last summer, and even more so when she discovered that Ferguson was no longer working
at Vanderbilt. Ferguson took leave after she was diagnosed with Stage III pancreatic cancer. “Honestly, I didn’t really know what to do, or what to say,” Hornsby said. “It’s pretty late in the process, and she doesn’t have a lot of time to live. So then I was like, ‘How does this even happen?’” Hornsby wanted to do something for Ferguson. Reflecting upon their past conversations, she recalled a discussion they had on Scotland. “Three summers ago I went to Scotland with my family. I think it’s the most magical place I have ever been to on Earth. It’s beautiful. So I remember telling her, ‘Donna, if there’s one place you have to go in this world, it’s Scotland. You have to go there once.’ So over the summer, when I was talking to her the one thing I thought was, ‘Crap! She’ll never have time to go to Scotland? What can be done?’ Then I had this idea of perhaps raising money for her to go to Scotland,” she said. Hornsby then set out to create a “gofundme” page to raise money for a trip. The goal was $12,000 to send Ferguson, her daughter and her sister to Scotland. “In life, I think experiences are the most valuable thing you can have, with people you love. What else could you want in this life than to travel and explore different people and cultures?” she said. The “gofundme” page exploded when Hornsby first shared it, raising $1,200 in four days. “When I showed her the $1,200 we had raised in four days, she was crying, and was
vanderbilthustler STAFF
ALLIE GROSS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PHOTO COURTESY OF JULIE HORNSBY
just so emotional that people were caring about this, and were donating to the cause. So as the organizer, I can actually see the names of people who donate, even if they donate anonymously. Most of those people I had never heard their names before. I thought, ‘This is so amazing. They’re helping and they don’t even know who me or Donna are.’” Currently, their funds are at $2,403 but have plateaued. Hornsby implores the Vanderbilt community to donate to the cause and give Donna this experience. “We think life is this eternal thing that is never going to end,” Hornsby said. “For me, that’s scary. What would I do with my life if I knew I only had five months to live? So I asked myself, ‘What can I do for her to make her five months worth living?’ Because I know she loves
ZOE SHANCER — NEWS EDITOR KARA SHERRER — LIFE EDITOR QUEEN STEVENSON — OPINION EDITOR BEN WEINRIB — SPORTS EDITOR JOSH HAMBURGER — MANAGING EDITOR BOSLEY JARRETT — DESIGN DIRECTOR ANNA BUTRICO — WEB EDITOR
life so much. She’s just such a joyful person. She’s never in a bad mood. She just brings so much joy to me and so much joy I’m sure to everyone who she talks to in Rand.” Ryan Krech, a supervisor in Rand, echoed this sentiment, saying that Ferguson made a lot of friends with students and employees during her time at Vanderbilt. “Donna is so much more than just an employee here at Rand,” Krech said. “I am blessed to have been able to have some very genuine conversations with her and I can say this: She made and continues to make a difference in my life and the lives of others because of who she is. Donna is loved by many, and I am privileged to call her my friend.”
gofundme.com/juliehornsby
ZIYI LIU — PHOTO DIRECTOR WESLEY LIN — CHIEF COPY EDITOR COLLIN ZIMMERMAN — CHIEF WEB DEVELOPER MATT LIEBERSON — FEATURES EDITOR PRIYANKA ARIBINDI — AUDIENCE STRATEGIST KATHY YUAN —ASST. PHOTO DIRECTOR SHARON SI —ASST. DESIGN DIRECTOR JACK SENTELL —ASST. LIFE EDITOR
DESIGNERS ZACH BERKOWITZ GEORGIA WILSON VIVIAN SAXON
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life
GO DO
THIS
El Día de los Muertos
Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Every fall, Cheekwood hosts a celebration of the Latin American holiday El Día de los Muertos (translated as the Day of the Dead). Make sugar skulls, listen to Latin music, purchase food and art from participating vendors, take bilingual tours of the museum and garden, and more. Admission is $14 for adults.
HUSTLER'S PICKS
A PLETHORA OF How to get your pumpkin fix with meal swipes this October
PUMPKINS While being on campus limits the opportunities to bake every Pinterest recipe with pumpkin in the name, the team at Vanderbilt dining does its best to help students get their pumpkin fix, crafting unique dishes for every time of day. The Hustler tracked down every pumpkin-flavored item on the Meal Plan and taste-tested the top treats to see how they measure up.
PUMPKIN PANCAKES
Where: The Kitchen at Kissam If you can get yourself up early enough on a Thursday morning and make the trek to Kissam between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., you’ll find a serving station dedicated to these orange flapjacks. An entree serving is the perfect way to get the full fall taste, and includes three pancakes topped with vanilla bean whipped cream, a dash of maple syrup and a sprinkling of candied pecans. The pancakes themselves have a texture similar to cornbread, but are still easy to cut. The toppings help to add moisture and dynamic flavor, but the cakes offer only a mild pumpkin taste on their own.
PUMPKIN PIE
Where: Commons Dining Hall Commons Dining, also known as the fast route to a delicious freshman fifteen, knows how to craft a quality dessert. Rather than complicating the perfection of pumpkin pie with extra flair, the bakers keep it simple and stick to the classic recipe. The pumpkin pie filling itself is a vibrant shade of orange, similar to that of the outside of a pumpkin. The crust is slightly bready and strong enough to keep its form as you eat, rather than cracking apart after the first forkful. A small swirl of whipped cream tops off the properly-sized slice piece of pie. Taste-wise, a variety of spices add depth to the filling’s flavor, and you can even see some of the flecks of cinnamon and nutmeg on the surface. The bakers at Commons prove their recipes can be just as good, if not better, than what grandmother makes.
PUMPKIN SCONES
PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE
Where: Last Drop Coffee Shop For some die-hard latte drinkers, a pumpkin spice latte is only a true PSL if it’s from Starbucks. But students trying to survive on Commodore Cash will find solace in the fact that Last Drop offers its own knock-off version. While not as sweet and creamy as the original Starbucks latte, Last Drop’s PSL holds its own thanks to its use of Caribou Coffee, which provides a less bitter base than the Starbucks version. The syrup flavors themselves are not overwhelmingly strong, so the latte does still feel like you are drinking a coffee with flavors added rather than the other way around. Anyone looking to save a couple bucks (but still searching for that pumpkin pick-me-up with a caffeinated kick) will enjoy this drink.
By Adrienne Alderman, Senior life reporter
Where: Last Drop Coffee Shop Pumpkin pie texture doesn’t appeal to all, so for those that want the flavor in another form, Last Drop offers another seasonal treat: pumpkin scones. Most people think that scones are crumbly, dry and stale, but Last Drop’s scones defy this notion. The pumpkin scone texture lies somewhere between pumpkin bread and a cookie, so it’s hard enough to be dipped into tea but soft enough to enjoy. The scone is mildly orange in color and offers a similarly mild pumpkin flavor, relying more on its spices and sweetness than the pumpkin taste itself. Early risers looking for a filling and somewhat balanced breakfast pastry should grab this scone and pair it with a chai or pumpkin spice latte.
