April 29, 2021 Student Life at Washington University in St. Louis

The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

VOLUME 142, NO. 24

UNDER A TREE

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DISC FRIENDS

Our review of last weekend’s theater at a Mudd Field picnic table (Cadenza, pg 5)

FRUSTRATIONS

How an early conversation between two students spawned a culture of pickup Frisbee (Scene, pg 6)

Track and field will lose access to Francis Field ahead of commencement and national championships (Sports, pg 7)

WU mandates COVID-19 vaccination for students in the fall After year TED MOSKAL fully vaccinated, and another 44 of pandemic AND ORLI SHEFFEY students have reported being parMANAGING EDITOR AND tially vaccinated. restrictions SENIOR NEWS EDITOR The University’s vaccination requirement comes after 112 and budget Washington University will colleges and universities have require all students to be fully required the vaccine for stuvaccinated by the fall semester. dents in the fall, according to the cuts, PEP Citing the need to create the Chronicle of Higher Education. safest possible environment Student Union President wins grant on the Danforth and Medical Ranen Miao said that he was campuses, Chancellor Andrew Martin, Provost Beverly Wendland and Dean of the School of Medicine David Perlmutter announced the vaccine mandate in an email to students, April 28.

“Vaccination against COVID19 will play a key role in allowing us to resume our regular activities, protect our community, and prevent the spread of illness both on our campuses and in the St. Louis region,” Martin, Wendland and Perlmutter wrote.

According to Dr. Cheri LeBlanc, executive director of Habif Health and Wellness, as of April 23, 1299 students and 1451 faculty and staff members have received the vaccine through the University. On the student health portal, as of April 25, 818 students have reported being

“very happy” about the vaccine mandate, although he wished the University had done it sooner, especially since schools such as Yale, Stanford, Brown, Cornell and Notre Dame had already done so.

“It's a moral obligation that we have to vaccinate ourselves and to keep our communities safe,” Miao said. “I wish we were able to come out [with the mandate] earlier, especially as we saw vaccine availability and accessibility was becoming broader.”

Faculty and staff are not currently subject to the vaccine requirement, but an email from Wendland and Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Legail Chandler “strongly encouraged” faculty and staff to get vaccinated, and promised to provide more information for employees

GRAPHIC BY CHRISTINE WATRIDGE | STUDENT LIFE

within the next few weeks.

The new policy will allow for religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine requirement. The details of the exemption process, as well as the process for vaccination verification, have yet to be announced, but will be communicated to students in the coming weeks.

Miao, although strongly supporting religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine requirement, encouraged students with religious concerns to look at resources and statements from faith leaders who have come out in support of the vaccine.

“Deeply held religious beliefs are incredibly important and valid, and I think students on our campus deserve to exercise that, especially if their religion forbids them from using vaccines,” he

said. “But a lot of religious leaders have come out and said ‘look a lot of these concerns, on the basis of religion, or the basis of fetal cell tissue which was used to develop the J&J vaccine, are not reasons for you not to take the vaccine.”

The University also committed to assisting students who are unable to get the vaccine before arrival, citing local opportunities for vaccination such as the Barnes-Jewish Healthcare system and the School of Medicine, where the University has been vaccinating students, faculty and staff since April 9. If students receive one of the two-dose vaccines before leaving St. Louis for the summer, they will be able to get the second dose in another state.

students and the global community. “Aligned with the university’s values, we also feel a responsibility towards the communities our travelers would enter,” the email read.

Sejal Rajamani, a sophomore who was planning on studying abroad as part of the SIT Australia: Rainforest, Reef, and Cultural Ecology program in Cairns, Australia, expressed discontent with the University’s decision.

“It’s four months away, and I feel like that’s really early to make a decision about this, especially considering I was planning to study abroad in Australia and they’re like, one of the gold standards for how they’ve been dealing with COVID,” Rajamani said. “I understand canceling study abroad for certain countries that may be struggling a little bit more, but I feel like there should be some sort of system where like countries that are doing a little bit better, maybe you can study abroad there.”

Students who wish to defer their study abroad applications

Washington University’s Prison Education Project (PEP) has been awarded a $980,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation after its proposal for improving prison education was selected as the winner of the foundation’s “Future of Higher Learning in Prison” initiative.

The two-year grant will be critical to the PEP’s goal of improving and expanding its operations. The funds will be allocated primarily toward expanding the PEP to a women’s prison in central Missouri, upgrading educational technology and advancing its post-incarceration reentry program.

“I was absolutely thrilled, super excited and a little bit surprised,” Barbara Baumgartner, associate director of the PEP and co-principal investigator of the grant, said.

“It was an enormous amount of money. It was a real thrill to see the Prison Education Project being recognized for this award, and we’re super excited about it.”

The PEP, founded in 2014, provides a liberal arts education to people incarcerated at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center (MECC), a medium-security men’s prison located about 30 miles from St. Louis in Pacific, Missouri. In addition to the 16 courses currently offered by the program, the PEP offers two degrees: an Associate in Arts (Liberal Arts) and a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Studies.

The grant comes after the University cut the program’s funding by 25% in 2020, according to PEP Program Coordinator Natasha Narayanan. The University administration attributed the decrease in funding to COVID-19, but many involved with the PEP were disappointed with the decision.

“It was frustrating for me personally,” Narayanan said. “We don’t have a lot of padding in our budget to begin with. Everything in our budget is allocated to paying people for their time and the work that they do. It’s not like we’re having holiday parties, or paying for international

SEE SUSPENSION, PAGE 3

SEE GRANT, PAGE 2

WU suspends all fall study abroad programs NEWS EDITORS Washington University has suspended all undergraduate study abroad programs for the fall 2021 semester, the Office of Overseas Programs announced in a Wednesday afternoon email to students planning to study abroad.

The Office of Overseas Programs (OOP) cited several factors for the suspension, such

as the spread of COVID-19 variants, uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of current vaccines against future variants and current recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of State advising against international travel.

Still, the decision left students frustrated.

“Honestly I don’t [agree with the University’s decision],”

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT LIFE

A display at the Office of Overseas Programs features postcards from students who studied abroad.

said junior Lacy Wilder, who had planned to study abroad in Toulouse, France, this fall. “I understand their reasoning in terms of being overly cautious, and especially given France’s situation right now, I understand why they wouldn’t want to have people traveling abroad. But as we have seen throughout the pandemic, so much can change so rapidly, that making a decision for September based on the state of France right now really doesn’t seem legitimate.”

Although the CDC acknowledges that “international travel poses additional risks and even fully vaccinated travelers are at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading new COVID19 variants,” it does not directly advise against international travel for fully vaccinated people. The U.S. Department of State has also not advised against international travel altogether; instead, it has a list of travel advisories for different countries, with most countries listed as “do not travel.”

Regardless of travel recommendations, the OOP said that decision was made to protect the wellbeing of both University

KASEY NOSS STAFF REPORTER

What to expect from a fall semester of classes 'more like college' JULIA ROBBINS SENIOR NEWS EDITOR Washington University administrators and professors anticipate more in-person classroom instruction and fewer asynchronous activities in the fall, even as the exact modality for medium and large classes remains uncertain.

An April 12 email from Jen Smith, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, announced that small classes, with 30 students or less, will be taught mostly in person; medium classes, with 31-149 students, will be taught in a modality depending on what end of the range the class falls; and large classes, with 150 and more students, will likely remain remote.

While some remote classes were asynchronous this year, Dorothy Petersen, the undergraduate academic coordinator for economics, said that there will be fewer asynchronous and recorded options available for students in the fall.

“My impression is that for faculty who are going to do any kind of remote instruction in the fall, that what they're thinking about is having it be synchronous,” Petersen said.

According to Petersen, a markedly low number of students opted to show up in-person to classes that were being delivered both remotely and in-person.

