11.05.20. by The Kenyon Collegian

November 5, 2020

ESTABLISHED 1856

Vol. CXLVIII, No. 11

Kenyon invites all but first years back to campus for spring

SARA HALEBLIAN SOPHIE KRICHEVSKY MANAGING EDITOR LINNEA MUMMA NEWS EDITOR

On Monday, President Sean Decatur announced that sophomores, juniors and seniors are invited to study on campus for in-person instruction this spring, while first years will study remotely. “2020 has tested us like no other,” Decatur wrote in the announcement. “Our choice to keep the density of campus low this fall has served the Kenyon community well, and given the current trajectory of the pandemic we will continue this approach for the spring semester.” The College’s initial July announcement stated that, should it remain unsafe to invite all students back to campus, only juniors and seniors would be invited back to the Hill. Given the low case count this semester, the College has determined the situation safe enough for three

classes — as opposed to two — to return to campus. The decision comes as Kenyon concluded its quiet period just last week, which went into effect after the Village saw increased levels of COVID-19 in its wastewater. However, the College ended this moderate alert status on Oct. 29, after only one student tested positive for the virus on Oct. 23. The College also tested employees last week for the first time since the start of the semester, and thus far no employees have tested positive. Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases have continued to rise nationwide, with the United States reporting over 100,000 daily cases for the first time Wednesday. Decatur acknowledged that the current plan would be subject to change in light of the precarious nature of the pandemic. “At this stage, it is as firm as anything in 2020 can be,” he said. In response to student concerns about campus density, Decatur ex-

plained that the junior and senior classes are, on average, significantly smaller than the sophomore and first-year classes. “If you add together the juniors and seniors, you have about 800-something students that would be expected back on campus this [spring] semester,” Decatur said in an interview with the Collegian. Decatur noted that this discrepancy allows space for almost an entire additional class on campus. According to him, there are roughly 1,100 students on campus this semester. He estimated that the total number of students on campus in the spring would be between 1,200 and 1,300, an increase of at least 100 students from the fall semester. The decision came as a surprise to students — juniors and seniors especially — many of whom voiced their concern on social media. Not only did many find it unfair to grant sophomores the entire year on campus, but students also worried about the potential health risks posed by additional students’ presence on campus. “I can’t wait to have a higher chance of contracting the virus when working on my capstone thesis next semester because the current conditions in Ohio and the rest of the country are truly reassuring,” Jamie Sussman ’21 wrote sarcastically in a comment on Kenyon’s Facebook post. He added that he trusts Kenyon’s current de-densification plan. “Lets not alter [that plan] and impact the health of everyone on campus. Numbers and population matter,” Sussman said.

Zoë Packel ’22 shared Sussman’s concerns. “Given the evidence that COVID cases, especially in Ohio, are increasing daily, it feels really irresponsible of the [administration] to make the decision to bring more students back to campus,” she wrote in a message to the Collegian, adding that upperclass students, who have been studying remotely since March, want to return to an environment that is “as safe and cautious as possible.” According to Decatur, the College’s ability to safely invite more students back to the Hill this spring is largely due to its new plan for housing: Instead of putting all students in single rooms, it will house apartments at their full capacity, with students living in “pods,” which are small groups of students who live in the same space and only interact with each other. In the News Bulletin, Decatur mentioned that the idea for “pods” came from other institutions who had successfully used them. Vice President for Student Affairs Meredith Harper Bonham ’92 explained that the decision to invite additional students back to campus was based, in part, on what the College has learned from this fall semester. “Ultimately, we had slightly more residence hall capacity in the fall than we had anticipated,” Bonham wrote in an email to the Collegian. “Based on conversations with local public health experts, we also concluded that increasing apartment occupancy would not compromise the

health and safety of our students.” Later, she added that, “we believe that we can comfortably handle what will amount to an additional 300 or so students on campus.” Sharing his thoughts about the College’s plan for spring 2021, Director of Cox Health and Counseling Center Chris Smith wrote in an email to the Collegian that he is “cautiously optimistic,” referencing the success of the fall semester. “Strategies that were successful will likely be repeated and strategies that present opportunities for improvement will likely be amended,” he said. “Kenyon College will share our operational plans with Knox Public Health and welcome their continued guidance and partnership.” First-year students can petition to remain on campus for the spring semester, according to Dean of Students Robin Hart Ruthenbeck. With limited space available, the College will only consider those with “highly compelling situations,” she said. Petitions are due on Nov. 9. All international students have been invited back for the spring, and do not need to petition. Additionally, the College announced that spring off-campus study will be suspended. As per NCAC’s announcement, intercollegiate athletics are also cancelled through the winter season. Though the College remains optimistic about the possibility of an in-person Commencement ceremony on May 22, 2021 as scheduled, Decatur said the need for flexibility as the situation continues to unfold.