CINNAMON SUGAR PUMPKIN SEEDS
Where: Kissam Market Being at college makes it a bit more difficult to find the time or the opportunity to carve pumpkins. One of the best parts of that pumpkin carving is harvesting the seeds from inside and roasting them for a high-protein treat. For the low price of a side on the Meal Plan, students can get a bag of Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds to fulfill their seasonal seed fix. The outer coating is sweet without being overly candied, and the inside balances out the taste with a savory flavor. While they still don’t taste quite the same as a homemade fall snack, the seeds are a good substitute.
NEED MORE PUMPKIN? Be on the lookout for more offerings from Vandy dining throughout the end of the month. Fall Harvest Week, which lasts from Monday, Oct. 26 to Sunday, Oct. 31, is full of delicious fall specials, including Pumpkin Gingersnap Tiramisu on Oct. 29 at Commons, and Pumpkin Waffles with Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream and Maple Syrup on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Rand.
BEST PUMPKIN DISH
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Scare Tactics
From a horror movie marathon to ghostly tours, Nashville offers plenty of Halloween-inspired events this month By Lexi Smith, Life reporter While Halloween is still a few days away, plenty of venues in Nashville are already getting their spook on with events and activities inspired by the impending holiday. Get into the Halloween spirit early and check out everything from ghost tours to a nationally ranked haunted house through the end of the month.
SURVIVE 12 HOURS OF HORROR MOVIES If you think you are brave enough to handle it, venture over to the Belcourt Theatre for its dark-to-dawn movie marathon starting at 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. Watch 12 hours worth of monsters, corpses and gore galore, and the Belcourt’s website even promises “grisly ghosts and horrible hosts.” The terror begins with a viewing of the “The Thing” and ends with the viewing of “The Blob.” The other five films remain a secret until showtime and include a premier of one horror film that has yet to be shown in Nashville. General admission is $18.
GET TO KNOW THE GHOSTS OF NASHVILLE Nashville is home to the infamous Bell Witch and the “Mistress of Belmont,” and as a result, offers many premier ghost tours. Students may have toured the Hermitage before for its rich presidential history, but this month the historical landmark is offering a 90-minute guided lantern-led ghost tour in addition to regular sightseeing options. You will be led into the Hermitage mansion and to Jackson’s tomb while listening to the retelling of the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson and the Bell Witch. Tickets range from $23 to $28. If you are unable to venture outside of Nashville for a ghost tour, then ride an Uber or cab downtown and depart on a journey of Music City’s scariest sites in a converted New Orleans hearse. Stops along the way include the ghosts of Union Station, Nashville’s oldest cemetery and more. Tickets are $25.
MAKE IT THROUGH HAUNTED HOUSES (AND WOODS) Journey into Nashville Nightmare Haunted house, a nationally ranked haunted house, and see if you can endure nightmare after nightmare. With its recent renovation, the house now offers more props, special effects and actors that will surely deliver a terrifying experience. Going alone is not advised. Tickets range from $20 to $45. If you would rather be frightened with the comfort of some fresh air, then check out the Dead Land Haunted Woods instead. Located just south of Lebanon, the walking trails lead you through the dark woods with many scares along the way. After you make it through the forest, you’ll be consoled with a warm bonfire and concessions to help your heartbeat slow down. Individual tickets range from $5 to $15.
Can one man survive on free food on campus?
A midweek update of the #FreeVU project By Matt Lieberson, Features editor Throughout this week, Features editor Matt Lieberson has been subsisting only off of free food. Has he learned anything? Has he been eating okay? Does his mother keep asking him those questions? Find out in his midweek dispatch about his #FreeVU project. Monday night, at the first dinner of my free food journey across Vanderbilt, Professor Doug Fisher claimed that I was getting “the ideal college experience.” He thought that by attending every campus event available, even if only for a bite to eat, I would be engaging in campus culture on a multitude of levels that many students never find. In the past couple days, I have trekked all over campus in my search for free food, and my “ideal college experience” has been odd and entertaining, to say the least. First, to dispel the two biggest concerns I’ve heard: I haven’t stolen anything, and I’m eating enough food to survive and be nourished. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the healthy offerings at each event. The culinary winner at the moment has been my Invisible Identities dinner at Kissam, with the mole chicken and gnocchi proving far better fare than any usual campus dining
option. (Unfortunately, Blanc was on the meal plan, so I couldn’t go.) I’ve had mixed reactions to the events themselves. As I wrote online, I found the Invisible Identities talk to be extremely engaging, exposing me to viewpoints about the experience of international and multicultural students in a new light. On the other hand, my lunch about publishing scholarly books on Tuesday was teeth-grittingly awkward. I was the only non-professor in the audience, and the professors I recognized either looked at me with confusion or laughter. I would never go to these events otherwise, though, so I didn’t know what to expect until I tried them. What’s been most surprising is how many people already recognize me as “the free food guy.” I assumed I would be a fly on the wall, watching and observing events while finding my daily sustenance. Instead, I’ve
Follow along at: @m_lieberson #FreeVU PHOTO BY ALISHA NEWTON PHOTO COURTESY OF VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY THEATRE
Features editor Matt Lieberson dines at Kissam’s “Invisible Identities” event on Monday night. been a noted presence at every event I’ve been to since my initial lunch. People have generally regarded my experiment with bemusement. I was nervous I’d be viewed as a mooch, but I’ve found that people and organizations are happy for fellow students to engage with their events, even if the sole reason is for lunch or dinner. While the past two days have been a strange experience, I can only imagine that the rest of my week will be even stranger. I’m going to a talk about body hair, a Latin dance and culture event and much more. My personal favorite is a Stammtisch with
the German Graduate Student Association. I do not know how to speak German (or what a stammtisch is), but they said all levels are welcome, and zero German is a level. My favorite part of this project has been all of the online engagement, from both people I know and total strangers. Keep following my week on Twitter at @m_lieberson and @VandyHustler, and with the hashtag #FreeVU. I’ll be updating my online journal at http://www.vanderbilthustler. online/2015/10/19/freevu/ every day from my world where meal plans cease to exist.