“Some students came all the time, most students came none of the time and watched the lecture

videos, or they Zoomed in in real time,” she said. “So the structure at this point [for the fall is], if it's an in-person class, unless there is an extenuating circumstance, that [class] may not be recorded.”

While the administration has released tentative guidelines for next year’s classroom modalities, health experts say that guidelines are subject to change as the vaccine rollout continues.

According to Dr. Steven Lawrence, one of the University’s top infectious disease experts, there is currently “very little data” on the post-vaccination world, including what the transmission rates will look like in a mostly vaccinated population. Even with a lack of data, Lawrence was

confident that there will be far lower rates of transmission when the majority of the University

community is vaccinated.

SEE CLASSES, PAGE 3

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT LIFE

A study tent, where professors can conduct distanced outdoor classes, stands in front of Ridgley Hall.

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EVENT CALENDAR THURSDAY 29 Return to Work and Thrive: How to Reenter Paid Work After a Career Pause Virtual Event, 12 p.m.

Millions of women have left paid work in the past year, feeling the strain of managing familial responsibilities and work during the pandemic. If you are one of those women or someone with a longer career pause looking to return to paid work in the next year or so, then join alumna Anna McKay, AB ’00, founder of Parents Pivot and a return-to-work and leadership coach, as she shares tips on how you can thrive when you resume paid work. Anna has successfully coached returners since 2008 and will share what she has learned about how to do this successfully.

SATURDAY 1 Public Tour: ‘The Autonomous Future of Mobility’ Virtual Event, 11 a.m.

This tour presents a selection of works from the Teaching Gallery exhibition The Autonomous Future of Mobility, curated by Constance Vale, assistant professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School. The exhibition examines the car’s legacy over the past century as depicted in art and visual culture, offering a view toward today’s emerging technological developments and exposing our vulnerability in the face of the horsepower and political power that drive mass movement.

MONDAY 3 Wash. U. Virtual Connecting Virtual Event, 4 p.m.

Do you miss running into an old friend while waiting in line for coffee? Or hanging around the water cooler and chatting mid-day with colleagues? What about meeting a new person in Chem 111 or at a symposium? Well now you don’t have to. Join the Skandalaris Center for a monthly Meetaway. This is 30 minutes of virtual connecting and all of Wash. U. is invited, so spread the word! You never know who you might bump into. If it’s someone you know, catchup like you would in a hallway conversation. If you’ve never met, tell each other how you’re affiliated with Wash. U. and share a good vibe or a project you are working on now.

TUESDAY 4 ‘Love Thyself’: Black Women, Mental Health and Radical Joy in Troubled Times Virtual Event, 4:30 p.m.

The last year has exacerbated the realities of what Black women contend with in troubled times and all the time. With the convergence of a global health pandemic that disproportionately affects Black people, continued and heightened calls for racial justice, and systemic economic inequities, Black women find themselves contending with mounting intersecting pressures and traumas in their professional and personal lives that affect their mental health. Yet, Black women remain at the forefront of creating history, advancing progressive politics, and developing creative solutions to what ails their communities.

This panel discussion will address how Black women should and do practice the duality of self-care as they contend with racism and sexism while simultaneously seeking and experiencing radical joy.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

WU faculty, activists hopeful for change after Tishaura Jones inaugurated St. Louis mayor Following Tishaura Jones’ inauguration as mayor of the city of St. Louis, April 20, Washington University professors and activists are hopeful for a new era of racial equity and progress in the region.

After serving in the Missouri House of Representatives for two terms and as St. Louis treasurer for three terms, Jones narrowly defeated Alderman Cara Spencer in the mayoral run-off election with 52% of the vote. Jones is the first Black woman, and second woman, to serve as mayor of St. Louis.

“I am standing on stone that was not built for me,” Jones said in her inaugural address. “I am speaking in a rotunda that never envisioned my ascent to mayor.

I am going to walk into an office that my ancestors could never have imagined me working in. But, I’m here.”

Brown School student Helmi Henkin, the allies and outreach chair of the Washington University Graduate and Undergraduate Workers Union (WUGWU), worked on Jones’ campaign and attended the inauguration.

“The whole mood and atmosphere of City Hall was full of so much joy and hope,” Henkin said. “Every single speaker talked about how historic this was and how meaningful it was to them as Black people.”

Throughout her campaign, Jones had emphasized the importance of partnering with the municipal neighbors of St. Louis, and the attendees at

the inauguration reflected this goal, Henkin said.

Several mayors from regional cities such as East St. Louis and Kansas City stood with Jones, as well as leaders from Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities.

In the week since her inauguration, Jones has already taken steps toward criminal justice reform. On her second day in office, April 21, Jones released a budget proposal for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, that includes no funding for the Medium Security Institution, commonly known as "the Workhouse."

On Saturday, Jones, U.S. Representative Cori Bush and other elected officials toured the Workhouse and harshly criticized the living conditions there.

Jones' move to defund the Workhouse stands in solidarity with the several-year long Close the Workhouse campaign, which has partnered with Action St. Louis, ArchCity Defenders and Bail Project St. Louis to urge the city government to shut down the jail and “dismantle a racist system that has destroyed lives.”

Jones predicted that closing the Workhouse would save the city $7.8 million.

She proposed reallocating approximately $4 million to balance the city’s budget, $2 million to medical services and meals for detainees and the remaining $1.8 million to several of her priorities; this includes funds for social workers in the Division of Supportive Reentry as well as funds to increase the capacity of the Civilian Oversight Board, which investigates misconduct in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police

Department.

“Her entire platform can basically be summed up in one sentence: Look at St. Louis City's budget, see areas where social services are not supported enough, and find ways to fund to support those social services and schools,” Henkin said.

Jack Kirkland, associate professor at the Brown School of Social Work, while supporting the closure of the Workhouse, emphasized that it is not enough to address deeper institutionalized racism.

“If you don’t take a holistic approach to all of this, you’re just dealing with the manifestation,” Kirkland said. “You’re not dealing with causality.”

Kirkland said a holistic approach requires addressing the issue from all angles: closing the economic gap, increasing business opportunities in the city, increasing the housing stock, fixing highways, improving relationships with the police and reforming education.

Kirkland said he believes that Jones understands the importance of fostering an environment where children of color are raised to thrive.

In her inauguration speech, Jones framed her desire to make St. Louis a safe place for children to grow up as a unifying mission for the region.

“Most Saint Louisans share the same core desires, and as a single mom, I know these core desires well myself: I want to raise my son in a safe neighborhood, I want him to receive a quality education and I want him to be able to envision himself safely raising a family in

of a more robust LMS under the Mellon grant. According to Baumgartner, the funding will provide the PEP with the resources to upgrade the capacities of its current LMS, such as enabling instructors to upload TED Talks and films.

Henke and Baumgartner are also hopeful that the grant will allow the PEP to expand LMS access to incarcerated individuals outside of the program. This includes funding a computer room within MECC where, with the help of an upgraded LMS, students would have access to a variety of educational resources including GED supplemental coursework, Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare and the Gutenberg Library.

According to Henke, the PEP’s expansion of its LMS is heavily tied to its plans to begin operating at Women’s Eastern Reception, a diagnostic and correctional center in Vandalia, MO, this fall.

“The thing I want to stress is that there’s a dual focus,” said Henke. “It’s for our students and our future students at Vandalia, and then ultimately at the end of two years we want it to be open source. We want a prison program in upstate New York to be able to use it.”

Vandalia is almost 100 miles away from St. Louis, making daily on-site instruction unfeasible; the Mellon grant, however, can fund the technology necessary to overcome this distance. PEP leaders envision biweekly visits from a University instructor, during which the instructor would spend the entire day there, supplemented by the improved LMS. Ideally, the remote

portion would involve Zoom, but it has yet to be determined whether the DOC will allow it, Henke said.

“Since we started this program in 2014, it’s been my dream to expand to a women’s prison,” Baumgartner said, who is also a professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University. “We can use the technology to supplement that in person teaching, because again, we’re very committed to being in person with our students.”

