April 5, 2019•Volume 104, Issue 26•nique.
net
technique
News 2
EXAMINING MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS
NEWS
Top L: Photo courtesy of Danny Karnik; Top R: Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications; Above: Photo by Aarsh Talati Student Publications
Social media and the death of thoughtful discourse
JON LONG
OPINIONS EDITOR
Discussing problems with so-
cial media will always, 100 percent
of the time, without fail, lead to
someone stating that “Comparing
yourself to others isn’t healthy.”
That sentiment, ignoring the slew
of data security concerns, makes
up the bulk of discourse regarding
problematic social media usage.
Not only is this a heinous over-
simplification of the issue, but it
also completely ignores the deeper
implications of a culture built
SPORTS
. .
McCann’s hot start
Opinions 5
around sharing. Social media is
the most dangerous force in our
society right now, and it has noth-
ing to do with feeling inferior to
people that we see on Instagram.
When I was a kid, going online
meant withstanding a barrage of
strange beeps and a slew of on-
screen technical terms that I was
too young to understand. America
OnLine was connecting my par-
ents’ computer to the world. As I
matured, the web matured with
me. By the time I was using com-
puters regularly they were able to
maintain a constant connection
to the internet, putting the entire
p18 Nostalgic Futures
Life 8
OPINIONS
world onto a bulky white monitor
in the Georgia suburbs.
As that massive screen grew
smaller, the number of tasks it
could accomplish doubled every
day. MySpace hit the scene when I
was just 12 years old, allowing me
to transition from a consumer to
a producer of digital information.
I had previously only contacted
friends when I had reason to, and
the exchange happened directly
over the phone, through email or,
most often, through AOL Instant
Messenger. With social media, I
was able to share my day-to-day
See SOCIAL, page 7
LIFE
p8
Entertainment 12 Sports 20
MAURA CURRIE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In the span of twelve months,
Tech’s mental health resources sent at
least nineteen students to receive in-
voluntary mental health evaluations
off-campus.
The Technique requested and exam-
ined Georgia Tech Police Department
(GTPD) records for all “involuntary
transports” between Feb. 1, 2018 and
Feb. 28, 2019. In total, there were nine-
teen such cases in which a student was
deemed to be in need of urgent men-
tal health assistance. Those students
ranged in age from 18 to 26. A slight
majority were females and a slight ma-
jority were minorities.
The students who were involuntari-
ly transported primarily went to the
Ridgeview Institute, located in Smyr-
na, GA; over the course of the year,
Georgia Tech Counseling sent eight
students to Ridgeview and Stamps Psy-
chiatry sent seven.
There were four Tech students in-
voluntarily transported to locations
other than Ridgeview during the same
timeframe; three were sent to Atlanta
Medical Center and one to Cobb Be-
havioral Health Crisis Center.
In Georgia, the signing of a form
1013 allows licensed mental health
professionals to mandate that a patient
be examined by another specialist. The
requisites for doing so are twofold in
that a patient must be both “mentally
ill” by Georgia’s legal definition, and
they must also be in imminent dan-
ger of causing harm to themselves or
others — or, in some cases, unable to
care for their own safety. The state des-
ignates only certain mental hospitals
as “emergency receiving facilities,” or
ERFs, that can evaluate 1013 cases.
Those ERFs could also provide inpa-
tient care; the Ridgeview Institute, for
example, serves both functions.
A 1013 form is a transport docu-
ment that allows law enforcement to
bring a patient before another profes-
sional for further evaluation within
48 hours of signing the document. It
See TRANSPORTS, page 3
Photo by Jon Long Student Publications
The 2018 elections, both local and national, turned our virtual
personas into soldiers in a nonstop idealogical battleground.
News
NEWS EDITOR:
Jonathan Jeffrey
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR:
Will Finch
news@nique.net
President of Information Technol-
ogy Nikita Rajput told UHR.
Currently, the language of the
resolution implies that, if passed,
elections for Student Body Presi-
dent and Executive Vice President
would both be shifted to STV, but
it is unclear whether elections for
other positions would also follow
an STV procedure.
Representatives passed a mo-
tion to postpone the bill one week
so that the language of the bill
Experiences at Ridgeview technique
Go-to destination for involuntary transports
is under two lawsuits and Tech student
2
Friday,
experiences there have been mixed 43 April 5, 2019
A SEAT FOR SCOUT
On Tuesday, UHR voted to
approve spending $10,000 out
Business programming
of the student-contributed half
of Joint Allocation Committee
(JAC) funds in order to help pay
class focuses on Swift
for a memorial bench in memory ness majors that their academic
of Scout Schultz, whose death at JESSICA BARBER and professional needs are not go-
the hands of a Georgia Tech Po- CONTRIBUTING WRITER ing unnoticed.
lice Department officer sparked “[The Institute] hasn’t placed
increased awareness of issues sur- The Scheller College of Busi- nearly enough emphasis on help-
rounding mental health and the ness has announced that it will be ing business students learn to
LGBTQIA+ community at Tech. introducing a revamped version prototype and demonstrate their

E
ach week , this sec tion of
News will include coverage
of different aspects of bills
and resolutions that have passed
through Student Government. This
will include the Undergraduate
House of Representatives, Graduate
Student Senate and the Executive
Branch of both government bodies.
JONATHAN JEFFREY
NEWS EDITOR
SINGLE TRANSFERABLE
The Undergraduate House of
Representatives (UHR) further
discussed transitioning the elec-
tion system for Undergraduate
Student Government Associa-
tion (USGA) positions to a single
transferable vote (STV) system.
STV, in which each voter submits
a ranked list of candidates, allows
instant runoffs through progres-
sively eliminating candidates
who received the lowest amount
of votes, and then allowing vot-
ers’ lower ranked choices count as
their vote if their preferred candi-
date is eliminated.
According to International
Representative Saif Kabirti, the
Undergraduate Judiciary Cabinet
(UJC), which handles elections,
voted 12-2 in support of the STV
system, but recommended “an op-
tion for abstention and having a
flow chart to explain the process,”
UHR meeting minutes say.
If STV were to be implement-
ed, the system would likely not be
ready until Spring 2020 due to the
time it would take for the Office of
Information Technology (OIT) to
implement the changes, Joint Vice
could be clarified to communicate
that SVP would only be used for
executive ticket voting.
PUTTING THE TASTE BACK IN
Organizational representatives
from the Society of Professional
Hispanic Engineers (SHPE) came
to UHR on Tuesday in order to
request funding for the 2019 Taste
of Latin America.
SHPE representatives said they
initially had not been able to pass
their bill with funding for cul-
tural food because they had not
partnered with a cultural organi-
zation, but stressed in Tuesday’s
UHR meeting that they indeed
have partnerships with cultural
organizations that would allow
them to meet policy.
Cultural organizations, includ-
ing the Caribbean Student Asso-
ciation, regularly help with food
every year for the event in addi-
tion to providing a few dancers
for the performance.
Both UHR and the Graduate
Student Senate (GSS) chose to
accept the Joint Finance Com-
mittee’s decision that the partner-
ships rendered the cultural food in
policy, and approved paying half
the cultural food and drink costs.
BILL SUMMARY
BILL
PSA Super Sixes Cricket
Yellow Jacket Baseball Club
BuzzStudios Film Festival Theater
AIAA Region II Conference Travel
SPHE Taste of Latin America 2019
Scout Memorial Bench
One of the direct results was
the creation of JAC itself, a group
chosen to spend $1 million — a
pool half contributed by SGA and
half by Tech administration —
toward immediate solutions that
address mental health on campus.
UHR previously voted to put
$5,000 toward the bench with the
expectation that the administra-
tion would match that amount,
but the administration declined.
Previously, Tech administration
declined to use their half of JAC
funds to help pay for an English
Language Learner specialist be-
cause they believed the connec-
tion to Tech mental health was
tenuous. The decline to fund a
bench dedicated in the memory
of Scout marks the second time
administration has decided not to
match student JAC funds.
During Tuesday’s meet-
ing, UHR members reaffirmed
through a unanimous vote that
they were in support of spend-
ing this money on the memorial
bench and agreed to assume the
extra $5,000, half that admin-
istration declined to spend. The
$10,000 is not a hard cap and is
only if no other fundraising for
the bench is found.
AMOUNT GSS UHR
$383.00 21-0-0 28-0-0
$1,780.00 21-0-0 28-0-0
$700.00 21-0-0 28-0-0
$259.92 21-0-0 28-0-0
$3,750.00 22-0-0 27-0-0
$5,000.00 24-0-0 32-0-0
of Business Programming (MGT
3745) for the Fall 2019 semester.
While previous sections of the
class have focused on the Java pro-
gramming language, this will be
the first time that the Swift lan-
guage will dictate the course’s cur-
riculum.
Apple, Inc. recently conducted
a proposal to the Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business (AACSB), a nationwide
organization that accredits busi-
ness schools, in which the com-
pany suggested a greater focus on
the Swift programming language
in collegiate business curriculum.
The College of Business volun-
teered to take on this task, and af-
ter mimicking the structure of the
Java-based sections of MGT 3745,
the course has been redesigned to
now be taught in a Mac-only en-
vironment.
Though the class is open to all
students, it was especially created
with business majors’ interests in
mind.
Professor John McSwain, the
primary lecturer for MGT 3745,
has planned to apply an increased
focus on digital prototype devel-
opment using iOS devices.
“For the most part, the goal is
to have the class be taught with
[Apple’s] technologies, and from
that point forward, to set a base-
line for potential developers or
business-strategy people who are
centric on Apple technology being
their primary focus,” McSwain
said.
With the Institute having such
a large focus on computing for
computer science and engineer-
ing-related students, the College
of Business hopes to show busi-
ideas. Many business students be-
lieve that because they can’t code
like a computer science major,
they can’t develop anything useful
— but they can if they understand
what the goal of the work is,” said
College of Business lecturer Mi-
chael Smith in a statement about
the updated MGT 3745 class.
The introduction of Swift into
MGT 3745’s curriculum serves
as a step in incorporating more
business-friendly programming
languages into non-engineering
students’ academic experience.
Additionally, the course will
continue to focus on business
principles such as proof-of-con-
cept (POC) and market viable
product (MVP) integration. The
combination of common busi-
ness topics with the popular Swift
language will enable students
to combine their knowledge of
business-related issues with more
modernized product ideas and ef-
fective marketing techniques.
The course’s focus on app-driv-
en business techniques aims to
serve the goal of aiding business
majors specifically in application-
based prototyping used for solv-
ing both real-world and theoreti-
cal business problems.
“The goal is to give students
more familiarity and more acu-
men so they can go in and build
something like a prototype, MVP
or POC, but they’ll still get the
valuable business principles be-
hind them,” said McSwain.
With the course’s only true
prerequisite requirement being
ownership of a Mac, students of
all academic backgrounds are
encouraged to register for MGT
3745.

