Author Archives | admin

Weekly Rundown Episode 42: Baseball blues

INTRO MUSIC PLAYS 

ANNA LANDIS: Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Rundown from the Minnesota Daily. I am your host Anna Landis, our sports editor here with episode number 42 with AJ Condon, the other half of our baseball reporting duo. Hi, AJ.

AJ CONDON: Hi Anna, how are you doing?

LANDIS: I’m good. How are you?

CONDON: Doing good. I just finished my last class of college actually this morning, so. 

LANDIS: Wow.

CONDON: It doesn’t feel real yet because I still have some assignments left but I’m kind of done with in person. So it’s feels good, bittersweet though.

LANDIS: Yeah, congrats. 

CONDON: Thank you. 

LANDIS: That’s a big accomplishment. Well, we are here today to talk about the baseball team who have been having a pretty rough year, especially in-conference. Obviously, they have played a lot of games this year, they have a pretty packed schedule, but could you just give us a brief recap of their season and sort of where they are right now?

CONDON: Yeah. So I’ll start with their just out-of-conference play which they started down in Florida. Didn’t really have the best start there. Picked up a win in their opening game of the season, and then went on a little rough patch. That mostly came from the pitching a lot of the relievers were struggling, giving up a lot of multi-inning- er, multi-run innings, which obviously is not helpful. And then when they finally moved back home, they were playing at U.S. Bank  stadium, obviously, when the weather wasn’t the best. 

And they had two pretty good games, which kind of gave hope as a little turnaround to the season they’ve faced two top 25 teams in West Virginia and Notre Dame and played them both very well. The first game against West Virginia, they actually had a lead most of the game. Sam Ireland had a great start. That was just the beginning to a great start from Ireland. And they lost that game by one and another reliever came in and just those late-inning runs added up and they lost that by one 4-5. Two days later they faced number 12, er, then number 12 Notre Dame, and lost that game 1-3 and that was kind of, Aidan Maldonado got the, not start because there was an opener in that game, but he pitched six really good innings. And again, it was just the offense couldn’t put enough runs up and they lost that game 3-1. So those two games, though they lost, kind of showed some hope into what was potentially the turning point in the season. 

However, that didn’t fully pan out and they struggled for the rest of the non conference schedule. Then they finally moved into their Big 10 conference play. Like you said they haven’t had the best start to that they are one and eight in conference play. And it’s kind of just been a struggle all around offensively and defensively, pitching so that has been kind of like the recap of the season. Their one win did come against Maryland but overall, it has not been Coach Anderson’s best season.

LANDIS: So what exactly like, is there any one issue to point to that sort of started off their struggles, like did they lose any important players or like are they struggling to replace people now? With COVID and stuff? Or has that changed college baseball at all? Or are they just kind of having some bad luck?

CONDON: Yeah, so I covered the team last year and one of the biggest issues that they ran into was their pitching. And over the offseason, they brought in five transfers, Aidan Maldonado being one of those transfers, so they tried to address that pitching staff and make things better, and they haven’t done it the best. But Maldonado is the one I do want to touch on because he has kind of taken that next step. He had a rough start to the season. But he’s really been performing well as a number three starter. 

He got off to an iffy start, but he’s really only had two bad starts this season: six earned runs and seven earned runs. Every other start, he’s not letting up more than two earned runs. And he’s been really impressive down the stretch against Western Illinois, he went five IP and zero earned runs against Maryland in our one conference win, he went six innings and allowed one and a run and then in his last start against Iowa he went 5.1 and zero earned runs so he has really improved a lot over the season. And that just boils down to him finding his place, he’s from, he’s from Minnesota, a transfer from Illinois, and his stats would be better in that win loss column but it goes back to this offense who has really been struggling a lot throughout the whole season. 

Chase Stanke, the catcher had a really great start to the season, he was leading the, at least the Big 10, if not the NCAA, for a little bit in home runs. And he had a very rough patch in the past 20 games. I think he has two home runs. He recently just hit one but not having that power in the lineup has really hurt the Gophers and then Easton Bertrand got off to a really hot start. He was one of our top hitters, and he got injured and hasn’t played in now 20 games I think, so the offense looking just down the lineup, they only have one batter who was above 300 that’s been from Jack Kelly, who has been the most consistent player on this Gopher team. 

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: He’s been very impressive and he has been trying to jumpstart this offense, but for some reason they just, they aren’t scoring runs and that’s really been hurting their pitching staff that has improved down the stretch. I would say they still have their games where they’re letting up nine, 10, 11 runs but in these games when the Gopher pitching staff is able to hold their opponent to under six runs those are games that Minnesota offense needs to step up in, because those are games that are winnable and when the offense isn’t showing up, it really makes it tough on the pitching staff.

LANDIS: Yeah, for sure. Like you look throughout the season, it’s either you know they have these wins or losses that are really close like 5-4, 4-5 but then there’s other instances where they lose like by more than double of runs like they lost 6-15 against Air Force about a month ago, 7-14 against Creighton, 2-11 against Rutgers and then 3-9 against Iowa this weekend. So yeah, it does seem that they’re, they are sort of struggling offensively and and you know, with injuries and stuff. Is there anyone maybe like a freshman or someone who’s like, who could potentially get them out of that or or what is that looking like in terms of fixing that?

CONDON: Yeah, it seems like Minnesota has kind of kept the same lineup throughout the whole season. And I think it’s just because that they have these experienced guys who have shown potential in the past and even at the beginning of the season. And I think it’s just that they have had a tough conference schedule so far. They faced Rutgers and Maryland, who are two of the top three teams in the Big Ten.  

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: And Rutgers were actually just on one of the hottest streaks in college baseball so they have had some tough opponents and even looking at the Hawkeyes are number four. So they have played three of the four hardest teams in the Big 10 and I think that does kind of show in the scores and in these double digit losses they’ve had. So it’s going to take time and it’s going to take maybe playing a lesser opponent to be able to kind of get back into the groove and have the offense start clicking again. Because they were able to put balls in play and get on base back in the, back when they were playing the U.S. Bank Stadium. And it’s funny because I remember talking to Sam Ireland and they were so ready to get out of the stadium. 

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: It’s such a cool place to play no doubt, but over time, the luxury and the, how fun it is to play in that stadium. They want to get back to their like home ground and actually play outside. 

LANDIS: Yeah, that’s a big difference.

CONDON: Yeah. So I think that once the weather starts getting nicer, and it’s never easy to play outside in 40 degree weather. So I think something they’re really gonna benefit for is days like today that we have when it’s 54 degrees.

LANDIS: Yeah, 

CONDON: Sunny, I think once the weather starts heating up, might be a little easier for these guys to kind of loosen up and be able to put more balls in play and find their way on base.

LANDIS: Yeah, and you know, you mentioned playing a lesser opponent to get their groove back and we are going to talk about their most recent loss to St. Thomas because St. Thomas honestly is probably someone that they should be beating every single time, St. Thomas just very recently transitioned from division three to division one, baseball and athletics overall. In March, March 1, they beat them 12-0, which you know, is probably a very good offensive win and you know, they get this new rival in from just down the road and they beat them and you know, you start to build this rivalry, but then on April 12, we beat them by just 2-1 and then fast forward to Tuesday, they lost 0-6. Let’s kind of discuss that and like what happened in particular in Tuesday’s game, because that is a game that they should probably be winning, especially in between playing Iowa and Penn State to lose that game probably does not feel super great.

CONDON: Yeah, like you said, this is a team that Minnesota should be, I mean, we’re kind of like their bigger brother this is a team that Minnesota should be able to in these midweek games kind of come back from a series sweep, and they did that in that 12-0 win and that was a big win. And they come back and a 2-1 win, and still had a really good game. There was a pitcher’s duel and those are going to happen.