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
Apple pickin’ time
Cook a three-course meal around this sweet, in-season fruit By Gianna Strand, Life reporter a t n e l o P e i r B e l App INGREDIENTS:
3 cups water r 1 cup apple cide lenta 1 cup instant po moved, cubed re d n ri , e s e e h ½ cup brie c d apple* ½ peeled, grate 2 tsp salt
DIRECTIONS:
ether. apple cider tog d n a r te a w e t, mix th stant polenta. in e In a medium po th in k is h w rto a boil, then heese until inco c e ri b e th Bring the liquid in k whis mmers, gently si ta n le o p e th As lt. porated. ted apple and sa ra g e th in ld fo Gently y! Serve and enjo
rks best here
, wo ch as MacIntosh su , le p p a ft so *A
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
Apple Popcorn Balls
DIRECTIONS:
and salt in a small p ru sy rn co ht lig , r, butter Mix the brown suga . pot. il for 5 to 8 minutes bo it t le d an il bo a Bring the mixture to pcorn d 6 cups popped po ad l, w bo g in ix m e In a larg and ddd in chopped n or pc po er ov re tu ndy mix ly Pour the melted ca den spoon until even oo w a h it w l el w ix M ns. apple chips and peca combined. form into 3-inch en th , ly ht ig sl ol co ixture to t. Allow the popcorn m er lined baking shee ap -p ax w or ed er tt on a bu balls and place them etely before eating. pl m co ol co to ts ea Allow the tr
INGREDIENTS:
ips, chopped ch le p p a d e ri d p ½ cu ped ½ cup pecans, chop 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup butter p ½ cup light corn syru ¼ tsp salt rn 6 cups popped popco
Warm Apple Waln
ut Salad
INGREDIENTS: For salad: ½ cup walnuts, ha lved 2 large apples, thinly sliced* ¼ grated white che ddar cheese Salt & pepper
DIRECTIONS:
For dressing: 2 tbsp, extra-virgin o live oil ¼ cup fresh lime ju ice 4 scallions, thinly ch opped ¼ cup grated whit e cheddar cheeses *Honeycrisp or Pink
Lady apples work be
st
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coarsely chop the walnuts, spread th em out on a small baking sheet and sp non-stick rinkle with ¼ cup gr at ed white cheddar Toast the walnuts cheese. in the oven until go ld en brown (about 6 to minutes). While th 8 e walnuts are toas ti ng , p la ce the apple slices in large bowl. a In a separate med ium bowl, whisk to gether extra-virgin lime juice, and chop olive oil, ped scallions until th or ou ghly mixed. Add in ¼ cup grated white cheddar and whisk thoroughly ag Remove toasted ch ain. eesy walnuts from the oven and add th large bowl with ap em to the ples. Pour the dressing into the large bow l and add salt and as desired. Use a p pepper air of tongs or serv in g sp oo n s to gently toss the salad and serve.
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
special feature: A sto
A student hero
The fight to include sexual orientation in the nondiscrimination policy By Allie Gross, Editor-in-chief INTRODUCTION This is part II in an ongoing series about the untold history of the Vanderbilt Lambda Association and the LGBTQI community on campus (read part I at vanderbilthustler.com). The following is constructed from interviews with alumni and faculty, Vanderbilt Hustler archives and university documents. In the previous installment, Dean KC Potter opened up his home on campus as an anonymous, safe refuge for gay students and faculty to meet, amidst the toxic, homophobic climate at Vanderbilt. In part II, the Lambda leaders take an important step toward changing university policies and attitudes. Andy Dailey (‘92) had a row to himself in his crowded history class lecture. The other students, keeping their distance, flashed middle fingers and threw erasers at him when the professor turned to write on the board. “I sat down and everybody who was sitting in that row got back up and moved somewhere else, so I was sitting in a row by myself,” Andy said. “I couldn’t learn anything because people kept staring at me, or saying ugly words at me.” He visited the professor’s office hours to ask for help, and she grabbed Andy’s hands, jerking him toward her. “You’re not living a Biblical life,” the professor told him. In 1989, Andy had come to Vanderbilt from a conservative family and a conservative town in rural west Tennessee. He’d never met anyone who wasn’t a southern protestant. Vanderbilt was new and exciting — but at the same time, the conservative, Greek culture on campus was stifling. “As a gay man, you question yourself your whole life,” Andy said. “You are taught by culture that you’re wrong, you’re evil, you’re possessed by a demon. I had those thoughts.” He initially sought spiritual guidance around Nashville. Then, a friend suggested he attend a Lambda meeting. “It was a social outlet in a safe environment,” Andy said. “There was no political agenda at that time, no political notions of any sort — just a safe place to be.” The meetings were held at Dean KC Potter’s house. KC didn’t come out until after retiring, but each week he welcomed the LGBT students into his home on West Side Row. When Andy arrived, the group’s membership was beginning to diminish. The group’s founders had graduated, and Andy remembers being one of three people at his first meeting. But he was ready to change that. “It certainly evolved into a more powerful group once Andy got ahold of it,” KC remembers. “Andy is a student hero … He attracted people. He began to have activities that were more open to campus. He was a very effective student leader.” “(Andy) was a very dynamic force on campus,” said fellow Lambda member Ron “DJ Ron” Slomowicz (‘95), who was known on campus and in Nashville for hosting his gay-centric radio show “Out of the Closet” on WRVU. “He really took the campus by storm.”
Andy organized a whitewater rafting trip for Lambda. He created a convention for gay and lesbian groups in the SEC, hosted on Vanderbilt’s campus. Paul Feeney (‘95) remembers Lambda descending on campus at 2 a.m. the night before National Coming Out Day. They’d plaster hundreds of flyers around campus and on trees, 8.5” x11” sheets with the names of famous gay people from Elton John to Roman emperors. “St. Augustine was the one that really got the campus crusade fired up,” Paul remembers. “We took those boards at Rand Hall and completely plastered them, which was a total violation of the rules. Of course, the person who was charged with enforcing the sign policy was KC.” Because Andy was known to be out on campus, Andy’s friends from Lambda meetings avoided him in public — afraid that they would be suspected of being gay themselves. “The rest of the Lambda membership was very quiet. I had exposed myself, and they had seen what was happening to me,” Andy said. As an education and history double major, Andy hoped to student teach to get his teaching certification. He sat down to meet with his adviser, a graduate dean in Peabody, and was bluntly told: “Because of what you are, I will never allow you to be a teacher.” He’d been denied his teaching certification, just because he was gay. “Here you are: You’re an undergraduate student who’s studying education to become a teacher, and he tells that right to your face in a closed-door meeting,” Andy said. “It’s not written, it’s not recorded. I was stunned and had no defense. It’s all verbal, so what the hell are you going to do?” Clearly, something had to change. In an effort to fight discrimination, such as what Andy experienced, the Lambda Association had set its sights on revising the university’s nondiscrimination policy. The Vanderbilt nondiscrimination clause prohibited discrimination on grounds like race, religion or sex and protected students and faculty
“
What we’re talking about is that people are threatened, people are abused, people are beaten up, people are fired. And I dare the bigots of this campus to condone that kind of behavior.