sliver // your thoughts

it never ends
nique.net
I got out in 2012 and still have nightmares about failing calc 3, technique
The South’s Liveliest College Newspaper
NEWS EDITOR
Jonathan Jeffrey
Identity politics are blatantly racist. OPINIONS EDITOR
Do you ever feel constipated but with tears instead of poop Samira Bandaru EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jon Long
The fact that cocaine is illegal while pineapple on pizza isn’t il-
lustrates everything that is wrong with our country Casey Miles MANAGING EDITOR LIFE EDITOR
Lauren Lambert
DANK MEMES AND BIG DREAMS
what spoon ENTERTAINMENT
Founded in 1911, the Technique is the student newspaper of the
i can’t believe i went a FULL semester and half without drama Georgia Institute of Technology, and is an official publication of
EDITOR
and this last week and a half has been a complete mindfuck the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. The Technique
Josh Trebuchon
ice ice baby bum dum dum ba da dum dum publishes on Fridays, weekly in the fall and spring and biweekly in SPORTS EDITOR
Vathsan needs to resign for his racist and hateful comments. the summer. Harsha Sridhar
Making fun of someone for their mother having cancer – how
cartoonishly awful can you get? (note to readers that Vathsan ADVERTISING: Information can be found online at nique.net/ PHOTO EDITOR
conceded last week) ads. The deadline for reserving ad space is Friday at 5 p.m. one Allie Ghisson
hey how do I pitch Larry Page about my flying machine idea week before publication. To place a reservation, for billing infor- DESIGN EDITOR
smoooooooooosh mation or for any other questions please e-mail us at ads@nique. Lauren Douglas
Thumbs down on the weather here sheesh net. You may reach us at 404-894-2830, Monday through Friday
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
hey what’s up! ONLINE EDITOR
can i bring my pizza into consensus Copyright © 2018, Samira Bandaru, Editor-in-Chief, and the Zoie Konneker
“in assessing the asses assessment, in hindsight i think i made the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. No part of this pa-
WEB DEVELOPER
right ass assessment” per may be reproduced in any manner without written permission
Tristen Allen
What does it mean to be talented and deep? from the Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of Student Publica-
TETRIS tions. The ideas expressed herein are those of the individual au- HEAD COPY EDITOR
E thors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Avni Shridhar
Student Publications, the students, staff or faculty of the Georgia
T Institute of Technology or the University System of Georgia. First
R copy free; for additional copies call 404-894-2830.
IS
// NEWS technique • April 5, 2019• 3

RECORDS FROM PAGE 1 all such reports use the “Mental

does not commit, imprison or
otherwise forcibly administer
treatment to a patient. A patient
can be involuntarily transported
under a 1013 and still be coop-
erative, and hypothetically they
could be assessed at the ERF and
found to not need treatment.
Director of GT Counseling
Dr. Carla Bradley said in a state-
ment to the Technique that the
counseling center assesses all pos-
sible options in determining what
to do with a student in crisis.
“A counseling session can fre-
quently facilitate a substantive re-
duction in the level of risk,” Brad-
ley said. “Optimally there can be
enough reduction of risk through
developing a very solid treatment
and support plan — such as stay-
ing with family and receiving fo-
cused mental health treatment for
a period of time — so that better
functioning can be restored.
“If the identified interventions
are not sufficient to support the
student’s safety, then we will begin
to discuss the need for more in-
tense support and treatment. This
can include the recommendation
that the student seek assessment
at a hospital. Students are encour-
aged to voluntarily seek this next
level of assessment. If a student re-
mains at immediate risk of harm
to self or others, the Counseling
Center may complete a 1013 form,
which is a means of ensuring safe
transport to a hospital. Once the
student is transported to a hospi-
tal, they will be assessed by staff
at that location to determine what
level of care is needed.”
Dr. Shannon Croft, lead psy-
chiatrist at Stamps Psychiatry,
echoed those sentiments in an in-
terview. “We would not be 1013-
Health Issue or Concern” label.
According to Wallace, reports still
labeled “involuntary transport,”
like those the Technique request-
ed, are “a function of the report-
ing officer choosing to describe it
that way despite the availability of
and the department’s preference
for the new label.”
The Technique is aware of two
involuntary transports from the
past year involving a 1013 form
but labeled as “Mental Health Is-
sue or Concern” and has included
those transports in this analy-
sis. There were 12 other “Mental
Health Issue or Concern” records
filed from Stamps Psychiatry or
the Flag Building from June 2018
through Feb. 2019 that could
conceivably have involved mental
health transports.
Additionally, the Technique is
aware of at least two GTPD logs
from the past year labeled “invol-
untary transport” in which there
is no reference to a 1013 form.
Both students were sent to Rid-
geview, and both reporting offi-
cers had also written other reports
in which 1013s were mentioned in
the same timeframe.
Furthermore, the Technique is
aware of at least one case in which
a student was sent from Coun-
seling to the Ridgeview Institute
without the use of a 1013 form,
via taxi. Said student says coun-
seling gave her a voucher for the
taxi and strongly recommended
that she take a few nights off from
school. These “voluntary commit-
ments” are currently impossible to
track on the public level.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
Peer institutions’ records of
1013 transports are similarly Source: GTPD Non-Crime logs, Feb. 2018 - Feb. 2019. Design by Lauren Douglas
opaque.

Many Tech 1013s brought

ing somebody if they did not say
there is a chance they are going
to kill themselves.” Croft said. “If
you need help, we will get you help
The University of Georgia has
a single entity called Counseling
and Psychiatric Services (CAPS)
to provide mental health services

... Usually, we try to send someone
to a hospital we know their insur-
ance will cover. If they do not
have insurance we have been us-
ing Atlanta Medical Center.”
While the 1013 form does al-
low GTPD to take patients into
custody more forcefully, this was
seldom the case from Feb. 2018
through Feb. 2019. Only two
transports necessitated the use
of handcuffs, according to the
GTPD logs. In one of these, three
GTPD officers assembled outside
a counselor’s office in which the
student was speaking to a coun-
selor, who eventually opened the
door so that officers could, ac-
cording to the supplementing of-
ficer’s report, “[grab] the males
[sic] arms so that I could place
handcuffs on them.” The student
in question had tweeted that he
planned to harm himself in a sui-
cidal manner after having lost a
friend to suicide earlier that week.
DATA LIMITATIONS
It should be noted that this set
of records is known to be incom-
plete; GTPD changed their la-
beling protocols for these reports
in June 2018 in such a way that
there have certainly been more
transports than labeled as such on
the non-crime logs. The “Mental
Health Issue or Concern” label
was implemented as a means to
more clearly track mental health
incidents on campus, which pre-
viously might have been labeled
more generally — i.e., “sick per-
son” or “involuntary transport.”
According to Institute Director
of Media Relations Lance Wallace
the department now prefers that
and crisis intervention. Leader-
ship there could not provide the
number of involuntary hospital-
izations they order, but said they
average one hospitalization a week
— emphasizing that not all were
involuntary.
The UGA Police Department
maintains similar online records
to GTPD. An examination of
those records over the past aca-
demic year (Aug. 2018 through
Feb. 2019) found six records of
students being transported invol-
untarily for mental health rea-
sons, all of which were handled by
EMS. In the same span, UGAPD
provided voluntary transportation
to the campus medical center to
15 students and conducted at least
45 welfare checks.
Kennesaw State University
(KSU) logs far fewer mental
health calls in their law enforce-
ment records. Officials with
KSUPD indicated to the Tech-
nique that any 1013 transports
would be categorized as an “es-
cort” in their records, which are
currently migrating to a new host.
Josh Gunn, Assistant Dean
and Executive Director of Coun-
seling and Psychological Services
at KSU, said his office only cap-
tures data for students who meet
with counselors as they return to
campus from psychiatric hospital-
izations. By his count, 28 students
have followed up with his office
over the past academic year due
to hospitalization, eight of whom
were sent on a 1013. Gunn said
that KSU counseling used 1013
forms to send four students to
ERFs in the fall 2018 semester.
to controversial Ridgeview
MAURA CURRIE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
If admitted to the Ridgeview
Institute, students claim to en-
counter poor sanitary conditions
and lackluster communication.
Ridgeview was formerly a non-
profit facility but was bought out
by a facility management corpo-
ration called US HealthVest in
January 2017.
Students have discussed Rid-
geview on the r/gatech subreddit.
Following the two student deaths
at the end of the fall 2018 semester,
students commiserated: “... Tech
needs to invest in a support struc-
ture that RARELY hurts students
by just dumping them off,” wrote
u/toomuchsalt247. “I’m speaking
from experience and from talk-
ing to other students who were
wrongfully sent to Ridgeview as
that process is very traumatic.”
“I have a friend who was placed
in Ridgeview involuntarily, and
it made her very reluctant to get
help for her depression and sui-
cidal thoughts afterwards,” u/lvhq
said in response.
Another thread from the same
time, titled “Regarding Rid-
geview,” posted excerpts from six
critical reviews of the institute on
Yelp. Others commented in agree-
ment; “Please find somewhere
else,” commented u/nyx_67.
“Avoid this place if at all possible.”
The Technique sat down with
a student who went to Ridgeview
voluntarily in March 2019 as she
adjusted to a new medication, and
spoke about the institutional dys-
function there. “[When I was be-
ing checked in] they told me three
to five days, and once I got into
the unit the nurses told me five to
seven, and then once I finally saw
“There have been times
when conversations have
been facilitated between
Institute Staff and
hospitals to improve the
student experience. ”
- DEAN JOHN STEIN
a doctor she told me ten [days]. “I
will say they had group sessions
twice a day… I actually found
those to be helpful.
“I got assigned two psychia-
trists, neither of whom saw me
because they both thought I be-
longed to the other person. So
you’re supposed to be seen within
24 hours [of being admitted] ... I
got seen at hour 23.
“And then I take an allergy
medicine every day… They would
not give it to me, even though I
brought it from home, and finally
when I saw the psychiatrist and I
told her I needed this she [gave]
me the wrong medication.”
Ridgeview is currently the sub-
ject of at least two ongoing law-
suits in the state of Georgia: Alice
Thomas v. Ridgeview Institute,
Inc. et al and Madeline Horton et
al v. Ridgeview Institute, Inc. et
al. The former alleges malpractice.
In Horton v. Ridgeview, (filed
Mar. 2018), the plaintiff — a mi-
nor — alleges that personnel told
her to walk down a tile hallway
after a blood draw. She fell, frac-
tured her jaw in three places, and
alleges that Ridgeview personnel
did not facilitate medical treat-
ment for more than an hour.
Dean of Student Life John
Stein, says his office takes student
feedback into account when deal-
ing with hospitals. “Any time a
student is transported or visits a
hospital for any reason, we ask the
student about their experience to
continuously assess the quality of
care our students are receiving,”
Stein said in a statement. “There
have been times when conversa-
tions have been facilitated be-
tween Institute staff and hospitals
to improve the student experience.
Student Life’s Director of
Communications Sara Warner
further clarified: “We cannot spe-
cifically speak to our students’
experiences at one hospital. We
receive feedback from students
on all hospital experiences ... Any
time we receive negative feedback
and Institute staff member has a
conversation with the facility to
improve the student experience.”
The Ridgeview Institute could
not be reached for comment.
4 • April 5, 2019• technique // NEWS

Cybersecurity breach affects 1.3 million accounts

WILL FINCH
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
This week, Vice President for
Information Technology Mark
Hoeting informed the Tech com-
munity of a cybersecurity breach
affecting up to 1.3 million indi-
viduals, including both current
and past faculty, students, staff
and student applicants.
The Tuesday email explained
that “the information illegally ac-
cessed by an unknown outside en-
tity was located on a central data-
base.” Additionally, a new website
created to update the community
on the breach explains that while
the Institute first traced unau-
thorized access to its system to
Dec. 14, 2018, the vulnerability
was not officially discovered until
March 21, 2019.
The university has received
numerous accolades for its work
in computer science, including
its status as a National Center of
Academic Excellence in Cyber
Defense Research since 2014 and
a role on the 2016 Commission
on Enhancing National Cyberse-
curity. Even as recent as August
of last year, Tech attended an in-
ternational conference to present
new cybersecurity discoveries in
information tracking — which
makes such a large data breach at
Tech both ironic and surprising.
While universities are not a
new target for hackers, this is the
second data breach in the past
year. Investigation into the inci-
dent is still ongoing, but informa-
tion points to this attack being the
largest in institute history.
Up to 1.3 million individu-
als connected to the institute are
potentially affected. Considering
that Tech typically has 30,000
students enrolled, 14,000 employ-
ees, and over 30,000 applications
each year, the data extracted could
conservatively date as far back as
18 years ago. Because names, ad-
dresses, internal identification
numbers and social security num-
bers are all at risk, even graduates
from 2000 may need to keep an
eye on their credit.

