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Page 2 - The Utah Statesman August 31, 202
Meet Zoomer USU’s first canine police officer
Nose to the ground, Zoomer runs through
a maze of boxes, backpacks and suitcases. When he finds what he is searching for,
a suitcase filled with smokeless powder, he
looks to his human partner for affirmation. He is rewarded with his favorite toy, a tennis ball.
Zoomer, a 2-year-old black Labrador retriev-
er, is joining Utah State University’s police force as a tactical dog with a specialty in ex-
plosives detection, commonly referred to as a “bomb dog.”
Zoomer is also the only dog in Cache Valley
with a specialty in bomb detection.
“We wanted a dog that would be approach-
asset to surrounding agencies. On a daily ba-
from Pacific Coast K9 in Washington. The
a “visible deterrent on campus” and ready to
state police departments in the area. Harris
sis, he will be patrolling with Murray, being investigate any suspicious items.
“The university decided to get a dog be-
cause we wanted to make sure the university is the safest we can make it,” Harris said.
grant requires that he be available to other
said he believes the initial costs of acquiring and training Zoomer run between $10,000 to $16,000.
“Ultimately, we want people to know that,
Harris added that plans to get another po-
if you come on campus and try to do some-
they would like to get another dog, but that is
“We also want it to be known that, whenever
lice dog for USU are “up in the air.” He said something to look at with future budgeting.
“I want to throw a special thanks to the
university administration for their support,”
thing, we have a deterrent here,” Harris said. someone chooses to come on campus, that
STUDENT MEDIA
—taylorcripe@gmail.com
Student-run newspaper for Utah State University since 1902. Reporting online 24/7. Printed weekly during the school year.
they are safe.”
Harris said. “Also, to Scott for taking on this
task, it’s going to be a lot of work. Not only at work, but at home as well.”
@cripe_taylor
Zoomer was purchased through a grant
THE BOARD
able and friendly,” USU police Capt. Kent
Harris said. “But we also wanted one with a
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good work ethic.”
Scott Murray, a USU patrol officer and
Zoomer’s human partner, added that ”little
kids love dogs,” so they wanted an animal that people of all ages could approach and feel comfortable seeing around the USU community.
While everyone is talking about him and
taking pictures, Zoomer is focused on a tennis ball that Harris is holding. The ball was used in training as his reward system, and he
expects to receive it after successfully alerting to a suspicious item.
“It’s like having a newborn baby,” Murray
said. “He’s a lot of work, but he’s fun.”
Murray has been with USU’s police force
since January. Before that he was a supervi-
sor with the Logan City Police Department. According to Murray, having a bomb dog at USU offers “peace of mind.”
“We now have the tool to be able to respond
and take care of an incident expeditiously,” he said. “A legitimate bomb threat is a huge
thing. It requires evacuations and bomb tech-
nicians to have to come in. If we can pinpoint if there actually is a threat, everything is going to go a lot faster.”
Although Zoomer is a canine officer, he will
not be used for apprehension. This means, as Murray says, “he is not trained to bite.”
Additionally, because Zoomer is the only
bomb dog in Cache Valley, he will also be an
since 1902
Scott Murray, USU patrol officer, poses with Zoomer, the new police dog.
PHOTO BY Austin Roundy
Cover art by Keith Wilson
Page 3 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 2020
By Taylor Cripe NEWS CONTENT MANAGER
Page 4 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 202
USU police recover $25,000 in stolen equipment
“We kept an eye on that vehicle, got a few leads and
tracked him down,” Christensen said. “Some members of
our department noticed the thief walking by with a stolen
computer under his arm. We tracked him on the cameras and saw him get in the same white facilities vehicle.”
After getting search warrants, the officers were able to
recover the stolen equipment.
Some of the officers are certified in computer forensics,
Christensen said, so they were able to quickly see that the
equipment was USU property instead of needing to send everything to a lab and wait for results.
“We brought the thief in for questioning and he admitted
to the thefts,” Christensen said. “He was very cooperative with us and made a list of where he’d been. Our total value of recovered equipment was $25,000.”
According to Christensen, it was lucky that he didn’t
move much of it. With many budget cuts due to the pandemic, the university would have had to pay to replace everything.
Christensen, who has been with the USU Police Depart-
ment for five years, chuckled at the praise from Harris.