Henke also emphasized the importance of the grant in funding its reentry program.

“We’ve always realized we can’t have a serious college in prison program without a reentry program,” Henke said.

The grant allows the PEP to hire two new employees: a reentry case manager and a PEP alumni coordinator, Baumgartner said. Prior to the grant, the reentry program, launched in 2019, relied on volunteers. The new staff will help people released from MECC with tasks like job preparation, getting a driver’s license or finding housing.

“A lot of prison education programs like to talk about how education is transformative, and I agree with that statement,” Narayanan said. “But I think it’s important to recognize that it’s the students themselves who are the agents of change. I think if we claim to be a studentcentered program, we can’t just focus on education and classes and offering degrees inside, because we need to support students holistically as they leverage that education after they’re released.”

As someone who has experienced life in the carceral system first-hand, the alumni coordinator will play an especially important role in the reentry program, Baumgartner said.

“We have a community that we’re building for our alum that can share their experiences,” she said.

“They are really good at helping each other and giving advice to each other, so it’s really important that we are providing the space and opportunity for them to get together, because it can be very isolating.”

The grant will also provide the PEP with the funds to initiate four new interdisciplinary courses in the humanities. It is currently looking to the Brown School of Social Work or the Sam Fox School of Visual Arts and Design. Henke said a course with the School of Law was also a possibility, although nothing is set in stone yet.

While the Mellon grant offers opportunities to expand the PEP, the future of these developments and of the program itself is reliant on continued funding, either from other donors or from the University.

“It’s an experimental thing.

It’s continuance after the two years is going to depend on donor/foundation money, said Henke. “I think it’s important that the University keep realizing, year after year, that this is a really important program to support.”

CHARLOTTE KRAMON STAFF REPORTER

SEE MAYOR, PAGE 3

GRANT from page 1 plane tickets or any sort of things that you can live without.”

The budget cuts proved particularly harmful to the program’s ability to maintain the same variety of courses available to students at MECC. “It reduced the number of courses we were able to offer, which does impact our students on progress towards their degree because we’re only able to offer a limited number of courses at the prison,” Narayanan said. “It’s not like [MECC] students have hundreds of options to choose from like Danforth Campus students.”

According to Robert Henke, PEP director and co-principal investigator of the grant, University funding for the program has since returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, although funding was eventually restored, the PEP has faced additional challenges during the pandemic.

After in-person instruction was suspended in March 2020, the technology that facilitates virtual learning has posed significant barriers to instructors and students alike. All PEP students have

access to their own tablets, provided by the state of Missouri in partnership with for-profit service provider JPay. However, due to security concerns, the Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) prohibits use of the internet as well as direct communication between students via technology.

As a result, PEP staff and students needed to find a way to interact and engage with class materials without features like Zoom or discussion boards. This has been accomplished primarily through email, but according to Baumgartner, these interactions can take days and are a poor substitute for synchronous instruction. Moreover, students are not permitted to initiate emails—they can only respond to them.

“We’ve just been able to communicate via email, which is even more impersonal than us being on this video chat together,” said junior Kennedy Young, who has been involved with the PEP since 2018. “And their classes are all asynchronous now, so it’s been really, really hard maintaining that student-teacher-tutor relationship via email because we

can’t see each other. We can’t have organic conversations like we would in person.”

Despite the setbacks, the PEP’s digitization has allowed the program to identify the complications of its current Learning Management System (LMS), Lantern, in a way it might not have otherwise. Specific limitations of the LMS include an inability to manage large files or videos longer than five minutes.

“I think it allowed us to write a grant that recognizes the limitations of the current technology that is delivering a lot of the higher educational content in prison right now,” Baumgartner said. “The experience with Lantern kind of allowed us to see what needed to be improved.”

Henke also named a technology proposal as a possible reason for winning the grant.

“We made the case to Mellon that we were kind of at the cutting edge of what is possible with the current LMS,” Henke said. “It was clear that they were interested in the possibilities of technology to generally improve college in prison programs.”

Program directors are excited about the development

COURTESY OF JOE ANGELES | THE SOURCE

Prison Education Project students discuss a topic in a 2017 class.

Editor’s Note: Student Life editor-in-chief Matthew Friedman is a research assistant for the Prison Education Project.

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

MAYOR from page 2 St. Louis one day as well,” Jones said.

Reflecting her community-based sentiments in her inauguration speech, Jones emphasized the importance of receiving feedback from St. Louisans themselves.

“There’s already this pattern of transparency and community input that is pretty refreshing,” Henkin said.

Clarissa Hayward, professor of political science, philosophy and urban studies, noted that Jones’ views on policing reflect those of criminal justice activists who argue that “public safety isn’t about policing,” and that sometimes, armed officers “actually undermine safety and racial equity.”

Hayward, along with Shanti Parikh, professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and of African and African-American Studies, anticipates that Jones will commit to reframing addiction as a health issue as well as working with communities to decrease incarceration.

Parikh specifically describes Jones’ approach as “deterrence policing.”

NEWS

JULIA ROBBINS & ORLI SHEFFEY | SENIOR NEWS EDITORS | NEWS@STUDLIFE.COM

“[It] means giving people hope and opportunities, whether it's job training, or drug and addiction programs, ending cash-bail,” Parikh said. “I also like her ideas about how we can reconsider and reimagine public safety, where it is actually working towards public safety as opposed to criminalizing poverty, criminalizing young Black men.”

Another way faculty members noted that Jones will help Black communities is through representation.

Kirkland said that representation is especially valuable given the trauma that people of color endure in this nation. When people of color watch what happens to individuals such as Michael Brown and Ma’Khia Bryant, they “internalize” their own inferiority and question their ability to prosper as adults, Kirkland said.

Hayward agreed, stating that as a single Black mother, Jones is a “role model” who can show young people that “they, too, can lead a city one day.”

As Jones embarks on her mayoral term, WUGWU

member Kelsey Wulfkuhle, who was also involved in Jones’ mayoral campaign, believes that University students have an obligation to engage in activism.

“As Wash. U. students, it is our civic duty and responsibility to change our community and get involved in whatever cause matters to you,” Wufkuhle said. “If you're going to change your voter registration to vote here in St. Louis, you need to educate yourself around what's happening. The impact of our votes in these four years will continue to impact the long term residents here in the city.”

In the long-term, Kirkland predicts a more equitable St. Louis under Jones’ leadership.

“She was a very successful politician, but I also know that she’s going to be a successful person because she has a sensitivity, a special awareness of what the issues are in the city,” Kirkland said. “She knows that it’s a difficult road ahead. And she knows that people are going to watch very carefully to see what is being done.”

SUSPENSION from page 1

STUDENT LIFE 3

to the spring 2022 semester are encouraged to contact their study abroad advisors to discuss that possibility. The OOP also noted that nonrefundable deposits or unrecoverable program fees are the responsibility of the student.

Wilder does not plan on delaying her study abroad program to the spring, citing a desire to spend her last college semester on campus.

“With regards to fall study abroad, I have a whole contingency plan in place,” Wilder said. “I registered for classes, I secured housing, so logistically, I’m fine. It’s mostly just disappointing.”

Wilder added that as a French major, she had considered studying abroad in France to be a crucial part

of her academic experience, in addition to the novelty of living abroad.

“For me this experience was not just about cultural exploration, it was also a lot about language acquisition… that’s something that I was really looking forward to,” Wilder said.

“So personally, I feel like I won’t get as much out of my major from not having this experience, and then I also won’t get to form a lot of those relationships and a lot of those connections and have a lot of those cultural experiences that I was looking for, out of studying abroad.”

Rajamani, like Wilder, is now planning on not studying abroad in college, as her commitment to the spring track season makes it difficult for her to study abroad in the spring, and

she does not want to study abroad her senior year.

“I wouldn’t want to miss half of a year of college senior year, so basically I’m just not going to study abroad now,” Rajamani said.