This past game on Tuesday, their starter Gartner, went nine innings and allowed three hits. And that just is kind of the whole story of this Gopher team it’s that offense is struggling and in those games, like I said that their pitchers are allowed five, six runs, they have to be able to put up those same amount,  

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: Of runs and be able to give themselves a chance but when you’re getting three hits, and over the last five innings, you’re sending 16 people to the plate, which is one more than 1, 2, 3 every inning would be, it’s just unacceptable and it’s not going to set your team up for success in the long run. And that’s a hard thing to do after getting swept by a conference rival. Iowa won, what was it, 9-3, 2 to 1, 9-3 And you come back, have a Tuesday game before another conference weekend. And you get shut out to a team that, like you said, they should be beating. It honestly was kind of tough to watch. It was a fun game to watch, in the sense that I like seeing good pitching. 

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: Usually when it’s from the Gophers, but it just, they got off to an early lead. They got two runs in the second, third and fourth. And then Minnesota was finally, their pitchers were finally able to settle in but at that point it was too late. And Gartner had just found his groove and Minnesota wasn’t able to put guys in scoring position they didn’t have a guy in scoring position past the fifth inning and without that you need a long ball to be able to score runs,

LANDIS: Yeah.

CONDON: Which Minnesota hasn’t been getting the most of recently. So that was a tough game between two conference weekends.

LANDIS: Obviously offensively a struggle but, does it seem to be like that there’s like defensive issues among the team, maybe just in terms of like, communication between outfielders or like missing outs or just not communicating well on the field outside of pitching or, like what does that look like? 

CONDON: Yeah, so something that I think that Minnesota struggled with a lot last year was making plays in the field and I feel like they had a lot more errors at this point into the season, but it seems like Minnesota doesn’t hurt themselves too much in the field. And when they do, it obviously shows and those are the games that teams are putting up double digit runs. So I don’t think it’s entirely the fielding, especially in this game against St. Thomas. But when it is the problem, that is when you see these bigger scoring games, so I think Minnesota has cut down and has done a pretty good job in the field and being, and helping their pitchers out, the most that they can. So I don’t think that’s the biggest issue. Whether, I mean, turning errors regardless is always a bad thing. Looking at stats they’ve turned 44 as a team, compared to the opponents who have only turned 35, or committed 35 I should say, so they aren’t committing too many errors, but any error is too many.

LANDIS: Right. Looking ahead to this weekend, we are recording this on a Thursday. So there is a game tomorrow but what are you expecting just from this three game series against Penn State overall? In terms of like a scouting report and what are you expecting from the Gophers or what do they need to do to be successful this weekend? 

CONDON: Yeah so, Penn State is going to be the easiest in-conference opponent that the Gophers have seen so far. They have a five and seven record coming into the series in conference play in Minnesota still looking for that second conference win they’re wanting to come in at home like I mentioned earlier, so they have that going for them. What I was talking about with that nicer weather, we are going to see a warmer weekend hopefully the rain can hold off because Minnesota has fallen into some of those postponements and then go into doubleheaders, which is never easy, but I’m really looking forward to the three starting pitchers for Minnesota being able to put their foot down and be dominant and give the Gopher offense a chance to stay in the game. 

Something that Minnesota has done all too often is giving up those early runs, which I think is going to be key to be able to get off on the right foot and giving these pitchers the lead is very important. And when they do that, the pitchers need to use that to their advantage and be aggressive and not give these Penn State hitters any walks. Sam Ireland needs to be back to what he was at the beginning of the season. He has struggled a lot recently and looking at the stats in the first four starts of his season, he went 2 and 0, it could have been 4 and 0, he put his team in a winning position each time. He gave up four earned runs in those four starts. Since then he’s given up 18 in his past five. 

So he’s the ace of this Gopher team and he’s going to be a guy that needs to set the tone on Friday in the series opener, and I think he just needs it for his confidence. I think he needs to see a good outing again and be able to get on there on the right page. Looking at Massey and Maldonado. Those two have been very dominant as of late and if all three of them are going to be able to be consistent throughout the season, it’ll be very helpful for this Minnesota team. To be able to have a one, two, three rotation and guys to be able to step up and make plays on offense then. So I think it’s gonna be really important in this next series for the starting pitching to be able to go deep into games and not rely on the bullpen early in the series because if you’re relying on them Friday and Saturday, come Sunday, you’re not gonna have the most arms and you’re gonna have to go to the lower guys in the bullpen. That’s where we see games get out of hand.

LANDIS: Hi this is Anna just checking in just to give an update on these games. Since our initial recording of this podcast Minnesota has faced Penn State, losing the weekend overall after a hot start on Friday with a 7-3 win. Saturday and Sunday the Gophers struggled in later innings, losing 1-5 on Saturday and 5-6 on Sunday. They also played South Dakota State on Tuesday April 26th, losing that game 6-12. Check out our full coverage of all of these games on mndaily.com

LANDIS: Alright, well, and to keep up with all of your reporting, like I’ve said in past episodes, following all of our sports reporters on Twitter is going to be the best way to keep up with their reporting. They do a lot of live tweeting directly through our Twitter pages. You get a lot of the deets. So AJ, what is your Twitter handle?

CONDON: Yeah, my Twitter handle is pretty simple. Just @ajcondon_. Condon is c o n d o n then underscore following that and my profile picture is hard to miss. It’s our favorite Antoine Winfield giving the peace sign to Tyreek Hill.

LANDIS: Very nice and I would especially with baseball, they will be continuing their regular season past our spring publishing date. We are done publishing for the spring semester here at the Daily on May 2, Monday, May 2, but the baseball team will continue to play through that. So definitely follow AJ to keep up with the latest on baseball. Alright well, AJ, thank you for being here. And I look forward to seeing the rest of your coverage. 

CONDON: Yeah. Thanks for having me Anna. 

LANDIS: And that has been our 42nd episode of the Weekly Rundown from the Minnesota Daily, I am your host Anna Landis. Thank you for listening and stay tuned. 

Posted in NewsComments Off on Weekly Rundown Episode 42: Baseball blues

ODU’s Struggle with Academic Freedom Casts a Long, Dark Shadow

This article first appeared in the spring 2022 Mace & Crown magazine issue. 

 

“Old Dominion University doesn’t care about survivors,” says English professor Dr. Alison Reed. 

 

The faculty was disgruntled to begin with. Accusations that visiting professor Blake Bailey sexually harassed students and faculty had been a long-term source of contention, and had recently been brought up in 2021, after years of concerns being dismissed. And then: Dr. Allyn Walker. Only four months after their book was published, Walker, an assistant professor in the sociology and criminal justice department, was placed on academic leave until the end of their contract. 

 

Their book, titled “A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity” built on research Walker conducted during their dissertation, which ODU was fully aware of when Walker was hired. The university was also equally aware of the field of research that they were studying. Walker received intramural funding from Old Dominion University to support their research, through an anonymous grant review process that extended beyond the criminal justice and sociology department and was approved by colleagues in other departments. 

 

Walker took extra steps to make sure the university was informed of the content in their book, and on May 20, 2021, had the interim dean of the College of Arts and Letters share a detailed memo outlining how their book could be misconstrued, as well as talking points to refute any misconceptions. The memo was shared with four high ranking members of ODU administrative staff (as well as the local police chief), including President John Broderick and Giovanna Genard, who is the assistant vice president for public relations. 

 

“Due to my focus on stigma and societal misunderstandings about minor-attracted people, it is possible that the general public will believe that instead of arguing against stigma toward people who share these attractions, I am attempting to “normalize” sexual activity between adults and minors,” Walker wrote in the memo. “I am not.”

 

Dr. Walker is not the only person in academia studying pedophilia. However, they were uniquely vulnerable because they are queer and trans, unlike the many other professionals in the field. 

 

“Dr. Walker didn’t invent the term ‘MAP’,” said sociology and criminal justice professor Dr. Ruth Triplett, a colleague of Walker. “They’re not the first ones [sic] to research on this. In fact, there’s three or four dozen researchers across the country who are researching and publishing in this area. … I keep going back to ‘if there is other research in this area, why is it that Dr. Walker’s research was attacked with such vehemence?’ And I cannot, I personally cannot separate it from their identity.” 

 

It is possible that the general public will believe that instead of arguing against stigma toward people who share these attractions, I am attempting to “normalize” sexual activity between adults and minors. I am not.”