Students report instances of racial harassment in Gambier ELEANOR KALLAY STAFF WRITER KINSEY UZELAC STAFF WRITER

On a night in early September, a group of students of color seated outside were verbally harassed by a group of individuals driving past the Kenyon Bookstore. Despite many students walking around campus that night, only students of color were targeted by the white people yelling “Trump 2020” out of the car window. The incident was described by Mahnoor Fakhar ’22, one of the students present, as traumatizing. She said that it led to them all sitting silently for several minutes to take in what had just occurred. “I was really scared because that could have escalated so fast,” she recalled. Having occurred during this year’s election season, this incident was even more charged. As the election drew attention to racism in the United States, Fakhar felt that the incident took on racist undertones. As she wrote in her all-student email sent out on Oct. 27 describing the incident, “These people did not yell this phrase at any of the white students, they chose to specifically target a group of BIPOC

students, sitting at a table.” Fakhar sent out the all-student email in order to inform the campus and call for the administration to take a harsher stance against racism, especially leading into the election. “The Kenyon community does not feel protected given the volatility of the events leading up to the election,” Fakhar wrote in the email. “Kenyon needs to reassure the community that it is looking out for us by coming up with contingency plans for every possible scenario.” According to Fakhar, this type of racial harassment on Kenyon’s campus is not an isolated event. “Every single person of color I talk to about this, they told me, ‘Oh yeah, this has happened to me too,’” Fakhar said. “It’s just something that has increased in its occurrences recently, [or] at least I’m hearing about it more recently.” In response to these concerns, Vice President for Student Affairs Meredith Harper Bonham ’92 explained that it is difficult for the administration to control situations involving people unaffiliated with Kenyon. Despite this, in an email to the Collegian, Bonham shared that she urged students to report any incidents of harassment they encountered. Bonham also said that the Office of Campus Safety would increase its presence on campus

A Campus Safety vehicle parked on Chase Ave. | REID STAUTBERG to address potential unrest from the election, and keep a Campus Safety vehicle parked near the center of campus to discourage people that might pass through from engaging in racial harassment. While Fakhar appreciated Kenyon’s response to her email, she expressed concern at the idea of increased Campus Safety presence on election night. She said this could “be problematic in and of itself because it will be used to police students of color more than other people.” However, Bonham said that the

administration had received strongly positive feedback from Kenyon students of color about these plans and their potential to ensure the safety of students throughout the election season. While Bonham ensures that Kenyon is prepared to support members of the Kenyon community through their counseling services and increased Campus Safety patrol following the election, Fakhar remained uncertain. “I do think a lot of work needs to be done,” she said.

Thursday, November 5 | kenyoncollegian.com

In abrupt announcement, College grants students Friday off AMANDA PYNE NEWS ASSISTANT

On Monday, President Sean Decatur announced in a News Bulletin that all classes will be cancelled this Friday. In the absence of fall break this semester, Decatur noted that it is important to provide students a short break from academic responsibilities. “Please take this opportunity to rest and recharge — it has been a challenging semester and this week has the added

intensity of the election,” Decatur wrote in the email. “I do hope that a break as we turn toward the homestretch makes the weeks ahead more manageable.” This announcement comes after a student petition for a day off on Election Day gained 645 signatures. The petition expressed students’ frustration at the lack of a fall break this semester and emphasized the necessity of creating time to take a mental break from academics. The Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee also

created a petition asking for Decatur to cancel classes and offer paid time off for student workers on Election Day. Despite these efforts, classes continued as scheduled that day. Decatur noted that, when discussing a fall break, some faculty members expressed concerns about cancelling labs and seminar classes that only meet once a week. However, still recognizing the need for a break, he chose to cancel classes on a Friday, when there would be no labs or afternoon seminars

scheduled. He also noted that, while trivial, Friday’s sunny forecast was another reason for scheduling the break that day. Decatur also admitted that faculty and administrators have been involved in multiple conversations on the subject, joking that there had been more days of discussion on the topic than of the break itself. According to Decatur, an extra day will not be added to the academic calendar to account for the day off.

ALEX GILKEY

Trump takes Ohio, Democrats flip Ohio Supreme Court seat SOPHIE KRICHEVSKY MANAGING EDITOR

As the nation waits for ballots to be counted and the most competitive races of the election cycle to be called, Ohioans are digesting their state’s latest results. President Donald J. Trump won Ohio’s 18 electoral votes by a margin of 8.2%, according to the Associated Press. According to the New York Times, Trump took 71.1% of votes in Knox County, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden took 27.5%. This is a more decisive win in the state for Trump compared to the 2016 presidential election, when he got 66.1% of the votes and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton got 28.5%. As of early Thursday morning, however, it was still unclear who will take the presidency in January. This delay comes on the heels of what the Washington Post says is the largest inf lux of absentee ballots the nation has ever seen — amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage in funding for the United States Postal Service.

COURTESY OF SHEA HUMPHRIES Though the spike in absentee ballots has not significantly impacted Ohio’s results — as an issue with nearly 50,000 incorrect Franklin County absentee ballots was resolved last month — other states are not faring as well. Several battleground states still have votes that need to be counted, including Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. When results will be final is still unclear, although, according to the Washington Post, Nevada state officials have said that the nation may have to wait until Thursday at noon. Among the most significant of the state’s elections were two Ohio Supreme Court seats up for grabs. Democratic can-

Editors-in-Chief Evey Weisblat, Mae Hunt Managing Editor Sophie Krichevsky Executive Director Elizabeth Stanley Design Editors Emiliana Cardinale, Reid Stautberg Design Assistant Tati Gross Photography Editor Sara Haleblian Social Media Directors Emiliana Cardinale, Joe Wint Circulation Manager Jordy FeePlatt Chief Copy Editor Andy Kelleher Associate Copy Editor Adam Samet Copy Editors Meg Dye, Jack Kaple, Nick Singer

didates Judge John O’Donnell and former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner squared off against incumbent Republican Justices Judi French and Sharon Kennedy, respectively. Though O’Donnell’s 10-point loss to Kennedy was a disappointment for Ohio Democrats, the party still has something to smile about: Brunner’s victory shifts the party balance of the Court from a 5-2 Republican majority to a thin 4-3. Brunner was quite pleased with her Tuesday night victory. “It’s been 10 years since I ran statewide. I didn’t realize I had that much shelf life,” she told Dispatch reporters. She added that she looks forward