Deans chosen for College of Computing, Sciences

Isbell was one of the forces be- In addition, Susan Lozier was “I look forward to working rological Society, American Geo-
MASON FAVRO hind the thread structure of the named to the position of Dean with the administration, faculty, physical Union, and the American
STAFF WRITER computing curriculum, and has of the College of Sciences. Lozier staff, and students to continue the Association for the Advancement
been an advocate for reform in will be replacing David Collard, pursuit of both fundamental and of Science. Her main area of re-
Earlier this week, Georgia computing education. This was who has served as interim Dean convergent science, and to sup- search is ocean circulation and
Tech Professor Charles Isbell was demonstrated through his assis- since August, when the previous port mechanisms that encourage its effect on climate. Lozier is
selected to be the next Dean of tance in the creation of the online Dean, Paul Goldbart, stepped bold ideas, entrepreneurial efforts, currently the international lead
the College of Computing, replac- masters of science in computer down. The announcement fol- and productive partnerships,” for the OSNAP (Overturning in
ing Zvi Galil, who will be step- science, an innovative program lows a search process that had Lozier said. the Subpolar North Atlantic Pro-
ping down from the role on June that allows a degree to be pursued much the same format as that of Lozier, a distinguished profes- gram) observing system, which
30. The announcement follows a remotely. As the founding execu- the College of Computing; Lozier sor at Duke University, has held a tracks the movement of ocean
months long search process which tive director of the Constellations was one of three finalists selected variety of administrative positions currents and heat patterns.
considered several candidates Center for Equity in Computing, to give open seminars to the cam- since she began working at the Lozier will assume the role of
from across the United States, be- he has worked to expand the ac- pus community regarding her vi- University in 1992. Lozier is also Dean of the College of Sciences
fore ultimately settling on four fi- cessibility of computing. sion for the College of Sciences. a fellow of the American Meteo- no later than October 1.
nalists. These finalists gave a series
of open seminars, addressed to the
students and faculty of the Insti-
tute, in order to lay out their plans
if they were selected. Isbell will as-
sume the role of Dean of the Col-
lege of Computing on July 1.
“I am committed to working
with faculty, staff, and students
within the College and our col-
leagues around campus to contin-
ue to take risks and effect change
so that Georgia Tech continues to
provide global leadership in the
field of computing and beyond,”
Isbell said.
Isbell has taught at the Insti-
tute since 2002, and has research
interests in a variety of fields,
including artificial intelligence
and machine learning. He is an
alumnus of the Institute, having
received his bachelors of science
in information and computer sci-
ence before advancing to graduate Left: Photo courtesy of College of Sciences; Right: Photo courtesy of Institute Communications
coursework at the Massachusetts The upcoming Dean of the College of Sciences, Susan Lozier, left, is a distinguished professor at Duke University who researches.
Institute of Technology. Charles Isbell, right, is currently executive associate dean of the College of Computing and was selected to become the new dean.
Opinions
OPINIONS EDITOR: Jon Long technique

“
”
If you torture the data long
enough, it will confess to
anything. — Ronald Coase
5
Friday,
April 5, 2019

OUR VIEWS | Consensus Opinion

Rethinking Commencement
Should students in the Excel program be recognized?
Tech’s Excel Program, per its website,
“is a four year college program for students
with intellectual and developmental dis-
abilities leading to two separate Certifi-
cates.” The program began in 2015 with a
group of eight students, growing each year
towards an eventual goal of 48. In May,
seven of those eight students will be finish-
ing the program and receiving their certifi-
cates.
Being in a certificate program, these stu-
dents weren’t technically entitled to recog-
nition at commencement. SGA passed a
resolution requesting that an exception be
made for Excel students, but President Pe-
terson and Provost Bras were wary of using
commencement to recognize programs
other than full-fledged Tech undergradu-
ate and graduate degrees.
An online petition, sitting at 7,300 sig-
natures at the time of writing, has brought
this issue to the spotlight. In it, the presi-
dent of Excel’s Student Advisory Board
lays out the issue and requests student
support, taking somewhat of a combative
stance against the administration — and
strangely Dean of Students John Stein,
who does not have a say in the matter.
As more details came to light the ag-
gressive wording was removed; the ad-
ministration wasn’t being intentionally
The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the
Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.
callous, they were simply underprepared.
It’s extremely possible that, before SGA’s
resolution this spring, they hadn’t even
considered that the first cohort of Excel
students would finish in May.
Still, at the end of the day this is a dis-
cretionary decision for President Peterson
and the Provost to make. The Excel pro-
gram strives to immerse its students in
the college experience. They take classes
for four years, they are involved in campus
groups, they live in student housing and
they are just as much a presence on Tech’s
campus as the rest of us.
Though a few Excel students don’t feel
strongly one way or the other, some feel
that recognition at commencement would
be an important conclusion to their four-
year campaign at Tech.
Commencement should be about
recognizing and celebrating academic
achievement at Tech. If it was based strict-
ly on the completion of a traditional de-
gree program, summer graduates wouldn’t
qualify to walk in May. While it’s true that
allowing Excel students to walk could
theoretically lead to other certificate pro-
grams requesting the same recognition,
the uniqueness of the Excel program and
its integration into Tech’s culture make it
worthy of an exception.
Finding my place at
Georgia Tech
Students at Tech seem to driven than I did. I had moved to
have widely varying opinions University House which helped
on the Institute, but a common the housing situation because I
theme seems to be their struggle. liked my roommates, but they
Whether it’s a struggle that leads were much closer to each other
to triumph or failure it usually than they were to me.
decides their outlook on Tech, but During the second semester of
like anywhere, there are positive my third year I was hired as the
and negative aspects. My personal photography editor of the Tech-
story at Tech started poorly and nique. While I’ve enjoyed my time
got worse. with the paper, everyone knows
In August that when you
2014, I moved into start getting paid
a four person room “My personal story at for a hobby it be-
at Harrison Resi- Tech started poorly comes a chore. The
dence Hall. I was majority of my job
cheerfully greeted and got worse.” has been schedul-
by my peer leader ing which ranges
Nagela who later CASEY GOMEZ from tedious to
went on to become ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR frustrating, but
president of SGA. I’ve also had the
I was surrounded incredible oppor-
by excited and spirited students, tunity to photograph Music Mid-
but as an only child living in a town, Tech athletics and events all
packed room I was overwhelmed. over Atlanta. Being photography
I was used to silence and my im- editor was rewarding, but after
mune system was not prepared for stepping down I feel like a huge
communal living. weight has been lifted off of me.
I was sick within a week and In my fourth year I got new
later caught mono which made roommates who I plainly did not
me tired constantly, but with my get along with. They talked about
living situation it was difficult to me behind my back in the living
sleep during the day. I made some room and I avoided the common
friends freshman year but never areas of the apartment because I
felt like I found a group I fit in was intimidated. I was in a terrible
with. My difficulty with friends place mentally and physically but
and my living situation continued I pushed on with classes and even-
for four years at Tech, which then tually entered my fifth and final
combined with stressful classes to year at Tech.
wear on my mental health. My fifth year in the chemi-
Late in my sophomore year at cal engineering program here has
Tech I was diagnosed with severe somehow proved to be my best.
anxiety and depression that gave I’m not sure why this is but the
me constant nausea and impacted best explanation I can come up
my grades. For years I struggled in with is that I found my place on
classes and my personal life trying the women’s water polo team.
to feel like I belonged at Tech. Ev- One of my only close friends at
eryone seemed smarter and more See GOMEZ, page 6

technique editorial board

A TOUCHY SUBJECT BY LAUREN DOUGLAS
Samira Bandaru EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Casey Miles MANAGING EDITOR
Jonathan Jeffrey NEWS EDITOR
Lauren Lambert LIFE EDITOR
John Edwards SPORTS EDITOR
Jon Long OPINIONS EDITOR
Josh Trebuchon ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Lauren Douglas DESIGN EDITOR
Tristen Allen WEB DEVELOPER
Allie Ghisson PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Avni Shridhar HEAD COPY EDITOR
Zoie Konneker ONLINE EDITOR