However, she expressed gratitude that she at least managed to secure housing for the fall semester, as she is living with the people she was planning on sharing an apartment with in the spring.

“I think I’m lucky in that sense that I found somewhere,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the situation that most people would be in.”

Ani Kesanapally Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor

Reilly Brady Kamala Madireddi Clara Richards Designers

Copyright © 2021 Washington University Student Media, Inc. (WUSMI). Student Life is a financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper serving the Washington University community. Our newspaper is a publication of WUSMI and does not necessarily represent the views of the Washington University administration.

Director of Overseas Programs Amy Suelzer did not respond to Student Life’s request for comment Wednesday afternoon. We will update the online version of this story.

CLASSES from page 1 “When you're looking at adding the vaccine into the layers of reducing risk, it is the king of all of the mitigation measures,” he said.

This assertion is consistent with recent findings that show a significant reduction in COVID-19 infections and transmission after vaccination.

Even with a mostly vaccinated community, Lawrence said that masks will still be necessary for in-person classes. He said that masks will likely be the last precaution lifted, since they are the most important measure, outside of vaccination, to prevent disease transmission.

“It's also easier to get everybody together in the same space if you still are maintaining masking, while there is residual risk from low level community transmission," Lawrence said.

Although social distancing and masking will likely continue to be implemented in the fall, some students are excited to have more in-person classroom instruction.

Freshman Rikki Drexler said that she is looking forward to increased structure in her school days. “'I’m excited to have places to be at specific times,” Drexler said. “I have an in-person class this year that's at 9:00 a.m., and I like that it gets me out of bed, gets me on campus. I’m looking forward to hopefully having that every day.”

Drexler said she will welcome the opportunity to have a daily routine. “Being

able to get out of my door and having the need to put on a relatively put together outfit I think is really healthy, and something that was sometimes lacking this year," she said.

Alternatively, some students see the increase of synchronous classes as an obstacle to choosing when to complete their work.

“It has been very nice having asynchronous classes,” freshman Justin Lewitus said. “I'm someone who has an easy enough time motivating myself to get work done, and get work done ahead of time, so from my perspective having asynchronous classes is nice, because for some assignments I can do work when I want to and not necessarily during the assigned class time.”

However, Lewitus added that he could understand why other students were looking forward to the increased structure of synchronous classes.

Postdoctoral fellow in history Elizabeth Reynolds, who teaches small classes that will likely be in person in the fall, noted that some aspects of virtual education will likely continue.

“I think some element of hybrid or remote learning is going to stay with us in some capacity, and I think that should be welcomed,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that she plans to continue conducting group activities over Zoom, rather than in-person.

“I really dislike using group activities in the

classroom because it's loud; everybody can hear each other,” Reynolds said. “But when you have these breakout rooms and you have the instructor kind of visiting [the rooms], it can potentially be so much better. I have colleagues who have found this to be a very positive teaching tool.”

Although some classes will continue to have virtual aspects, professors noted that the switch to more synchronous instruction will allow fall classes to more closely resemble pre-pandemic classes.

“For the large classes, the goal is to move toward synchronous with some level of active participation— many will still have lectures for remote viewing, but the big goal is to start bringing students ‘back’ into normal patterns,” chair of the biology department Dr. Joseph Jez wrote in a statement to Student Life.

Even with masks and distancing, Lawrence agreed that the fall will look more normal.

“I anticipate the fall will look better than this year has, and it will look more like college,” Lawrence said.

“It's getting closer. So even if it isn't going to be exactly as the same as it has been before, I anticipate the fall, just in many aspects, not just the classroom, but in many aspects will look more and function more like a college campus than what we’ve seen this year.”

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4 STUDENT LIFE

FORUM

REILLY BRADY & JAMILA DAWKINS | SENIOR FORUM EDITORS | FORUM@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

STAFF EDITORIAL

On important lessons reaffirmed by COVID-19

C

lasses are ending, finals are nearing, summer is approaching and vaccination rates are rising across the country. In this period of transition, it is tempting to let out a sigh of relief and never look back on this strange year, but reflecting on lessons we have learned during COVID19 may help us create a better future. Of these lessons, one central theme emerges— being more cognizant and respectful of others and our surrounding communities.

In a literal sense, COVID19 has taught us to consider the health of those around us. Wearing a mask has become a practical way to protect others from sickness, and this could continue in a post-pandemic context. But considering the well-being of those around us can be

extended beyond sickness.

As students, we are a part of a variety of communities—friend groups, clubs, our campus and the broader St. Louis area, as well as the communities that many of us travel to in the summer.

Considering how to be a better and more considerate community member may vary in each context.

The pandemic has showcased many inequalities in our society and within our university. Being cognizant of these issues involves more than just awareness: Listen to marginalized voices, attend protests and participate in students’ demands. As a student, being aware of areas in which the University can improve in order to help marginalized students is an essential part of being a member of the Wash.

U. community. Don’t be

afraid to take action or allow your voice to be heard.

As Wash. U. students, we aren’t just members of the University: We are also a part of the broader St. Louis community. During COVID19, we have worn masks to limit the spread of the virus both on and off campus. As we ideally transition away from the pandemic, that consideration for others doesn’t go away, even if it may not be in the literal sense of mask-wearing.

Actively contribute to the St. Louis community. Listen to and boost the demands of residents by engaging with local activism. Understand the history of St. Louis and the relationship between our university and the city. If you have the means, tip waiters and Uber drivers, support local businesses and donate

to mutual aid funds.

Vaccination is a way to protect yourself while also protecting the communities you interact with. If you have not been vaccinated and you are able to do so, get vaccinated. If you have received your first dose, remember that you are not instantly protected—depending on the vaccine, it can take from two weeks to over a month to achieve maximum immunity.

As we transition into the summer, our communities will extend beyond those within our University and in the St. Louis area. Remember that Wash. U. has a high international student population, and many students live in places with a lower rate of vaccination and higher rate of infection than St. Louis. By getting vaccinated and wearing masks, we can

do our part to help students return to their families safely.

Additionally, consider the implications of your summer travel plans. Putting certain travel plans on hold may be for the best when considering communities that stretch beyond international borders. While nearly half of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, many low-income countries have struggled to gather the same number of vaccines that the U.S. and other wealthy countries have amassed.

While vaccination numbers in America give reason for optimism, centering our experience ignores the fact that the pandemic has had global implications.

Being cognizant of others also applies to individual interactions. The pandemic can take a toll on one’s

mental health: A recent 2020 study found that college students, who already endure high levels of mental health problems, have been experiencing increased levels of anxiety during the pandemic.

Check in on your friends and be sensitive towards their mental health needs. Be considerate of your own mental health as well—COVID-19 has taught us to care not only for the health of others, but also for our own health and safety.

As we near the end of the semester, take some time to reflect. How can we be better St. Louis residents? Better Wash. U. students? Better friends? In this transitional period, we must remind ourselves of the importance of becoming better and more considerate community members.

Please, post that infographic DAKOTAH JENNIFER STAFF WRITER

W

hen George Floyd was murdered by police nearly a year ago, I thought, as I do every time a Black person is killed by the state, “My god, not again.” It was then that my social media feed was flooded by hundreds of informational posts in people’s Instagram stories, videos, reading lists and links in bio.

It may sound strange, but this flood of reposts and links put into bios back in May actually made me feel a lot better, and since then, these re-posts have brought me comfort.

I’d like to preface by saying that this is contingent on the way my personal mental health works. I know a lot of people despise this—in fact, I know it makes many Black and brown people feel

overwhelmed, isolated and furious beyond belief, and I understand that wholeheartedly. It is true: Posting is not enough, and it has never been enough. But as my friend, junior Jarea Fang, said in her article, “Op-Ed: The day after,” “I need you to share the infographics, donate to the funds, and go to the protests...

Please, do this for me while I sleep. I’ll wake up and join you when I’m ready.”