from harassment. Lambda wanted to add “sexual orientation” to the list of protected classes — so that, for example, a professor couldn’t be fired for being gay. “The students began to say, ‘What can we do about the university’s policies to help protect gay students?’ My response was, ‘We need to get a petition to the Community Affairs Board,’” KC said. The clause was necessary so gay people on campus could be “treated like humans,” according to KC. “It would prevent employees from being fired for no good reason and not being able to legally retaliate. It would prevent professors from discriminating against gay people, as Andy Dailey was discriminated against by Peabody College faculty. It would cause students to be more comfortable in their sexual identity. It would attract faculty who either were gay or thought it was stupid that you should be homophobic,” KC said. “We opened it up at the request of students, and that’s always important to the university — to listen to the students’ complaints and needs,” he continued. KC served on the Community Affairs Board (CAB), the group that recommended policy to the chancellor at the time. Dean of Students Johan Madson, the same dean who helped KC get in touch with the Lambda founders to start the group, appointed the Subcommittee on Sexual Orientation and Minority Harassment, and granted KC’s request to be the chair. The subcommittee was then faced with a choice. The obvious option was to meet, talk it over, and decide what to do. “But I suggested, we’ve really got an educational effort in front of us for the entire university community,” KC said. “Therefore I recommend that we conduct hearings, like we’re a member of Congress.” Throughout the next year, the subcommittee did exactly that. They advertised the meetings as open to the entire campus through an ad in the Vanderbilt Register, a university publication. Psychologists and psychiatrists came to speculate and present findings on the causes and nature of homosexuality. KC researched similar policies at peer schools. Religious leaders led the Board through what Deuteronomy and Leviticus had to offer on homosexuality, and student representatives from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes elected to come give their two cents and read Bible verses. “I believe if Vanderbilt University is to insert this clause in there, that what that really does is to send out a message that homosexuality is okay,” an FCA member said. Legal scholars presented their perspective. Homosexual activity was still on the books as a felony and “crime against nature” in the state of Tennessee, although generally unenforced at the time. ROTC would have to be exempt from the nondiscrimination clause, because it was not legal for gay people to join the Army. One member of the subcommittee accused KC of trying to “invent dissent,” saying, “Would you invite a racist to come in and talk against a policy to keep from discriminating against people of color?” “Sometimes I was criticized by the gay people because I allowed (dissenting organizations) to speak. I would always respond by saying, just because we allow them to speak doesn’t mean we have to believe them, but if they have a legitimate
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ory of courage, part II point of view we have to hear it,” KC said. The process gave more legitimacy to the subcommittee’s recommendation and allowed the public to follow their decisionmaking. Philosophy professors such as John Lachs came in to provide a moral point of view. Members of Lambda testified about their experiences confronting hatred and homophobia on campus. “What we’re talking about here is not what people think, whether we’re right or wrong, or whether we’re the ultimate evil and will corrupt the body politic of the university and this kind of thing,” Julie Klein, philosophy grad student, told the subcommittee. “What we’re talking about is that people are threatened, people are abused, people are beaten up, people are fired. And I dare the bigots of this campus to condone that kind of behavior. If you think that’s right, stand up and say it: we discriminate against gay men and lesbians.” Out faculty members talked about fearing for their jobs, and threats of tenure denial. “I was told by my department chairman a couple of days ago, he said maybe I’d be more comfortable in San Francisco,” a faculty member said. Ultimately, the subcommittee recommended that sexual orientation be added to the nondiscrimination clause, and KC presented the recommendations to the Faculty Senate. “It was one of the more nervous times of my life because a number of the faculty on that Faculty Senate were my former teachers, and they had been merciless in examining me in class (at Vanderbilt Law School),” he said. The report passed the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly in spring 1991, and they joined the CAB in recommending it to the chancellor. That’s when Andy Dailey decided to write about coming out in a column in The Hustler, hoping to provide critics a clearer picture of the necessity of the nondiscrimination policy. He told his story — from going to church every morning where he was told that “homosexuals will be the first to be cast into the eternal pit of fire” to finding a family in Lambda and encouraging others who needed it to seek out that family, too. Two people cut out the column and mailed it to local newspapers in west Tennessee, the conservative area where Andy was from. “I don’t know what it was for — to destroy my family or to destroy my reputation. It was mean-spirited … It gives you an idea of the level of rage and hatefulness that people have toward people like myself. Especially then, but of course we all know it continues,” Andy said. The newspapers didn’t print the story, but they did call Andy’s family. The Daileys were outraged. They forced him to come home from school and cut him off financially. “For some years, they were afraid of me, I think,” Andy said. He was able to go back to school when KC found a way to get him extra workstudy. After the Senate recommended the addition to the clause, Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt sat on the recommendation for a summer. Then at the bi-annual faculty assembly that fall, the chancellor announced that he tabled the clause. “These topics concern areas of the law that are unsettled and currently are the subject of both proposed legislation in Congress and pending litigation at various levels of the judicial system,” Wyatt said. “... It doesn’t seem to be a prudent time to pick a policy in which there is a good deal of ambiguity and with a murky definition of sexual orientation.” Still, some advocates of the clause alleged that the chancellor had the pocketbooks of conservative alumni donors in mind. The tabling of the clause set off another wave of heated campus debate. The dean of the Divinity School (to this day a stronghold of progressivism) rushed to the chapel to pray for the chancellor’s enlightenment. The Black Student Association, the Asian-American Student Association and the Student Government Association (predecessor to VSG) voted to support adding “sexual orientation” to the clause. Students debated the clause — sometimes viciously — in the op-ed pages of The Hustler and publicly on the wall at Rand. A boycott of the
Friday, March 29, 1991
Coming out of the closet is a relief for homosexuals
T
he closet is a lonely and dark place. The people in the closet have something to share to the people in the room, but some people in the room wish for the closet to be nailed shut. The people in the closet want to go into the room, but are afraid that they will not be welcome, and will be harmed if they venture forth. I have left the closet, to return no more. The closet is a small, dark lonely place and I have no desire to be there nor do I deserve that special little place society has deemed appropriatefor my people. I am a gay man. I am also an undergraduate. I am also studying to be a teacher. Homosexuality has been the topic of heated debate. Debate and discussion is
good. As a homosexual, or gay person, I know that most people are uneducated about us. Why are we this way? “When did you decide to be gay?” “Do you realize that this is a phase you’re going through?” Instead of responding to articles recently published in The Hustler, I would rather talk about what it is like to be gay. This will no doubt be more beneficial to readers, since not everyone has my religious or political beliefs, nor my background. I don’t want to push my beliefs down the throats of others. I am simply giving a small part of my life to the page. When I reached about sixth grade, I began to realize that I was different. The other boys would talk about girls, about killing squirrels and other “manly” things.
