Author: Vivian Roach

By Vivian Roach | Staff Writer The Baylor Wells Project is returning to campus this year, asking students to give up all drinks except water for 10 days and donate to provide clean water to communities in Rwanda. The 10 day pledge is from Nov. 9-18. Students are asked to calculate how much money they would spend on coffee, soda or other drinks during the fundraiser and donate that money to Living Water International.Houston freshman Luke Lackey is the president of the Baylor Wells Project this year. He said the 10 days will also allow students time to reflect on…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterIncumbent candidates and partisan gerrymandering lead to uncontested races in elections.An uncontested race is when one party’s candidate, often an incumbent or a district’s popular party candidate, goes unopposed in a general election.Dr. Rebecca Flavin, political science professor, said the most common factor for why this might occur at the local level is because the district is not competitive, meaning it weighs heavily to one side or the other, either naturally or by partisan gerrymandering.“And so with partisan gerrymandering, when district lines are drawn, or it naturally occurs that there is a district that leans…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterAs the pandemic takes its toll on campus visits, Baylor has turned to current students to act as ambassadors to recruit a new generation of Bears.Jen McCrady, senior director of enrollment marketing in admissions, said the department had to pivot quickly when they canceled all campus events and tours because they were still recruiting for the fall 2020 freshman class.“We created kind of a virtual event called Why Baylor,” McCrady said. “The whole Baylor community – whether it was faculty members, academic faculty, student life, students, all kinds of people across campus – created more…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterPaid partnerships with social media influencers help businesses capture a broader audience. Baylor entered in a partnership with YouTubers Brooklyn and Bailey three years ago, hoping to capture their young audience as the next generation of college students.Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jason Cook said it isn’t uncommon for student workers to be ambassadors for the school. Students normally will work as tour guides or post pictures of campus on their social media accounts.But the school’s relationship with Brooklyn and Bailey is different because of the size of their audience — 5.7 million followers…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff Writer COVID-19 is at the forefront of the election again after President Donald Trump tested positive for coronavirus last week, a hot topic of the vice-presidential debate Wednesday night. Vice presidential candidates Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence met in Salt Lake City for the debate. Quite literally putting the pandemic on the forefront, plexiglass shields were installed on the debate stage between the two candidates to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.The debate opened on the topic of the coronavirus, questioning both candidates about their plans. The topic was later framed in the…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterA performance submission promoting Black Lives Matter by the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity was denied approval for this year’s Family Weekend After Dark show.The Phi Beta Sigmas submitted their After Dark step routine video geared toward the Black Lives Matter movement for approval to Student Activities the week before the all-university variety show, which was held on Sept. 25. Upon reviewing the submission the Tuesday before the event, Student Activities employees told the group their performance was deemed inappropriate for the intended audience of After Dark. Aurora, Colo., junior Sam Onilenla is the Phi Beta…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff Writer In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, an “infodemic” has also emerged. An abundance of public health information has been circulating around social media platforms — Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to name a few. In the beginning of the quarantine last spring, lots of information surrounding mandates and information about the virus were published every day. This also meant lots of misinformation, or “fake news” about the virus had gone unedited or fact checked before submission. In March, Facebook Newsroom tweeted a “Joint Industry Statement from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, reddit, Twitter and…

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Vivian Roach | Staff WriterBaylor professors hope to see rollout of their COVID-19 vaccine — produced by Biological E — by the late summer or early fall of next year.Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Associate Dean Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi have been working together for the last 20 years. They are the only professors at Baylor College of Medicine that are actually professors at Baylor University, as well. The School of Tropical Medicine and their Center for Vaccine Development is within the Texas Medical Center, affiliated with Baylor…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterA civil lawsuit filed against former and current Baylor football players — Deonte Williams, Bravvion Roy and Ta Jonce Franklin — has been resolved on all accounts of those involved.On Aug. 20, the athletes were sued by apartment owner, 66th State District Judge Lee Harris of Hill County, for not resolving an outstanding balance of $4,477.24 for cleaning and damages made to their past residence at The Edge apartments. Repaired damages and additional cleaning to the premises from conditions inspected at the end of the lease were totaled to $5,337.24 by the plaintiff. After subtracting…

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By Vivian Roach | Staff WriterStudents gathered on campus to protest the the Black Lives Matter movement and the recent grand jury indictment in the murder of Breonna Taylor. Macon, Ga., freshman Rebecca Terrill organized the protest Thursday morning with a few friends in response to the Kentucky grand jury’s recent decision to not charge the officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s death with murder. Instead, one was indicted on three counts of Wanton Endangerment.“It started off with just the three of us. Then everyone else who came just walked up, and we asked them if they wanted to join,” Terill…

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