Seeing so many of my followers posting every day, finding ways to spread the word about important racial issues, even in such a small way, made a difference. When I logged on to Instagram the day after George Floyd was murdered, I expected to feel alone—like no one in this world loved me, loved us, at all. But instead, I found people who were concerned, appalled and learning, and in

such a vulnerable moment, that brought me comfort. If I had opened Instagram to an empty feed, it would have hurt so much more, the way it often does when most other Black people die at the hands of police. All this being said, posting videos or images of Black bodies being harmed is not included in this category. I still have not watched the video of George Floyd. I scroll past most videos when I see them. I refuse to watch because it hurts, but most of all, I do not need proof.

I say all of this with a few qualifiers. In tapping through stories and clicking links in people’s profiles, I only felt this assurance because I trusted many of my followers.

I trusted that they had good intentions. And even if they didn’t, I trusted that they had followers who I didn’t know, followers who could never

hear my voice, who would see an infographic and ponder it. Being honest, I tend to assume that most people are selfish, self-preserving and uncaring at heart. Even so, scrolling through reposts of infographics instead of new bikini pics, I knew that even if this was done out of fear or peer pressure or performatively following the norm, it meant something.

In high school, I was the only person in most of my classes who advocated for the racial issues I believed in. I was constantly being debated by several people at a time, inside and outside the classroom. This deeply affected my mental health and, frankly, it still does today.

Learning another Black man died and seeing that it was not my personal responsibility to educate people for once, seeing that I did not have to push

through the pain and speak out—it made me feel lighter, like I could take a break. And truthfully, that was invaluable to me then. Black people so often have to work through the mourning, and to have that as a sort of safety net really helped. Even in the smallest of ways, that support gives me the energy to grow stronger and be the advocate I want to be.

Reposting an infographic, whether or not you are posting for the “right reasons,” still spreads that information. For those who may be acting performatively—who have family members they don’t confront, allow friends to make racist remarks or say words they should not say while blasting music with their friends—the infographics are probably reaching people who are also more performative.

Someone once told me they were very hesitant to post anything about George Floyd because all of their followers shared their views, and so it wasn’t super important for them to post. This thought process is not only a bold assumption, but it also feels like a cop-out to me. I told them, verbatim, that I believed white people were more willing to listen to other white people about the issues BIPOC people face, so it was vital for them to post, even if they did think it wasn’t “doing anything.” They agreed. If the reason why you don’t post infographics about minority issues, make your views on social justice known or elevate important issues is because they aren’t directly aiding in the movement itself, then they aren’t reasons to me––they’re excuses.

A reflection on the aftermath of the Chauvin verdict JAMILA DAWKINS SENIOR FORUM EDITOR

W

hen the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial was finally announced, I closed my laptop, texted a few of my friends and then took a nap.

I woke up to news of the death of Ma’Khia Bryant, and the next day, to news of the death of Andrew Brown Jr. Ultimately, I’m not sure what made me turn to NBC’s live broadcast leading up to the verdict. Within minutes I regretted it; the wait was exhausting. Anchors tapdanced,switching from pundit to pundit to rehash recycled questions. What does it mean that the jury deliberated for under 11 hours? What verdict are you

expecting? Most of all, the question that the anchors and pundits kept returning to was: What do you think will happen after?

Every few minutes they’d switch to live overhead footage of the growing crowd outside Hennepin County courthouse. “What is the mood in the crowd?” The anchors ask the reporters they have on the ground.

“What are people planning to do after the verdict is announced?” The reporters on the ground ask the gathered protesters.

It’s clear as day, both in their held breaths leading up to the verdict as well and the sighs of relief following it. The question they are really asking is obvious: Will this be enough?

Will this appease them?

They can’t even hide their hope that this small action

of accountability will be enough to quiet the protests, bringing us all to an idyllic version of America where everyone is a little nicer to cops and a lot quieter in the streets.

“What do you say to people who might be worried about exactly what might happen if this verdict doesn’t go the right way?” reporter Gabe Gutierrez asks a person protesting outside the courthouse. I should think the answer is obvious. In the hour before the verdict, NYPD helicopters were already spotted hovering over Brooklyn.

DC’s police department was fully activated in anticipation of protests, and helicopters were spotted across the city as the verdict was released. Portland’s mayor declared a state of emergency and warned

Editor in Chief: Matthew Friedman Managing Editors: Isabella Neubauer, Em McPhie, Jayla Butler

Senior Copy Editor: JJ Coley

That anyone believed, even for a moment, that a guilty verdict (or even three of them) would resolve centuries of injustice, mourning and murder proves that many of you do not know what America looks like.

And that anyone expected Black people to stop being angry upon the delivery of the historic and unprecedented verdict is evidence that America is bankrupt of empathy for Black mourning.

So I would like to ask you to stop waiting for us to stop being angry. I instead ask you to work to abolish the systems that prevent us from joy without fear or mourning. Black children are taught (as my parents taught me) the names and details of Black deaths as both warning and inheritance.

George Floyd’s

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OUR VOICE: EDITORIAL BOARD Staff editorials reflect the consensus of our editorial board. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff and forum section editors.

that both state police and national guard were on call. Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago, deployed 125 National Guard members ahead of the verdict. “Don’t test us,” she said. “We’re prepared.” And prepared they were. In major cities across the country, police departments prepared to brutalize and cut down protesters. They prepared to add George Floyd to the list of Black people whose murderers walk free.

That the whole nation watched a police officer kill an unarmed man with his bare hands and yet remained unsure if our justice system would punish him is evidence enough that no part of this process—including the verdict—resembles the kind of justice that equal human beings deserve.

Senior Forum Editors: Reilly Brady, Jamila Dawkins

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We welcome letters to the editor and op-ed submissions from our readers. Submissions may be sent to letters@studlife. com and must include the writer’s name, class and phone number for verification. Letters should be no longer than 350 words in length, and readers may

family is without a brother, a son, a father. If you are satisfied with this result as justice, then you do not think that they matter.

Please do not preach to me about precedent. Or about small steps. Please do not pretend that America was on trial. Please do not ask us to thank you for moving as slowly as possible toward systemic change.

In the time since George Floyd was murdered, almost 200 Black people have been killed by police.

In the time since Chauvin’s trial began, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo and Michael Leon Hughes (among others) were killed. By the time I woke up from my nap, Ma’Khia Bryant was dead, and the next day, Andrew Brown Jr. was, too. I am all out of applause for the bare minimum.

OUR WEB POLICY also submit longer op-eds of up to 750 words. We reserve the right to print any submission as a letter or op-ed. Any submission chosen for publication does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Student Life, nor does publication mean Student Life supports said submission.

Once an article is published on studlife. com, it will remain there permanently. We do not remove articles or authors’ names from the site unless an agreement was reached prior to July 1, 2005.

CADENZA

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

JJ COLEY & GRACIE HIME | SENIOR CADENZA EDITORS | CADENZA@STUDLIFE.COM

STUDENT LIFE 5

‘Tough!’ is messy and human, and that’s why it works ISABELLA NEUBAUER MANAGING EDITOR I didn’t have high expectations for “Tough!,” the final play of the Performing Arts Department’s season. The play was outdoors, using only a park bench and picnic table under some trees on Mudd Field as props. If the play had happened two weeks ago, or even this upcoming week, it would have been beautiful. As it happened, the day was cold and wet, and every time an actor sat down or fell into the grass, I winced a little with sympathy.

The material itself, too, wasn’t something I particularly looked forward to. “Tough!” is about Tina (senior Emma Flannery) finding out her boyfriend Bobby (sophomore Jason Lyons) cheated on her.

But there’s a twist, and one anyone who’s ever seen a soap opera saw coming: Tina is pregnant with Bobby’s baby.

Even with the unpleasant weather and the predictable plot, “Tough!” worked. I found myself practically on the edge of my seat at several points, wondering how the situation would be resolved.