Write to us: are responses to or commentaries on

opinions@nique.net
Got something to say? Then let
your voice be heard with the Tech-
nique. Sliver at Nique.net, tweet us
@the_nique or check us out on Face-
book at facebook.com/thenique. We
want to hear your opinion and want
to make it known to all of campus.
We also welcome your letters in
response to Technique content as well
as topics relevant to campus. We will
print letters on a timely and space-
available basis.
Each week we look for letters that
content found within the pages of the
Technique. Along with these letters,
we are open to receiving letters that
focus on relevant issues that currently
affect Georgia Tech as a university, in-
cluding its campus and student body.
When submitting letters we ask
that you include your full name, year
(1st, 2nd, etc.) and major. We ask that
letters be thought provoking, well
written and in good taste. We reserve
the right to both reject or edit letters
for length and style.
For questions, comments or con-
cern, contact the Opinions Editor at
opinions@nique.net.
6 • April 5, 2019• technique
One small word may save your sanity
“I’m currently in the process
of learning that priorities are
very, very important aspects
of our lives.”
BAYLEE FRIEDMAN
ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR
Maybe it’s just me, but I have
discovered that finding a way to
utter that simple, one-syllable,
two-letter word has been shock-
ingly difficult, particularly in the
past year. Somehow, when I try to
say the word “no,” I get nervous
and shaky — I begin to fear that
look of disappointment on the
person’s face opposite me and I
scramble to think of how I’d pos-
sibly fit this new obligation into a
time block on my already-packed
schedule.
It shouldn’t be so hard; It’s
quite literally one of the easiest
words to say, but the thought of
having to tell someone no when
I’m asked to help them with some-
thing or complete a task seems
almost unimaginable. As I’ve got-
ten older, and as I’ve gotten more
acquainted to Tech, it has become
increasingly difficult to say it.
I think that’s one of my great-
est issues with the culture here at
Tech, though I know it isn’t ex-
clusive to our campus. The fact
that there is this invisible weight,
an unspoken expectation, to con-
stantly be doing something. Be-
cause of that, my “break” times
lead to a feeling of guilt and me
searching for ways to fill it, and
when I’m faced with the question
“Can you do this,” my automatic
response is “yes.” A response I
regret later when I feel like I’m
drowning in the work I told my-
self I needed to do.
What my inability to say “no”
leads to is me splitting my time
and attention in so many different
areas, and across so many differ-
ent responsibilities, that I can no
longer realistically do those things
well. Grades begin to slip and
meetings are missed, and I spent
more time feeling overwhelmed
with it all than I did feeling calm.
I end up saying yes to so many
things that those things lose their
value; I cannot really give the
things that matter the attention
they deserve.
Perhaps more importantly, I
cannot really give myself the time
I need, the time to be still and to
// OPINIONS
GOMEZ FROM PAGE 5
Tech convinced me to join and
goes out of her way to drive me
take a break — something that is out, thinking I knew everything to practice. Not only have I made
necessary if we want to do any- or thinking I could do everything. great and like-minded friends on
thing effectively. We don’t have to do every- the team; they also hold me ac-
Either because I’m terrified of thing. Actually, doing less allows countable for my workouts which
letting people, including myself, us to really invest in those things helps my mood.
down or because I just feel this we are doing. Something I’ve Another improvement this year
pressure to constantly be busy, I heard a lot is to “invest deeper not has been my living situation. I
got to a point earlier this semes- wider”, and I think that’s a piece moved into a two bedroom apart-
ter where I realized it just wasn’t of advice we could all use. ment with a random roommate
feasible for me to try to do every- I also think that this is a lesson who is incredibly nice and shares
thing I had been doing. Between we all have to learn for ourselves. a cleanliness philosophy with me
a full class load, a part time job It can be hard to know just how (I’ll clean it after my test). She has
and various campus involvements, much you can manage unless you encouraged me to play sand vol-
I felt like I was drowning in the take on too much. Sometimes, leyball with her, something I’ve
things that once kept me afloat I think we all need to learn that wanted to do since I toured Tech,
here at Tech. taking on less isn’t a bad thing. and she makes sure the apartment
We already work so hard as What’s worse, in my opin- always smells like lavender.
students. We have ion, is staying in While reflecting on my time at
tons of responsi- those unhealthy Tech I have a lot of advice. Some of
bilities and ob- environments it is small and specific like buying
ligations already “It is okay to step where life revolves rain boots and an umbrella before
before adding away from those around work, you need them and not skipping
jobs, extracurricu- where everything class — unless it’s really pointless
lars and social in- responsibilities and to feels planned and — but I’d like to leave you with
volvements on top take time for the things stressful. something more significant.
of those things. It is okay to Don’t get bogged down with
These things are so you enjoy.” step away from negativity; you have enough stress
necessary to mak- those responsi- from classes here, so don’t let any-
ing our college bilities and to thing else weigh on you. Do the
years enjoyable, take time for the things you’re passionate about un-
and my student experience is only things you enjoy. I think once we apologetically, which will hope-
enriched by campus involvements do that, the things that we do pri- fully lead you to great friends. To
and having interests outside of our oritize can become more valuable quote Dr. Seuss, find the people
school work. But, there is a bal- parts of our lives. “whose weirdness is compatible
ance to all of it. It’s important to realize that with [yours]”. Finally, college is a
I’m currently in the process of saying no is necessary and good. time to develop your personality
learning that priorities are very, Since learning how to say that and mind, so be yourself and don’t
very important aspects of our ironically simple word, I have stifle your personal growth for the
lives. found myself enjoying this semes- sake of fitting in.
I remember growing up, my ter again and actually feeling ex- It took years but I found my
parents would always lecture me cited about the few things I have place at Tech and I hope you find
on priorities. I would tune them on my less-busy schedule. yours.
// OPINIONS
SOCIAL FROM PAGE 1
life with an ever-growing network
of passive participants. Details
that were once mundane had tak-
en on a new significance.
By the time Facebook rolled
around, I had become accustomed
to sharing simply for the sake of
sharing. The paradigm of online
communication had shifted and
allowed us to remain tethered
to the virtual world at all times.
I didn’t have to wait until I got
home to check my profile; The
iPhone had allowed my digital
presence to rest snugly at the hip
of my physical one.
The small group of classmates
that made up my digital network
had ballooned into a list that in-
cluded teammates, teachers and
family members. Strangers and
friends alike were able to access
the content I shared, content that
hadn’t adapted to an evolving au-
dience. The internet was for shar-
ing, to everyone and no one simul-
taneously.
All the while, we were becom-
ing more and more accustomed
to being fed information at, quite
literally, lightspeed. Research was
no longer constrained to library
trips, and the news was no longer
reserved to a particular television
timeslot. People had the ability
to become experts in things they
would have otherwise never had a
reason to think twice about.
As consuming information
moved from an active task to a
passive one, we subconsciously
yearned for a way to make use of
it. The invention of the telegraph
was followed closely by the in-
vention of the crossword puzzle;
“It’s more convenient to
blame the other side than
it is to admit that you don’t
know as much as you think
you do.”
JON LONG
OPINIONS EDITOR
when faced with an increase in
useless information, we don’t dis-
card it. We simply find ways make
it useful.
News outlets took this over-
load of information and continu-
ally created new ways to tell us
how we should feel about it. With
more material to work with than
ever — coupled with an unprec-
edented access to our attention —
digital news outlets have become
our de-facto guide to navigating
this new landscape. Retirees in
the Midwest were able to form
opinions about immigration. Col-
lege students could get outraged
over corporate tax rates. Aspects
of American society that had
never interacted with one another
were now next-door neighbors.
Immigration policy, the most
complex geopolitical issue facing
our country, can be summed up
in a hashtag. A subset of Ameri-
cans can be labeled Nazis by an-
other subset that has never even
interacted with them. Strangers
debate the efficacy of Donald
Trump’s trade policies, furiously
typing out the talking points that
their respective outlet of choice
had served to the top of their news
feed. The unending torrent of in-
formation, processed and synthe-
sized by clickhungry news outlets,
has effectively divided our coun-
try into two extremes.
When Facebook began, you
had to navigate to the ‘About’ sec-
tion of someone’s profile to see
their political views, nestled some-
where between their birthday and
their favorite band. Today, you
rarely have to search at all.
People blaming this split on
Donald Trump do so because they
have fallen into this exact trap. It’s
more convenient to blame the oth-
er side than it is to admit that you
don’t know as much as you think
you do. The population has been
split into two teams and forced to
play an imaginary game where the
media and the government make
the rules at our expense.
Americans have become more
opinionated than ever before. Our
sharing-based online culture has
created a feedback loop, telling us
that those who agree with us are
good and that those who don’t are
bad. We haven’t even begun to
understand the digital landscape
that has fostered this rift, but I
can say one thing with certainty:
social media damages a lot more
than just our self-image.
Grad Appreciation
Every year, Tech designates
the first week of April as Grad
Student Appreciation Week.
This year’s events included
panels, a picnic and free feed
all week long. The week began
with a grad student brunch
where the accomplishments of
grad students were recognized.
Sting Break
Tech’s annual Sting Break
took place this Thursday, giv-
ing students a chance to enjoy
the nice weather with games,
food, music and more. The
event is put on by the Student
Center Programs Council each
year towards the end of the
spring semester, offering free
fun before exam season.
technique • April 5, 2019• 7
Skiles Pollen
Despite claims that it is
‘hurricane proof,’ the Skiles
building still has issues when it
rains. A mixture of pollen and
water has coated the floor of
the building’s exterior portion,
leaving a yellow veneer behind.
Not even buildings are safe
from pollen’s wrath.
Voter Turnout
Voter turnout has tradi-
tionally been low for SGA
elections, showing a lack of
student engagement with their
government. This year’s elec-
tion was no different, despite
an uncharacteristic amount of
social media buzz surround-
ing the candidates. The runoff
could prove to be even worse.
Life
LIFE EDITOR:
Lauren Lambert
ASSISTANT LIFE EDITOR:
Rosemary Pitrone
The Technique asks students on campus to share their
thoughts on the trend of replacing print textbooks with
life@nique.net
Discussing “Nostaligic Futures”
by Zoe Elledge, Contributing Writer
The Tech Graphics, Visualization and Usability
(GVU) Center hosted an exhibit celebrating twenty-
five years of research. This exhibit, “Nostalgic Futures:
25 Years of Reimagining the Future,” was on display
in the third floor Winsett Gallery of the Clough Un-
dergraduate Learning Commons from November
2018 through January 2019.
The exhibit contained video interviews with mem-
bers of the GVU Center, such as James D. Foley,
Stephen Flemings Chair in the School of Interactive
Computing, Keith Edwards, the GVU Center Direc-
tor, and Elizabeth Mynatt, the executive director of
the Institute for People and Technology and former
director of the GVU Center at Tech.
“When GVU first got started, its mission was really
about improving the human experience through tech-
nology,” Edwards said in the exhibit. “We thought
about putting pretty pictures on the screen and how
to visualize data sets on the screen and how to use this
fairly new invention called the mouse to make user
interfaces better.”
Since its creation, the GVU Center has taken an
interdisciplinary approach to technology, one of the
first groups of its kind to do so.
“There was this interest of bringing together the
world of graphics and the world of how things looked
on the screen with the world of interaction. And to do
that well, we needed expertise in design and psychol-
ogy and computing, and GVU was the first effort on
campus to bring all of those people to the same table,”
Mynatt said during the exhibit.
Last Thursday, two Nostalgic Futures curators,
Laura Levy and Clint Zeagler, held a discussion about
their exhibit in the retroTECH Lab, along with Li-
brary Exhibits Manager Kirk Henderson.
The retroTECH Lab is located in the Data Visu-
alization Lab on the third floor of the Main Library.
It displays a number of decades-old computer games
and technology, each previously owned by a member
of the Tech community. The mission of retroTECH is
to inspire technological discovery based on past tech-
nology.
“Today’s program is just a further iteration of our
effort to … preserve the aspects of Georgia Tech’s re-
search and its contribution to the digital and educa-
tional culture,” Henderson said. This event is also the
beginning of a continued collaboration between the
Library and the GVU Center.
Laura Levy works as a human factors psychologist
in Tech Interactive Media Technology Center, and
she takes a behavioral approach to understanding
technology.
“Good technology should just be seamlessly in-
tegrated in our lives, it shouldn’t be something we
struggle with, but I still use a lot of the same tech-
niques and methods that I was using as a biologist,”
Levy said.
Clint Zeagler is a research scientist for the Inter-
active Media Technology Center and an instructor
in the School of Industrial Design. Zeagler teaches
courses on wearable product design.
“In the beginning, [GVU] started with user inter-
face and graphics, [and] the point was how do people
interact with the computer in a way that they should,
or is easiest for them, and for me, to do that, you have
technique
Going digital
8
Friday,
digital ones. 411 April 5, 2019
to reach out beyond just having great computer sci-
entists, you have to have people with human factors,
and psychology, so it’s this umbrella of people … that
work together in groups. And it still does that. That’s
how I got involved,” Zeagler said.
One focus of the GVU Center has been working on
toolkits for creating video-user interfaces.
“I developed something called the User Interface
Design Environment, which was a set of tools which
were designed to make it easier to build [user interfac-
es],” Foley said. “The system would do some reason-
ing based on back-chaining and show by moving the
mouse around on the screen and also speaking what I
should do to carry out the goal I had in mind.”
“The one thing that I think consistently the GVU
Center did correctly throughout the years was create
ways for other people to design and work together,”
Zeagler said, reflecting on the UI toolkits that the
GVU Center created. “They were trying to create
mechanisms, toolkits and ways for other people to get
together who might be smarter in the human factors
and the psychology of why something should hap-
pen.”
One GVU Center project that the Nostalgic Fu-
tures exhibit highlighted was the Aware Home. It
opened up in May 2000 and received lots of industry
support and large grants from the NSF. The aim of
the project was to create a comfortable home setting
for the aging population by using technology to tap
into the infrastructure of the house.
“We will all experience some disability over our
lifespan, whether that is losing our vision, or hearing,
or mobility. As we age, these pieces of tech with sen-
sors help us be empowered in our own homes,” Levy
said.
The exhibit also touches on the future of the GVU
Center, and what their research might look like in the
next 25 years.
“Fundamentally, GVU’s overall mission is still the
same, it’s to improve the human experience through
technology, but the ways we do that now are much
more broad-reaching than they ever were in the past,”
Edwards said in the exhibit.
For more information about the Nostalgic Futures
exhibit and the GVU Center, visit their website gvu.
gatech.edu.
Design by Beatrice Domingo
// LIFE technique • April 5, 2019• 9