News Editor Linnea Mumma News Assistant Amanda Pyne Features Editor Ariella Kissin Arts Editors Mikayla Connolly, Fredrike Giron-Giessen Opinions Editors Lucy White, Mia Sherin Assistant Opinions Editor Salvatore Macchione Sports Editors Jordy Fee-Platt, Joe Wint Cartoonist Alex Gilkey Columnists Aaliyah C. Daniels, Grace Goldstein Crossword Editor Reilly Wieland Advisor Emeritus P. F. Kluge Faculty Advisor Kurt Pyle

to working to unite the narrowly divided court. “Things get done best when there is a collegial relationship between the justices, and I intend to work hard to make that happen to ensure we have good decisions for the people of Ohio,” she said. In the Ohio Congress, 16 out of 33 seats were up for election in the State Senate, while all 99 seats were up for grabs in the State House, according to Ballotpedia. Republicans maintained their stronghold in both chambers, winning 61 to 38 seats in the House and 24 to 9 in the Senate, Ballotpedia reported. According to ColumbusUnderground, three seats in the House f lipped from Democrat to Republican, all of which are located in “Appalachian Ohio.” Notably, the Republican former Speaker of the House Larry Householder also won re-election, despite being embroiled in a multi-million dollar scandal earlier this year that resulted in his removal from the position of House Speaker, the Toledo Blade reports.

In Knox County, Representative Bob Gibbs won re-election to Ohio’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday. His Democratic opponent, Quentin Potter, managed only 29.2% of the vote. Potter was not on the ballot during the primary election, but garnered enough write-in votes to earn a spot on the ballot in the general election. Although the district has been red for quite some time, Potter gained significantly less support than Gibbs’ last Democratic contender, Ken Harbaugh, who picked up 41.3% of the vote in the 2018 midterms, according to Ballotpedia. Gibbs will start his sixth term in the United States House of Representatives in January. In Gambier, the College Township voted for a tax levy to support the College Township Fire Department. The levy passed with the support of 81.7% of voters, Knox Pages reports. The passage of the levy comes after the Gambier Village Council unanimously voted to release a statement in support of the levy last month.

Advertising and Subscriptions Advertisers should contact the Collegian’s Executive Director via e-mail at ads@kenyoncollegian.com for current rates and further information. All materials should be sent to Executive Director, The Kenyon Collegian, P.O. Box 832, Gambier, OH 43022. Yearly subscriptions to The Kenyon Collegian are available for $50. Checks should be made payable to The Kenyon Collegian and directed to the Editors-in-Chief. Contact subscriptions@kenyoncollegian.com. Office: 214 N. Acland Street Mailing address: The Kenyon Collegian, Student Activities Center, Gambier, OH 43022 Business address: P.O. Box 832, Gambier, OH, 43022 E-mail address: collegian@kenyon.edu, kenyoncollegian@gmail.com

Thursday, November 5

FEATURES

kenyoncollegian.com

The Office of the Registrar: the plumbing of Kenyon College

THERESA CARR STAFF WRITER

At some point or another, virtually every Kenyon student has browsed the course schedule in anticipation of registration for the upcoming semester. But what students cannot see upon reviewing the catalog, however, is just how much work goes into creating it and Kenyon’s academic program. This is due to the efforts of the Office of the Registrar. The Office of the Registrar currently employs a team of three: Registrar Ellen Harbourt, Assistant Registrar Phaedra Woodard and Student Systems Coordinator Jessica Landon. According to Woodard, the Registrar maintains documentation outlining all the work the office must complete within the month in order to keep track of its multitude of tasks. The team then reviews each month’s processes and discusses whether any of the usual procedures should be adjusted. According to Harbourt, the pandemic significantly disrupted the Registrar’s typical long-term planning. The team reconsidered each procedure and redid much of the work they completed earlier. After such significant changes, Woodard and Landon recreated the fall schedule. “We worked harder this summer than we would ever work, except for maybe a Drop/Add period at the beginning of any semester. But it was like that for a month and a half,” Harbourt said. Each staff member answers student and faculty questions and also handles their own specialty areas. Harbourt affectionately calls her office the plumbing of Kenyon College. “When things are humming along, you never think about the plumbing,” she said. “It’s just there.” As the registrar, Harbourt is the primary contact in matters of policy. She sits on the faculty Curriculum Policy Committee and the Committee on Academic Standards. She also communicates the Registrar’s procedures to students and faculty, in addition to compiling data to inform upcoming academic policy decisions. Woodard and Landon process the bulk of schedule changes and forms that go through the office. Some of the most frequently used forms include those for enrollment changes, adjustments to course offerings, transfer credit approvals and

Edwards House is home to the Registrar, which generates each semester’s course schedules. | SARA HALEBLIAN

degree evaluations, among others. The pair generates each semester’s course schedule from scratch. As faculty change their course offerings significantly from one semester to another, it is simpler for the Registrar to request the course offerings from departments, and then generate course registration numbers and times, Woodard said. Landon also coordinates between her office and the technical support teams at MyBanner and Etreive to set up forms students use on a

regular basis. The Registrar must communicate and enforce Kenyon’s academic policy, although it neither drafts nor approves it. Harbourt recognized that in executing Kenyon’s academic policy, her office can sometimes be the bearer of bad news for students. “The faculty as a legislative body create the policies,” Harbourt said. “If we don’t uphold the policies, we are not doing our job. So we’re never doing it to be mean — we’re doing it because this is

a college and the way you uphold the value of the education is to uphold policies.” Landon, Woodard and Harbourt agreed that they prized the moments when they saw their office make a personal difference in the lives of students. Landon and Woodard both recalled receiving photographs of weddings and engagement announcements from alumni. Landon said she had sent care packages to a graduated student she was close to. “I don’t want students to

ever be afraid of us or think of the Registrar’s Office as some scary place,” said Landon. “All three of us are very willing to help students with any thing. We have students who come in and ask questions that have absolutely nothing to do about registration and we will help you every step of the way.” According to an Oct. 15 News Bulletin emailed to all students, initial spring registration begins first for seniors on Nov. 5 and will continue until first years register starting Dec. 3.

