On Oct. 16, SLU students were told, via email, that SLU Madrid will be available to attend for next semester. 

With this announcement, students planning on attending programs other than SLU Madrid were left wondering what would happen. Normally, students that do not wish to attend SLU Madrid have several other options; they can choose from a variety of countries and schools to study at, including Italy, Germany, South Africa. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced further concerns about the possibility of study abroad taking place at non-SLU Madrid campuses. 

SLU sophomore, Katie Fowler, had applied to study abroad at the Sant’Anna Institute in Sorrento, Italy for the Spring 2021 semester. She said that “the SLU study abroad program emailed saying that we had to petition to go to another school since they couldn’t control our actions like they can at SLU Madrid.”

This year, students who wish to study abroad in a country and school other than SLU Madrid must fill out a three page application that will then be submitted and reviewed by the SLU study abroad office.

One of the requirements for the application is an itinerary of the student’s plan when abroad. Students who apply must include “each trip objective, all travel destinations and related departure/arrival dates, all modes of transportation, and any other information that may assist the Committee with their review.”

Another question within the application regards the purpose of travel. Students who apply must “provide compelling reasons for the proposed travel to the region and, in particular, how it will impact the overall study or research plan of the program participants.”

Students must also research the region that they wish to travel to and learn about their protocols with regards to COVID-19. They must clearly “identify specific steps you will take to mitigate these risks, demonstrating that all known risks have been considered in a thoughtful and deliberate manner.”

The last part of the application looks at the communication going forward. Students who study abroad are encouraged to remain informed about current events, as well as, updates on COVID-19 in their intended region. Students are specifically required to communicate both back to the university and those back home. They also must provide contact information for the university to be able to reach out with any concerns about the state of the region, wherever that may be.

Students are to submit this application a minimum of six weeks before the intended travel, to “permit effective consultation with the International Travel Advisory Committee” and in order to be approved by SLU’s study abroad office. More information is available on The Office of International Services’ website or by contacting them directly at goabroad@slu.edu.

Overlooking the obvious transition of the White House from red to blue, the 2020 election also included the passing of some monumental bills, and opportunity for racial and gender inclusion. 

For starters, a record number of women will be seated in the 117th U.S. Congress. At least 131 women will represent the people in 2021. However, the victory for women does not end there. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will not only be the first female elected to the role, but also the first person of color. 

State legislatures were also a major topic for discussion in what is being called “Election Week.” Only 38 state initiatives were voted on on election day, which is significantly lower than that of the 2016 election, but these smaller numbers still carried great weight. 

The legalization of marijuana has swept over many states in the past 5 years, with New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona and even Mississippi joining the ranks in 2021. This brings the total number of states allowing medical cannabis to 36. Fifteen states are now also allowing recreational use of marijuana. 

Oregon made some large-scale changes to their drug laws. The state legalized the possession of small amounts of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin in hopes to lower the prison space occupied by people with drug offenses. Instead, the state is choosing to allocate its money from taxes on marijuana sales to treatment centers for people struggling with addiction. Oregon believes that this will take big strides to improve the mental health of the citizens and protect underprivileged communities from the disproportional impact of drug charges and imprisonment. They also legalized psilocybin with the restriction that the person in possession must be at the age of 21 or older. This drug is often used in anxiety treatments and its legalization hopes to support those struggling with mental illness.

While the West was enacting social changes, Florida made more financial changes. Florida passed a pro-labor constitutional amendment which plans to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour by the year 2026. This passed by a slim margin, needing 60 percent of the votes and receiving 61. The current rate is $8.56 in Florida, but this will rise to $10 in September and increase by $1 every following September until 2026.

California Labor laws have changed for the worse if you work for Uber, Lyft or DoorDash. Workers and drivers are no longer protected through state regulations and benefits, as California now considers them private contractors.