Take Back the Night supports and educates

NEHA BHATIA me that, no matter what, if a sex- VOICE advocates were present at ences (PAUSE) and SGA’s Sexual katha Banerjee. Beyond student
CONTRIBUTING WRITER ual assault survivor tells you their the event to speak intermittently Violence Advisory Board (SVAB) organizations, the campus com-
story, you have to believe them to attendees about the work of are dedicated to preventing sexual munity can have a role in support-
The atmosphere at the Cam- and support their decision on how VOICE and to provide support to violence and raising awareness of ing survivors and being part of the
panile was solemn but filled with to move forward. It’s always a bit speakers and attendees who were this issue on campus. solution to end sexual violence.
hope at the annual Take Back The somber, and I get emotional and affected by the vulnerable, often “I grew up in a community “If someone tells you about an
Night event at Tech on April 1. inspired by the strength the sur- distressing nature of the experi- that almost normalized the con- experience of sexual abuse or as-
As the outset of Sexual Assault vivors have by telling their story ences that students recounted. cept of sexual violence because ev- sault, just listen to them. Let them
Awareness Month, Take Back The and their journey of healing,” said Students who are passion- eryone thought it was too taboo to cry on your shoulder. Tell them
Night serves to educate the Tech fourth-year BMED Aileen Suarez. ate about ending sexual vio- discuss or disclose. I’d constantly it’s okay, and you believe them. If
community about sexual violence The event was organized by the lence on campus can apply to be hear stories of suffering being jus- you hear rumors about what peo-
and to support survivors. Women’s Resource Center and VOICE peer educators or request tified by religion, socialization, ple do sexually, don’t spread them,
Following opening remarks VOICE, Health Initiatives’ sexual a VOICE presentation for their politics and occupation. But sex- and tell off the person who spreads
by Meghan Dietrich, one of the and relationship violence preven- residence halls, chapters or stu- ual violence isn’t a political issue; them to you. Slut-shaming is
event’s student coordinators, tion and response initiative. dent organizations on topics rang- it’s a human rights issue. It’s our never okay, and you never know
graduate and undergraduate stu- VOICE provides support and ing from healthy relationships to job as people, and mine specifi- what someone is going through
dents spoke at the podium and resources to victims of sexual as- bystander intervention by visiting cally as a peer educator, to ensure or whether the rumors are even
read stories from sexual assault sault, as well as to those support- healthinitiatives.gatech.edu. everyone’s security and maintain true. The ones about me certainly
survivors in turn. Some students ing survivors, and educates the In addition to VOICE, stu- a level of respect in all of our re- weren’t, but they made a horrible
chose to introduce themselves as Tech community about healthy dent organizations such as People lationships,” said first-year ECON situation even worse,” Biagioni
survivors of sexual assault and relationships and sexual violence. Against Unwanted Sexual Experi- and VOICE peer educator Rup- said at the event.
share their own experiences, while
others wanted to remain anony-
mous and have their stories read
by a volunteer.
The event concluded with a
candlelight vigil and a moving
performance of “Til It Happens
To You” by the campus a cappella
group Infinite Harmony.
“I am comfortable talking
about my story, and I feel that
talking about my experience em-
powers other survivors to come
forward and seek help for what
they’ve gone through. I found that
the #MeToo movement was really
powerful for me, and I want other
survivors to feel that as well,” said
first-year ME Morgan Biagioni,
who spoke at the event.
This year marked the 25th an-
niversary of Take Back The Night
at Tech. Supporting survivors and
creating a space to allow them
to share their stories is a prior-
ity for the campus community,
and students are eager to see the
movement continue to flourish on
campus.
“I’ve gone to [Take Back The Photo courtesy of Edward Garrity
Night] three times in my Tech ca- Pictured above is the Take Back the Night event held for the Georgia Tech community to spread awareness and educate about sex-
reer. This event serves to remind ual violence. The event was organized by VOICE and the Women’s Resource Center which provides support to victims and survivors

technique

Join the

Technique
Flags Bldg 137 t Writers, Designers, Photographers

/thenique

@the_nique

nique.net
10 • April 5, 2019• technique
How to stay one
step ahead of
final exams
ROSEMARY PITRONE
ASSISTANT LIFE EDITOR
We are finally at the stage in
the semester where it can seem
like everything is happening all
at once. The homework you fell
behind on several weeks ago has
slowly caught up to you. Final
projects are entering their final
hours. You are either scrambling
to make preparations for your am-
bitious summer plans, or you are
feeling bummed because you do
not have any ambitious summer
plans.
It may be hard to hear, but
final exams begin in a few short
weeks. Wouldn’t it be nice to feel
calm and in control when they ar-
rive? Here are some tips on stay-
ing one step ahead of finals as the
semester draws to a close.
USE A CALENDAR
If you have not yet mapped out
important due dates and test dates
on a calendar, congratulations on
making it this far without doing
so. Since finals have a tendency
to sneak up on a lot of students,
it is now imperative to become fa-
miliar with the important dates in
your course syllabus.
Make an online or physical
calendar that serves as a visual aid
of important dates for the last few
weeks of the semester. Mark days
that tests occur and that assign-
ments are due.
You can also use a calendar as
a way to chart your study goals. If
you know that the final exam will
cover four chapters from the text-
book, set realistic deadlines for
when you would like to complete
a review of each chapter before the
exam. Marking these goals out on
a calendar can provide perspective
on how much work you still have
to do and how much time you
have left to do it.
KEEP IN TOUCH
So, you wrote everything in a
calendar and you have your study
goals planned out. What is going
to motivate you to honor those
goals? Make plans to meet with
a study group periodically lead-
ing up to finals. Members of the
group can hold each other ac-
countable for keeping up with
study schedules. Studying in a
group can also help keep your
momentum going. Instead of fall-
ing into a “study rut” and feeling
stuck, you can ask your friends
questions and compare notes with
them to quickly clear up anything
you may be confused about.
MAKE A PLAYLIST
A lot of students like to listen
to music while preparing for an
exam. Some studies have even
shown that music can help with
memory retrieval. If you create a
cohesive study playlist and listen
to it while reviewing your course
materials, recalling the music dur-
ing your final exam may help jog
your memory.
Make the playlist something
you enjoy listening to, but try
to only listen to it while you are
studying. This can help motivate
you to study because it will be
something that you actually look
forward to.
Music as a device for memory
retrieval does not work for every-
one, and some people may find
music distracting. If you prefer
silence, try making a map of your
// LIFE
favorite locations instead of a play-
list. Only go to these locations —
like your favorite coffee shop or
spot in the park — when you are
planning to study. That will pro-
vide you with a unique opportu-
nity to get out of your dorm and
have a little fun while working.
You can use similar meth-
ods for any activity you like to
do while studying. For example,
Monday
queue up some of your favorite
TV shows to play in the back-
ground while reviewing notes,
and only allow yourself to play
them while you study.
Ask Me About Resumes
Location: Clough
Time: 4 p.m.–5 p.m.
TALK TO PROFESSORS For helpful tips on building your resume, visit the Clough
Core desk located across from Starbucks.
If you are already feeling over-
whelmed by the amount of course
work and studying you have to do,
now is a good time to consult your
professor about your concerns. Tuesday
Remember that your personal
well-being is of the utmost impor- Spring Comedy Show
tance, so if the demands of a par- Location: Ferst Theater
ticular class are placing you under Time: 7 p.m.–9 p.m.
an unreasonable amount of stress, Join SCPC and GT Housing for a night of comedy star-
ring SNL alum Jay Pharoah. Ticket prices are $7 for stu-
let your instructor know. dents, $13 for guests and $17 for faculty.
In most cases, your professor
will be glad that you reached out
Wednesday
early and will be willing to listen
to your concerns. If meeting with
your professor still does not allevi-
ate your concerns, remember that
Community Market
doing poorly in a class is some- Location: Tech Walkway
thing that most students at Tech Time: 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
have had to deal with at some Support student entrepreneurs, campus organizations
point and that it is something you and local community members at the Community Mar-
will overcome. ket. Shop for artisan baked goods, freshly brewed cof-
fees, specialty sandwiches and many other goods. This
REWARD YOURSELF event takes place every Wednesday until April 24.
After you have marked your
Thursday
calendar, set up study dates and
curated the perfect study playl-
ist, you should take the time to
reward yourself. It is important Teal Ribbon Day
to be prepared for finals, but it is Location: Campanile
also important to spend time away Time: 12 p.m.–12:30 p.m.
from your textbooks. Supporters of survivors of sexual violence will be wear-
Learning to balance fun and ing teal ribbons on Thursday as part of Sexual Assault
relaxation with preparation and Awareness Month. VOICE invites supports to the Kes-
good study habits can be tricky, sler Campanile for a group photo in honor of the day.
but hopefully these tips will give
you some ideas about how to do
just that. Once you achieve that
balance, the ultimate reward will
be a chaos-free finals season.
JOIN THE
Technique
FLAG 137
- Tuesdays -
AT 7:00 P.M.
No Experience
Necessary
WE HAVE FREE PIZZA
// LIFE
Should print
textbooks be
replaced by
digital?
LAUREN LAMBERT
LIFE EDITOR
Living in an increasingly tech-
nologically friendly world, the
question of e-books replacing
print literature often comes up.
Many classes at Tech have gone
digital with their class materials
and textbooks, while on the other
hand, some professors are starting
to desperately cling to print cop-
ies and preach the importance of
studying from a physical book. In
addition, many of the publications
featured on Tech’s campus are
forced to contemplate the future
of their existence as a print pub-
lication each year. Should print
literature be replaced by digital?
While e-books sometimes re-
duce the burden of buying mon-
etarily and environmentally costly
textbooks, they can make study-
ing harder for the reader.
“I like that it’s more eco-
friendly, but it can be really hard
to navigate when studying. It’s
more difficult to make and revisit
annotations, and having to switch
between windows can be a pain,”
said Elise Koepke, third-year EAS.
Rather than having multiple
tabs open on your laptop, a physi-
technique • April 5, 2019• 11
cal copy provides readers with the work on assignments is often to annotate the pages — some- Based on this sample size, the
opportunity to fold the page, in- time efficient, it also comes with a thing that is really important for majority of students feel strongly
sert a bookmark or simply open a whole new excuse rather than “my studying from a textbook,” said that digital text should not replace
new book. dog ate my homework.” Amanda Nima, third-year IE. print publications.
For students who are con- “E-books can have limita- Electronic copies of literature Print textbooks do not have
cerned about their ecological tions due to technology such as require a lot more than print cop- technological difficulties or re-
footprint, bookstores often have software incompatibility, dead ies. Software is constantly evolv- quire internet connection, allows
used options for sale as well as battery, crashing due to viruses, ing, devices require a power source readers to study without having
rentals. Given that the shelf-life storage restrictions and not to and a connection to the internet. multiple browsers open, encour-
of a physical book is unquanti- mention, they lack the experi- “I feel like I study better when I ages interaction with the text,
fiable, the used-book market is ence of owning a physical copy have the physical text rather than promotes recycling and allows
extremely popular and promotes of a book. With a physical copy, having it online. With a textbook the reader to annotate or high-
endless recycling — something you are able to feel your progress I can pull it out wherever I need to light important information. The
that e-books simply cannot offer. with the dwindling pages in your read it, rather than having to rely digital revolution will continue to
As for others publications such as hands, you will not have pop-ups on the WiFi of a certain area,” grow, but as for print literature, it
newspapers and flyers, the mate- or advertisements and you are able said Avery Silva, third-year BA. cannot be replaced.
rial they are printed on is often
recyclable, minimizing their eco-
logical impact.
In addition, electronic copies
of literature make it harder for
readers to have a slower, more con-
centrated line of thought.
“I am prone to headaches and
reading on an e-book is harder on
my eyes and gives me headaches.
In addition, I find myself more
prone to skimming the text with
electronic texts rather than mak-
ing connections with the read-
ing,” said Sarah Barks, third-year
CE.
Studies show that a physical
copy of a text promotes com-
prehension and emotional con-
nection, given this information,
many teachers at Tech have made
it a requirement — made it a
grade even — for students to have
a printed copy of the course mate-
rials. Much of our online interac-
tions with e-books, social media,
web surfing and other online plat-
forms is purely for efficiency and
does not promote critical analysis.
Electronic literature comes with
the task of tackling eye-strain and
glare from sunlight which also im-
pacts readers from engaging with
the text.
On the other hand, reading
material on an electronic device
can pose new challenges from a Photo by Casey Gomez Student Publications
technological standpoint. While Many students on campus shared their negative opinions of digital textbooks. For many, the mon-
using technology to study and etary and environmental benefits of digital textbooks do not outweigh the feel of a printed book.