Christensen said he was just doing his job and doesn’t PHOTO COURTESY OF USU Police Department
Thousands of dollars in stolen equipment. Some of it has yet to be claimed. By Karcin Harris SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A former Utah State University employee was caught by
campus police after allegedly stealing about $25,000 in computer equipment.
USU Police Capt. Kent Harris said while most of the
equipment was recovered, some had already been sold or
destroyed by 34-year-old Terry Trinkella, who worked in USU’s facilities department.
Harris said Trinkella is being charged with four counts of
burglary and five counts of theft.
The stolen equipment included monitors, hard drives,
keyboards, memory, laptops and cables. The equipment was taken from multiple buildings on campus as well as South Farm and Caine Dairy, two of USU’s research facilities.
Harris said the department was made aware of the thefts
two months ago, but the thefts could have occurred beforehand and gone unnoticed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve recovered property that hasn’t even been report-
ed yet,” Harris said. “We’re waiting for people to come back, fire up their computers in classrooms and notice
their missing equipment. Then we can start putting pieces
back in their locations.”
Harris expressed his gratitude to the security staff, USU’s
Information Technology department, and to Detective Erik Christensen.
“He was putting things together,” Harris said. “Without
his hard work and follow up, we wouldn’t have been able to recover a lot of this property.”
Detective Christensen called the series of thefts a “perfect
storm.”
“It’s this confluence of events that occurred that allowed
this to go on,” Christensen said. “It was a USU employee
who could hide in plain sight, and we had this pandemic where everyone’s been at home, so there were fewer people to notice things going missing.”
Christensen said at first the reports of missing items re-
sembled thefts that occur every spring.
“At the end of every school year, we get a few thefts from
seniors,” he said, “where people will say, ‘I’m leaving for good so I’m going to take this.’ We thought this may be what the thefts were.”
The thief was first noticed on surveillance video from the
research farms. According to Christensen, the director at the farms saw a USU facilities vehicle on the property and thought it was strange.
need the credit.
“Honestly, we would not have broken the case without
help,” he said. “We have a small department so we had
to pull people from patrol and security guards. The credit
goes to the security guards. All I did was write the reports
and talk to the suspect. Everyone else really pushed it and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Harris said the police department, along with the univer-
sity, is disappointed in the former employee’s actions.
“His actions are going to affect not only the staff, but also
the students in their learning behavior. With the pandemic, it’s going to limit their ability to learn because these
parts have been stolen or destroyed. Now computers won’t work well on the first day of class,” he said.
He added Trinkella does not represent ”the university’s
wonderful staff” as a whole.
Harris said the public safety department wants students
to take action when it comes to crime on campus.
“If you see something, say something,” he said. “If some-
thing doesn’t seem right in an area, we want people to call
us. We would rather respond to something that may not
seem like a big issue as opposed to waiting and having it turn into a bigger issue.”
—karcinrose@gmail.com @harriskarcin
Page 5 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 2020
d
Podcast review: S-Town
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GRAPHIC BY Rosie Davis
Caution — The Killers
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-
Put Your Records On — Ritt Momney
-
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t
Smile — Katy Perry
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d
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Leave Me Alone — IDKHow
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PHOTO COURTSEY OF This American Life
-
By Emily White STUDENT LIFE STAFF WRITER
t
I’m not the type of person who watch-
s es criminal minds or listens to murder mystery podcasts, but when a friend made
s me listen to the first episode of a podcast called “S-Town,” I knew I had to finish it.
- You know something is worthwhile l when it’s a page-turner. Whether it be a
t book, a movie, a tv series or a podcast, t page-turners are few and far between.
While “S-town” wasn’t a perfect podcast,
it was interesting and had me listening to it nonstop.
The first thing I adored about “S-town”
was its unpredictability. The turns this
podcast takes are very impressive and un-
something truly powerful about listen-
less honest portrayal of events, but I don’t
it’s a real-life journalist investigating a
real people in the midst of a mysterious
was necessary. Still, if you do listen to
matched by most podcasts. Why? Because real-life town in Alabama. When I started
it, I thought “S-Town” was a murder mys-
ing to real, honest audio footage from investigation.