Mississippi officially has a new flag design, containing a magnolia flower and the phrase “In God We Trust.” The state can now officially replace their flag as most of the country has deemed the earlier Confederate imagery unacceptable and divisive. Finally, abortion laws were placed in front of many Americans last week. While Colorado failed to ban abortion after 22 weeks, Louisiana also passed anti-abortion legislation, not through action, but through verbiage. Their State Constitution now contained the preface that “Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion, or require the funding of abortion.”

Let me take you way back to 1955 when the NBA was nowhere near as popular as it is today. Ticket sales were low, jerseys were made out of cotton and the three-point shot didn’t even exist. At this point in time, there were only eight teams in the entire league.

You can see where many of the iconic teams we know today, started out. The Lakers eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1960 where they remain to this day. The Fort Wayne Pistons moved  to Detroit in 1957, where they still remain as well. But other teams were still figuring themselves out, and expansion was vital to growing the league.

So, with a poor last place record for four straight seasons, Milwaukee had to make a change. The team moved to St. Louis, with the goal of building a successful franchise in this new market. In their first draft as a St. Louis team, they drafted the future Hall of Fame player Bill Russell—and traded him immediately to the Boston Celtics where he would go on to win 11 NBA Finals. That’s right, eleven—including eight in a row at one point.

The trade deal, however, was not a total failure. The Hawks were able to receive two future Hall of Fame players, Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan. The team ended up making the playoffs in all but one season until 1973. 

In 1958, the Hawks beat Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. This was the Hawks franchise’s only championship and St. Louis would end up being in the Finals four times, facing Boston each and every time, only winning once. The Celtics of course won 11 championships, so we can see who got the better end of the Russell deal.

Over the following years in the 1960s, the St. Louis team managed weak players and a struggling record. The best players averaged about 12 points a game, injuries were incredibly common and at one point there was even a player-coach by the name of Richie Guerin. Under Guerin, the team won 28 out of 47 games and finished in second place for the 1964-1965 season.

In the 1967-1968 season, the Hawks had their best season in St. Louis with a 56-26 record and finished in first place. They quickly were caught off guard in the first round of the playoffs and lost to the San Francisco Warriors in a six-game series. Fans in St. Louis were quickly surprised to find out that the owner had sold the Hawks to a Georgia real estate developer, who moved the team to Atlanta. Thus, forming the Atlanta Hawks as we know them today.

The city of St. Louis has yet to see a return of NBA Basketball since the Hawks left for Atlanta but there was an ABA basketball team that was here for two seasons called the Spirits of St. Louis, which had future stars like Moses Malone. Bob Costas, the legendary sports announcer, got his start with the Spirits just out of college. The city of St. Louis has always been considered a possible location for an NBA team whenever talk about expansion comes up and is long awaiting a return of NBA Basketball.

This past week, we saw the cogs of American democracy churn out a new President-elect, former Vice President Joe Biden. He and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, ran on the platform of uniting the country after America survived living for four years under a divisive presidential administration. A certain kind of joy spread across America on Saturday, Nov. 7, when every major media outlet projected his victory over the incumbent, President Trump. But now that we have a (nearly) certified President-elect, what’s next for our country?

Let me start off by saying that I myself cast a vote for the Biden/Harris ticket. In my mind, America has lost its sense of decency under President Trump and has socially regressed 20 years, if not more. That’s not to say, however, that I have a lot of faith in a Biden administration to recover all that we have lost since 2017, when Trump first took office.

The President-elect has proclaimed that his cabinet will “look like America.” But what does that mean? Will it be a racially diverse Cabinet full of qualified candidates? Will it consist of 50 percent men, 50 percent women? Or will it be half-staffed by Republicans, and half-staffed by Democrats? I fear that this last question might reflect the future truth.

Joe Biden is, by definition, a career politician. He served as a U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009. From 2009 to 2017, he served as the Vice President of the United States. Now, at the age of 77, he will serve as the President of the United States for the next four years. For some perspective, President Obama (2009-2017) is now only 59 years old. Presidents Clinton (1993-2001) and Bush (2001-2009) are both 74 years old. The only living President older than Joe Biden is Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), who is a ripe 96 years old. 