Thursday, November 5 | kenyoncollegian.com

Sin Fronteras organizes mask drive for immigrant workers ARIELLA KISSIN FEATURES EDITOR

On-campus students may have recently noticed a large, cardboard box asking for mask donations in the atrium of Peirce Dining Hall. Members of Kenyon Sin Fronteras, a student group committed to supporting immigrant communities, organized the drive and will send the donated masks to immigrants who are essential workers in rural Ohio. Sin Fronteras implemented the mask drive in solidarity with the Immigrant Worker Project, an organization dedicated to supporting rural immigrant workers from Latin America. Currently, there are two drop-off locations for masks:: the Peirce Dining Hall atrium and the Harcourt Parish Episcopal Church. Sin Fronteras asks community members to donate either an unopened box of disposable masks or a sealed plastic bag of clean cloth masks. Community members who are not currently on campus or who do not have extra masks are encouraged to donate to Sin Fronteras’ Venmo account, @ksinfronteras, with the caption “mask drive.” Donations will be accepted through Nov. 16, at which point R. Todd Ruppert Professor of International Studies Jennifer Johnson will send the boxes to the Immigrant Worker Project. Along with their peers, Sin Fronteras members Johanna Fickel ’21 and Claire Sears ’21 founded the organization after a spring 2019 trip to the United States-Mexico border in Arizona. The trip was part of the coursework for Borders and Border Crossings (SOCY 237), taught by Johnson. “[After] seeing a lot of aspects of immigration and the way that borders impact our lives… we didn’t want to just have a short discussion about it after we came back,” Fickel said. Since the organization’s inception, Sin Fronteras has hosted discussions, sponsored webinars and sent informative publications out to the Kenyon community. “We wanted to generate empathy for a variety of people who are af-

Donation boxes are located in Peirce Hall and the Hartcourt Parish Episcopal Church. | SARA HALEBLIAN

fected by borders,” Fickel said. All of the Sin Fronteras leadership are seniors and not currently on campus. However, this has not stopped them from executing successful programming. “We managed to get some wonderful first years on campus

S S A CL ASH CL Co

l a K is Ariel y b d mpile

sin

Answer True or False: During the quiet period, on-campus students were allowed to access the KAC.

who were willing to put up flyers and put out donation boxes. From what I’ve heard, there have been quite a bit of donations to the box in Peirce,” Fickel said. “It’s been wonderful to hear, especially since, as seniors, we aren’t able to actually see the progress on campus.”

Senior Class Total:

Junior Class Total:

Kayleigh McCoy ’21

Sin Fronteras is holding virtual meetings throughout the semester to sponsor programs, plan future events and continue the conversation about immigrant experiences. The organization can be reached at sinfronteras@kenyon. edu.

Sophomore Class Total:

First-Year Class Total:

Olivia Lopes ’22

Laura Stone ’23

Brit Hyde ’24

False

True

False

How long is New Zealand’s Ninety Mile Beach?

55 miles

69 miles

60 inches

75 miles

45 miles

What is the world’s longest river?

The Nile River

The Kokosing

Nile

Five

Weekly Scores

How many states border Ohio?

Thursday, November 5

ARTS

kenyoncollegian.com

Grammy-nominated Eric Alexandrakis releases new album FREDRIKE GIRON-GIESSEN ARTS EDITOR

With song titles such as “Faith in Avarice (World War Zero),” “Satan’s Fried Scapegoat Breakfast” and “Caroline The Hot Flight Attendant,” Grammy Award-nominated artist Eric Alexandrakis takes bold strides in his new and eclectic album TERRA. Alexandrakis was personally responsible for almost all of the vocals, instrumentals and sound mixing. The 28-track album, according to the album’s press release, sounds like “an amalgamation of The Beach Boys meets Pink Floyd meets Duran Duran.” This description is spot on. Taking inspiration from new wave and The Beatles’ White Album, Alexandrakis no doubt created TERRA with zealous attention. With each song, the emotional undercurrents of the album intensify. “It’s a journey of being withdrawn and suddenly opening up,” Alexandrakis said in an interview with the Collegian. The album is punctuated with overcharged songs, such as “Pain,” in which Alexandrakis repeatedly screams the word “pain.” In the words of Alexandrakis, “a lot of the lyrics are in code, so they don’t really make sense, but they make sense to me.” The song titles tell stories of how Alexandrakis has navigated his life, which pair nicely with the theme of travel throughout the album. After two battles with cancer, Alexandrakis has certainly experienced enough to compose two hefty albums about

Experimental album Terra features 28 tracks including “The Old Man And His Girlfriend Sam,” “I’ll C U H*ll” and “She Sparkles.” | COURTESY OF MINOAN MUSIC his treatments. His first, I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years As A TwoTime Cancer Survivor, earned him a Grammy nomination in 2019 for Best Spoken Word Album, alongside very notable nominees. TERRA serves as a sequel to that album. Alexandrakis commented, “I didn’t think that

there’d be much of an audience interested in it, but when I got the nomination I was like, ‘Well, this is a good shooting board to do it.’” Alexandrakis has lived in various places, including Greece, New Jersey and London, but has spent most of his life in Miami.