Entertainment
Billie Eilish’s debut album lives up to expectations
MUSIC
When We All Fall Asleep,
Where Do We Go?
Artist
LABEL: Interscope
GENRE: Pop
TRACK PICKS: “!!!!!!!” and
“Bury a Friend”
OUR TAKE: «««««
AVNI SHRIDHAR
HEAD COPY EDITOR
Billie Eilish is a 17-year-old
choir-singer turned breakout star,
whose first single “ocean eyes”
was released in 2016 and debut
EP “Don’t Smile at Me” came out
around a year after. Last week, she
released her debut album “When
We All Fall Asleep, Where Do
We Go?” which is a 14 track dive
into Billie Eilish’s unique world of
spooky teenage pop.
Over the last year, Eilish has
gained somewhat of a cult follow-
ing. The Los Angeles native grew
up homeschooled, and she was in-
troduced to the world of music by
her brother Finneas O’Connell,
who still produces most of her
music and performs with her at
her live shows.
Eilish’s sound is like no one
else’s. Her voice is breathy and
‘Twilight Zone’ strays from strengths of original
TELEVISION
The Twilight Zone
NETWORK: CBS All Access
WHEN: Thursdays
STARRING: Kumail Nanjiani,
Adam Scott
OUR TAKE: «««««
JOSH TREBUCHON
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
On April 1, CBS debuted its
reboot of the classic sci-fi anthol-
ogy series, “The Twilight Zone.”
The show, which is hosted by Jor-
dan Peele (“Get Out,” “Keanu”),
will be released weekly on CBS’s
subscription streaming service,
CBS All Access. The pilot epi-
sode, however, is available for free
on Youtube.
While the new series shares its
anthology format with the origi-
nal, it differs drastically from Rod
Serling’s series in its style and
production quality. Whereas the
original series aired in a half-hour
time slot, episodes of Peele’s ver-
sion fill a full hour long slot. The
longer time slot is accompanied by
a much larger production budget
and more elaborate cinematogra-
phy and effects.
These changes might seem
inevitable; television has come a
long way since 1959, and film-like
production qualities are the norm
today. Still, there’s no reason why
the new series could not retain
the original half-hour format,
and fans of the original might be
technique
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
Josh Trebuchon
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
Eli Hendler
12
Friday,
entertainment@nique.net April 5, 2019
Photo courtesy of Interscope
Up and coming electropop artist Billie Eilish has carved out a niche for herself in a crowded pop scene through
a unique image and personality and by developing her own thematic identity known as spooky teen pop.
quiet, and her tone is somehow Most importantly, the pro- uniquely dark sense of humor even clips from television show
both haunting and intimate. Bil- duction value of Eilish’s songs shines though in various unique “The Office.”
lie Eilish’s music style transcends is almost always impeccable. audio samples like a recording of The opening track sets a base-
genre, delving into pop, hip-hop, Her floaty voice waterfalls over her taking out her Invisalign, the line for the personality of the al-
indie and even EDM. beats with rumbling bass. Her sound of swords unsheathing and See EILISH, page 15
disappointed that the new series
didn’t keep things simpler.
The good news for fans of Ser-
ling’s masterpiece is that the re-
boot does not wander too far from
the original in tone. The pilot has
the same darkness which first
made the series famous.
The pilot episode, titled “The
Comedian,” follows a comic por-
trayed by Kumail Nanjiani (“The
Big Sick”) as he achieves success
on the standup stage after receiv-
ing advice — and a warning —
from an older comedian whom he
admires. The set-up of the episode
is classic “Twilight Zone” — a
mysterious, supernatural figure
leads the main character down a
path to his ruin.
As the episode progresses, the
comedian discovers that he has
much more success with jokes
which are about him and his life
personally, and he begins to make
personal jokes rather than the po-
litical ones around which he used
to structure his routine.
The twist comes when Nanji-
ani discovers that everything he
jokes about — from his dog, to
his nephew, to his fellow comedi-
ans — disappear from existance
when he uses them for a joke.
If the pilot is any indication
of things to come, the new show
has all the thematic conscious-
ness that made the original great.
In addition to simply being a cool
story, “The Comedian” has a uni-
versal truth at its core.
Where the new show differs
from the original is in the depth Photo courtesy of CBS
with which it covers a topic. The Kumail Nanjiani stars in the pilot episode of CBS’s new reboot of ‘The Twilight Zone’ as a
See TWILIGHT, page 14 comedian who sacrifices everything he loves in exchange for success in his stand-up career.
// ENTERTAINMENT
We Are Scientists speak on influences, name
ELI HENDLER
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
The New York based rock
band We Are Scientists first hit
the mainstream with their 2005
breakthrough album “With Love
and Squalor,” which they followed
up with 2008’s even more success-
ful “Brain Thrust Mastery.”
The duo consists of vocalist,
guitarist and keyboardist Keith
Murray and bassist Chris Cain.
The two have also become known
for their off-the-cuff banter both
on stage and in interviews. Mur-
ray spoke with the Technique re-
cently about the group’s music,
their upcoming album deluxe
release, as well as their April 24
show at the Tabernacle.
Technique: First of all, thank
you so much for doing this and
congrats on the new album com-
ing out. I just want to jump right
in. You guys are releasing a new
album this month, so could you
talk about the story behind it.
Keith Murray: Since our
fourth album, “TV en Français,”
weve been doing a lot more self
producing in preparation for ev-
ery album, and it’s increased and
increased and increased, and with
that album we started this tradi-
tion of reworking all of the songs
on it. That album we put out —
you can’t really call it an acoustic
album because it’s weird versions
of all the songs, but since we have
been increasingly producing these
songs at home on our own and
then bringing them into a stu-
dio with our producer partially
recorded. We always have these
other existing versions that have
technique
Technique
Flags Bldg 137 Writers, •Designers, Photographers
been worked on before anyone
else has told us that those are the
incorrect versions of those songs.
We now get attatched to the many
varietals of a certain song and hate
to see them disappear.
Technique: Does this album
contain more of those first takes?
Murray: Yeah. I know we’ve
got a few of our individual ver-
sions. There are a bunch of my
songs that are the versions I re-
corded entirely by myself and then
sent to our producer. I know Chris
has one of his songs. Then there
are a few others that Chris and I
got together after the album was
done. Trying to give radio shows
and media outlets exclusive con-
tent we will do third and fourth
and fifth versions of songs. I know
Chris has a remix. Now most of
the time, the essence of the song is
in our hands — in our hardrives
to be more practical about it. We
just like never really feel there’s a
definitive finished version of not
even just the song, but of that ac-
tual recording.
Technique: Would you say
there is that kind of overarching
theme that is the connection for
all the songs on the new album?
Murray: Yeah I think so.
Theres a lot of thought about
communication and the way
communication very easily breaks
down. Also, theres an ear to all of
the songs that coheres them which
is funny because I think all of our
albums have gotten more and
more disparate in their sounds the
more we do this.
I think this album is the most
varied sonically. I think part of it
is just a feeling in our gut of which
ten songs — even if those aren’t
our ten favorite. There tend to be
ten songs that feel like they sit to-
gether really well.
Technique: I was reading
about the influences you have
talked about like David Bowie
and Fleetwood Mac. Would you
say that this album is drawn from
the same place or over time have
you developed new influences?
For example have you heard mu-
sic recently and thought “that’s a
really cool sound that I want to
channel into my own personal
sound?”
Murray: I think Fleetwood
Mac and David Bowie and Vel-
vet Underground are our funda-
mental influences — they’ve been
bands that we were into since we
were 18, 19 that are just like the
essence of what we were think-
ing about when we were excited
about writing songs. These days
Keith Murray (middle) and Chris Cain (right), the members of the rock duo We Are Scientists,
sit with touring drummer Keith Carne (left). Murray recently spoke with the Technique.
Join the
im actually pretty super into re-
ally straight forward top 40 pop,
much to the chagrin of everybody
I hang out with. I have just really
developed a taste for American
top 40 aimed at 16 year olds. I’m
really excited by the production
of it. Even though lyrically, stuff
is still pretty fatuous, there’s a lot
of weird song writing and crazy
production going on. Pretty much
anything that on top 40 radio I’m
like “yeah, that’s sick.”
Technique: The name — We
Are Scientists — I read that it
was a tribute to a song and also
someone asked if you guys were
scientists. Do you have any more
to add to where that name came
from and why it stuck with you
guys?
Murray: The second one is the
actual story. It was just a random
stranger who saw us all together
nique.net /thenique
technique • April 5, 2019• 13
and asked if we were scientists. We
kind of took it as a badge of — not
necessarily honor. He definitely
didn’t mean it as a compliment,
what he meant was we all looked
like we were weak nerds, but I
think we liked that a totally ran-
dom stranger at least recognized
that there was something that
suggested a team in the three of
us. He knew that we all did some-
thing together. If he had to guess
what it was that we did based on
our appearance alone, I guess he
would assume that we were scien-
tists.
Technique: Thank you so
much for your time and good luck
on the new album.
We Are Scientists releases
“Megaplex: Rise of the Lycans” later
this year. The duo will be playing a
show in Atlanta on April 24 at the
Tabernacle.
Photo courtesy of Masterswan
@the_nique
14 • April 5, 2019• technique // ENTERTAINMENT