— Dr. Allyn Walker

.sno-626c798b4079e {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0px;}
.sno-626c798b4079e .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b4079e img {
width: 100%;
}

 

4W is a patreon-funded website representing themselves as “feminists bravely stepping outside the liberal main” that focuses on gender identity and male violence. A particular focus of their work is writing about sexual violence and trans people, largely in ways that illustrate all trans people as sexual offenders, murderers, or pedophiles. 

 

On November 10, 2021, 4W posted an article titled” “Non-Binary” University Instructor Calls To ‘Destigmatize’ Pedophilia”. 

 

Throughout the text Walker is intentionally misgendered; the author refers to them using “she” pronouns instead of the preferred “they”. 4W also directly equates the beliefs of various programs Walker mentions to Walker’s personal beliefs, and misrepresents their research as primarily out of “consideration for pedophile’s [sic] feelings”. 4W was the first platform to cover Walker’s Prostasia interview, which occurred more than four months after their book was published. 

 

Dr. Amanda Peterson, an assistant professor in the sociology and criminal justice department at ODU, identified 4W as being the primary reason for the surge in media attention around Walker’s work.

 

“The next batch of websites [to pick up the story] were websites with … similar political goals, or alt-right news websites that then picked up the story based on what they saw in this article. So there’s a question of: would anybody have even noticed, would our student body population have even found out about Dr. Walker’s research?” They asked. “The root of the problem here is the transphobia. This kicked off everything.” 

 

How would this story have played out if Walker had been cis?

 

“We know, because there are dozens of other researchers who work on this topic who have never gotten anywhere near this much attention,” said Peterson. “And they’re cis. Not all of them, but many of them are older, as in middle-age or above. And those researchers sometimes get hate mail. People talk about them negatively online. But there’s been nowhere near the amount of attention that Dr. Walker’s research has gotten, and, in fact, all those people still have their jobs. ”

 

At the beginning of Walker’s career in social work, they worked as a counselor for victims of sexual assault, which motivated them to study child sexual abuse prevention. 

 

Their research functions on one main premise: that sexual abuse of children can and should be prevented. ”

.sno-626c798b40b3f {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);float: right; margin: 30px 0px 30px 30px;}
.sno-626c798b40b3f .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b40b3f img {
width: 100%;
}

 

“Some of my clients were children; some others were adults who had been victimized when they were young. I would leave work at night enraged by what I had heard during the day, wishing I could do something more for my clients, wishing more than anything that I could have prevented their victimization,” Walker said in their book. 

 

“It was both heartbreaking and infuriating to hear about peoples’ experiences with sexual victimization in that capacity,” Walker stressed in the Prostasia interview that 4W wrote about. “All I really wanted to do was protect them from the pain they were experiencing.”  

 

Walker’s research is not about excusing child sexual assault, or condoning it. Instead, they’re trying to prevent it, by exploring preventative strategies and methods that begin with the behavior of adults, rather than placing responsibility on victims to report. 

 

Within their book, Walker works to defuse a common misconception: that all people who are attracted to children, physically assault children. 

 

“A lot of people, when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender,” said Walker in the Prostasia interview. “And that isn’t true.”

 

All of the people that Walker interviewed were non-offending MAPs who had developed coping strategies for their attractions, and help-seeking options, in the event that help would be necessary to prevent themselves from committing a crime. None of them had ever harmed a child. They maintained that hurting a child was the worst thing they could do and they wanted to be good people.  

 

“Not only did they believe that sexual offending against children was wrong, but they also believed that the attractions they experienced were wrong as well,” detailed Walker.

 

Walker says one of their goals in writing the book was to differentiate between MAPs, or minor-attracted people, and sexual offenders, because the terms are not interchangeable, despite the common misconception.

 

Some child abuse organizations who spend all of their time trying to prevent child abuse, they are using this work. I do think that in a few years, when this has become more out and [there is] more discussion… that we will regret this as a university. Because this is quality research.”

— Dr. Ruth Triplett

.sno-626c798b40e93 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0px;}
.sno-626c798b40e93 .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b40e93 img {
width: 100%;
}

 

“It has been my goal… to reaffirm that attractions are not equivalent to action,” they said. “The primary goal of this book is to explore ways of thinking about MAPs that may better protect children from harm.”

 

Their research functions on one main premise: that sexual abuse of children can and should be prevented. 

 

As it stands, the burden of protecting children from sexual abuse has been placed upon children themselves, Walker writes.  They are taught about the power of saying no, and how to get help if they have been hurt or touched, particularly in the popular “The Protect Yourself Rules”, which are taught from kindergarten to grade six. 

 

“The goal of the media such as “The Protect Yourself Rules” – preventing sexual abuse against children – is undoubtedly important,” wrote Walker. 

 

“However, I invite you to examine this type of programming with me. We live in a society in which we teach young children about saying “no” to adults as a policy for preventing abuse…We have allowed our ‘sexual abuse prevention’ strategies to place the burden of prevention on potential victims and to focus on intervention after the fact, rather than before it happens. To truly prevent abuse, we need to shift our focus.”

 

Walker’s research is not theoretical, but peer-reviewed and advocated for in the field of sexual abuse prevention. Their book was published by a highly reputable press in the field of sociology – the University of California Press – and underwent a blind peer review from others in the field before it was published. Their work has also been cited nearly 300 times, according to their Google Scholar metrics

 

Some child abuse organizations who spend all of their time trying to prevent child abuse, they are using this work,” said Triplett. “I do think that in a few years, when this has become more out and [there is] more discussion… that we will regret this as a university. Because this is quality research.” 

 

Walker’s work is being actively applied in preventing child sexual assault. The Zero Abuse Project, an organization dedicated to “transforming institutions in order to effectively prevent, recognize, and respond to child sexual abuse” worked with a church in California, called Menlo Church, to assess their child protection policies in October of 2021. The assessment emphasizes the protection of children by helping remove people who struggle with pedophilic attraction from spaces with children, as well as ways in which the adult in question can help manage their attractions with both mental health and spiritual professionals. 

 

In their report, the Zero Abuse Project references practices from Walker’s research when discussing that adults with sexual attraction to children should not be allowed in youth ministry. On page 153 of their book, Walker documented that many non-offending MAPs self-regulate by avoiding spaces with children. 

 

Their research functions on one main premise: that sexual abuse of children can and should be prevented. ”

.sno-626c798b411d9 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);width: calc(100% – 36px); margin: 30px auto !important; float: none;}
.sno-626c798b411d9 .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b411d9 img {
width: 100%;
}

 

Walker’s work has also been endorsed by researchers and clinicians nationwide. A letter signed by 63 people was sent to President Brian Hemphill and other high ranking faculty on November 22, 2021, two days before it was announced that Walker would remain on leave until the end of the school year. 

 

“As researchers and clinicians in the fields of sexual abuse prevention, mental health,  human sexuality, and criminology, we affirm both our strong stance against the abuse of  children and other vulnerable people,” they wrote, “and our strong support for Professor  Allyn Walker, their important and ground-breaking research, and their freedom as an academic to explore topics that may spur controversy or discomfort.”

 

When Walker spoke with their colleague, Dr. Amanda Peterson, on Friday, November 19, they desperately wanted to stay at ODU. They had been placed on administrative leave a few days before, on Tuesday, November 16. When they had been, it was a surprise. Walker was not immediately informed that they had been placed on leave, and the decision occurred after they had taught two classes that morning.  

Design by Margaret Lynch.

 

“Up until that point, they did not want to resign,” said Peterson. “They desperately wanted to stay at ODU. They care about our students deeply. They love what they teach here. They love this department.”

 

“And so whatever happened over the next few days, I’m not privy to that information,” said Peterson. “But knowing how deeply Dr. Walker wanted to stay here, and then by what, the middle of the next week? They had resigned. There are lots of questions about what happened in between those days that it doesn’t seem like we’re going to be able to get the answers to. To the university … it’s a personnel matter, we can’t discuss it. Dr. Walker is just not discussing it.”

 

After Walker’s research began receiving media attention, they were provided with legal representation by KaiserDillon PLLC through the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

 

“By removing Walker from the classroom, Old Dominion capitulated to the loudest, angriest voices and gave hecklers a veto over what faculty can research, publish, or say,” said FIRE about the situation. “The First Amendment rights of free speech and academic freedom protect the ability of public college faculty to explore ideas, no matter how controversial or how many people agree or disagree with them.” 