I had no interest in these subjects, especially females. I would lie on my bed at night thinking of a certain male in my class. I was called a “sissy” (fag wasn’t used at this stage). I hated that word worse than anything. I would go home and cry at night. I had not fully comprehended how different I was. Around sixth grade, my mother decided that we, the children, should begin attending church. So we went to the Baptist Church. Sunday after Sunday in the all-white (I am not talking about paint) country church. I was indoctrinated. “Blacks don’t come to our church because we worship differently and besides they don’t want to come or they would.” “God gave this country to the Christians, destroying the (Native Americans) and sav-
ing the damned.” Homosexuals will be the first to be cast into the eternal pit of fire and brimstone on the Judgement Day!” The Sunday School teacher
allowed a classmate to talk about her father’s “niggerhating” dog. The teacher talked about an effeminate pianist that had once played at the church, calling him a “sissy” and saying that the church had “run him off.” I really didn’t feel comfortable in such an environment. As I continued to develop and continued to find males attractive, I began to pray to God to rid my soul of demons. I prayed this prayer almost every night for seven years. I was baptized, I played piano in the church, I was an usher, I participated in speech contests given by the Baptist Convention. I did everything that I was supposed to. Inside I believed that I was evil. I made it through high
Photo illustration based on Vanderbilt Hustler archives.
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Senior Class Fund was launched, co-led by David vanDalfsen (‘92). Andy put a “National Coming Out Day” ad in the Hustler condemning Wyatt’s “outrageous” refusal to approve the clause, signed by mostly anonymous gay people on campus. When someone suggested calling for faculty resignations in protest, as Divinity School professors did during Vanderbilt’s integration in the ‘60s, Professor Lachs called for Chancellor Wyatt’s resignation instead. “I think the right way to go about this is to call for the Chancellor to resign,” Lachs had said. “… He has proven himself incapable of leading a national university. He is not a person who is willing to stand up for what is moral leadership, and without moral leadership, you can’t have a national university. I’m sorry. So the way to do it is either call on him to reverse himself or to get the hell out.” Soon enough, Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Jeff Carr, who had advised Wyatt at the time, realized the tabling of the clause would not be ignored. Carr defended the chancellor, claiming that “sexual orientation” wasn’t defined clearly enough to pass legal muster. He met with campus groups including Student Leaders Action Coalition (SLAC), a group that formed to advocate for the clause, Lambda and the Faculty Senate. Together, they drew up a version of the clause that sorted out some of the potential legal problems, to give to the Chancellor for approval. The Board of Trust saw the outcry on campus, and determined that it also wanted to take up the matter — the powerful university body with the authority to confront (and fire) the chancellor. KC brought a number of students — including Andy and David — before the Board to testify about their experiences on campus. “It was pretty nerve-wracking,” remembers David. “The next day, KC said one Board of Trust member who had previously been opposed to to the clause said his view had completely changed to the opposite perspective. I certainly remember that and how amazed I was that it really did make an impact on these people.” KC said the Board of Trust “subtly overruled” the chancellor’s rejection of the clause, urging him to reconsider.
“They didn’t confront him, they just talked about it and said what their opinion was,” KC said. “But it convinced everybody that the chancellor needed to look at it again. Then he accepted it.” The addition of the clause was an incredible victory for Lambda and the LGBT students. It was a recognition — in writing — of a community’s suffering, and of a need for protection. It was the university taking concrete action to affirm the experiences of these students, to affirm the courage of all the students who endured threats in their dorms or their columns being mailed home. “We’re on our way to becoming a university,” Andy said at the time. “We’ve (gay, lesbian and bisexual community members) been shown that we’re accepted and welcome on this campus.” “I don’t think there’s any doubt it will help faculty, students and staff who are gay in thinking the university isn’t negative about them,” KC had said. “For the university to say ‘We think you’re okay’ is a very important thing. A lot of students, faculty and staff will say ‘There’s empirical evidence I’m worthy of being in the University community.’” “It was a huge victory and it felt like a lot of blood, sweat and tears were involved in making the change,” said Chris Freeman, who testified in front of the CAB. “It felt like progress.” Neither a reluctant administration nor a hateful Peabody dean could stop Andy Dailey. Now, he lives in Albania, where he’s an educator working to start up two International Baccalaureate schools. “I hope that our history can be appreciated, that the students who are there now who are gay and lesbian students can appreciate those of us who’ve gone before, who have made some of the things they have now possible. That we do not become complacent at the university. We should talk about what makes people different, we should educate ourselves. We have to be alert for ignorance,” Andy said. Armed with the legal protection of the university, other courageous students would follow in Andy’s footsteps, forging ahead to effect change on campus. —News reporter Sarah Friedman contributed to this report
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
QUOTE OF THE DAY
opinion Popularity contest?
“Stress, depression and anxiety are not and should not be considered taboo in college campus environments. It is always okay to express unhappiness and lack of stability.”
NAEHA HARIDASA, SOPHOMORE
What the ‘Most Outstanding Senior’ award says about our culture of being overinvolved
SHAWN ALBERT is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at shawn.c.albert@ vanderbilt.edu.
Foremost, this article is not an indictment of my peers. The purpose of this piece, rather, is to critically examine the institution of “The Most Outstanding Senior.” The implications of such a superlative should not be understated. The power of prestige is immense, and ceremonies that are founded to recognize certain peers above others deserve the utmost scrutiny. A brief look at conferring the title “The Most Outstanding Senior” to one student immediately reveals how daunting the process would be if thoroughly conducted. In a senior class that has more than 1,600 students, dozens of majors and four unique undergraduate schools, even a cursory rundown of the task is so incredibly immense that it seems impossible. Due to the inherent richness of talent and knowledge at Vanderbilt, how is it feasible to compare the achievements of hundreds of students over the course of three and a half years and designate one as pinnacle? Among a chemistry major who invests hundreds of hours in a research laboratory in order to defend an honors thesis, a cello performance major who wracks up thousands of hours of practice that culminates in a senior recital, and a double major in the School of Engineering who is a VUceptor, an Alternative Spring Break site leader and a member of the Multicultural Leadership Council, who is the most outstanding? Now take this loaded question, multiply it hundreds of times over, and you have the process that has played out each year since 2005. The conclusion is apparent — the achievements of our student body are in no way directly comparable, and therein lies a major fault within this title. The title of “Most Outstanding” can inherently be boiled down to name recognition as a result of the voting process, which is dependent upon two factors: quantity of involvement and the conspicuous nature of a position. Certain posi-
vanderbilthustler EDITORIAL BOARD ALLIE GROSS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@vanderbilthustler.com
ZOE SHANCER
KARA SHERRER
NEWS EDITOR news@vanderbilthustler.com
LIFE EDITOR life@vanderbilthustler.com
QUEEN STEVENSON
BEN WEINRIB
OPINION EDITOR opinion@vanderbilthustler. com
SPORTS EDITOR sports@vanderbilthustler.com
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The outcome is clear — with more commitments comes greater name recognition, and with greater name recognition comes more votes.