I couldn’t possibly get away with writing
think everything included in the podcast
this podcast be prepared for crude and offensive language from audio footage and
tery podcast, but if I would classify it as
an honest review of “S-town” without
to it, you’ll understand the distinction is
Brian Reed came to Alabama to investi-
I enjoyed “S-town.” It revealed several
ed man and a complicated one too. His
before and will be thinking about for
a mystery podcast now. When you listen critical.
Just second to the podcast’s incredible
realistic unpredictable nature is the use
of raw audio footage. Brain Reed serves as the host of the podcast and is the
journalist investigating a possible mur-
mentioning John, who is the entire reason gate a possible murder. John is a frustratcharacter is a big reason why I couldn’t
stop listening to the podcast. People like John are powerful.
I would like to note “S-town” included
der in a small town, so all of the phone
some graphic details of violence and sex-
straight from Reed’s investigation. There’s
those descriptions would have led to a
calls, emails and interview footage came
ual activity I did not enjoy. Not including
violent and sexually explicit descriptions.
In the end— and explicit nature aside—
truths of humanity I hadn’t considered the rest of my life. Brian Reed did an
excellent job in his investigation and in creating a powerfully moving podcast.
“S-town” is available to listen to on Spo-
tify and Apple Podcasts. Happy listening! —emily.white@usu.edu
Page 6 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 202
Hunger Games to Les Miserables: What Why certain adaptations By Dara Lusk STUDENT LIFE STAFF WRITER
genuinely nothing to be cynical over. New
the uniquely beautiful cinematography,
a six-episode miniseries of “Les Misera-
complained Knightly was too beautiful
ing are enough to save this period drama.
top-notch cast, provocative directing and
York Times film critic Stephen Holden
vibrant score or award-winning costum-
From ancient myths to Shakespeare,
to play young heroine Elizabeth Bennet,
It concludes leaving the audience as dis-
art forms. Archetypal characters and
not nearly handsome enough to initial-
tainment, escape and meaning remain
complaint can be overlooked by Knightly’s
the most popular storytelling forms
outspoken wit is well ahead of her time.
is only logical to find many take in-
to the fact that “Pride and Prejudice” is a
dethroned: books.
overarching philosophical questions or
has been converted to numerous films
sonal pride and cheeky prejudice. There is
ways transfer as well as readers may
a smooth transition to the screen.
there’s at least one horrendous one,
to bring justice to, as seen by another Joe
es what makes a good adaptation and
The fan and critical reception for their
side of time constraint in film. The novel
expressed in writing than on screen.
praise “Pride and Prejudice” received.
giving readers plenty of time to live along-
starring Keira Knightly is typically
life, love and happiness, Leo Tolstoy’s ac-
when Jane Austen’s most popular nov-
diences are looking for: scandalous sex,
at family parties. Oscar, Golden Globe
mental unhingement.
vered by not only avid fans but critics
to shy away from the character’s graceful,
almost religiously true to the novel
namic performance any actress would be
if not loosely quoted, Austen’s iconic
highlight is left in the dust, however, be-
stories are among humanity’s oldest
who’s written to be only tolerable and
satisfied as its protagonist.
motifs and audience’s desire for enter-
ly tempt the leading man. But even this
ing to capture the novel’s core brilliance.
the same while styles change. Today,
spot-on portrayal of the character whose
ters beyond the titular leading lady. Only
are arguably movies and TV series. It
This organic accuracy can be attributed
The downfall of “Anna Karenina” is fail-
The dense book follows a range of characthrough these foils can the severity of Anna’s rash actions be understood.
It’s no surprise when films cut plot pieces
bles.” Staying true to the text, the series’
engaging script make it — by far — the
superior adaptation. It allows audiences
to personally experience characters’ highs
and lows to understand why the title
translates to “the miserable people.” This
over six-hour portrayal reaches depths previous
could not.
two-and-half-hour
portrayals
Perhaps if “Anna Karenina” was given
spiration from the very art form they
simple book. Characters do not face any
to better adjust a story to screen, but by
a longer runtime, it could have likewise
The world’s most famous literature
moral dilemmas beyond overcoming per-
the story comes across as half told. The
Though split between three films, the
over the years, though they don’t al-
not much for the film to unravel, giving it
hope. For every beautiful adaptation,
More complex novels are more complex
if not more. The question then aris-
Wright directed, Keira Knightly led film.
whether there are some stories better
2012 “Anna Karenina” was contrary to the
The 2005 Joe Wright directed film
A timeless cautionary tale exploring
attempting to oversimplify Tolstoy’s work,
been as superior as “Les Miserables.”
film is the equivalent of examining the in-
theatrical versions of Peter Jackson’s
“A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” without
nearly nine hours. These are far from the
dividual dots of color in George Seurat’s
once stepping back to admire the style’s revolutionary blending technique.