 

Following the decision to put Walker on temporary leave, President Hemphill announced on November 24, 2021, that Walker would leave ODU at the end of their contract in May.

 

“We can all agree that we condemn intimidation and threats as in opposition to the ideals of our University and society itself,” Hemphill said. “Especially in an academic environment, controversial ideas should be debated, not silenced.”

 

Since the announcement shared by Hemphill, Walker has not spoken about the situation, either privately or publicly. Walker also declined to comment for this article. 

 

During the research for this piece, the Mace & Crown filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) asking for information relevant to the situation. Among the documents  requested were emails sent by Hemphill that included Walker’s name during the period of time in which ODU was receiving high levels of media attention. Select documents were withheld by ODU due to “Records [being] subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work product.” 

 

The FOIA request was only partially denied, but none of the information requested by the Mace & Crown was provided.

 

Many of the faculty members, particularly those close to Walker, believe that they signed a nondisclosure agreement. 

 

“It’s fairly common for government entities to seek nondisclosure agreements in civil rights settlements, but they’re disfavored by the courts and should be disfavored by universities generally,” said Adam Steinbaugh, director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at FIRE. “That’s pointedly true where the underlying issue is whether the university has violated the free speech rights of a faculty member, making it uncomfortably ironic to ask them to agree to a gag order.”

 

That’s pointedly true where the underlying issue is whether the university has violated the free speech rights of a faculty member, making it uncomfortably ironic to ask them to agree to a gag order.”

— Adam Steinbaugh

.sno-626c798b4159f {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);float: left; margin: 30px 30px 30px 0px;}
.sno-626c798b4159f .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b4159f img {
width: 100%;
}

 

President Hemphill’s decision to place Walker on administrative leave was not one based on pre-existing policy. 

 

“We turned to the faculty handbook for our rights and responsibilities as faculty members and something that’s become really clear is that the faculty handbook doesn’t have policies in place that protect us,” said Peterson. “There’s nothing in the faculty handbook that says, for example, that a faculty member can’t be either placed on administrative leave, or have some other action taken against them, either to protect their safety or the safety of the campus. So what the university did, did not follow a policy, because a policy doesn’t exist.”

 

On December 3, 2021, ODU’s American Society of University Professors (AAUP) released an open letter in support of Dr. Allyn Walker. 

 

In it, they said: “…We believe Old Dominion leadership could have done much more to resist the power of the misreading of Dr. Walker’s work and protect their work and reputation in their messaging.

 

“This is especially true since Dr. Walker and their department and college took the time to inform upper administration of potential blowback against their book following publication. The University could have used insights provided by faculty to draw useful distinctions between the value of Dr. Walker’s work, their right to pursue it, and the discomfort and controversy around the topic itself.

 

“If we as an institution seek to recruit and retain faculty members who engage in research topics and methodologies the general public might resist, then we as faculty, staff, students, and administration need to work together to ensure that faculty are fairly protected from media and public outrage,” ODU’s AAUP continued. “We respect civil dialogue and the mission of our institution to serve the public as a state school, but faculty should not be placed on leave involuntarily or fear non-renewal of their contract because of public misunderstanding of research. The administration should serve as the protective barrier between faculty, their research, and the public; faculty and administration need to work as one body to counter uninformed outrage, mischaracterization, and misled notions of academic freedom.

 

“Our concerns relate to the administration not adequately advocating for the protections granted to faculty through peer-reviewed research,” said Dr. Daniel Richards, president of ODU’s AAUP. “Dr. Walker’s research fits with the existing scholarship in the field, and the book itself was peer-reviewed by a highly reputable university press. We do not think the university across the board did enough to help educate students and the public about academic freedom, but wanted too quickly for the controversy to subside.”

 

“Claiming to support academic freedom is different than ensuring faculty keep their jobs when controversy arises,” he continued. “As a result, we have concerns that there is nothing stopping others from sending threats about controversial research across all disciplines and topics to see that faculty are cornered into resignation.”

 

Dr. Alison Reed, an associate professor in English at ODU, said she wanted to highlight the responsibility of the institution to “protect rather than punish its faculty members.”

 

“ODU would not have issued such a response had they not been concerned about saving face in the wake of transphobic, homophobic, willfully ignorant viral right-wing media backlash directed at Dr. Walker,” she said. “As the gross mishandling of the Blake Bailey case makes clear, ODU does not care about survivors. Indeed, it is ironic that Dr. Walker, whose research is aimed at reducing harm against minors, is treated worse by ODU than this former faculty member, a cis white man whom numerous minors as well as ODU faculty members have spoken out against for sexual abuse & assault. ODU’s disparate responses signal that the institution is preoccupied with protecting its own self-interest and reputation and is willing to throw some of its faculty members under the bus in order to do so.”

 

ODU’s disparate responses signal that the institution is preoccupied with protecting its own self-interest and reputation and is willing to throw some of its faculty members under the bus in order to do so.”

— Dr. Alison Reed

.sno-626c798b418fb {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 3px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);width: calc(100% – 36px); margin: 30px auto !important; float: none;}
.sno-626c798b418fb .largequote {
color: #888888;
}
.sno-626c798b418fb img {
width: 100%;
}

 

ODU’s response to media attention, as well as their presentation of Walker’s research in communications to the campus, has been controversial. When Hemphill placed Walker on administrative leave, he discussed Walker’s work in a manner that appears to characterize their research as dangerous.

 

“Many individuals have shared with me the view that the phrase “minor-attracted people” is inappropriate and should not be utilized as a euphemism for behavior that is illegal, morally unacceptable, and profoundly damaging,” said Hemphill. “It is important to call pedophilia what it is. As a father, I am troubled by this narrative and its potential consequences for my children and that of future generations.”

 

Walker has spoken time and time again regarding the primary goal of their research: harm reduction. This was also emphasized repeatedly in Walker’s memo, shared with members of ODU administration in May, months before Walker’s work drew attention. 

 

Austin Agho, the provost and vice president for academic affairs, emailed faculty in early December amid growing discussions about academic freedom.

 

“The principle of academic freedom is essential to enable members of the University community to rigorously pursue research wherever it leads, even – perhaps especially – when it involves sensitive and controversial subjects,” he said. “…That freedom of expression is subject to reasonable limitations – what the law often refers to as “time, place and manner” – to ensure it does not intrude on the rights of others, including their right to physical safety.”

 

But why, faculty have asked, was virtual teaching not considered? And how was Walker’s speech intruding on the rights of others? 

 

Ultimately, Walker’s suspension has resulted in glaring concerns regarding academic freedom. 

 

What protections do faculty have from negative backlash? If the university is more interested in subsiding controversy than protecting faculty and the pursuit of research, how can ODU retain and attract diverse staff? Will ODU put policies in place to protect faculty in the future?

 

Richards believes that it is vital for ODU administrators to work with faculty, and revise policy to prevent this from happening again.

 

“We [the AAUP] believe that for a university to thrive, faculty, students, staff, and administration all need to be on the same page in terms of what academic freedom is and how to protect it—and, most importantly, why,” said Richards. “There were other options we feel were in front of the administration other than administrative leave that likely could have been used. The administration, with shared governance through the Faculty Senate, will need to work on refining the policies in place to ensure campus is safe and faculty members keep their jobs. This is vital work that needs to be done.”

 

ODU offices are still receiving phone calls concerning Walker’s research, several months after their suspension. At the time of publication, Walker remains on administrative leave.

 


 

Further documents, as well as page numbers for each book quote referenced, can be found here.

Posted in NewsComments Off on ODU’s Struggle with Academic Freedom Casts a Long, Dark Shadow

President Brown discusses sexual misconduct policy, increasing costs of higher education

Brown explained why he disagrees with student loan forgiveness and shared updates on the status of investigations on Thursday.