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tions have high degrees of name recognition in different sectors of campus. In the past, candidates who are voted by their peers to the rank of “Top 10 Outstanding Seniors” tend to be involved with organizations that have constituencies based on large sectors of campus: Multicultural Leadership Council members, Vanderbilt Student Government leaders, VUceptors, Resident Advisors and positions within Greek Life are commonly seen among the ranks of the Top 10. Regarding the recognition of “Most Outstanding,” the implicit, if unintentional, statement is that these commitments are valued more highly than others on campus that are less conspicuous. Not only are specific types of commitments more heavily weighted when deeming a student “Most Outstanding,” but the sheer number of commitments plays an important factor. Frankly, the student that is the RA, the VUceptor and the executive board member of a large organization will likely rack up more votes than the student who is an RA alone. In the net-zero-sum game that is “The Most Outstanding Senior,” a few dozen votes play a pivotal role in deciding rank among the ballots that are cast and the narrow margins that abound. This emphasis on designating a “Most Outstanding Senior” is dangerous to the strength of Vanderbilt as an undergraduate institution, and it is dangerous to the health of our students. We are
The Vanderbilt Hustler Opinion page aims to stimulate discussion in the Vanderbilt community. In that spirit, columnists, guest columnists and authors of letters to the editor are expected to provide logical argument to back their views. Unreasonable arguments, arguments in bad faith or arguments in vain between columnists have no place in The Hustler and will not be published. The Hustler welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three methods of expression: letters to the editor, guest columns and feedback on vanderbilthustler.com. The views expressed in lead editorials reflect the majority of opinion among The Hustler’s editorial board and may be supposed to represent the opinion of The Vanderbilt Hustler at the time of publication. They are not necessarily representative of any individual member. Letters must be submitted either in person by the author to The Hustler office or via email to opinion@vanderbilthustler.com. Letters via email should come from a Vanderbilt email address where the identity of the sender is clear. With rare exception, all letters must be received by 2 p.m. on the Sunday prior to publication. The editor
guilty of rewarding students for over-commitment, and the consequences of this systemized praise for a jam-packed resume are dire. When students are stretched too thin, the ability of those students to serve as assets to the organizations for which they have committed greatly diminishes. Speaking from personal experience, the sheer number of commitments associated with five major positions I held the previous year was immense, coming at great sacrifice to sleep, my personal life and my overall performance within each position. However, whenever my level of commitment was brought up, I was rarely met with open criticism. Awe and admiration were rather regularly delivered, fueling a state of involvement that was helpful to no one. Conversely, I have had friends speak at length to feelings of inadequacy associated with holding one or two positions. Though their schedules are packed with meetings and late hours, their levels of commitment are not as visible and as a result are nowhere near as lauded. Rationally, this is the reverse of what should be happening: investment and passion should be praised, not the running list of commitments. However, the voting that determines “Most Outstanding Senior” will not allow this to happen. The outcome is clear — with more commitments comes greater name recognition, and with greater name recognition comes more votes. This ceremony is not representative of the values of our institution. The title “Most Outstanding Senior” breeds competition and rewards cursory involvement in place of celebration of passionate commitment, and, subsequently, is a title that is far from outstanding. This recognition is not without consequence, and the negatives far outweigh the positives. Vanderbilt would be better off without a formal recognition of involvement and success. Students who are highly committed will reap rewards by nature of their investment.
reserves the right to edit and condense submissions for length as well as clarity. Lengthy letters that focus on an issue affecting students may be considered for a guest column at the editor’s discretion. All submissions become the property of The Hustler and must conform to the legal standards of Vanderbilt Student Communications, of which The Hustler is a division. The Vanderbilt Hustler (ISSN 0042-2517), the official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University, is published every Wednesday during the academic year except during exam periods and vacations. The paper is not printed during summer break. The Vanderbilt Hustler allocates one issue of the newspaper to each student and is available at various points on campus for free. Additional copies are $.50 each. The Vanderbilt Hustler is a division of Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Vanderbilt Student Communications.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 11
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What is the Vanderbilt definition of happiness? Mental health is overlooked in our ‘happiest school’ ranking While our campus may seem a place of overachievers and go-getters, it certainly does not mean that everyone is NAEHA HARIDASA necessarily “happy.” Everyone struggles with some kind of burden — never feel the need to live under the pretense of happiness and perfection when you do not feel that way. Two weeks ago, a member of the Vanderbilt community passed away on campus — an event that has not happened during the academic year in a very long time. Though I didn’t know him, his story or his life, his passing rocked me to my core. How was it possible that no one had noticed his internal plight? This isn’t the sort of thing that happens at the “Happiest School in the Nation.” Isn’t that what we are — the happiest students, the happiest faculty, the happiest community? The problem with being named “the happiest is a sophomore in the school” is this: it completely ignores what it means to College of Arts and be happy. After Sang’s passing, I took some time to do Science. She can be a little research into the qualifications upon which our reached at naeha. “campus-wide happiness” was assessed. For the past haridasa@vanderbilt. two years, Vanderbilt University has upheld the ranking edu. of the “Happiest School in the Nation” according to the Princeton Review. The title is rightfully boasted by the administration and admissions because, yes, it does put us in a fantastic light, but who supplies these rankings and how are they measured? After investigating the Princeton Review, I found that rankings are based on surveys distributed to 100,000 college students across 380 colleges and universities in the U.S. This means that our ranking is based entirely on the random polling of about 264 students compared to the 6,851 undergraduates on campus. Moreover, these surveys don’t poll how “happy” we are; rather, they are telling us how “not unhappy” we are by equating the benefits Vanderbilt students receive to our level of overall satisfaction.
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So what they call “happiness” simply means that our campus has more benefits than other universities do. But the assumption of this title comes with a flipside — a very, very serious flipside. It promotes surface-level satisfaction over deeper issues of mental health. What needs to be understood is that the number of campus amenities, organizations and opportunities does not
Can’t we all just get along?
eliminate serious issues of depression and anxiety. Those issues are exactly what this title overlooks — stressors within the campus community, the personal burdens of members of the community and ways in which depression and anxiety manifest with demanding schedules and expectations. These factors are pervasive and do not vanish with a plethora of campus resources. Even more seriously, assuming that we are all happy students changes the ways in which we view each other — as happy, unburdened peers who do not suffer from mental health issues. It reinforces the idea that “everyone is so happy, so I have to be as well” and silences the voices of those who struggle with mental health. While I cannot stop Princeton Review from publishing rankings, I will end by saying this: Stress, depression and anxiety are not and should not be considered taboo in college campus environments. It is always okay to express unhappiness and lack of stability. While our campus may seem a place of overachievers and go-getters, it certainly does not mean that everyone is necessarily “happy.” Everyone struggles with some kind of burden — never feel the need to live under the pretense of happiness and perfection when you do not feel that way. Empathize with others’ burdens and know that there are people available to empathize with yours. Happiness is not measurable and is not easily achieved — even by success. Mental health issues aren’t caused or helped by having resources — they can happen anywhere. Even at the happiest school in the nation.
Not letting our disagreements impede our dialogue
DANIEL WEITZ is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at daniel.r.weitz@ vanderbilt.edu.