I suppose the question I should be posing is this: why do we keep picking Presidents from the Old Guard? For his entire professional career, politics is all that Biden has known. He has lived through several social revolutions, and his record reflects that. While a Senator, he voted in favor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. He was a champion of the 1994 Crime Bill, which helped the United States become the world’s foremost jailor. As of 2020, we have over 2.2 million people locked away in prison, which is more than even the authoritarian countries of China and Russia.

Perhaps we choose to elect these people because, for our entire lives, they’ve been the ones in power. But this is to our detriment. Establishment Democrats feed on corporate donors. They care little for their constituents. These elites almost never reflect America as it truly is. Most Americans don’t attend Ivy League schools. Most Americans don’t even graduate from college. Most Americans don’t grow up in comfortable, stable, suburban households. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

I’m writing this because, while I’m excited at the prospect of finally getting rid of President Trump, I’m still worried about what the future might hold. There is so much potential for a Biden administration to do good by the American people. Washington, D.C. could finally be admitted as a state (pending the upcoming Senate elections in Georgia), finally providing representation to 700,000 bona-fide Americans. The Affordable Care Act could be expanded to provide Medicare-for-All, ultimately doing away with pricey private health insurance, which is oftentimes dependent on having a good-paying job. The federal minimum wage could be raised from $7.25 to at least $15 an hour. The passage of a comprehensive Green New Deal could provide new jobs to millions of Americans while positively transforming American society as a whole.

But this is all dependent on both Joe Biden and the American people being comfortable with change. People struggle to understand why Donald Trump was elected, and why he was able to build a cult following during his four years in office. It’s because Republican voters were tired of the same old people representing them in Washington, and Donald Trump was certainly not a regular politician. While President Trump saw this opportunity and further cemented the legality of playing dirty politics within government, Democrats have the opportunity to seize on this dissatisfaction to make positive change. We have the White House! Anything is possible. We just have to make it happen.

That’s why we must bitterly oppose the appointment of people like Rahm Emanuel, John Kasich and Mitt Romney to President-elect Biden’s Cabinet. Each of these men are members of the Old Guard, and each of them have just as many skeletons in the closet as the President-elect. Instead of enacting positive change after the four years we experienced under Donald Trump, we’d go back to the days of President Obama. That is not good enough.

We fought tooth and nail to get Joe Biden in the White House. This lame-duck period between the election and Biden’s inauguration should be utilized as a time for celebration, rest and strategizing. Then, on the day President Biden gets sworn into office, we must fight tooth and nail once more for the America we want to see. We must force our President to represent us, not the interests of giant corporations, pharmaceutical companies and the Old Guard. 

Our future is not up to Joe Biden. It is up to us.

2020 has taken away countless events that many people were looking forward to, including many important religious holidays. For Muslims, many were unable to celebrate the end of Ramadan with Eid-al-Fitr in May, Eid-al-Adha in July and many other religious events. For Hindus, the nine-night celebration of Navaratri was unable to be celebrated in person and one of the most sacred holidays, Diwali, will ultimately not be the same as previous years. A commonality amongst all of these celebrations is that they are normally spent with large groups, typically family, friends and loved ones. Although this is not an ideal situation, many people have made the most of this predicament and still found safe and special ways to celebrate. With the holidays just around the corner, it’s important to be mindful that we are still amidst a life-threatening virus. Knowing this, there are a few ways that SLU students safely celebrated the holidays that are most meaningful to them. 