Posted in NewsComments Off on President Brown discusses sexual misconduct policy, increasing costs of higher education

As STDs Surge, Quest Diagnostics Debunks Common Myths; Highlights Importance of STD Testing

New CDC data shows that people avoided STD testing during the pandemic –

People aged 15-24 years make up half of all STD cases

If you think the quarantines that kept people from dating and sex mean you’re less likely to catch an STD, think again. The pandemic may have caused a dip in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the US very early on, but new data reveals that the decline was short lived. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that cases of STDs decreased during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic but increased by the end of 2020. And people between the ages of 15-24 made up more than half (53%) of all reported cases of STDs.

Rates of syphilis and gonorrhea, two common STDs, climbed. And while the report showed declines in chlamydia, another common STD, experts are quick to point out that it is likely due to a decrease in screening, rather than a drop in actual cases.

Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, is breaking down common myths about STDs and sharing simple steps to take to protect your sexual health. Just remember S.T.D.:

• Start by getting back to care
• Test to know if you have an STD
• Do get treatment to protect your health and others

“Too many young people are at a high risk of STDs, but they may not know it or understand how important it is to be tested and treated, even when they lack symptoms. Reluctance to discuss risk with a healthcare provider is a common barrier, but the pandemic has added another layer of complication,” said Damian “Pat” Alagia, III, MD, an OB/GYN and medical director of women’s health for Quest Diagnostics. “The good news is that there are services available for individuals, including college students, that provide direct access to STD testing without the need to visit a doctor’s office first, so they can get the screening and treatment they need if they put off care during the pandemic, have personal privacy concerns, or are uncomfortable discussing their sexual history with a healthcare provider face to face.”

Myth #1: No symptoms means no STD.

STDs are often silent and without symptoms. In fact, up to 50% of men and 90% of women with chlamydia don’t show symptoms, and about 80% of women with gonorrhea have no symptoms.[1][2][3] The only way to know for sure if you have an STD is to get tested.

Myth #2: I would know if my partner had an STD.

This goes along with myth #1. You usually can’t see that someone has an STD – even a doctor can’t tell by looking at people. And it’s possible your partner may have an STD and not know it. Reminder: people don’t always have symptoms.

Myth #3: STDs don’t have serious health effects.

While college students may be more focused on pregnancy prevention than starting families, understanding the potential for long term health effects is important. If left unchecked, STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea – which are curable with treatment – can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease in women and cause infertility in all people.

Myth #4: If my doctor thought I had an STD, he or she would have tested me for it.

Not necessarily. Some younger people are uncomfortable or embarrassed to have a frank conversation about their sexual behavior with their doctors, are not honest about their sexual history, and may not understand their STD risk. On the flip side, past research by Quest Diagnostics found gaps in care among doctors, with annual screening guidelines sometimes overlooked, especially if someone doesn’t have symptoms.

Myth #5: My partner and I are exclusive, so I don’t need to be tested.

In fact, if you and your partner have each had sex before, you are both at risk unless you both got tested before you became intimate. According to the CDC, all sexually active women under the age of 25 should be screened once a year for chlamydia and gonorrhea, regardless of the number of sex partners, and all sexually active men who have sex with men should be tested at least once a year for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.

Myth #6: Getting tested is a hassle—and embarrassing.

Screening for STDs does not have to be daunting or embarrassing. Consumer-initiated testing services like QuestDirect from Quest Diagnostics allow people to purchase a test discreetly online, including tests for some of the most common STDs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. You can choose to share results with your doctor or talk with an independent physician about your results to come up with a plan that supports your health, including prescription treatment if appropriate. Other options include making an appointment with a primary care doctor or, for females, an OB/GYN, and many colleges have health clinics that may offer STD testing. The CDC also offers resources to find a testing site near you at GetTested.cdc.gov.

The thought of having an STD can be scary, but most are curable and catching them early is the best way to protect yourself and others. Knowledge is power. Just remember these simple steps: S.T.D.

Start by getting back to care. A majority of people put off preventive care during the pandemic.
Test to know if you have an STD. Remember, if sexually active, the only true way to know whether you have an STD is to get tested.
Do get treatment to protect your health and others. Even without symptoms, you can carry and spread an STD, and seeking testing and treatment is not something you need to be intimidated about.

About Our Commitment to Consumer Empowered Health

Quest Diagnostics has long been at the forefront of the movement for consumer empowerment in healthcare. Our QuestDirect™ consumer-initiated testing platform provides dozens of tests for conditions ranging from heart health to sexually transmitted diseases. We were among the first diagnostic information services providers to offer access to test results online and through other channels.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world’s largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors, and improve health care management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com

Media Contact

Jillian Flanagan
Jillian.N.Flanagan@questdiagnostics.com

###

[1] Farley TA, Cohen DA, Elkins W. Asymptomatic sexually transmitted diseases: the case for screening. Preventive medicine 2003;36:502.

[2] Korenromp EL, Sudaryo MK, de Vlas SJ, et al. What proportion of episodes of gonorrhea and chlamydia becomes symptomatic? International journal of STD & AIDS 2002;13:91-101.

[3] Hook EW, III, Handsfield HH. Gonococcal infections in the adult. In: Holmes KK, Sparling PF, Stamm WE, et al., editors. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2008. (Gonorrhea infection in women: prevalence, effects, screening, and management (nih.gov))

Posted in Education, ReleasesComments Off on As STDs Surge, Quest Diagnostics Debunks Common Myths; Highlights Importance of STD Testing

Mullin: Dear Quiet People, Find a Place Where Your Voice is Heard

 

Growing up with a bowl cut, I was always a rather quiet, awkward child who felt like his voice was never truly heard. In fact, throughout my entire life I have suffered from a rare condition that gives me diarrhea out of my mouth anytime I try to talk to other people. 

Oftentimes people are judged based on how well they can express their thoughts through speech or in social settings, a harsh reality that I have struggled to cope with for years. It always seemed like people were more likely to accept a terrible opinion from the loudest person in the room than anything that came out of a quiet person’s mouth.

If I was in a meeting and told people I had found a cure for cancer, everyone in the room would say, “That’s great, Chase, but the loud, obnoxious extrovert says they think drinking bleach might cure cancer, so we’re going with that.” 

Even if I wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, I always felt that I had at least some valid thoughts to contribute to the world, and it wasn’t until I came to college that I discovered the most effective way for me to express my thoughts was through writing. 

While I knew I was passionate about writing, I didn’t have a platform to share my ideas, nor did I particularly seek one until the summer before my senior year when I joined the Daily Utah Chronicle. For once, I had a platform where my voice was heard, and as such, one of my biggest regrets in college was not joining the Chronicle sooner.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit at the end of my sophomore year and canceled my favorite extracurricular activity at the time, being on the men’s club volleyball team, I focused my efforts during the next year and a half on perfecting my beer die skills to fill the void. 

While I still pride myself as being one of the best defensive beer die players in the nation, I knew that my time would be better spent on a hobby that I could actually put on my resume. I applied for a spot on the sports desk of the Chronicle and ended up landing a role covering the men’s and women’s hockey teams. 

Writing for the Chronicle quickly became my favorite of the many activities I did outside of school throughout college, including being in a fraternity, playing volleyball and even my brief stint working at a 7-Eleven, believe it or not. I put an immense amount of effort into the articles I wrote, and by the end of the semester, I had been promoted to Assistant Editor of the sports desk.

My new position as Assistant Editor came with the role of head reporter for the gymnastics team, and at my first press conference, I made a fool of myself with the questions I asked. At the very minimum, however, I did make the entire room laugh.

I knew gymnastics at Utah was big, but I didn’t quite realize just how much the gymnastics team meant to the school. I admittedly knew nothing about gymnastics when I was first assigned this beat, let alone the fact that our gymnastics team draws more fans than our basketball team.

At my first press conference, the other reporters in the room were asking questions using gymnastics terminology that sounded completely foreign to me, so I knew it was probably best if I didn’t speak.

“You guys are ranked fourth in the preseason poll, how disappointing is that for this group?” a reporter from Deseret News asked.

While I stayed quiet the rest of the press conference, I couldn’t help but interject here.

“Wait, isn’t being ranked fourth in the nation, like, a good thing? When I saw that, I was like okay, sweet, our team is good this year,” I asked the team.