He attended the University of Miami and majored in public relations and English literature. Although he yearned to pursue musical theater as a major, Alexandrakis said he valued impressing his parents far more at the time. Ultimately, his love for music persevered, and he got a

graduate degree in music business. He then went on to start Minoan Music, a music licensing company. As the company grew and began working with high-end brands, Alexandrakis realized that he’d rather devote his energy to making music. “It was taking too much time away from my creativity, so I had to scale back a lot of that,” he said. He went back to his roots of a decade in classical piano training, and began his now fruitful career as a musician. Some of the album’s most entertaining qualities result from its inconsistency. None of the songs are mundane, and Alexandrakis took care to avoid any self-indulgent tropes by making the tunes humorous. For instance, “I Love Me” is about a cult member Alexandrakis encountered in Miami who dressed up as Bono and wore leather pants everyday. Meanwhile, “I Prefer To Do Ma Killin‘ On Sundays” is about a plotting murderer, featuring the lyrics, “Monday stalk the girl next door./ Tuesday bury her under the floor./ Wednesday, Thursday torture a politician./ Friday the morgue I will explore.” Although the album is a tribute to Alexandrakis’ struggle with cancer, it remains upbeat in terms of rhythm and lyrics. His love for the craft floods through every song, making it impossible to ignore that Alexandrakis is a natural artist. You can find more about Eric Alexandrakis and his future endeavors on Facebook at ERICSGALEXANDRAKIS or visit his website, ericalexandrakis.com.

Amid pandemic, Gund Gallery launches Takeaway Tuesday PEGGY STANSBERY STAFF WRITER

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Gund Gallery launched its newest weekly event, Takeaway Tuesday. Until the end of the semester, Gund Gallery Associates from the Visitor Experience team will hand out creative crafts and provide mini activities relating to current events or exhibits in the Gallery. The programs take place every Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. outside of the Gund Gallery. Takeaway Tuesday began because the Gallery has been unable to hold its typical, in-person activities. These activities included Late Night, where the Gallery provided art supplies for students to socialize while creating art, and PB&J Tuesdays. “Each week, Takeaway Tuesday is hoping to give students a little taste of the Gund Gallery,” said Gallery Visitor Experience Leader Ella Musher-Eizenman ’22. During the first Takeaway Tuesday, Associates handed out free decorating supplies and postcards in connection

to the Gund Gallery’s Postcard Pop-Up Show. The Postcard Pop-Up Show invites students, faculty and staff from Kenyon and Mount Vernon Nazarene University to design a postcard, which will be displayed online and in each college’s art galleries. The Gallery will hold an opening for the Postcard Pop-Up Show before students depart for the semester, and the Associates’ Instagram account will also feature the postcards. Along with art supplies and activities, the Associates hand out snacks on Takeaway Tuesday, which AVI provides. The Gallery’s first Takeaway Tuesday went successfully, with around 95 people stopping by, according to Gund Gallery Associate Adrian Lee ’24. Lee and fellow Gallery Associate Maya Yukselen ’23 are currently leading Takeaway Tuesday. They help design each week’s theme with Gund Gallery Associate Director Christopher Yates, and staff the event tables. Every week, Takeaway Tuesday revolves around one of the exhibits in the Gallery or reflects current events. This week’s event, held on Election Day, revolved around voting.

Gund Gallery Associates present Takeaway Tuesday. | OCEAN WEI According to Lee, Takeaway Tuesday provides people with the opportunity to be creative and get involved with the Kenyon community. “The College has a lot of reasonable but strict rules about what

we are allowed to do,” Lee said. “I think [Takeaway Tuesday] is a safe way to do some art and stay engaged with the community in these times while having some fun.”

Thursday, November 5

OPINIONS

kenyoncollegian.com

STAFF EDITORIAL

Spring semester plans pose public health risk The College announced Monday that it will invite seniors, juniors and sophomores back to campus for the spring semester. Though we, the Collegian’s executive staff, are thrilled to be able to return to the Hill to complete our final semester at Kenyon, we are equally troubled by the administration’s decision to invite back to campus more students than it had this fall. President Sean Decatur has emphasized throughout this tumultuous semester that the College’s de-densification of campus has been key to maintaining a safe environment on the Hill. Inviting sophomores back this spring, in addition to juniors and seniors, strikes us a dangerous departure from this strategy. The administration and the Board of Trustees have made this decision as the United States reports record-breaking numbers of cases on a near-daily basis. The recent surge in cases in Ohio and across the nation — with no vaccine in sight — suggests that, if anything, the pandemic will only worsen in the weeks leading up to next semester. This means that we have no way of knowing whether this plan will even be feasible come February. At this point, to promise that three class years will return to campus this spring seems irresponsible and premature. This week, Decatur told the Collegian that, because the junior and senior classes are smaller than the first-year and sophomore classes, the College’s choice to invite three classes back will only result in a 100- to 200-student increase from this semester. We worry that an increase of 100 to 200 students might be significant enough to make or break the College’s management of the pandemic, and that it may be an oversight on the administration’s part at a time when there is no room for error. None of this is to say that we, as seniors, do not wish that all of us could be on campus in the spring, sophomores included. But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that sacrifices need to be made for the sake of public health. Asking the sophomores to take one for the team and stay home should be one of those sacrifices. Many juniors and seniors are unhappy with this decision, both because they feel it is unfair for sophomores to spend an entire year on campus while other classes cannot and because of the previously outlined safety risks. This has put sophomores in a difficult position: They are excited to return to campus, yet many of them cannot help but feel like they have a target on their backs. Moreover, if sophomores were to return to campus this spring as currently planned and the campus experiences an outbreak, the administration and student body could easily use them as a scapegoat, since they were not part of the original group expected to return in the spring. We fear this could cause the rest of the community to avoid taking responsibility for their role in an outbreak. We call on the administration to reconsider its decision to invite sophomores back to campus in the spring. It would never have occurred to us, before this year, that we would be in a position to argue against allowing all students back to campus for spring of our senior year. However, it is ultimately in all of our best interests for the administration to rethink this plan. They should come to a decision only when they can be fully confident in students’ safety on campus. The staff editorial is written weekly by editors-in-chief Mae Hunt ’21 and Evey Weisblat ’21, managing editor Sophie Krichevsky ’21 and executive director Elizabeth Stanley ’21. You can contact them at hunt1@kenyon. edu, weisblat1@kenyon.edu, krichevsky1@kenyon.edu and stanley2@kenyon.edu, respectively.