Routinely, Muslims all over the world celebrate Eid-al-Fitr after Ramadan, which consists of a whole month of fasting. Eid-al-Adha is the second significant Eid celebrated by Muslims and emphasizes the value of sacrifice for God and the greater good. Oftentimes, these holidays are spent in large gatherings to bring people together on these special days, but due to COVID-19 things went a little bit differently this year. Freshman Dania Salman shares her personal experience, “My family usually goes to the mosque every year on Eid to celebrate with everyone. However, due to the pandemic, we did Eid prayers at home this year instead. Although it was different, we made the most out of it by being there for each other.” Although sacrifices were made in order to promote safety and prioritize physical health, simply being with your family on this special day can make it a more intimate and memorable experience. Sophomore Zahva Naeem also shares her experience: “It always starts with us waking up incredibly early and yelling at each other to get ready faster and get out of the house, but we love it… After a short prayer and sermon, we rush through the thousands of people around us to take pictures with friends and family as a reminder of another blessed holiday that we’re able to experience…This year, however, looked incredibly different. My family has been pretty strict about following CDC guidelines to ensure that we not only keep ourselves safe but others. This past May during Eid was actually the first time I had gone out since lockdown had begun, and it was incredibly difficult to realize I wouldn’t be able to celebrate with my community. My family and I met up with just a single other family and held our own mini-community prayer (masked and socially distanced of course) and then just went straight home. Dressing up and taking pictures allowed us the illusion of celebrating the sacred holiday, but it wasn’t the same. I only hope that other people across the country will respect the sacrifices that so many Muslims, Hindus, and Jewish people made in not being able to celebrate their sacred days and follow our example once their own beloved holidays come around this winter.” As Naeem stated, those who celebrate the upcoming winter holidays must understand that they are not the only ones who have to make sacrifices. Putting the physical health of your family and friends this holiday season is crucial now more than ever as COVID-19 cases rise day by day, and everyone is in need of some normalcy after months of separation.

Other holidays, such as Navratri and Diwali, are also not the same as it has been in previous years. Navratri is a sacred Hindu holiday celebrated over the course of nine continuous days and dedicated to Maa Durga and her nine avatars. The second holiday, Diwali, is seen as the most important holiday of the year for Hindus and symbolizes light. The vibrant festival is commonly celebrated with family and friends and filled with many different colorful events. Junior Mansi Patel speaks about her experiences: “Besides being indoors and not being able to see friends, it was hard to not be able to celebrate religious festivals this year…Navratri just passed which is a nine-day festival that includes Garba which is a dance form in which people come together and dance in a circle in worship. This was definitely something I was looking forward to and it was disheartening that I couldn’t celebrate. Diwali is also coming up and I know I’m gonna miss being able to see my cousins and celebrate together with food and music. Most of these celebrations are heavily community-based so it’s hard not to be able to celebrate as we did pre-covid.”

All things considered, the pandemic doesn’t seem like it will disappear anytime soon. It won’t be easy trying to find a way to celebrate holidays separately when they are meant to be spent together, but hopefully hearing about some of the experiences from SLU students can broaden your perspective on ways to safely celebrate. Since holidays like Eid and Diwali were not the same this year, we can only assume that Christmas will also look a little different, but let’s try to prioritize health and be mindful that there are safer ways to enjoy this holiday season, although it may not be ideal.

This past year has been a summer of protests. While many were already brewing, the pandemic gave a jumpstart to movements across the world, from Asia to Europe to North America. The common theme of these protests? Citizens feel that their governments aren’t listening to them.

The protests in Hong Kong are arguably some of the most violent and longest-running protests of this year. Coincidentally, the roots of these movements were planted around the same time as the roots of the Black Lives Matter movement were in 2014. Ever since Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Protests, both the governments of Hong Kong and China have been cracking down on dissent. There have been allegations of kidnappings, extrajudicial killings and beatings. 

Hong Kong has enjoyed more freedoms than its neighbors in Shenzhen and Macau by maintaining a government modeled after the British colonial government with elections that managed the colony from 1841 to 1997. However, in March of 2019, when pro-Beijing legislators introduced an extradition bill between Hong Kong and mainland China, mass protests engulfed the city. By June, the police were firing teargas at crowds on sight. At one point, protesters occupied all of the major university campuses, essentially turning them into fortresses. China is known for its murky judicial process that is easily influenced by outsiders and which often perpetrates human rights violations. The key concern about this extradition bill was that it would allow mainland Chinese agencies to operate within Hong Kong without notifying the Hong Kong government, an unprecedented move. The extradition bill was withdrawn in September of 2019.