I was nervous Bobby and Tina would get back together—and once or twice, I was nervous that they wouldn’t. A lot of the intrigue rests on the strength of the writing,

BY JERRY NAUNHEIM, COURTESY OF THE SOURCE

Tina (Emma Flannery) and Bobby (Jason Lyons)’s relationship breaks down while Jill (Chloe Kilpatrick) looks on.

which managed to make a played-out scenario fresh by actually sounding real. There were a startling amount of f-bombs dropped in nearly every line, and the way characters, especially Bobby, swung between hopelessness and frantic energy felt incredibly natural.

The acting, too, held the play together. Though Flannery over-acted at some points, for the most part the performances were nuanced and genuine enough to not only hold interest but be believable. If not for the cordon

separating the area of the play from the audience, I could almost believe I had just walked upon this scene between three real people. (Three, as Tina’s best friend Jill [sophomore Chloe Kilpatrick] was present for nearly the entire play as emotional support.) Bobby, especially, felt real—a guy with no idea what he wanted out of life, trying to defend both his cheating and the idea of having dreams from Tina, the girl he wronged but who aspires to nothing. The costuming worked very well to

emphasize this dichotomy, with Bobby in a hoodie and Converse while Tina wore a professionallooking jacket and flats.

Neither character was perfectly in the right, which was both refreshing and worrying. Clearly, Bobby was wrong for cheating. But just as clearly, Tina was wrong to advocate against having ambition or goals in life. Jill, too, was wrong for kicking Bobby and repeatedly pushing him around—from six feet away, which led to hilarious miming of a fight

while neither cast member was near the other. There was no resolution for that.

There couldn’t be, in a short hour and a half. The characters still have flaws, and issues, but they’re not the same as they were at the start of the play, and isn’t that the point?

“Tough!” was messy, but that’s what made it human, and I found myself thanking the play for that messiness time and again on that cold afternoon on Mudd Field, watching a slightly over-acted fictional breakup between characters my own age

with problems that, while I couldn’t relate to, I could certainly imagine.

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6 STUDENT LIFE

SCENE

OLIVIA POOLOS | SENIOR SCENE EDITOR | SCENE@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

Pandemic pickup: How a group of freshmen created a community on campus through Frisbee AASHNA PARAMESHWAR STAFF WRITER Taylor Swift’s “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” plays as the backdrop to a 6-per-side game on Mudd Field. I have participated in past Frisbee pickup games, but today I’m here just as a reporter, spectating the current matchup between dark and light shirts. The sun is out, but pickup ultimate Frisbee games on the Washington University campus continue regardless of rain, shine or global pandemic.

Despite the cancellation of club and intramural sports, several Wash. U. freshmen

have built a community through an outdoor activity that upholds the University’s COVID guidelines. Today’s Saturday afternoon match, similar to the dozens beforehand, was scheduled by a request in the Ultimate GroupMe, a chat with 113 members and counting.

As an occasional player, I’ve seen firsthand how something as uncomplicated as throwing a Frisbee can become an escape from the confines of the four-walled dorm room and create a space filled with freedom and pure enjoyment.

The group originated from a simple toss.

JIN PARK | STUDENT LIFE

Freshman Nic Sprauge guards his roommate Seth FisherOlvera in a recent game of pickup Frisbee on Mudd Field.

Freshmen and suitemates Nic Sprague and Seth Fisher-Olvera took a Frisbee out to Mudd Field during the first week of the fall semester. Other freshmen approached them to join in, and soon after a chat was created and expanded from day one.

“My college experience would be completely different if I hadn’t asked Seth on the first day, ‘Hey, you want to go toss a Frisbee?’” said Sprague. “I can’t even imagine how many hours I’ve spent playing ultimate over the last two semesters—probably hundreds.”

Pickup ultimate evolved as the number of players grew with each game. The shoes that marked the end zones of the field have been replaced with bright orange cones. Players forego socks and shoes while playing but wear masks on and off the field.

“We started off playing a mini game called ‘box,’ and then as soon as we had enough people to play a real game with zones and actual rules, we played pretty much every day,” Fisher-Olvera said.

Today’s game continued for three hours, but some matches play on until sunset, others into the dark. The group can be spotted on Mudd Field most days, even when the weather forecast may persuade others to stay indoors. Yet these games can make for some of the most memorable moments.

“We had this one day when it was pouring rain—it was so gross and so cold,” said group member freshman Casey

Ellyson. “But we had so many people come out because it was Thanksgiving and it was our first break since the beginning of the school year. And we played into the night. I got back to my dorm and my feet were caked in pieces of grass. That was a big moment when I was like, ‘Wow, these people just love to be here.’”

Ellyson played competitive ultimate Frisbee in high school and plays for the Wash. U. Women’s Ultimate team. Although she suffered an injury in the fall semester that stopped her from getting to play in matches, she regularly comes to spectate the pickup games.

“I love watching, but honestly, it’s a little painful—I really miss it,” she said. “One day, I was sitting on the side doing homework and someone asked, ‘Casey, would you want us to play a walking point for you?’ I got on the field and I almost started crying. It’s been three months since I could stand on the field. I appreciated that so much.”

Other highlights are sparked by conversations in between points and even while tossing. “Last week, somebody was talking about the cycle of life and whether death is a part of life,” recalled freshman Riley Endries. “We got into this big debate about whether death was a part of life or the end of life or it can be all encompassing and it can be both.

Somehow five people on my team were all debating this strange topic as we played.”

Ultimate players have built lasting friendships from the sport. “I had a

JIN PARK | STUDENT LIFE

Pickup games among the 113 members of an ultimate Frisbee group chat have helped students safely cultivate friendships.

lot of friends who I knew before Frisbee, who now come out and play,” said freshman Kayzad Bharucha. “For me, it’s been about tightening those bonds. I’m also starting to make connections beyond just the freshmen and meeting upperclassmen, which has been great.”

Players’ skill levels range from collegiate club athletes to those who haven’t picked up a Frisbee before stepping onto Mudd Field.

Despite the irregular circumstances, the group has found a way to get away from their work, release energy and build a community that will last far beyond the impact of the

pandemic.“We’re proud of what we created,” said Fisher-Olvera. “There’s something for everyone.”

Go to studlife.com to listen to live audio clips of Nic Sprague, Wilson Tryon and Seth Fisher-Olvera to hear what it’s like to be in the midst of the action.

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SPORTS

GRADY NANCE & CLARA RICHARDS | SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM

STUDENT LIFE 7

Track and field student-athletes frustrated over lack of access to Francis Field ahead of commencement GRADY NANCE SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR In a normal middle of May, senior Julia Dannenbaum, a pole vaulter on the Washington University track and field team, would be practicing her vault at the pit on Francis Field. The last few weeks before NCAA championships would provide crucial time to get into a rhythm and bolster confidence before the team headed out to take on the country.

This May, that will not be the case.

Commencement, which is typically at Brookings Quadrangle, will be held for the class of 2021 across two days on Francis Field.

Student-athletes will not have access to the field or the track for nearly a week before the ceremonies. That displacement has caused frustrations, particularly among field student-athletes who rely on specific facilities at Francis Field for their training ahead of May 27 national championships.

“I don’t think any athletes are being asked about what makes sense for us,” Dannenbaum said. “It’s definitely disappointing.”

Senior mid-distance runner John Harry Wagner shared a similar sentiment.

“Those are weeks where, if you’re on the team, you’re getting your last practices in,” he said. “You’re getting ready for the biggest competition of the year, it’d be nice if we could be on our home track.”

While the actual commencement ceremony will happen on May 20 and 21—more than two weeks after the end of classes—the University plans to begin commencement preparations on May 15. During that time, the

track will be unusable, as protective covers, cables, wires and chairs will line all of the football field and surrounding track area, Associate Director of Athletics for External Operations Chelsea Petersen said in an email to Student Life.