Stunned by my question, the whole room was silent for a brief second before erupting in laughter.

“Yeah, it’s an honor being fourth, but we feel we’re capable of winning the national championship.” 

I went home and began to write my first article, only to find out that I had just interviewed Olympic silver-medalist Grace McCallum.

What started as nothing more than an extracurricular activity to keep me out of trouble and give me a platform to express my thoughts ultimately evolved into a leadership role for a storied newspaper, a partial scholarship and a job interviewing Olympic athletes. I am beyond thankful for my time at the Chronicle, and my final words of wisdom here are as follows: if you’re a quiet person, just know that there is a place out there where your voice can be heard, and take pride in the fact that you’re not loud and irritating.

 

c.mullin@dailyutahchronicle.com

@Chase_Chat

The post Mullin: Dear Quiet People, Find a Place Where Your Voice is Heard appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Posted in NewsComments Off on Mullin: Dear Quiet People, Find a Place Where Your Voice is Heard

Episode 95: The toll of I-94, 35W and their futures

INTRO MUSIC

SEAN ERICSON: Hi, everyone. My name is Sean Ericson and you’re listening to In The Know, a podcast by the Minnesota Daily. Together, we’ll be exploring the University of Minnesota’s students and communities with each episode.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing Interstate 94, specifically connections from downtown Minneapolis to downtown Saint Paul. We’ll learn about the history of its construction, and how it and other highways harmed BIPOC communities. We’ll also discuss proposals for how to improve this transportation system and repair these historical harms.

When this section of I-94 was first built, it intersected multiple neighborhoods, most famously the predominantly Black Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation website, also known as MNDOT, this construction “destroyed homes and disconnected neighborhoods.” According to the MNDOT website, this led to a long-term pattern of distrust towards the Minnesota Highway Department in the affected communities. This department would become MNDOT in 1976. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, 600 families lost their homes in Rondo alone.

According to researchers from the A Public History of 35W project, in total, highway construction displaced 24,000 people from their homes in Minneapolis and 6,000 people in Saint Paul. MNDOT apologized for these harms in 2015. In 2016, MNDOT started the Rethinking I-94 project to solicit feedback from the community and develop a plan on what to do with this corridor of I-94.

Louis Moore was born in the early 1950s, where he lived in Rondo for about 12 years. He then moved to South Minneapolis before he was a teen. In Moore’s early teens, construction of 35W first began.

LOUIS MOORE: So once you started hearing the noise over there, like I said, it was like half a block a block at the most away from the actual construction area. You start wandering over there, and you see them moving houses, tearing down houses, chopping down trees, tearing up the street, just complete destruction of the whole area. Now you know, like I said I was 12, 13, 14, something like that.

ERICSON: Moore still lives in South Minneapolis. And more than half a century later, the highway’s noise and construction still negatively affects his home life.

MOORE: I can still hear it. And I’m seven blocks from it. They put up the sound barriers, which obviously made a big difference. But, you know, late at night, we got these dudes out there and motorcycles and I think they race at like two or three o’clock in the morning. You can hear that sucker all the way over here.

ERICSON: This neighborhood destruction was not unique to I-94 and 35W. According to an article in the “Iowa Law Review” by Deborah Archer, a professor at New York University School of Law and president of the American Civil Liberties Union, highway planners at both the federal and state levels target Black communities.

A similar pattern occurs in Rondo, near St. Paul. The pattern that happened in Rondo, of destroyed homes and businesses, was present “[i]n states around the country,” Professor Archer wrote.

According to Evan Roberts, professor of sociology and population studies at the University of Minnesota, there were other options to build the highway that would not have cut through the Rondo neighborhood.

EVAN ROBERTS: There was an alternative route which was proposed. Sort of, use, acquiring land from the railroads in sort of the trench sort of north, about a mile or two. It varies because it’s sort of following a natural – natural gully with the stream.

ERICSON: Dr. Ernest Lloyd is the community and research advisor for the Public History of 35W project. Lloyd used to work for MNDOT. The Public History of 35W is a research project hosted at the Hennepin History Museum that aims to document the history and effects concerning the construction of highway 35W.

For the project, Lloyd interviewed community elders and reviewed a wide variety of historical data. He says that the construction of I-35W through South Minneapolis disrupted a racially integrated community which previously supported a thriving Black middle class.

ERNEST LLOYD: Not only was there a thriving African American community, It was a middle class African American community and a thriving business district there. It was a good place to live, a good place to raise a family. It was a good place to, they felt safe in that community.

ERICSON: According to Lloyd, many African-American families living in South Minneapolis neighborhoods, like Cedar-Riverside and Hiawatha, had come to the Twin Cities from the South in order to escape Jim Crow during the early to mid 1900s.

LLOYD: An elder told me it was a promised land, if you will. Coming from a place they came from, the other part of the country, mainly the southern part of the country at that time. And the racism and oppression and all forms of degradation, lynching, what have you like that.

ERICSON: According to interviews of locals conducted by Lloyd, the construction of 35W had a dramatic effect on what had previously been a somewhat integrated community, increasing racial segregation. Archer also wrote that when an interstate was built in Syracuse, New York,  displaced Black residents mainly moved to other areas of the city while white residents mostly went to the suburbs.

Anthony Scott is a long-time Twin Cities resident, having lived in the area for seventy years. He has co-authored multiple books about the African-American community in Minnesota, including “The Scott Collection” and “Minnesota’s Black Community in the 21st Century.” When asked if highway construction increased segregation, he said yes.

ANTHONY SCOTT: I think it did because you’re displaced from areas you could afford, you’re displaced from areas where you are around people, there was schools in those areas. And so all of the communities were taken and you had to disperse. You weren’t welcome to go to the far suburbs.

ERICSON: Overall, Scott said, highways have reinforced segregation.

SCOTT: Highways have really reinforced these kinds of barriers and enforces and continues a segregated mentality. And I, I just don’t know that, how that’s going to be something real difficult. But it has been for this country to really come to grips with.

ERICSON: Highways became dividing lines between racially segregated communities in other places, too. According to Archer’s research, even in places where highway construction didn’t destroy homes, highways became a “racial barrier” segregating communities from one another.

Professor Greg Donofrio, of the U’s School of Architecture, worked with Lloyd on the Public History of 35W project. He described community elders’ memories of how the construction of 35W increased segregation.

GREG DONOFRIO: One of the older gentlemen told a story, and this just sticks with me so much, I can’t get it out of my head. He said, “Yeah, I had a lot of white friends and we played together, you know, until they moved to the suburbs.” That’s the kind of geographic movement of particularly white families moving to the suburbs, moves that were in many ways enabled by construction of the interstate highway system. 

ERICSON: Highways were crucial to this process of suburbanization. This is because they reduced the amount of time people needed to drive into the city, making it easier to work in the city and live in the suburbs.

DONOFRIO: Developers saw the potential to build homes that now with the new freeway, would only be maybe 10 minutes from downtown, whereas before the freeway, they were 20 or 25 minutes from downtown on surface roads.

ERICSON: According to Donofrio, banks and realtors deliberately excluded Black people from the suburbs using a variety of racist tactics. 

DONOFRIO: You know there were several different mechanisms that this took place, from banks that wouldn’t offer loans to prospective Black home builders or homebuyers wanting to buy homes in the suburbs or build homes in the suburbs, to realtors who wouldn’t show Black families homes in the suburbs.

ERICSON: According to Lloyd and Donofrio, in total, 24,000 people were displaced from their homes in Minneapolis, and 6,000 were displaced in Saint Paul. Scott says that highway construction and the displacement that followed was yet another part of a rising climate of racism and tension in the 1960s, from the assassinations of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and JFK to the brutality unleashed on civil rights protestors. Scott recalls the day when news broke that King was assassinated.

SCOTT: We’d watch TV and we’d see the things going on in Birmingham with putting dogs on people and putting hoses, and we’d see these things. And it’s like all this stuff was just, it’s just quite a quite a memory when you put all these things on top of it. It’s like Black people were an afterthought. We can put freeways through your area.