Because of the pandemic, the protests have since lost their steam and have subsequently simmered into small acts of defiance, although now an “anti-terrorism” law so broad almost anything can be considered a terrorist act has been put into place, effectively stifling peaceful protestors and criminalizing political dissent. It also covers the entire world. Any person, even if they’re not Chinese citizens, is affected by this. 

In Africa, protests in Nigeria have brought the country to a standstill. These protests have been centered around police brutality, specifically within the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, otherwise known as SARS. This is not the first time SARS has caused protests. The Nigerian government has changed the names of SARS and its predecessors as a half attempt at convincing its citizens that they really have changed the police. Instead, it’s staffed by the same officers and committing the same kind of police brutality, which is why Nigerians are protesting. These protests continue to gain support and have spread internationally to countries with Nigerian communities. 

Now to Europe, in Belarus. Their president, Alexander Lukashenko, is known as “Europe’s last dictator,” and for good reason. He’s held onto power since Belarus’ first elections after it broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. The 2020 presidential elections in Belarus were riddled with irregularities and protests against Lukashenko are ongoing. There have been clashes between protesters and the government that have often turned violent. There have even been reports of people being tortured. Because of this civil unrest, the government has taken away all media credentials, which are required to legally report in Belarus, effectively allowing reporters to be arrested at any time. It’s surprising the European Union hasn’t done more in regards to Belarus besides using strong words to condemn the violence, though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is most likely the biggest factor behind this lack of action. 

In the United States and Canada, Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests from coast to coast in nearly every community sprung up over the summer. To a smaller extent, indigenous protests have also started to gain steam, and often protested alongside BLM activists. The vast majority of protests were peaceful, but some were met with violent force, especially in New York City. Many wonder what the next steps for the movement are, but there is no clear answer. Despite the violence, there were also heartening moments during the summer, like people singing in Washington, volunteers signing up protesters to vote, as well as the Portland Moms/Dads and various other quickly organized community groups. 

Perhaps a more surprising place where protests have recently popped up is Thailand. Its democracy movement is similar to Hong Kong’s in that protestors are calling for the repeal of restrictive freedom-of-speech laws. It has strict lese majeste laws which essentially prohibit  anyone from defaming the Thai King, King Vajiralongkorn. These laws’ roots run deep; they are actually written in the country’s constitution stating that people must hold the Thai king in reverence. However, it’s quite difficult to do that when the Thai king spends nearly the entire calendar year in a German hotel. King Vajiralongkorn is overall much more controversial than his father, who worked to help people. In an unprecedented move, protesters in Thailand openly jeered the royal motorcade. Normally, everyone protesting would be jailed, but surprisingly this crowd wasn’t. While many of the student protest leaders have been jailed several times, the protesters continue demanding a more democratic government and for the king to give up all military units under his personal command and return them to the military. 

It seems that these movements are only getting the ball rolling. 2021 will be an interesting year, especially after the U.S. elections. Whatever happens in these countries, authoritarians that preside over stable countries will take notice. They will not want the same energy to spread to their nations and ultimately usurp their power. At the end of the day, however, the will of the people cannot be ignored.

With Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the conservative majority is now 6-3. Before Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, the conservative majority was only 5-4 which meant that the four liberal justices only had to convince one conservative justice to side with them. That was oftentimes Chief Justice John Roberts, but even with his potential swing vote, the conservative justices now decisively rule the Supreme Court. 

Since justices on the Supreme Court have lifetime appointments, Barrett will have decades to push her beliefs on the American public. The precedents she has set during her time as a judge in the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals along with her writings have demonstrated how she will behave when certain types of cases reach her desk. 

To help you understand the consequences of Barrett’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, I have compiled the following list of things that you should do before she and the rest of the conservative majority overturn or take them away.