“Anna Karenina” showcases the down-
teeters on 800 pages in most translations, side characters and understand intricate details of their lives. The film is just over two hours — not nearly enough time to
“Lord of the Rings” film trilogy equals
first adaptations of Tolkien’s work but
have reigned as the most popular, accu-
rate and beloved adaptations by fans and
critics alike. “The Hobbit” film trilogy, on
the other hand, did not receive as warm of
a reception. “The Lord of the Rings” books
equal just over 1,000 pages all together
while the “The Hobbit” is a short solo nov-
what non-English majors envision
claimed novel has everything modern au-
el, “Pride and Prejudice” is brought up
shocking betrayal, lavish lifestyles and
and BAFTA-nominated, the film is re-
Leading as Anna, Keira Knightly refused
straints: television series and miniseries.
and literature strangers alike. Staying
if not erratic, behavior to present a dy-
musical, “Les Miserables” is a family name
fit not only the source material’s length
with much of the dialogue directly
proud of. What should have been a career
ple are brave enough to conquer Victor
The 21st century has seen a rise in young
scenes cordially burst to life. There’s
cause neither Knightly, her A-list co-stars,
accomplish the attention the story requires.
Luckily, there is an antidote to time conThanks to the award-winning Broadway
with a familiar plot, even if not many peoHugo’s over 1,000-page novel.
In 2019, BBC and PBS Masterpiece aired
el — not nearly enough material for three,
two-and-a-half-hour films. The story was weak by the time the second film opened.
Lack of adequate plot caused the film to derail from the book, enraging fans.
Adaptations’ runtime should justifiably
but plot density.
adult novels, and with them comes major motion pictures.
@tmonson23
@ItsLumberzack
looking for music on youtube isn’t supposed to distract you for... *checks watch*...three hours, is it?
“you have a funny twitter” thanks man i haven’t been happy since 2007
of chemistry among actors. It’s hard to find any “Percy Jackson” fans who tolerate the films.
Many adults lose interest in or time
for reading after high school. Books
read as young adults are among their
last and are often the most impactful. People want films to help relive books’
magic, while plot inaccuracies and in-
correct characterizations accomplish the opposite. Perhaps this is why fairy tale reimaginings such as “Snow White
and the Huntsman” and “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” have been unsuccessful.
Books allow audiences to immerse
themselves in art in ways no other
form can. Though the same can be said for films, books bring a different level
of intimacy between writer and reader that allows both to learn about themselves and the world around them.
It is difficult to say what makes a good
book to film adaptation when each
book is as different as its reader and there are numerous moving pieces that
go into creating a movie. But, it can be said a film’s key focus should be on
finding the individuality of the original source material in terms of characteriGRAPHIC BY Rosie Davis
“The Hunger Games” books gained a loy-
ed film franchises based on books. The
films were not far behind. With numerous
while bringing the world of Panem and its
al following after their release, and the
Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and wins, critics and fans agree the cinematic series is among the most celebrat-
On the contrary, the “Percy Jackson”
movies were able to stay true to the books
films were unable to capture the fire of the
various characters to life. The acting, di-
accurate. Characterization and plot were
recting and scripts enhanced the story in ways fans could have only dreamed.
@avocadoanxiety My generation really be like “I’m fine” and then play ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by @florencemachine just to feel something.
“The Hunger Games” and were simply in-
zation, depth, plot and tone to enhance them in ways only achieved on screen. —dara.lusk@outlook.com @dara_marie_
far from the original source material, not to mention its pathetic CGI and the lack
@Michael_Cherry2 Y’all smile under your mask for a pic or???
@GageCarling i hate this pandemic, if i wanted to waste my early 20s i would have gone to BYU
Page 7 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 2020
t makes a good book-to-film adaptation? stand out from others
Page 8 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 202
Page 9 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 2020
“Kobe was our Jordan” PHOTO BY Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS
By Jason Walker SENIOR SPORTS WRITER
O
n an otherwise ordinary Sunday in January, Utah State basketball guard, Marco Anthony, was on his way to Herm’s, anticipating enjoying a quiet brunch at a local
delicacy, when a friend texted him a simple message. Check Twitter.