ALEX GILKEY

While in quarantine, I was denied a COVID-19 test for several days ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTOR

On Oct. 23, I received a phone call from Knox Public Health (KPH) which told me that I had come into contact with somebody who tested positive for COVID-19 and would need to quarantine. Initially, the College led me to believe that I would be tested immediately, for my own safety, and that the positive case would be tested twice to figure out whether it was a false positive or not.

SOPHIE KRICHEVSKY

I soon found, however, that this was not the case; this is when the chaos began. The College would not test us until Nov. 2, despite the various concerns we had expressed, initially giving us no reasoning as to why. Consequently, we could not inform any of our close contacts whether we were truly positive or not. The lack of immediate testing was a blatant endangerment of the Kenyon community. It was also reckless to assume that we did not expose anybody else after interacting with the person who tested positive. They made our lives into guessing games of whether we had COVID-19 or not, inducing a state of anxiety for all of us. Taking matters into their own hands, one quarantined student went to the Knox Community Hospital to receive a test, where they tested negative. After a few days, Director of the Cox Health and Counseling Center Chris Smith called each of us individually and informed us that these circumstances were simply KPH guidelines, which I questioned. If this was truly KPH protocol, then why could a student receive testing almost immediately at the Knox Community Hospital? Furthermore, when KPH contacted us, they explicitly informed us that we could not pick up our meals from Peirce, while Smith said that we had full permission to do so. It was contradictions like these that made

me question the actions of the administration. What is ultimately most concerning — and questionable — is that the College allowed us to go to Peirce. They let potential positives go to the most populated part of campus, which was yet another reckless endangerment of the Kenyon community. In the most recent Collegian article on COVID-19, Smith claims they let us go to Peirce for the sake of maintaining our mental health and to allow students in quarantine to “get some cold, fresh air.” But in an email to a student who asked to have their meals delivered out of mental health concerns, Smith gave another answer: that delivering meals was not doable due to concerns of “limited staffing capacity.” Due to all these contradictions, I have come to question whether the College’s refusal to immediately test around 10 potential cases suggests a desire to avoid reporting another case on the Dashboard and a potential outbreak. Nonetheless, I invite the administration to rethink their actions, regardless of their original intent. They have wasted both our time and our money, endangering our community in the process. This writer was granted anonymity in order to protect their privacy.

Thursday, November 5| kenyoncollegian.com

WEEKLY COLUMN

REILLY WIELAND CROSSWORD EDITOR

In wake of election results, Kenyon needs to protect students of color

ETHAN BONNELL CONTRIBUTOR

CROSSWORD

AALIYAH C. DANIELS COLUMNIST

Regardless of who wins the election, there could be anger and violence as a result. Along these lines, people have warned on Instagram to prepare mentally and physically for the outcome of this election. The warning to brace yourself for the future is not empty or far-fetched. Kenyon’s administration needs to prepare to protect students of color from the possible dangerous outcomes of the elections. President Trump has been instructing his supporters to “watch the polls” in a clear attempt at voter suppression and has spread the false belief that an increase of absentee ballots will lead to fraud on behalf of the Democratic Party. He has already suggested that if he does not win the election, he will not commit to a peaceful transfer of power. Many of his remarks are also blatantly racist, empowering people to be openly bigoted and violently flaunt their racist beliefs. Trump’s comments throughout his presidency have reawakened the confidence of hate groups to act openly upon their beliefs, and this is a danger in Kenyon’s own backyard. We saw this fear come to life as there was a rumor on Monday night that Trump supporters from Mount Vernon were going to riot on Kenyon’s campus following the increase of threats from white supremacists around the country. The response of Kenyon’s administration was minimal, offering the false comfort of Campus Safety’s presence. For years, we had a Knox County sheriff’s deputy who took out his racist urges on Black students. We are lucky to have the amazing President Decatur who worked with BSU to limit police presence to only daytime hours, but the College has no plan to deal with the impending danger of the outcome of this election, leaving people of color on campus vulnerable. During the first presidential debate, Trump would not condemn white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, implying that he may support such groups and empowering them to continue their terrorism. This is despite the Department of Homeland Security labeling white supremacists as “the deadliest domestic terror threat to the United States.” My peers and I see Confederate flags on cars at Walmart, and in people’s front yards throughout Knox County. The threat of racism is only heightened by the fact that 22 out of 31 hate groups in Ohio are anti-Black, anti-LGBTQIA*, anti-Muslim or classified as general hate. General hate is defined as groups who have a variety of unique hateful doctrines and beliefs that cannot be easily categorized. The other nine are Black separatist groups (which do not include the original Black Panther Party, Black Lives Matter or all pro-Black groups), which still pose a threat to LGBTQIA* people regardless of race. Black separatists are also against integration, so Black people who are against segregation or are in an interracial relationship, like me, are still at risk. The most terrifying part of this state is that it has open carry laws, meaning that civilians can openly have guns on their person. As a Black person, Kenyon is a scary place to be about 50% of the time, but I am privileged to be light-skinned, and female. I cannot imagine how it feels to be a person of color who is dark-skinned or identifies male or queer. Who will protect them? Kenyon needs to take action against this threat. I do not have the answers, but it is terrifying to see little evidence that the administration is even thinking about any safety protocols to address this very real threat. Students of color and queer students need to band together and figure out how we will protect ourselves and each other. Allies, we need you to check in on us, alert us if needed and, most importantly, help protect us. Aaliyah C. Daniels is a columnist for the Collegian. She is an English major with an emphasis in creative writing and a philosophy minor with a concreation in law and society, from Bronx, N.Y. You can contact her at daniels2@kenyon.edu.