Be Gay 

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, the Supreme Court reviewed Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case where a lower court’s decision effectively prohibited discrimination against same-sex couples by adoption agencies. As Barrett is a member of and has delivered lectures for the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ+ organization that has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the extent of her direct affiliation with this organization is telling of how she would behave when she votes on this case. Protecting the ability of adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ+ couples would then set a dangerous precedent that could ultimately impact Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which made gay marriage legal nationwide, as well as Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia (2020), which effectively protects employees from being discriminated against by their employers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

Before Barrett has the chance to change or influence these decisions, go out and be gay. Get married, adopt, hold a job and do everything else that people do whilst gay. “Be gay, do crimes.”

Have Affordable Healthcare 

During a pandemic, widespread access to quality, affordable healthcare is more important than ever. Not for Barrett. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially known as Obamacare, helped 20 million people gain health care coverage, yet it faces another legal challenge before the Supreme Courtthe week after the election. Barrett criticized Chief Justice John Roberts’ past reasoning to uphold the ACA in a 2017 article. That, along with her general conservative leanings, serves as proof to many on how she will vote in the case challenging the legality of the legislation. Even if the ACA makes it past the Supreme Court this time, it will undoubtedly come up again and millions of Americans have the potential to lose essential coverage for their health. 

Once again, before the conservative majority strips people of healthcare, go and get preventative care. Get a check-up, get a flu shot and…have that mole looked at.

Have Reproductive Freedom

Barrett’s personal views on abortion became evident throughout her time at the University of Notre Dame, especially when she added her name to an ad that implored for the “barbaric legacy” of Roe v. Wade to be overturned. Despite Barrett’s silence on how she would rule on these cases during her confirmation hearings, Donald Trump had previously promised to only nominate pro-life justices to the Court, which indicates her leanings.

Though she is by herself incapable of overturning Roe v. Wade, she did say at Jacksonville University, “I think the question of whether people can get very late-term abortions, you know, how many restrictions can be put on clinics, I think that will change.”

The Supreme Court will more likely take on cases that slowly remove access to abortions and birth control. A case like Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which prohibited laws causing undue burden to women seeking abortions, would line up with what Barrett wishes to overturn. During her confirmation hearings, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the case that legalized birth control, was brought to Barrett’s attention, but she refused to agree that the decision was made correctly. As such, it is seemingly plausible that access to birth control will be restricted since many states have not drawn the line between birth control or abortion. 

With reproductive freedom on the line, go and get that vasectomy or tubal ligation or, if you are looking for something less permanent, a long-term IUD lasts from three-six years which will hopefully give you enough time to move somewhere else. 

Not Get Shot

When it comes to guns, Barrett’s positions are historically unprecedented. In the case Kanter v. Barr (7th Cir. 2019), it was ruled that even people with non-violent convictions should not be able to get a gun. Barrett wrote a 37-page essay dissenting that vote. Though the ban on all felons owning firearms may go too far, her reasoning that there was no historical precedent to allow for such a ban is a little concerning. Machine guns for civilians weren’t banned until the 1980s and there weren’t background checks for gun purchases until 1993. The founding fathers didn’t think guns would be being sold at Walmart when they wrote the constitution, so there being no historical precedent is an irritating and tiresome explanation in a constantly changing world. UCLA law professor Adam Smith elaborates on how far this could go, “Does that mean that there’s a constitutional right to have machine guns because there’s no strong historical precedent for banning those weapons?” 

So before any and all gun control is repealed or overturned, go on a walk and enjoy not getting shot with a machine gun. 

Remember What It’s Like to Have a Competent President

If there is a major dispute involving the election, any kind of legal battle will likely go to the Supreme Court. Given the Court’s conservative majority and the three justices he appointed, the vote will go to Trump and the American public will be stuck with four more years of an incompetent man-child as president. So move to Canada while you have a chance to truly experience a semi-coherent president. 

Though this is certainly not a comprehensive list, new U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett will make the lives of so many Americans more difficult and less safe. Until that officially happens, be gay, have some reproductive freedom, don’t get shot, and enjoy some semblance of affordable healthcare.