Upon following this vague, though specific, advice, Anthony immediately saw the news
his buddy was so wound up about — a nine-word tweet, posted by TMZ, that sent the entire social media site and basketball world into a fiery frenzy on a cold Sunday morning.
“BREAKING: Kobe Bryant Has Died In A Helicopter Crash.”
Anthony’s teammate, Alphonso Anderson, also saw the tweet within minutes of it being
unleashed onto the world. The initial reaction from both was identical. “I thought it was fake.”
“They [TMZ] put out false news all the time,” Anderson said, “so I was more hoping it
was fake than anything.”
To believe otherwise would be unthinkable. Could Bryant, a man only 41 years old, just
four years removed from one of the most storied NBA careers of all time and only months away from what would surely be a shoe-in Hall of Fame induction, really be dead?
But time would only corroborate the initial report. Though TMZ’s reputation brought on
an initial wave of doubt, that skepticism hit a cold hard wall: reality.
PHOTO BY AP Photo/Susan Sterner, file
a pair of Kobe Bryant shoes were sporting said footwear. And with the world still trying
all of the players had barely outgrown diapers. But both players and staff were able to
business as usual, but with the added weight of Bryant’s passing creating a barrier that
from the starlit career, starting with his three-peat in the early 2000s, just when many of
to wrap their head around the loss of a basketball colossus, the Aggies ran through drills, had to be pushed through.
Just as much as Bryant’s death held them down, his legacy helped guide these the men
Bryant had indeed died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter “Gigi” Gianna and
through this downtrodden practice session — a legacy that can be described in two
“It was really heartbreaking. He was one guy I really looked up to,” said Anderson at the
Among many other things, the Mamba Mentality represents the notion of never giving
seven more unfortunate souls.
time. “Growing up (Kobe) was one of my idols so that really hurt.”
Mere hours after the news broke NBA Twitter, the Utah State men’s basketball team
gathered for a Sunday afternoon practice, but the mood was nothing close to the usual for an energetic group of young men.
“As soon as I walk in the locker room doors, you can just kind of feel a different mood,
a different vibe,” team manager Ryan Corbett said. “You could tell everyone’s faces are
kind of down. They had turned the TVs off because they didn’t want to be reminded of that right before our practice.”
When the Aggies lined up on the practice court. Every member of the team who owned
PHOTO BY AP Photo/Alex Brandon
words: the “Mamba Mentality.”
up, never letting adversity get you down permanently. It’s the part of Kobe’s legacy that even the most violent death could never mar, nor take away.
“The Mamba Mentality is real,” Anthony said. “You might be a little hurt, you might be
a little banged up but what would Kobe do? He would just go out and still give it 110 percent.”
“You never see Kobe relax, you know, that Mamba Mentality,” Anderson said. “The hard
work and the grit that he shows, it just makes you want to do better.”
USU head coach Craig Smith, a Lakers fan growing up, said that for whether someone
loved or hated Bryant as a person, “at the end of the day everybody respects him as a basketball player,” much of that respect coming directly from his famous mindset.
“The biggest takeaway though is his passion for the game,” Smith said. “How much he
loved the game. How hard he worked on his craft. You just weren’t going to outwork that
guy. Now maybe there were a few guys that worked as hard, but you certainly weren’t going to outwork him.”
While Smith and the rest of the coaching staff had ascended to adulthood by the time
Bryant entered the NBA scene straight out of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania,
witness his immortal feats, catching and remembering forever their favorite moments the younger players were just picking up their first basketballs. Then when the future Aggie forward grew older, the Kobe moments just kept coming. From the All-Star appearances — 18 in total where he also earned four All-Star Game MVPs (the trophy for which now bears his name) — and his back-to-back championships in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Bryant’s spectacular and unique style of play that led to these immortal feats inspired
an up-and-coming generation of basketball players. Even now, players like Anthony, who plays the same position as the late legend, pours over his game footage.
“I look at Kobe film all the time,” Anthony said. “His footwork, the ways he could score.
He can make something out of nothing. The way that he led his team and everything like that. Just watching that film over and over has made me so much better than I was when I first started.”