Across Reasons to repeat courses Staring intently, wide-____ Panic! At the Disco’s genre Big Star song, in Roman numerals Adjust a guitar tune Nickelodeon’s Vice President Jackson Or ____ The person under attack when Morrissey sings “Panic” 18 Grounds for a building 19 Source of inside information 21 Movie making location 23 Serpent who caused Cleopatra’s demise 24 Ricin, for one 26 ____ Caffé, a trendy LA cafe made popular by influencers 28 1980s pearl-clutching freakout over devil worshippers 32 Top-tier stars 33 Ellipticals’ pared-down cousins 37 Borat’s new American joke: “This suit is black... ___!” 38 What’s causing the wait before your YouTube video 41 Make Rob more formal? 42 Maj.’s boss 43 Person from the peach state 46 Happy cowboy’s cry 48 Election demographic target in Texas 51 What your mom probably calls a fart 52 Web browser store 53 Writer of macabre fiction 55 Writer’s tip 57 Person living in Croatia’s neighbor 61 Follow the rules 63 A real dud of a car 65 Sudden ____; whim 66 Tonto’s friend, the ____ Ranger 67 Wee one in a flock 68 Many millennia 69 ___ than pleased 70 Figure (out) 71 State of irritability 1 5 9 13 14 15 16 17

The opinions page is a space for members of the community to discuss issues relevant to the campus and the world at large. The opinions expressed on this page belong only to the writers. Columns and letters to the editors do not reflect the opinions of the Collegian staff. All members of the community are welcome to express opinions through a letter to the editor. The Kenyon Collegian reserves the right to edit all letters submitted for length and clarity. The Collegian cannot accept anonymous or pseudonymous letters. Letters must be signed by individuals, not organizations, and must be 200 words or fewer. Letters must also be received no later than the Tuesday prior to publication. The Kenyon Collegian prints as many letters as possible each week subject to space, interest and appropriateness. Members of the editorial board reserve the right to reject any submission. The views expressed in the paper do not necessarily reflect the views of Kenyon College.

Down 1 Person who gets a corner office, for short 2 Popular brand of chunky tennis shoes 3 Hand-to-hand weapon 4 Snoozes in Salamanca 5 Of national origins 6 Moon in Chengdu 7 What comes off in a hair trim 8 Lunch in Lyon 9 Blood drive quants. 10 _____ Heep, Dickensian foe 11 Crazy cashews? 12 What to do with secrets, ideally 17 Metered vehicle 20 The thing keeping us all home right now 22 The Garden of Earthly Delights and the Merode Altarpiece 25 Overseers of the Grand Canyon, for short 27 ___/IP 28 Caroled or serenaded 29 Sunburn soother 30 Texas-based vodka maker 31 Gobbled 34 “Hello-lo-lo-lo-lo” 35 Trunk supporter 36 Small, sour, dark fruit used in some gin making 39 Makes moonshine 40 Fluid from a fir 44 It looks like a “P” but sounds like an “R” 45 Cough medicine acetylcysteine, for short 47 Fifth and Madison, for two 49 Wealthy Moguls 50 Zoom’s contains a video camera 51 What most of us are when we first get to Kenyon 53 A (usually contentious) collection of votes 54 Nasally hautboy 56 A fancy term for a significant other 58 Work out the kinks 59 Hindu god of fire 60 Settle in 62 Famous last word of Ulysses 64 One ft. has about 305 of these

Did you finish this crossword? Email a photo of your completed crossword to crossword@kenyoncollegian.com. You can also complete this crossword online at kenyoncollegian.com/section/opinion.

Thursday, November 5

SPORTS

kenyoncollegian.com

Assistant softball coach Emily McDonough departs Kenyon CALEB NEWMAN STAFF WRITER

Af ter ser ving as an assistant coach for the Kenyon sof tba ll team for the last two years, Emily McDonough is leaving the position to ta ke a job as an enrollment advisor at Davis & Elk ins College. There is no word yet of a new assistant coach. “It will a llow me to be closer to loved ones,” McDonough wrote in an email to the Collegian. “I’m look ing for ward to seeing how a different college departments operate and learning more about the admissions process so I can ma ke a positive impact on those ma k ing such an important choice in life.” McDonough has loved sof tba ll for as long as she can remember, playing throughout her childhood and in college at St. Bonaventure Universit y. Her enjoyment of the sport soon led her to a career in coaching. Before coming to Gambier, McDonough coached for two years at Southern

Vermont College. “My time at Kenyon was amazing,” McDonough said. “It is a period of time I will a lways look back [on] in such a positive light.” In her time as assistant coach, McDonough focused on improving the team’s base running. “She has a ver y