ERICSON: In 2015, MNDOT initiated the Rethinking I-94 project, a long-term project that involves apologizing to the communities harmed by I-94’s construction and soliciting community input on the future of the corridor. Sheila Kauppi is the Deputy District Engineer for the Metro district at MNDOT and corridor director for the Rethinking I-94 project.

SHEILA KAUPPI: Rethinking I-94 started with a healing ceremony in the Rondo community in 2015, where MNDOT apologized, along with many others from the city and the county, for past practices.

ERICSON: Kauppi said MNDOT did not solicit very much community input when I-94 was first constructed.

KAUPPI: We apologized for the process and such of not, not fully including all voices in the decision making, and recognizing that we all could do better.

ERICSON: Donofrio also said that the lack of public input was a big issue.

DONOFRIO: There was one public meeting held prior to the construction of 35W and one public meeting held prior to the construction of Interstate 94.

ERICSON: And according to Donofrio, MNDOT did not advertise these meetings very well to the communities that were bound to be affected.

DONOFRIO: What Dr. Lloyd and I found is that the notices for these meetings were buried in the backs of the newspapers. Literally between classified advertisements for trailer homes and other things for sale.

ERICSON: According to Moore, these community meetings also happened in his South Minneapolis neighborhood, Regina. The meetings did little to support the local community beyond stating that 35W would soon be built near his childhood home.

MOORE: They just came in and informed everybody that they were going to what they were going to do, but they never asked anybody’s opinion. They never asked anybody ideas, or how they would be affected. They just said, we’re gonna do ABC, blah, blah, blah. And you know, you really had no say in what was gonna happen.

ERICSON: Kauppi said that this time, MNDOT is placing a big emphasis on soliciting community involvement in the planning process.

KAUPPI: We are still in the process of gathering ideas, right? And making sure that the ideas that we’re gathering include those that may not traditionally be part of the overall transportation process and feedback, and making sure that we’re listening to those folks as well.

ERICSON: One proposal for how to rethink the highway system has been put forward by the group ReConnect Rondo. ReConnect Rondo has proposed that a land bridge be built over I-94 in the Rondo neighborhood. This is also called putting a cap on the highway.

This proposal would allow for the preservation of the highway while also increasing the availability of housing, businesses and other amenities in the area. This bridge would be the center of what ReConnect Rondo calls an “African-American cultural enterprise district.”

Another proposal for how to rethink I-94 comes from Our Streets, a Twin Cities nonprofit organization that advocates for shifting our transportation system away from cars and towards other forms of transportation.

Our Streets has proposed what they call the Twin Cities Boulevard. This proposal aims to completely remove the highway between the two downtowns, and replace it with a boulevard that would accommodate cars, bikes, pedestrians and a high-speed bus line. This proposal would also reconnect the street grids severed by the initial highway construction.

Alex Burns is the transportation policy coordinator at Our Streets. Our Streets’ proposal would replace the I-94 from Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis to Marion Street in St. Paul with a variety of transportation options, as well as reconnecting the street grid.

BURNS: So all the streets that were severed, we wouldn’t need bridges that are spaced a mile apart anymore, the neighborhoods would be completely stitched back together.

ERICSON: According to Burns, the boulevard proposal would allow more than just cars and trucks, the boulevard would create improved walkways, bike lanes and have a dedicated bus lane. According to Burns, this would also encourage more construction of homes and businesses along the corridor.

Taking the ever growing and expanding highway system into account, Moore believes that the growing issue of balancing transportation and housing won’t disappear with a couple of quick fixes. Moore believes that Twin Cities’ residents will have to adapt to the highway system as it continues to modernize. 

MOORE: You have to learn to drive on it, you have to learn to be patient with it and you have to learn to understand why it’s there. And if you can get over those humps, you’ll be fine. But there’s no question that transportation is is an important issue nowadays. It’s an expensive issue. And it’s not going to go away.

ERICSON: Scott also expressed skepticism about whether the harms of the highways can effectively be dealt with. Scott said housing affordability will be a major barrier.

SCOTT: If you don’t have affordable housing, you don’t have affordable areas where people can get started.

ERICSON: Scott believes the lack of affordable housing is at least in part because of the highways.

SCOTT: I just somehow think all these things are cumulative effect, the cumulative effect of the freeways, displacement. And then without owning a home in an area, without having a property, as we know, with no equity with no, that’s really where you can gain your wealth. And that’s something that’s really been denied, I think, to a lot of people, especially Black people in the community here in the Twin Cities.

ERICSON: Burns says that the Our Streets proposal is called a “highway-to-boulevard conversion.” A 2019 paper published in the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” by Regan Patterson and Robert Harley studied the replacement of a freeway with a surface boulevard in Oakland, California. The researchers found that the project reduced air pollution. However, it also increased property values, and the Black populations in the area decreased. Patterson and Harley state that the preservation of affordable housing can reduce displacement. 

Representatives from Our Streets said that they included policies in their proposal to prevent this potential displacement. José Zayas Cabán is the advocacy director at Our Streets. He explained some of the proposed anti-displacement policies.

JOSÉ ZAYAS CABÁN: It’s making sure that we have a good commercial land trust and community land trust, so that the community members themselves can have a direct say on what gets rebuilt into the boulevard, and that they themselves benefit from those development opportunities and those housing opportunities.

ERICSON: Burns explained that a community land trust and other policies would potentially support local entrepreneurs. He said that economic development, combined with these policies, would support wealth creation in the community through businesses and homeownership.

BURNS: Those businesses could be prioritized for, if, for example, like BIPOC entrepreneurs in the area that are looking to have a business opportunity. The housing above those businesses could be ensured to be both affordable, and a wealth-building opportunity so that people can actually own their homes and not, and not just rent and accumulate some wealth.

ERICSON: Lloyd said that whichever proposal ends up being implemented, people from the affected communities need to have a say.

LLOYD: You can see exactly how difficult and how all-encompassing this public engagement process is. And MNDOT know that we can’t build highways like we built them in the past. So they are encompassing all the voices. They are bringing all the voices to the table, so to speak.

ERICSON: Lloyd emphasized the human toll that the construction of these highways had, and how it echoes into the present day.

LLOYD: Every time I drive on the interstate going through inner city, especially the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, I think about, am I driving across the person’s front yard? The homeowner’s garage? The bedroom? The kitchen? The family room? But one thing that I do know: when I drive across the freeway, I am driving across the souls of Black people.

ERICSON: Listeners can learn more about the history of highway construction in the Twin Cities at humantoll35w.org, or at the Human Toll of 35W exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum. Listeners can learn more about racially motivated housing policies at mappingprejudice.umn.edu.

The Daily would like to thank all of our listeners for tuning in. We’ll see you next time. I’m Sean Ericson and this is In the Know.

ALBERTO GOMEZ: Episode 94 states that students may opt out of paying for the Universal Transit Pass. This is not true. The Universal Transit Pass’ cost would be charged automatically as a student transportation and safety fee.

Posted in NewsComments Off on Episode 95: The toll of I-94, 35W and their futures

Password sharing shouldn’t be regulated by Netflix

Password sharing shouldn't be regulated by Netflix

Password sharing shouldn't be regulated by Netflix

Juana Garcia/The Cougar

Recently, Netflix announced it was going to crack down on password sharing. However, considering its drop in subscribers and falling reputation, the streaming service should reconsider this decision. 

It’s a well-known fact that a lot of people password share on their Netflix accounts. Couples will often share or families may share one account for everyone in one household, even if the kids move out. Sometimes friends will even share multiple streaming service accounts with each other, including Netflix. 

Apparently, over 100 million households have a shared Netflix account.

Now, Netflix has announced its plans to charge extra fees for each password sharer on an account. It’s already started using this feature in Peru, Costa Rica and Chile. 

What is strange about this plan is that Netflix seems to forget people already do pay extra to share accounts. Users pay $9.99 a month for one screen and pay up to $19.99 for four screens to be watched at the same time. This is under the idea that people within one household could watch four screens at once. 

It’s completely unfair to charge even more for essentially the same thing. It doesn’t matter if people are using the same account within or outside the house. People already pay more for the additional use of Netflix.