TWILIGHT FROM PAGE 12 Additionally, the episode things at once, all the while work- ity of a show which didn’t lean taking away from the beauty of
seems to be commenting broadly ing in a format which was once all on camera tricks and loud sound the writing and the narrative.
original series, with the exception on how artists in general damage about simplicity and clarity. The effects to hide flaws in its story- Fans of the original series are
of a few episodes, was essentially a their lives by exploring the hu- episode ends with none of the fi- telling. The original series’ great- probably going to approach Jor-
set of morality tales set to a sci-fi man condition through the lens nality and certainty which each est strength — at least from the dan Peele’s take on “The Twilight
background. Episodes of the new of personal experiences. Just as and every episode of the original perspective of the modern viewer Zone” with some caution — re-
series, however, explore individual the comedian loses the things in series ended with. — was that there was simply no boots rarely live up to the qual-
concepts for a full hour. The re- his life about which he jokes, an The new series also departs where for the writers to hide. Ev- ity of the original — and that is a
sult is that episodes are more the- artist loses his personal identity by from Serling’s show stylistically. ery episode had to be excellent good thing. While the new series
matically deep, but in focusing so exposing it to the world. The fancy cinematography, the in every way, because there was is objectively better than the origi-
much time on one subject, epi- Of course, there’s nothing in- high production values and the nothing with which to distract nal in practically every way, those
sodes also lose some of their broad herently wrong with a show com- dramatic acting, while power- the viewer. who fell in love with the original
appeal. menting on art, comedy or other ful and immersive, are somehow Compared to the original, the for its beautiful simplicity will
“The Comedian” is a great ex- aspects of the human condition. disappointing when held up next new series is downright disorient- most likely hate the reboot for all
ample of this. On its surface, the The problem with “The Comedi- to the style of the original series. ing, distracting the viewer with of the things which on the surface
pilot episode is a Faustian tale of an” is that it tries to do all of these Gone is the comfortable simplic- over-the-top camera effects and make it better.
a comedian who gives up every-
thing he holds close in exchange
for success on the stage. This is ex-
actly the point at which the origi-
nal series would have stopped, but
a closer examination of the details
of the hour-long episode reveal a
deeper and more complex message
about the nature of comedy, fame
and art as a whole.
The episode sees the comedian
isolate himself from everything
which was actually important in
his life on his way to attaining
fame, commenting on the side ef-
fects of celebrity.
While this is an interesting de-
velopment, it requires more effort
of the viewer than an episode of
the original series would have, and
some might argue that the episode
over-explores its concept, leading
the viewer in too many directions
at once.
The pilot does not stop there,
either. Observant viewers might
notice that the jokes which the co-
median tells are not actually par-
ticularly funny, despite the laughs
they get from their on-screen au-
dience. This is not due to poor
writing; rather, it is an intentional
choice which the writers use to
make their point about comedy.
The episode argues that come-
dians do not succeed by telling
funny jokes, but rather by ex-
posing their personal lives to the
world. Comedy which is not per-
sonal will never succeed, because a Photo courtesy of CBS
joke is made first and foremost by Adam Scott stars in the second episode of CBS’s new reboot of the classic sci-fi anthology series ‘The Twilight Zone.’ The
its sincerity. episode, titled ‘Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,’ is based on an episode of the original series titled ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.’
// ENTERTAINMENT technique • April 5, 2019• 15

EILISH FROM PAGE 12 forced, and as the motif continues already is, and instead of a bass- unexpected message. As Billie is offers a fresh perspective on pop
through the song, it begins to feel heavy track, she is singing along singing about how unnecessary it that is desperately needed right
bum. The 14-second track “!!!!!!!” heavy handed. In this aspect, it to bright ukulele music. “I love is to take drugs and drink alcohol now. The album delves into emo-
starts with the sound of Billie does feel like Billie has come back you” attempts to recreate the soar- to “feel good,” her voice fades in tions relevant to young people
removing her Invisalign retainer older but not too much wiser. ing melody of her hit song “lovely and out, creating the effect of a today in a unique, insightful and
and joking around with her broth- Other songs provide a change (with Khalid),” but the song falls pill-like haze. fun way.
er. She says, “I have taken out my of pace from her more typical flat as its tune is almost the same While her album builds on her Overall, Eilish’s debut, “When
Invisalign and this is the album,” songs, like “8” where Billie Eil- as that of “Hallelujah” by Leonard unique style and personality, it is We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We
and the two of them burst into ish’s voice is pitched up to make Cohen. The production of “xan- clear that Billie Eilish has some Go?,” is a well-produced and mor-
laughter. The audience is set up to her sound even younger than she ny” is artful and ironic with a very maturing to do. Still, her album bidly fun album to listen to.
hear the songs, and they know to
take the horror of the album with
a good sense of humor.
“!!!!!!!” leads directly into the
album’s second track “bad guy,”
where Billie’s strengths are on full
display. “bad guy” is a playful song
with a thumping bass that shows
Billie taunting her boyfriend and
telling him that she is the “bad-
boy” in their relationship rather
than him. This track is indicative
of Eilish’s typical sound, and her
classic irreverence comes out when
each chorus ends her sarcastic
voice saying “Duh!”
The standout of “When We All
Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”
is “bury a friend,” which was the
first single from the album. It
opens in a gentle, paced melody
reinforced with a distinct and
rhythmic beat. However, the song
quickly descends into a chaotic
nightmare-scape, complete with
screams, screeching tones and oc-
casional growling. The song has
morbid lyrics, and in a recurring
verse, Eilish sings, “step on the
glass, staple your tongue / bury a
friend, try to wake up.” This vio-
lent imagery is a common theme
in her songs, and Billie has often
said she enjoys playing characters
in her music.
Of course, she can also fall
prey to over-stylizing and over-
producing her music, which was
her biggest weakness in her first
EP, and her lyrics are still occa-
sionally contrived. In “wish you
were gay,” Eilish attempts a play
on a countdown, singing, “four
days has never felt so long / if Photo courtesy of Interscope
three’s a crowd and two was us / Eilish recently released her debut album, titled ‘When We All Go To Sleep, Where Do We Go?’ The 14-track record reinforces
one slipped away.” The set-up feels Eilish’s unique image and earlier releases musically and thematically, but the singer’s style still needs refinement.
16 • April 5, 2019• technique // COMICS

SARAH’S SCRIBBLES BY SARAH ANDERSEN PEARLS BEFORE SWINE BY STEPHEN PASTIS

LIO BY MARK TATULLI

LUNARBABOON BY CHRISTOPHER GRADY

IN THE BLEACHERS BY STEVE MOORE

// COMICS technique • April 5, 2019• 17
XKCD BY RANDALL MUNROE SMBC BY ZACH WEINERSMITH