COURTESY OF KENYON COLLEGE ATHLETICS

aggressive mindset when it came to running the bases,” Pater reca lled. McDonough contributed to a massive statistica l improvement on the basepaths. Prior to the season’s abrupt end, the Ladies’ stolen bases per attempt were roughly the same, with an 87% success rate in 2019 versus 86% in 2020. However, they had a lready stolen 32 bases in 2020 in just 16 games — an average of two bases a game — compared to the 67 they stole in the 42 games they played in 2019. The players on McDonough ’s team said they will greatly miss her presence. “I was rea lly struck by how warm and open she was,” wrote pitcher Emily Pater ’22 in an email to the Collegian. “She a lways made a huge effort to get to k now ever yone persona lly.” Ladies outf ielder Samantha Goldenson ’23 added in her note to the Collegian, “Coach McDonough was a lways ver y patient and encouraging when we were learning something new during practice.” One of McDonough ’s favorite

memories of Kenyon sof tba ll was going with the team to Florida for a tournament during one of their annua l spring brea k trips. “It was memorable in so many ways,” McDonough said. “The team had severa l wa lkoff and come-from-behind victories over high-level opponents and the program got off to the best start in school histor y.” Pater added that her favorite moment with McDonough was a lso during the team’s trip to Florida. “I rode in her van and we a ll had such a good time on the way to and from games,” Pater said. During the trip, the sof tba ll team went to a Minnesota Twins spring training game, which Goldenson remembers fondly. Beyond the sof tba ll program, McDonough will miss Kenyon and its many charms. “I will miss the beaut y of Kenyon, Middle Path in the fa ll, Wiggin Street Coffee, the Village Inn’s Beyond Burger, work ing in the K AC, and so much more,” she said.

In second season, ISL dominates professional swimming MAGGIE FOIGHT STAFF WRITER

Last year, while most swimmers were ramping up for the expected 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Swim League (ISL) dominated swimming news. The league has changed the dynamics of the sports dramatically, attracting a number of high-profile swimmers. Founded in 2017, the ISL forms an alternative to FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natación), the main, Olympicssanctioned international swimming organization. It also provides increased transparency, cooperation and shared earnings between competitors and the ISL’s organizers. FINA reacted negatively to the new organization by discouraging competition in its meets: In late 2018, FINA threatened up to two years of disqualification for athletes who chose to compete in the ISL’s first meet. The ISL cancelled the meet, but, after a year of negotiations, scheduled a full season of events that were FINA-approved, and would count towards the Olympics. Many athletes supported the ISL because of its more entertaining, athlete-focused format. Its presentation of meets is f lashier, with concert-like light shows to welcome the athletes to the pool deck, and enthusiastic, loud announcers. Even the swimmers and teams themselves are more energetic because of the heightened sense of friendly

NADINE RICHARDSON

competition that comes from the league’s use of dual meets and mixed-nationality teams. The ISL also utilizes pools of half the Olympic size, modernizing even the organization of the sport. Its teams allow for athletes to be traded like those in other major professional sports leagues, unlike FINA. The league’s competitions also focus on place over time, as there is only one session for each meet without the inclusion of any preliminaries. The ISL events themselves are also organized differently from FINA ones. Each race hosts two swimmers from each team, and race formats include mixedgender relays and “skins” races, where the field of athletes is cut down after each round of racing an event. Additionally, there are equal payment and racing opportunities: Each swimmer is offered a base salary with the opportunity to make additional

money by competing in more races and earning more points. In response to ISL’s popularity, FINA created the Champions Series, which didn’t garner as much attention from athletes or the media. During its first season, the ISL won support and participation from several big-name swimmers, including Caeleb Dressel (United States, freestyle and butterf ly), Adam Peaty (Great Britain, breaststroke) and Sarah Sjöström (Sweden, freestyle and butterf ly). These athletes and others made up the eight 2019 ISL teams: the NY Breakers, LA Current, DC Trident, Cali Condors, London Roar, Aqua Centurions (Rome), Energy Standard (Paris) and Team Iron (Budapest, Hungary). The teams competed in seven events across the globe. At the end of the 2019 season, Energy Standard came out on top. Indi-

vidually, three swimmers stood out as new world record holders. Minna Atherton (London Roar) swam a 54.89-second 100-meter backstroke, Daiya Seto (Energy Standard) finished in 3:54.81 in a 400-meter individual medley and Caeleb Dressel (Cali Condors) raced a 20.24-second 50-meter freestyle. This year, the ISL added two teams — the Tokyo Frog Kings and the Toronto Titans — but dropped two meets in its schedule as a result of the pandemic. The most recent match was held on Nov. 1-2 with the NY Breakers, Aqua Centurions, Energy Standard and Toronto Titans participating. Sjöström was notably absent, leaving the butterf ly field open for two Energy Standard competitors to win the 50- and 100-meter butterf ly in her stead. Energy Standard also found success in the distance events: Lithuanian Danas

Rapšys broke the ISL records in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle, with times of 1:41.23 and 3:35.49, respectively. The meet not only brought attention to individual swimmers but to a specific stroke, as London Roar head coach Mel Marshall expressed criticism of several competitors’ breaststroke kicks, which he claimed included undulations (an illegal move except during the pullout). With Match #6 over, there are four matches left before championship season begins. All 2020 ISL events are held at the Duna Arena in Budapest, with the semifinals scheduled for Nov. 14-16 and the finals for Nov. 2122. The second season of the ISL has revitalized the sport of swimming, a movement that is long overdue and much appreciated by swimmers everywhere.