Many in older generations of basketball disciples cling to legends of the 70s, 80s and
90s. For instance, Smith clings to Magic Johnson as his favorite player of all time. Others cling to Michael Jordan, the widely held “greatest of all time”; a player who changed basketball as we know it and the most recognizable name in the sports history. But the
generation of basketball fans and players of which Anthony, Anderson and the rest of the current Aggie roster are a part of have someone else. As Anthony put it: “Kobe was our Jordan.”
—jasonswalker94 @thejwalk67
Page 10 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 202
Will USU Athletics be able to survive the pandemic? A conversation with John Hartwell about the current financial state of USU Athletics By Jacob Nielson SPORTS STAFF WRITER
On Aug 10, the Mountain West con-
ference suspended its fall sports season, citing “ongoing challenges with the effec-
tive mitigation and management of the COVID-19 virus.”
Not only did this announcement burn a
hole in the hearts of Aggie sports fans, but
it also burned a hole in the pockets of the Utah State athletic department.
“We think our net loss is going to be
about 3.2 million dollars,” said Utah State athletic director John Hartwell. “In all, we got about 8.9 million dollars in revenue that we believe we’re going to lose... we’re
going to be able to save in some expenses to the tune of about 5.7 million.”
The majority of the lost revenue comes
due to the cancelation of football, where ticket sales and television revenue, among other things, make it the most profitable
Utah State sport. But no play also means
no travel and game-day expenses for the five varsity fall sports, saving the university some money.
For an athletic department that does
not make much more than it spends, 3.2
million dollars is admittedly “a significant amount of lost revenue,” Hartwell said.
For reference, in the 2017-18 fiscal
year, the athletic program earned a total of $34,933,622 dollars and had
$34,914,928 of expenses for a net gain of just $18,694. So a loss of 3.2 million dol-
lars would put the department in a deficit of roughly, well, 3.2 million dollars.
The 2017-18 numbers do not exactly re-
ciprocate what the department’s operat-
ing budget would have been in a ‘normal’ 20-
21 fiscal year, as there has been an increase in
donors, ticket sales, and tv revenue in recent years, but it gives us a decent idea.
According to a report published by ESPN
in May, Group of 5 schools — of which Utah State is a part of — could be hit the hardest
Utah State football head coach Gary Ander-
Hartwell credits his department’s “lean and
sen did not seem as optimistic that a spring
mean” approach of doing things for keeping
In a recent conference call with the media,
have to resort to eliminating the sports, schol-
season could be a possibility.
Andersen was reported as saying that a spring season was “not feasible” and potentially det-
the program in a position where they don’t arships, or jobs.
When the spring season was canceled back
rimental to the players’ health.
in March, the athletic department decided
the 56 public schools in the Group of 5,
er going to stop saying that,” Andersen said.
to have are necessary expeditors.” Hartwell
government and/or university support, 34%
play 20-plus football games in a year if I have
without the resumption of football. Among
62.5% get their largest share of funding from from student fees and 3.6% from donor con-
tributions. Utah State in 2017-18 received the largest share of its athletics revenue from institutional support, $12,255,952 of $34,933,622 total.
So how will the athletic department supple-
ment this loss of money?
According to Hartwell, the first step of action
“I’m always going to be in it for kids. I’m nev-
“That is not a possibility for our young men to anything to do with this decision.”
If the spring season did come to fruition,
it would likely be just seven or eight games. Anything longer, and it would not give the
student-athletes a chance to recover, and then
recondition for a season that following fall, according to Hartwell.
Despite these efforts to get more donations
is to try to gain more financial support from
and to have spring football season, the con-
“We launched our Aggie strong campaign
program will still be stuck with a large deficit.
alumni.
which is a new fundraising effort with an increased focus on basically on helping us bridge that gap quite frankly,” he said.
The department is looking to get 2,020 do-
nors involved in this new fundraising program before the end of the year. To this point, 500 people have signed up, just two weeks after
the campaign launched, which Hartwell has
cern is that it may not be enough, and the
That could put the university in a situation where they would potential-
ly have to cut some sports or
furlough employees, similar to what has happened at Boise State, Akron, and several other schools.