In one part of the world, people are rioting, physically breaking down national barriers to reach a life that is better than the one they come from. In another, teenagers and young adults have taken to the streets and are stabbing innocent civilians, both sides descending further into fear and radicalization. Here at home, gun violence has become a common occurrence, with our own president having to issue statement after statement and bereaved families figuring out how to continue their lives. With all of these and other horrible events, watching the news recently has been extremely disheartening; the world appears to be in chaos with no future order or peace in sight. While we study, sleep and socialize here in the typical “Ivory Tower” that is Vanderbilt, seeing these images on TV causes our hearts to ache. We want to help these people. We want to intervene and join the fight for a better future for all. However, our limited viewpoint — skewed by whatever media sources we follow and personal friendships we have with those directly affected — can cause us to inappropriately believe that we understand not just the events that pain us so, but the motives behind them. We take the position of not only analysts but also participants, proceeding to establish our own moral defenses for our opinions. We self-radicalize, choosing to focus on one aspect of an event, and from that lone choice, we determine what is right and what is wrong. We locate those who agree with us and further wall ourselves off from any conflicting viewpoint. In
short, we end up abiding by the same narrow-minded view that we look down upon from our high academic understanding. That is not what Vanderbilt was established to be. Vanderbilt is supposed to be a bastion of not only discourse, but also cooperation. Luckily, throughout my past 3.25 years here, I have found a community of collaboration, not the aggressive competition found at other top universities. I have found people willing to
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Vanderbilt is supposed to be a bastion of not only discourse, but also one of cooperation.
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open up and share their true opinions immediately after meeting one another. I have found people with drastically different beliefs find common ground and even become friends. But I am worried — this environment could easily disappear without our realization. As the world changes, so does our community. Each class brings new ideas and opinions that challenge our previously held understandings; an entirely new generation of Commodores rules the school every four years. We must grapple with these challenges to our opinions,
work to learn from them, and teach the first-years what we have already learned. We cannot let outside forces and events divide us to the point that we cannot even have a conversation with those we disagree with. We should not seek to emulate Congress with its ever increasing partisanship and radicalization that ultimately leads to gridlock. In the face of global events that personally affect us, we have an obligation to express our feelings and thoughts, but not to let them stop us from intellectual engagement with those who may express views that directly conflict with ours. Our own experiences can help others better understand what is going on, while they help ground us in the reality that is being Vanderbilt students. We owe it to both ourselves and future Commodores to abstain from the radicalization and marginalization of others’ ideas. We should consistently be trying to learn from our shared interests and teach about our unique experiences. But we must maintain our friendships with those who see things differently than us and reach out to them to widen our views. So, this is my call: do not fall prey to the idea that the “other side” cannot be engaged, and be open to having painful conversations that you may not agree with. After all, we come to Vanderbilt to learn, and surrounding ourselves with those who disagree with us will create much more rounded individuals.
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
sports
THE BIG STAT
The Commodores’ record in homecoming games since World War II. They are 3-1 in their last four homecoming games but also 3-9 in their last 12 homecoming games.
27-38-3
SEC POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 7 Each week, I rank the teams in the SEC 1-14. This week, we sadly move Florida out of the top spot, Jeff Driskel makes his return to the SEC, and Vanderbilt goes back to where it started the season. By BEN WEINRIB Sports editor --------------------
1. No. 5 LSU (6-0, 4-0 SEC) I’m not exactly sure how LSU isn’t in the top four right now, meaning they wouldn’t make the College Football Playoff. It’s widely accepted that the SEC is the strongest conference, yet the Bayou Bengals are on the outside looking in. I really hope that a rained out game against McNeese State (still not convinced it’s a real school) doesn’t hurt their chances of making the playoff. 2. No. 8 Alabama (6-1, 3-1) All Alabama has to do to win the West is beat LSU coming off a bye and not blow any games in which they’ll be favored by double digits. Obviously that’s no easy task, but Bama looks like it’s back to its dominant ways after systematically destroying A&M. 3. No. 13 Florida (6-1, 4-1) Sure, Florida lost by a touchdown to LSU on the road, but all they need to do to wrap up the SEC East is beat Georgia in Jacksonville on Halloween. And that task looks a whole lot easier the way Georgia played against Missouri, only putting up 9 points. 4. No. 15 Texas A&M (5-1, 2-1) Texas A&M allowed Derrick Henry to pick up 236 yards on 32 carries, which should, you know, bode well for their season finale against LSU and Leonard Fournette. 5. Mississippi State (5-2, 1-2) Mississippi State didn’t take its first lead on Jeff Driskel’s Louisiana Tech until 57 seconds left in the first half and trailed for the first 27 minutes of the game. Yes, Jeff Driskel is still playing college football. I really wished Louisiana Tech played Northwestern State (they’re only 70 miles apart), so we could see Driskel take on Stephen Rivers. 6. No. 24 Ole Miss (5-2, 2-1) I was going to make a joke about Ole Miss losing to an American Athletic Conference team, but Memphis is now ranked No. 18 at 6-0. The AAC now has three ranked teams, or two less than the SEC has. 7. Georgia (5-2, 3-2) I’ve been joking all season about Florida or Missouri continuing the tradition of a terrible team winning the SEC East over Georgia, but you know what? Georgia just may be the terrible team that wins the East after all.
Third school’s the charm
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From FCS to JuCo to SEC, Nehemiah Mitchell achieves his dream of playing in a Power 5 conference By EVAN MERCER Sports reporter --------------------
The path from junior college to the SEC is a path few are able to complete, but one that Nehemiah Mitchell has travelled. Mitchell has come a long way from his California roots to find a new home as a starting outside linebacker for the Vanderbilt Commodores.
EARLY YEARS
Initially, Mitchell dreamed of being of being a star basketball player, since he was bigger than all his classmates. Football was not yet on his radar. “All throughout my childhood, I had wanted to play basketball,” Mitchell said. “You can’t be a 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 center in the NBA, so in high school I just tried out for the football team, and the coaches said, ‘You could become something really special.’” As Mitchell played on throughout high school in both sports, the answer became clear as to which sport he should pursue. Mitchell made the choice to focus on developing his football skills, taking a scholarship offer to play for Sacramento State, a Division I FCS school. After a year at Sac State, though, Mitchell realized he wanted more and set to work. Earning the necessary grades to transfer, Mitchell found a new home at the City College of San Francisco, California’s largest community college with over 90,000 students. For Jimmy Collins, then an assistant
coach for City College, landing Mitchell as a recruit was a dream come true. “When you have a player with that athletic ability, coupled with that mindset he had, he was as attractive as any recruit you can find,” Collins noted. “The one thing that impressed me the most was that he never wanted to settle. During his freshman year at Sacramento State, he played against some Pac-12 teams. And he thought ‘I can play on a bigger stage. I can be a Power 5 player.”
CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
Mitchell did not disappoint the coaching staff at City College. He ended the 2014 season third on the team with 52 tackles and second on the team with 9.5 sacks, adding an interception returned for a touchdown. With Nehemiah’s stellar defensive play, the Rams earned an 11-2 record and a spot in the California JuCo state championship, while earning AllNCJC and All-Conference honors. Despite his success at City College, Mitchell desired more than what City College had to offer him. “It was kind of hard there,” Mitchell said. “You were on your own at a junior college. There wasn’t as much academic support and coaching wasn’t as demanding. You had to learn to motivate yourself.” His strong play had not gone unnoticed outside of California’s borders. FBS teams started to give him scholarship offers, including Georgia State, UT-San Antonio, and most importantly, Vanderbilt, a member of a Power 5 conference.
Mitchell’s dream of attending a top-level university while playing top-level football was being realized.
TIME AT VANDERBILT
Almost immediately, Mitchell recognized the jump from JuCo to the SEC. “I had to motivate myself throughout the City College years,” Mitchell recalled, “but here, I have more resources, the coaches work me harder, make me into a better player.” In order to succeed at Vanderbilt though, Mitchell knew he would have to continue his hard work, but he was ready. So far in this season, Mitchell has racked up 18 tackles, and he is third on the team with 12 assisted tackles. As his former coach at City College had observed, “There are so many times where Nehemiah has shined, whether it’s staying after and asking questions, working hard in the weight room, or working hard to learn the scheme.” Jumping across states and between teams, Mitchell has worked his way up from an FCS California school to the famed SEC. Throughout his entire journey, though, he has stuck to a single motto. “Whatever decision I make will impact my family, my teammates, my coaches, so I just got to make sure I make the right decisions and stay on the right path,” Mitchell said.” Everyday, I’m thinking about if I’m making the right choices.”
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015
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SEC POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 7
3 MATCHUPS TO WATCH: MISSOURI
8. Tennessee (3-3, 1-2) Here at the Hustler, we keep alternating on putting the Vols far too low in the power rankings because we can and being somewhat reasonable. Unfortunately, because Kentucky was ranked ahead of them and lost, we have to begrudgingly put them at a season-high eighth overall ranking. 9. Kentucky (4-2, 2-2) Putting up 497 yards of total offense on Auburn is nice and all, but now they have to beat two of Mississippi State, Tennessee, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Charlotte and Louisville to become bowl eligible. Not impossible, but that’s a tough stretch. You know, save for two of their last three games.
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By ASHLEY DAVIS Sports reporter --------------------
JOHNNY MCCRARY VS. MIZZOU DEFENSE
Three interceptions from McCrary against South Carolina this past Saturday definitely hurt the Commodores. This week, Vanderbilt is going up against the No. 2 pass defense — and No. 1 total defense — in the SEC. With the Tigers allowing only 12.9 points per game — and coming off a loss where they allowed no touchdowns — McCrary cannot afford to make misguided throws to his favorite targets.
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VANDERBILT SECONDARY VS. DREW LOCK
Missouri may have the No. 1 defense in the SEC, but they are also dead last in offense. Tigers true freshman quarterback Drew Lock makes his fourth start this season after the suspension of Maty Mauk, and he is still looking for the chance to prove himself. He completed only 11 out of 26 passes against Georgia in a game in which the Tigers only scored 6 points, which was three points short of a a season low. Vanderbilt has only three interceptions on the season but has only allowed 18.5 points per game. Look for the secondary to be stingy when it comes to passing.
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TOMMY OPENSHAW VS. ANDREW BAGGETT
With two stingy defenses, the game could come down to the two kickers. Tommy Openshaw has made 11 out of 16 field goal attempts over the past six games but hasn’t made one over 50 yards. For Missouri, last week’s game against Georgia relied solely on field goals. Senior Andrew Baggett made 10 of his 13 field goal attempts on the year but missed a crucial 38-yard field goal last game that was the difference in a 9-6 loss to the Bulldogs. It will be imperative for the two kickers — and the two special teams units — to step up when they are needed most.
AROUND THE NCAA: THREE GAMES TO WATCH By JONATHAN VAN LINDEN Sports reporter --------------------
VS NO. 15 TEXAS A&M VS. NO. 24 OLE MISS
This is this week’s best bet for pound for pound quality matchup. Both teams are ranked and neck and neck in the SEC West; they will be trying to make a stand in the “Best Team In Our Conference That’s Not Alabama or LSU” sweepstakes. Both teams are coming off tough losses, though Ole Miss losing against an admittedly improved Memphis is a bit harder to swallow than A&M losing to perennial contender Alabama. For both teams, there is basically everything to play for — except a chance at actually winning their division.
VS AUBURN AT ARKANSAS
The two occupants of the SEC West basement will have a chance to make a statement … kind of. In what has been a (relatively) weaker season for the SEC season across the board, it should be fun to see whether Auburn further buries 2-4 Arkansas and maintains yearly relevancy or if Arkansas can be the ones that prove Auburn really is not that good anymore. This is very much a pride game, which will be something to watch.
VS NO. 20 CALIFORNIA AT UCLA
This is a matchup that should warrant watching even if only California is the far better overall team. UCLA true freshman quarterback Josh Rosen been impressive and should offer another chance for everyone to scrutinize his progress. California’s 5-1 record is fairly impressive, but they did falter against their first quality opponent in No. 3 Utah and will be looking to bounce back against a longtime rival. There is a lot of history here, something that will hopefully encourage both teams to play their best and put on a good show.
10. Missouri (4-3, 1-3) So Drew Lock has completed just 27 of 65 passes in his last two games, and Missouri hasn’t scored a touchdown in nine quarters. Vanderbilt may not be especially explosive on offense, but this will be one of their best chances to hold a team under ten points. Then again, scoring double digit points on Mizzou’s stout defense is a whole different story. 11. Auburn (4-2, 1-2) Sean White posted his first game with a QBR above 50 (average), which is something. It was also his first game with more than 200 yards. Wasn’t Gus Malzahn supposed to be an offensive genius? I’d like to see more production out of him with talented recruits like White (111th in the nation, per Rivals.com) and Jeremy Johnson (93rd in the nation). 12. Arkansas (2-4, 1-2) Hunter Henry leads all SEC tight ends with 287 yards over six games. Is it just me or is it really sad that the best tight end in the best conference only has 47.8 receiving yards per game? Steven Scheu led all SEC tight ends with 72.3 receiving yards per game last season. 13. South Carolina (3-4, 1-4) There may be no position coach I love more than the offensive line coach. You have to scream louder than anyone on the field and be borderline insane. That’s exactly the kind of guy Gamecocks interim head coach Shawn Elliott is, and I love it. If you didn’t see the show he put on last Saturday in Williams-Brice Stadium, you really missed out. 14. Vanderbilt (2-4, 0-3) When asked about the Commodores’ quarterback situation, Derek Mason said “exploring every option” seven times in 23 seconds. That’s just incredible efficiency, the kind of efficiency Vanderbilt quarterbacks need to have on the field.
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The Flaming Lips headlined the first Sound Harvest festival in Centennial Park on October 18, 2015.