This move is especially strange for Netflix considering the company has lost a lot of favor over the years. Some people dislike how sparse Netflix programming is now. It had a lot of beloved programs like ‘The Office’, ‘Friends’ and Disney movies leave to go to other platforms. 

A lot of people may not see the point in watching Netflix now unless they’re interested in the Netflix original shows. However, Netflix has a habit of canceling these original programs after only two seasons. It’s alienating a lot of users already.

The platform also has to compete with other streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu. 

People have only so much money and many are starting to use it on other services, considering the large drop in users since 2022 began. Netflix lost over 200,000 subscribers and now it may lose more if it makes password sharing more expensive. 

Almost 80 percent of people said they would not buy a subscription even if they couldn’t use someone else’s account anymore, according to a survey by Time2Play. It doesn’t sound like this anti-password sharing move will result in more subscribers for Netflix.

The decision will also probably hurt Netflix’s reputation a lot more. There are many streaming services now so people are having to choose where they will spend their money. They will likely choose the services that have the best options and don’t charge them extra for common things like password sharing.

Because it’s already losing favor with its user base, Netflix shouldn’t rock the boat anymore by making it harder and more expensive to share passwords. There are a ton of better streaming services now where people can easily take their money.

Anna Baker is an English senior who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com


Password sharing shouldn’t be regulated by Netflix” was originally posted on The Cougar

Posted in NewsComments Off on Password sharing shouldn’t be regulated by Netflix

Wu launches $106 million in homeownership investments to address racial wealth gap

Mayor Wu announced $106 million in homeownership investments to Bostonians to address the housing crisis and racial wealth gap.

Posted in NewsComments Off on Wu launches $106 million in homeownership investments to address racial wealth gap

Ringing in spring, finals with outdoor studying

With spring finally here, students around the University of Minnesota are remembering what it’s like to be able to spend time outside. With the final weeks of school approaching, many students are using their outdoor time to cram for exams. Although many students tend to swarm to the Northrop Mall, here is a list of other great outdoor study spots.

West Bank Caribou:
Any Caribou is already a great study spot, but this particular location at the top level of Herbert M. Hanson Jr. Hall does not disappoint. With outdoor seating now available, students can enjoy a tasty cup of coffee while also enjoying the fresh air. What tops off this outdoor seating area is the amazing view of downtown Minneapolis.

The Knoll Park:
For Dinkytown residents, this is the outdoor study spot for you. Located right next to well-known restaurants like Gray’s and Tiger Sugar, the Knoll Park is an easy trip for any student living around the Dinkytown area. While many students are often walking through this park to get to class, it stays relatively quiet throughout the day. With lots of open greenery and trees perfect for a hammock, the Knoll Park could be a lax spot to study for any final exams.

McNamara Alumni Center:
Located about two blocks from Superblock, the McNamara Alumni Center offers great outdoor seating arrangements for students. The area has a large lawn and a notable water fountain that gives off a peaceful feeling. The various picnic tables set on the outskirts of the lawn are accompanied by umbrellas to provide shade to any studiers.

Murphy Square:
What could be considered the most overlooked outdoor study spot at the University, Murphy Square is located near West Bank a few blocks away from the Regis Center for Art. For any first-year who feels isolated in Middlebrook Hall, make your own home at this wonderful park. Because this park is so old, there are many large trees that provide shade. These trees also add a feeling of privacy and silence for anyone who enjoys being alone while studying.

Posted in NewsComments Off on Ringing in spring, finals with outdoor studying

Wheel staff members win six awards, ranked twice as finalists by Society of Professional Journalists

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) awarded the Wheel with six region three Mark of Excellence Awards in the “large” university category, which includes all schools with 10,000+ students, on April 28. 

The Wheel won the Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student newspaper. 

“Winning the Region 3 best all around student newspaper award for a second year in a row is a testament to our staff’s continued dedication to covering all facets of life on the Emory campus,” former Editor-in-Chief Isaiah Poritz (22C) said. “It’s an achievement that every person who has contributed to the Wheel should feel proud of.”

In the “In-Depth Reporting (Large)” category, Managing Editor Gabriella Lewis (23C) and Executive Editor Matthew Chupack (24C) were awarded first place for their April 2021 article “Emory’s Compost is Going to a Landfill, Here’s Why.” The article examined the impacts of the pandemic on Emory University’s composting initiatives, revealing that all compostable waste had been sent to landfills since September 2020.

Lewis emphasized that the story was “one that matters” for the Emory community and was “not amplified by the people of power” within the University.

“I thought the fact that Emory had stopped composting was a story that really needed to be told,” Lewis said. “I think it goes to show why journalism matters because it’s exposing things that are not always the nicest but that people need to hear.”

Chupack emphasized the role that the article had on improving his journalistic abilities.

“Writing the composting article as a first-year was such an exciting experience because it was my first introduction to investigative reporting and allowed me to develop new journalistic skills,” Chupack said. 

The Wheel’s Editorial Board also won first place for “Editorial Writing (Large).” 

“I’m honored that I’ve been able to work on the Editorial Board over the past year,” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor Rachel Broun (23C) said. “My first year on the board was online, and it’s been amazing to see that the work we did so far apart from one another led us to this place.”

The Wheel also won first place in the “General Column Writing” category for 1963, a February 2021 investigative project led by Editor-in-Chief Brammhi Balarajan (23C) and Chair of Editorial Board Ben Thomas (23C) exploring desegregation as an ongoing topic and emphasizing the inequities that remain at Emory and the Wheel. 

The project covers Emory’s racial history spanning from the 1960s, when the University admitted its first Black students, to modern day. The series includes contributions from Broun, former Managing Editor Shreya Pabbaraju (21C) and Editorial Board member Leah Woldai (23C).

Balarajan told the Wheel that she is “so, so grateful” for the award, and highlighted its implications.

“This award really reaffirms the importance of journalism focused on race and inequities, and highlights the value of opinion journalism,” Balarajan said. 

Broun agreed with Balarajan, calling the series “one of our first steps in remedying the Wheel’s problematic history of perpetually harming minority students.”

Christopher Labaza (22C) won the “Editorial Cartooning” award. He submitted three cartoons to the SPJ for consideration, including “Couples Counseling.”

“I am honored to be recognized for my cartoons and grateful to the Wheel for the opportunity to share them,” Labaza said.

The Wheel also received first place in the “Podcast” category for  Wheel Talk, which focuses on University news. The podcast is produced by Lewis, Poritz, former Managing Editor Cailen Chinn (22C), former Senior News Editor Ninad Kulkarni (22C), Podcast Producer Catherine Aniezue (23C), Staff Illustrator Ha-Tien Nguyen (25C) and Podcast Producer Carly Colen (23C).

After gaining recognition as a finalist in last year’s SPJ awards, Lewis called the podcast’s win “a dream come true.”

“Our win goes to show that the future of the Wheel is continuing to be more audio and multimedia focused, and I’m really proud to be able to lead the charge on that,” Lewis said.

Nguyen also highlighted the team effort aspect of the podcast’s success.

“As a newbie to podcasting, everyone provided such a huge helping hand to me and the other first-comers,” Nguyen said. “Being able to work with such incredible and hard workers really means a lot when you first dip your toes into something new and I wouldn’t trade this first year for anything.”

Former Executive Editor Anjali Huynh (22C) was named a finalist in “General News Reporting (Large)” for her March 2021 article “‘I’m Exhausted’: Emory Community Addresses Anti-Asian Hate.” The article, which was published shortly after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, examined student reactions to the spike in Asian hate crimes, the history of anti-Asian sentiments in the United States and ideas about how to move forward.

Executive Editor Sophia Ling (24C) was also a finalist in the “Food and Restaurant Journalism” category for her opinion column “Sophia’s Smorgasboard,” which examines the political and cultural implications of food-related topics. 

The Wheel competed against other universities and colleges in Region 3, which consists of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. First place winners will compete at the national level among winners from all 12 SPJ zones in the late spring.

The post Wheel staff members win six awards, ranked twice as finalists by Society of Professional Journalists appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

Posted in NewsComments Off on Wheel staff members win six awards, ranked twice as finalists by Society of Professional Journalists