When asked about the student-athletes’ lack of access to the field, Director of Athletics Anthony Azama focused on the importance of having an in-person commencement. “When we were approached about utilizing Francis Olympic Field for Commencement, we operationalized our Facilities Team to collaborate and figure out the best path forward,” he wrote in a statement to Student Life. “One of the greatest aspects of sports and fitness is bringing people together, and we are excited that our facility can serve as a point of celebration this May.” Azama’s statement did not mention the lack of access to the field.

In her email to Student Life, Petersen said the athletic department had worked with the commencement production company to lower the number of impacted training days from what had initially been expected, and that the department was looking for alternative training locations.

“Regardless of where we find the best option for us to continue to train, our focus is on competing for championships,” Petersen wrote.

Senior sprinter and hurdler Caira Watson-Haynes said that the closure will be especially taxing because the already-uncommon season has given them little time to establish a rhythm. “We don’t really have a smaller competition

between meets [and NCAAS], so it’s even more important that we have high level practices,” she said. Watson-Haynes said that without a winter track season to get the team fresh coming into spring, it has been difficult for athletes to build up to peak performance; losing Francis Field will exacerbate that hardship and pressure them from yet another angle.

Head coach Jeff Stiles said that the closure will be coming at an inopportune time for his athletes.

“It’s kind of an important time to stay sharp,” he said.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are currently top 25 in the nation and have improved with every competition, but the prospect of losing a familiar practice spot, especially for a sport that depends so heavily on a consistent training schedule, will pose a late-season obstacle. “We’re trying to not focus too much [on the lack of access], but it’s definitely a challenge,” Stiles said Field athletes in particular will feel the impact of this closure, as their performance heavily relies on access to specialized equipment and facilities such as vaulting poles or long jump pits. Dannenbaum said that losing those critical parts of her training, as well as her consistent regimen, presents a challenge she has never encountered before. “My vault is very dependent on my rhythm, and I still haven’t found my rhythm yet, so it’s even more important for me right now to be vaulting and getting my confidence back,” she said. “Once we’re competing, we’re vaulting twice a week for practice… so we need poles, we need a pit, we need a box to train effectively, and I don’t know

MORAD SULIMAN | STUDENT LIFE

Members of the track and field team practice starting out of the blocks at Francis Field. Facility access will be restricted on May 15, less than two weeks before the national championships.

what’s gonna happen.”

The frustrations over limited access to the field build on existing tensions between student-athletes and the department. For much of the year, it had been the University’s policy to institute a pause for an entire team whenever a player tested positive for COVID. Many on the track and field team, which has more than 100 student-athletes, took issue with that policy: it meant that even though student-athletes practiced in pods and rarely interacted with members of the team outside of their specific event, all members would be affected by a single positive test.

Senior runner Joe Stover worked with other student-athletes to develop a petition in early March that called for changes to the policy, including increased transparency from the University’s Covid Monitoring Team and a contact tracing protocol that matched those of nonstudent-athletes.

Stover said it took a few weeks to get a meeting with the monitoring team, but that administrators were

eventually receptive to student-athlete concerns.

Now, a single case on the track and field team no longer creates a pause for all team members, and the athletic department has restructured practices to further limit overlap between events.

“We’ve seen some change,” Stover said.

“Maybe not to the scope that we wanted to, but they also gave us some direction on things we can do to work with the Covid Monitoring Team and shorten these pauses and get back to more full competition.”

The incorporation of student-athlete feedback does not diminish the challenges along the way. For Wagner, it has felt as if it has been more difficult this year for student-athletes to have their voices heard in the department’s decisions.

“We’ve had to work a little harder this year,” he said.

Watson-Haynes agreed, noting that inclusion in the athletic department’s plans has been a problem more than once. “I think we really saw that a lot with COVID, and we’re just

seeing it now with graduation,” she said. “I think if anything, it just shows how athletes aren’t as thought about in some of the plans they’ve been making.”

Still, Wagner said he appreciated what efforts administrators had made.

“People are doing the best they can and listening when they can,” he said.

Despite the frustrations, Stiles remained optimistic.

“Our definition of success is do the best you can with what you have, so that’s what we will do,” he said.

Stiles noted that studentathletes have demonstrated grit since the start of the pandemic that will allow them to flourish. “COVID has produced lots of challenges, and these athletes have shown me that they will not be making excuses,” he said. “I feel confident we will continue to work to find alternative training solutions for our team and cannot emphasize enough how excited I am for the moments of celebration our graduates will now be able to experience in person.”

Track and field wins at invitational as national championships bear down MAX REMY CONTRIBUTING WRITER The men’s and women’s track and field kicked past their competition to claim first place at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Friday Night Spikes Invitational this weekend. Continuing on from their success in their last couple of meets, the men’s and women’s teams maintain their high ranks in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national rating index, placing 11th and 12th, respectively.

The women’s team finished first in 15 of 21 events, completing the day with a total of 349 points,

more than doubling the second-place finisher, RoseHulman. The men’s team also won the majority of their events, placing first in 12. Their point total, while closer than the women’s, still was a decisive victory at 254 points.

One standout performance came from distance runner Jacob Ridderhoff, who claimed victory in the 1500 meter race in 3:50.86, a time that puts him fourth in the nation for that event.

While a personal best for him, Ridderhoff did not feel like his win was the result of some major change in his training. “It’s not like I started eating salad every day,” he said. Instead, continued habits have helped

CURRAN NEENAN | STUDENT LIFE

Two Washington University mid-distance runners lead the pack going into the bell lap during a recent home meet.

him to improve his performance. “It’s really just been consistency of training and workouts and doing little things of recovery and sleeping. I honestly wouldn’t point to anything specific—just having a good group to run with and train with.”

Although the season has yet to conclude and a few weeks still remain for other athletes to surpass his time on the national leaderboard, Ridderhoff hopes his time is good enough for him to be able to qualify for nationals.

Typically the top 20 athletes on the performance list are given invites to the NCAA Championships, but currently, fewer than four seconds separate Ridderhoff ’s time from the runner in 20th position.

The Bears have hit their stride as the season begins to wrap up, with just three events left on their schedule before the end of the season. Although the conference track meet for the University Athletic Association was canceled, the members of the track team are working hard to continue to improve the results before the

postseason.

Many individual Bears are hoping to qualify for nationals, which are scheduled to take place in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the end of May. While athletes will qualify individually, they will be

able to contend for the team championship with whichever athletes qualify in their events. Currently, the men have 10 individuals within the top 20 nationally for their given events, and the women’s team has seven runners in the top 20. That

could change as athletes continue to improve and run fast times in the weeks leading up to Nationals, but the team goes into the end of the season in a position to have a strong finish at the NCAA championships.

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GRADY NANCE & CLARA RICHARDS | SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021

Softball sweeps Chicago, drops two to Franklin in mixed bag of games GRADY NANCE SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Washington University softball team demonstrated both the best and the worst of its offense this weekend as the team won two and dropped two to remain even at 9-9 on the year. When the offense shows up, as it did during their two-game sweep over the University of Chicago on Friday, the team is hard to beat. But when the Bears struggle to string hits together or attack the other team’s starter, things become tougher, as evidenced by the doubleheader losses to Franklin College on Sunday.

The games were the first competition the team had seen in two weeks due to a seemingly-endless string of rainouts, delays and cancellations. Head coach Michelle Venturella said that the team kept sharp during the break, but finally getting back on the field was exactly what the team needed. “During those [breaks], it’s honestly the emotional part,” she said. “I give our team a lot of credit for being extremely positive during difficult times.”

The Bears returned to the field with a bang, showing no signs of rust as they scored four runs in the first inning of game one against Chicago on their way to a five-inning, mercy-rule win by a score of 11-1. Home runs from junior Kirsten Drabek and sophomore Kayla Nommensen in the third and fourth innings, respectively, capped off an offensive display by the Bears, who tied their highest run total on the season in just four innings of work. Junior pitcher Madison Denton complemented the offense as she shut down the Maroons’ bats, allowing only two hits in her best performance of the season.