CHANNELATE BY RYAN HUDSON

SUDOKU PUZZLE

BY SUDOKUCOLLECTION.COM
18 • April 5, 2019• technique // SPORTS

McCann draws national attention for play

catcher manages the game, keep- now amassed five wins against to be drafted by a major league catchers to find success on draft
ROHAN KANSARA ing track of strengths and weak- top-15 teams and sits at the num- team this June, and his stock has day. Tech has graduated All-Star
STAFF WRITER nesses of whichever pitcher is on ber two spot in the ACC Coast- skyrocketed thanks to his per- catchers like Jason Varitek and
the mound and recommending al behind NC State, their next formance. Multiple MLB scouts Matt Wieters, and McCann’s pre-
Georgia native Kyle McCann, pitches accordingly to get the cur- match up this coming weekend. were in attendance at Tech’s mid- decessor at his position, Joey Bart,
the catcher for the Jackets baseball rent batter out. With six different The team has clearly shown poten- week game against UGA late last was taken No. 2 overall in last
team, is playing phenomenally pitchers having started at least tial for competing at the highest month, and while McCann only year’s draft by the San Francisco
this season as one of the coun- one game this season, the amount level with its triumphs over top- went 0-2 with two walks against Giants. McCann’s sterling perfor-
try’s best college players. Accord- of work and skill that McCann ranked teams such as Georgia. the Bulldogs, his stock has re- mance has carried on the legacy of
ing to D1Baseball.com’s power needs to excel at the position is Kyle McCann’s continued excel- mained strong. FanGraphs.com some of Tech baseball’s legends.
rankings, he is currently the sec- impressive. The fact that he is able lence on the field is necessary for rates McCann as the 96th over- But the focus for McCann still
ond best catcher in the NCAA. to balance the demands of being a the Jackets to realize that poten- all prospect for the 2019 June lies on the field, not on draft day.
McCann earned All-ACC Third catcher with his focus on batting, tial down the stretch and into the Amateur draft, noting his “big Despite Tech’s exemplary perfor-
Team honors last season, so his though, is even more impressive. ACC Championship in late May. power bat” but also cautioning mance to date, in the crowded and
success this season is not without McCann’s exceptional play this McCann’s torrid pace at the that “most scouts thing he’s a first talented ACC field, anything can
precedent. Still, his improvement season is one of many contributors plate has not only drawn atten- baseman long term”. happen. For McCann, the corner-
and performance thus far in 2019 to the Jacket’s success as a whole. tion for the impact it might have Still, if McCann can stick be- stone of Tech’s lineup, to help his
has captured the attention of not Coming off a resounding victory on Tech’s ACC standing, however hind the plate, it could make him team to the postseason means he
only Tech fans, but major league against No. 15 Auburn, Tech has — as a junior, McCann is eligible the latest in a long line of Tech must keep on keeping on.
teams as well.
McCann’s batting ability
stands out as the defining aspect
of his game. Currently boasting
a slashline of .346/.507/.779, he
has drastically improved from his
already impressive .300/.423/.600
line of last year. McCann leads
the team in total bases (81),
doubles (9), and home runs (12),
recording twice the amount of
home runs as the next highest
player on the team — in a potent
Tech offense, McCann’s offensive
prowess stands out. McCann also
leads Tech in runs batted in (37)
and games played/started (29).
Making big plays is important,
but dependably hitting the ball,
avoiding outs and earning runs
for the team is perhaps even more
important. McCann’s rare combi-
nation of consistency and power
makes him a top-tier batter and
an invaluable asset to the Jackets.
On the flip side, McCann’s
position as catcher means he has
a direct relationship with each
pitcher on the roster. Although
not directly apparent to specta-
tors during the game, his role Photo courtesy of Danny Karnik
as catcher is very important to Kyle McCann hits another home run against the University of Virginia to give Tech an early lead over the Wahoos. McCann
the team’s defensive success. The is tied for no. 5 nationally in home runs and leads the Jackets with 12 long balls after hitting 15 in a full season just a year ago.
// SPORTS
QB battle ongoing at spring practice
EMILY DYKSTRA
STAFF WRITER
After taking a quick glance at
any Tech football social media
account, it is evident that there is
fresh energy in the air. New tradi-
tions, different plays and unfamil-
iar voices mark the first few days
of spring practice as Coach Col-
lins carves out the path that he
sees fit for his team. In the wake
of Coach Johnson’s well-known
offensive and defensive formations
from which there was rarely devia-
tion, Collins is shaking things up
for the players as a the 2019-2020
season sparkles on the horizon.
The Jackets kicked off their
first practice on March 26 with
energy and high expectations
from their coach. In a video post-
ed on the Tech Athletics website
highlighting the beginning of the
spring season, Collins says, “I am
going to challenge you because
I expect every person in this or-
ganization to be elite.” The short
video contains the normal hype
and chill-inducing elements that
are expected of Tech media pro-
ductions, but the excitement that
the team shows is undeniable.
In a press conference posted
online, offensive coordinator
Dave Patenaude stated that the
team would remain “balanced” in
changing from Coach Johnson’s
triple-option offensive formation
to Collins’ new plans. He men-
tioned the idea of “playing to the
strengths of the quarterbacks and
the offensive line”, while capital-
izing on the fact that the Jackets
have very “athletic” quarterbacks
to utilize, such as redshirt junior
Lucas Johnson, redshirt sopho-
more Tobias Oliver and redshirt
freshman James Graham.
Patenaude believes that the
three scholarship quarterbacks ex-
pected to vie for the starting posi-
Tobias Oliver dekes out UVA defenders en route to a successful rush. Oliver stands to compete
for the 2019 staring quarterback job with teammates Lucas Johnson and James Graham.
tion are good at throwing the ball,
something that each of them have
been hindered from showcasing at
a high level under Coach Johnson.
On the second day of practice, the
coach said, “We look like a spread
team,” while attributing that fact
to the team’s dedication to learn-
ing new plays in the offseason.
Lucas Johnson, making a
comeback after a season on the
sidelines due to a leg injury sus-
tained during last year’s first pre-
season scrimmage, is the favorite
for the Jackets’ starting position
going into the fall, though Oliver
and Graham are expected to be in
the running for the position too.
Leading up to the season, the
coaching staff went through posi-
tions that had been understaffed
in previous years. This included
the movement of redshirt senior
Tyler Cooksey to the tight end po-
sition from special teams. Cook-
sey and others who have moved to
similar positions will see a higher
frequency of running action than
the players have seen in recent
years, a nod to the transition away
from the triple-option formation
that Coach Johnson favored. Pat-
enaude and Collins are also big on
“cross-training”, or creating versa-
tile players that can serve the team
offensively and defensively.
Tech will sorely miss Parker
Braun and Andrew Marshall,
valuable members of the offensive
line in previous seasons, and their
absence leaves a hole for senior of-
fensive linemen Jahaziel Lee, Brad
Morgan and Kenny Cooper. A
fourth versatile offensive lineman
that will add valuable experience
is Vanderbilt transfer Jared South-
Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications
ers. In addition to the seniors, the
depth of the underclassmen line-
men such as redshirt sophomore
Zach Quinney and redshirt fresh-
man Zakk McKeehan should be
sufficient in years to come.
On the other side of the ball,
Tech’s D-line is expected to be led
by junior defensive lineman An-
twan Owens and redshirt senior
defensive lineman Brentavious
Glanton - solid starters who com-
bined for 54 tackles last year.
Tech’s first spring game under
Collins is scheduled for April 26,
though Tech’s calendar is fairly
clear until the Jackets open up the
2019 regular season at on August
29. This game will be a Herculean
challenge, but will be a testament
to the work that the team and
Collins’ coaching staff continue
to put in leading up to August.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL
Showcase, Present, and Inspire
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH @ GT
gttower.org
technique • April 5, 2019• 19
COLLINS FROM PAGE 20
congregate to stream back into the
team’s auditorium.
Music is once again blaring
and a student assistant dances
energetically at the front of the
room. It is not yet 8 a.m., but two
sing-alongs have already broken
out this morning. This time, it is
Collins who calls the meeting to
order. He moves briskly through
a presentation, mixing footage of
the previous practice, housekeep-
ing items and inspirational quotes.
With the media present, Collins
emphasizes the importance of his
athletes developing good relation-
ships with journalists and men-
tions that he is in the process of
acquiring copies of Jeremy Dar-
low’s book ‘Athletes are Brands
Too’. A key element of Collins’
brand becomes clear midway
through the meeting when three
students holding “$ Down” signs
run to the center of the room and
shout, “Money down!” repeatedly
upon his request. A mainstay of
Collins-coached teams, enthusi-
astic aides who signal that it is a
defensive third down will make
appearances in practices and even-
tually real, live games.
After a few minutes, the meet-
ing ends and the players, already
donning their jerseys, begin walk-
ing towards the practice field.
Over the course of just a few
hours, I had sat in four meetings
led by three different coaches. It is
far too early to know how smooth
the adjustment will be from Paul
Johnson to Geoff Collins, par-
ticularly given that the team is
overhauling both its offensive and
defensive schemes in the process.
And kicking off the season against
defending national champion
Clemson means that unlike in
most recent seasons, the Jackets
will not walk to an easy victory
Week One. But if spring practice
is any indication, Collins and his
staff are well on their way to instill
a new, loud, energetic culture.
Sports
Collins gives reporters glimpse behind the scenes
HARSHA SRIDHAR
SPORTS EDITOR
It is a few minutes before 7
a.m. on a Tuesday morning, but
the Edge Center, home to Tech
football’s offices, is buzzing.
Seated in a conference room,
the thumping of loud hip-hop
music from a nearby room is au-
dible. Around the long table are
reporters. At one end, Tech brand
manager Santino “Morpheus”
Stancato is hard at work captur-
ing photos and video. On the
screen is the schedule for the day’s
practice, listing various drills and
workouts. The group of reporters
I am sitting with are reminded
that we cannot share it publicly
— although given the Byzantine
language in which it is written, it
seems hard to believe that anyone
outside of the Tech coaching staff
could understand it, let alone use
it to their advantage.
At the head of the table is new
head coach Geoff Collins. To his
right is a plastic foam cup of cof-
fee from Waffle House, a brand he
has promoted since his first day
on campus. To his left is a stuffed
possum, perhaps emblematic of
Tech football’s dormancy in re-
cent years, approaching a streak of
nearly four years without a single
AP Top 25 weekly ranking. In
Baseball keeps rolling against top competition
Tech celebrates taking the rubber game of their series against UVA. Tech lost a nailbiter to
the Wahoos on Friday, but rebounded to win the final two games of the series 7-3 and 6-5.
JOHN EDWARDS
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
A remix of Ray Charles’ “Hit
the Road Jack” pipes in over the
loudspeaker. Spilling over the
fence separating the wall and the
dugout, players lean over, bobbing
their heads along. The beat builds,
builds, builds and drops. The
players leap up, pumping fists in
SPORTS EDITOR:
Harsha Sridhar
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR:
John Edwards
sports@nique.net
front of him is a book whose title
aptly describes the urgency of his
job — Recruit or Die.
It is a few minutes after 7 a.m.
now, but Tech’s Media All-Ac-
cess Day has just begun. Collins
explains that a similar event he
hosted at Temple last season was
a success, so he decided to bring
it to Atlanta. The goal was to give
the journalists who cover the team
a chance to experience its inner
working, if only for a single day
nearly six months removed from
the start of the season. At the mo-
ment, it’s mission accomplished.
At 7:04, Collins’ introductory
meeting ends and the journalists
file into a large auditorium for an
offensive meeting. Collins noted
that day that he dislikes walking
into quiet rooms so directs his
staff to play loud music minutes
before meetings are schedule to
begin. That explains the thump-
ing. The offense launches into a
rowdy sing-along to Young Jeezy’s
“Put On”, and as it concludes, the
meeting begins. Leading the ses-
sion is offensive coordinator Dave
Patenaude, who followed Collins
from Temple. Patenaude’s loud,
distinctly Northeastern voice and
aggressive pacing across the floor
make him a magnetic force.
After discussing important
game situations and speculating
on what defensive coordinator
time. Starter Xzavion Curry takes
it a step further, jumping the fence
and boogie-ing down on the field
to the tunes, as Tech baseball cele-
brates knocking yet another start-
ing pitcher out of the game. It’s a
good time to be a Jacket.
Indeed, Tech has had much to
celebrate these past few weeks. In
what appeared to be their rough-
est stretch of schedule, with a road
series against No. 14 Louisville
A three way positional battle at
quarterback, departures and
additions to the offensive line419
Geoff Collins meets with journalists at Tech’s first-ever Media All-Access day. Collins hosted
the event to give local football reporters insight into how the team works behind the scenes.
Nate Thacker might have pre-
pared for the day’s practice, Pat-
enaude breaks the offense into
their position groups and sends
them to various meeting rooms.
Like most of the writers, I fol-
low the quarterbacks, eager to see
early signs of their transition from
Photo courtesy Danny Karnik
and back-to-back midweek games
against No. 11 Georgia and No.
17 Auburn, Tech has instead so-
lidified their tournament resume,
going 4-1 in those games. Embar-
rassing Georgia 11-2 in a rain-
shortened affair after going win-
less against the Bulldogs for two
years couldn’t hurt morale either.
After dropping their ACC-
opening road series against Mi-
ami 1-2, Tech has not lost an
Spring storylines
a triple-option offense to a more
conventional attack. It is a me-
ticulous, academic affair. Paten-
aude diagrams plays on the board
and emphasizes the importance
of communication, occasionally
asking the quarterbacks questions
to test their understanding of the
ACC series, winning a close three
game set at home against Virginia,
coming within one out of sweep-
ing Louisville on the road — just
missing out on being the first
team to sweep the Cardinals in a
three game road-series since 2005
— and handling the Notre Dame
Fighting Irish this past weekend.
Tech is still in search of its first
conference sweep — hence its
relatively weak conference record
of 7-5 — but Tech has still looked
like every bit the ACC power-
house preseason evaluators pre-
dicted it to be. Tech might have
just easily been 9-3 if the Jackets
had avoided some late-game bull-
pen breakdowns, but there’s no
changing the past — and Tech is
charging forward at full steam.
Surprisingly, Tech has not
been buoyed over their most re-
cent stretch by Kyle McCann,
who has cooled off after opening
the season as the East Coast’s best
hitter — rather, Tech’s superb
starting pitching has carried them
through this stretch. Curry thor-
oughly dismantled the Cardinals’
offense in Tech’s first game of the
series, limiting Louisville to just
one hit and one earned run on
eight innings of work. Not to be
outdone, stellar southpaw Connor
Thomas hurled a complete game
shutout in the following game.
The Jackets held Louisville, aver-
aging 6.2 runs per game, to just
five runs total over the series.
Indeed, Tech’s starting pitch-
ers are turning heads everywhere.
After being named D1Baseball.
com’s best draft eligible pitcher
entering the season, Thomas was
technique
20
Friday,
April 5, 2019
Photo courtesy of GT Football on Twitter
playbook. Lucas Johnson, consid-
ered by some to be the odds-on
favorite to start next season, re-
sponds with a few questions of his
own. Soon, it is time for the first
full-team meeting of the day, and
players, staff and journalists alike
See COLLINS, page 19
named ACC pitcher of the week
following his performance against
Louisville, and Sunday starter
Brant Huerter was highlighted
by FanGraphs.com as a pitcher
whose draft stock is steadily ris-
ing. While McCann has been the
obvious attraction for the Jackets,
Thomas and Curry — both draft
eligible this year — might yet find
some attention from MLB teams
on draft day, as may other Tech
juniors. Indeed, at last week’s
midweek game against UGA, nu-
merous MLB scouts were in atten-
dance despite the rainy weather.
Tech’s position players have
also contributed through this
stretch as well — OF Baron Rad-
cliffe, who struggled last year to
the tune of a .180/.229/.348 line,
has been heating up, hitting three
home runs during Tech’s gauntlet
against top-25 teams, and DH
Michael Guldberg is hitting at an
incredible .467 clip for Tech.
Tech’s journey to the postsea-
son still has a way to go — after
all, Tech still has road and neu-
tral-site games against Georgia
on the docket, and an entire half
of ACC baseball play to go. Still
on the docket? ACC powerhouses
like UNC and Clemson.
Still, Tech can look on their
most difficult stretch of baseball
in the rearview mirror and know
that they rose to the challenge
and excelled. With top-25 wins
notched in their belt, Tech can
step up to the plate each game
with a bit more swagger — they’ve
been through the gauntlet already.
Opposing teams, take your best
shot — at your own risk.