Hartwell is determined to
deemed a success.
prevent this from happening.
the lost revenue is by playing a spring football
since this whole thing started
“If we could do that it would help us to be
three main goals that we’re
Another potential way to make up some of
season.
able to recoup some of our television revenue
which is a significant amount and then some ticket revenue, maybe not the full amount,
depending on what we would be able to seat in the stadium,” Hartwell said.
“Our
overarching
value
back in early March was the
trying to protect. We’re trying to make sure that we protect sports, that we protect schol-
arships, and that we protect jobs.”
that “the only expenditures that we’re going
said. “Our coaches and staff did a great job in
that and actually for the fiscal year that ended
on June 30, we actually ended in a positive,
which you know was quite a feat, knowing that we lost a million-plus dollars in NCAA tournament revenue.”
Hartwell said that that frugalness will con-
tinue into this new fiscal year.
“We continue to maintain that focus,” he
said. “Again, we got an uphill climb facing potential revenue shortfall. But we’re working at it.”
@jacobnielson12
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Page 12 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 202
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Page 13 - The Utah Statesman, August 31, 2020
By Emily White OPINION COLUMNIST
It’s clear that things are not going back to
normal anytime soon and, with the fall se-
mester swooping in on university students everywhere, it’s important to note those changes and adjust accordingly.
Utah State University has made sever-
al changes because of the outbreak of
COVID-19, including virtual classes and blended learning. Of course, these changes are not new to students who experienced
a hurried virtual learning experience in March after universities shut down every-
where. However, this time professors and teachers have had an entire summer ded-
icated to preparing for online courses and syllabus changes.
In other words, students need to be pre-
pared for their online courses to be real classes with real expectations and real deadlines.
The only concern is that a virtual educa-
tion is very different from physical education.
According to Will, a columnist for Edu-
PHOTO BY Nathan Dumlao
cation First and teacher (both virtual and
Sourced on Unsplash
line learning and classroom learning is
classrooms and virtual learning demands
dents remember their responsibilities, too.
ticipate in discussions, just as they would
increases engagement by adding a human
responsibility that lies on the professor.
pacted schools everywhere, many students
communicate those expectations to their
ers who are not so self-sufficient or who are
ment descriptions, deadlines and virtual
a passing grade. Because of that timing,
model of education.”
professors may say things that need clarifi-
ing requires a better understanding of
understood, deadlines unclear and expec-
in both students and professors. But profes-
mand stronger communication skills from
ence that is as engaging and educational as
skills from students. Lacking that personal
simply have to push through procrastina-
and our students, but in the end, virtual
Robyn Brown of Miami University agrees.
skills that we all need anyway. Ultimately,
faculty) each determine when they will en-
tudents depend even more on the facilita-
virtual students’ success and that responsi-
es,” and it will not be easy. Without proper
provided by their instructor.” While there
Although our professors do have a height-
in-classroom), the difference between on-
a big one. He writes that “[l]ive learning element. It is especially beneficial for learn-
even more trust because of the tremendous Virtual courses need to have clear assign-
used to the traditional ‘teacher and class’
class times. Even in the physical classroom,
He continues to explain that online learn-
cation. Assignments may not be completely
technology and an increased preparedness
tations vague. Virtual teaching will de-
sors have to craft an online learning experi-
teachers as well as heightened listening
virtual learning can be, whereas students
touch will be a challenge for our educators
tion and lack of motivation.
learning calls for improved communication
She states that in online education, “[s]
communication skills are imperative for
tion, assignment clarification and feedback
bility falls on the professor.
is already a bond of trust between students
ened responsibility to their students in
and their professors, the shift to online
online classrooms, it is imperative that stu-
In March, when the pandemic first im-
who usually aim for A’s and B’s settled for
in a physical classroom. Professors need to students on the first day of virtual classes.
Online learning is tough, but if professors
some professors let students off the hook
adapt to the new expectations and respon-
moved online, and other changes to course
will students.
and some didn’t. Finals were cancelled or schedules were made. However, this is a
sibilities that come with virtual learning, so
new semester. Students have to prepare and be ready to engage in online learning to get their money’s worth.
Still, if students are going to learn like
they did in the physical classroom, they are going to need clear direction.
As Brown explains, “the students (and
gage and participate in their online coursengagement and student involvement, vir-
tual courses will fail professors every time. Students should feel an obligation to virtually attend class, answer questions and par-
Emily White is a junior studying English
and broadcast journalism.
—emily.white@aggiemail.usu.edu