Game two against the Maroons featured another strong outing from junior Holly Stoner, whose team-best earned run average dropped to 3.60 after she tossed complete games on both Friday and Sunday. A timely threerun seventh inning, including a go-ahead home run from sophomore Tami Wong, gave the Bears the late lead en route to a 5-3 win.

“I would trust any of my teammates to be in that

position and come through for the team, but I was glad it was me and I was able to produce for the team,” Wong said.

Venturella said the comefrom-behind victory felt particularly gratifying. “It took us a little longer, but it was sure nice to be able to come back and get that win,” she said. “It’s always a great feeling.”

Junior Katie Gould finished 3-3 on the day and swiped four bases, tying the school record for the most stolen bases in a single game.

Sunday’s doubleheader against Franklin College, however, exposed the flip side of this Bears team, as the same offense that powered Friday’s wins produced quite different results. In game one, Wash. U. managed only four hits and a single run, a solo blast by sophomore Eimear Cunningham, in a quiet day at the plate against Franklin’s talented arms.

“We really just didn’t do our part, we didn’t string hits together and get timely hits,” Venturella said. But it was not just the offense. “Part of that honestly is just on the flip side, defensively, we didn’t make a

CLARA RICHARDS | STUDENT LIFE

Sophomore Eimear Cunningham celebrates with her coach after hitting an outside-thepark home run in the second inning of the Bears’ first game against Franklin College.

couple plays that we needed, and sometimes that can affect what’s going on on the other side,” she said.

Denton again started and threw all seven innings, but she lacked the same dominance showcased in her last outing. Game two saw the Bears offense produce hits, but they failed to string them together in critical moments, and only managed three runs on their eight hits. Stoner took the mound once more and threw seven innings,

but as with Denton, the lack of offense and arms behind her induced a shakier performance than Friday. “If you’re not putting runs on the board,” Venturella said, “then a lot of times your pitchers know they have to make sure they’re doing their job and there’s a little less flexibility for them.”

This theme has been consistent throughout the season, with a high-energy offense often propelling the team forward, while slow days at the

plate seem to affect all aspects of the Bears’ game. “It’s definitely a two-way street; if we have high energy, it definitely increases our performance,” Wong said. “If our energy is up and we’re hyped in the dugout, we just end up naturally hitting better too.”

The Bears hope to at least maintain their .500 record as they close out their season with doubleheaders against Coe College and Fontbonne University this weekend.

‘We beat ourselves more than anyone beat us’: Baseball loses two out of three to unranked Buena Vista CLARA RICHARDS SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Some days, everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

The No. 2 Washington University baseball team’s weekend in Storm Lake, Iowa was one of those instances, said leadoff hitter junior Tim Van Kirk. The team drove eight hours and 495 miles each way to drop two out of three games to

Buena Vista University, a team with an 8-15 record coming into the weekend. It was a jarring experience for a team that has conquered some incredibly tough opponents so far this season. In its wake, the players have been left to reflect on what, exactly, went wrong—a question for which they do not have an obvious answer.

To start, there was not a huge distinction from the

Bears’ normal level of play.

Senior pitcher Ryan Loutos, the Bears’ ace all season, took the mound for the first six innings of the three-game set. As usual, his pitches were spotted well and his velocity was on point. Yet the Beavers managed to score five runs before he left the game.

“They just did exactly what they wanted to do.

We went in there with a

CLARA RICHARDS | STUDENT LIFE

Senior Ryan Loutos pitches in a home game earlier this year. Loutos, who has tallied 75 strikeouts this season, gave up five runs over six innings in his start Saturday against Buena Vista.

Men’s tennis extends winning streak to nine with sweep over Wisconsin-Whitewater JOSH KUTLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER At a neutral site in Bettendorf, Iowa, the Washington University’s men tennis team swept the University of WisconsinWhitewater 9-0 for their ninth straight win. The victory broke WisconsinWhitewater’s own nine match winning streak and brought the Bears to 9-1 on the season, while Wisconsin-Whitewater dropped to 10-2.

In doubles play, the first team of senior Scott Altmyer and sophomore Abhi Ramireddy won 8-6, the second team of seniors Daniel Li and Benjamin van der Sman won 8-1 and the third team of senior Ethan Hillis and freshman Jeremy Ouyang won 8-3.

The sweep continued the Bears’ strong doubles play, as they have lost just two doubles matches all year long.

In singles play, Hillis

won as first singles 6-2, 6-1, Altmeyer won as second singles 6-2, 6-4, van der Sman won as third singles 7-5, 6-4, Li won as fourth singles 6-1, 6-1, freshman Jared Phillips won as fifth singles 6-2, 6-2 and junior Luke Smith won as sixth singles 6-0, 6-1.

Hillis has not lost a single match this season in singles or doubles, undefeated with a singles record of 10-0 and a doubles record of 9-0. Altmeyer has been almost as perfect, with a 10-0 record at second singles and just one doubles loss (a record of 9-1 on the season). From top to bottom, however, the team has excelled, and their sparse match losses for the entire season indicate as much.

The team’s next match is against Sewanee on Friday, but a bigger test for the Bears will come Saturday. Sewanee is 5-8 this year, while the weekend’s second match comes

against Emory University, a consistently elite team in Division III men’s tennis. Emory has won three championships in the past decade, winning the last national championship in 2019. In 2019-20, Emory was ranked first in the nation before the season was canceled. Emory is currently 4-1 in 2021.

“They’ve been through it all, they’ve won many championships.”

Ramireddy said of the Eagles. “Walking in and knowing that if we win this we’re pretty much guaranteed a spot at nationals gives this extreme importance. We’re dialed in and we’re really excited for this challenge.”

Ramireddy was confident ahead of the matchup against Emory. “I believe and this team believes that we can win a championship this year,” he said, “and I think anything less than that would be a disappointment.”

target on our backs—we’re at their place and everyone in the world expects us to win,” said junior catcher Zac Styka.

The Bears got on the board with runs from junior Bo Anderson and freshman Clayton Miller in the second inning, but they were unable to score after that. The game concluded with a score of 8-2, as the Bears landed eight hits in comparison to the Beavers’ 13. Shocking would be an understatement, as the Bears had dropped only one other game on the year, a loss to fourth-ranked Webster University.

The second game started out with Wash. U. unable to get anything on the board, failing to even get a hit until the top of the sixth. The team managed a single run, an RBI single from Tim Van Kirk, to Buena Vista’s three, and the Beavers again outhit the Bears, this time tripling Wash. U.’s four hits.

The last matchup of the weekend, a single game on Sunday, looked like another bizarre loss for the Bears

until the ninth inning. There was no motivating speech, no fairytale meeting at the mound after the Beavers scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth—just a general consensus of the need to get the job done.

Thanks to three consecutive hit-by-pitches to start off the inning, the Bears scored six runs off of three hits after appearing to have lost all signs of life. The late rally powered them to a 7-5 win, leaving the team at 22-3 after the weekend.

In many ways, that consequential ninth inning seemed like a return to typical performance for the Bears, with Anderson and senior Johnny LaMantia coming in with clutch hits to propel the team to a final win. It also marked a shift in momentum, Van Kirk said. “They’d been in control the entire weekend, even though we were the higher ranked team,” he said. “It seemed like they had their hand on the gas the whole time.” But with those hits, the momentum snowballed in favor of Wash. U.,

helping to end an otherwise disappointing weekend on a higher note.

The stunning losses, which stamp two blemishes on the Bears’ otherwise nearly spotless record, were a reflection of the inability to string together runs, Styka said: “We were all hoping someone else would get something done.”

But the Beavers also deserve credit for their wins, as the team came out swinging and capitalized on every opportunity they were given to score. “I would say they exceeded our expectations— some guys seemed like they had a magnet in their glove this weekend,” Styka said.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them. But I definitely think that we beat ourselves more than anyone beat us.”

The Bears are scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday against Wabash College, a team that they have previously beaten 7-1 and 7-6. They have six more games total before any potential postseason competition.