CW Thursday | Masking up, basketball falls, Team USA

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Vol. CXXVIII, Issue XLIII

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Hi. Here's the news.

Montana Fouts and Haylie McCleney were selected for Team USA. Courtesy of rolltide.com

Masks are back (again). The University reinstated its campus mask mandate for the spring semester due to COVID cases rising again with the Omicron variant spreading fast.

Farewell to Google. In May, all UA students and alumni will lose access to their GSuite accounts. The University recommends using OneDrive instead.

Convocation time. The UA National Pan-Hellenic Council is holding its spring convocation for any students interested in joining an NPHC fraternity or sorority this year. Read more details about the event here.

The Iron Bowl of basketball. The men’s basketball team took a narrow loss against Auburn on Tuesday night. They will have a chance to bounce back against Mississippi State on Saturday.

From Tuscaloosa to Team USA. Alabama softball’s Montana Fouts and alumna Haylie McCleney were chosen for the 2022 USA Softball Women’s National Team. The team will compete in the World Games in Hoover, Alabama, in July.

Woods Quad. Since being dedicated in August 2014, the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden has welcomed artwork from students and alumni across the University. Meet the newest addition, “Flourish.”

Jinxed. Three UA student producers put their heads together to create a small town sitcom. With a comedic storyline of mistakes and redemption, “Jinxed” will hopefully reach the public eye within the next few months.

CW / Wesley Picard

Here are the off-campus goings-on:

A lawsuit has been filed against 16 prestigious U.S. universities on the grounds that these institutions conspired to inflate their costs of attendance and overcharge students.
An Alabama woman is suing Walmart for not providing uniform pants in both men’s and women’s sizes. She alleges Walmart is discriminating on the basis of gender by not supplying and cleaning women’s clothing free of charge.
An American Airlines passenger in Honduras was apprehended after entering the cockpit and causing damages to the aircraft. Airlines across the board have seen an increase in passenger incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the Newsroom
notes from inside the video calls and group chats of The Crimson White

Sports Editor Ashlee Woods, Assistant Photo Editor David Gray, and Sports Reporter Austin Hannon had a busy week travelling to Indianapolis for the national championship game. Here's what Woods had to say about the trip:

"Getting to go to Indianapolis for the national championship is something I'm truly grateful for. Even though it wasn't the result I wanted, I got to cover a really good game. It's something I'll never forget."

Hot Takes

A new semester brings a new COVID variant to worry about. Alex Jobin says restoring the mask mandate on campus was the right decision, but UA students can do more to protect each other during a vulnerable time.

“Although a substantial amount of time has passed since the virus’s original prominence, case numbers are higher than ever and they show no signs of slowing down.
This is particularly important at the beginning of the new semester, as tens of thousands of students from across the country (and the globe for that matter) travel back to the Capstone within mere days of each other. This only heightens the potential for a surge of new COVID-19 cases on campus if we do not work together to curb the virus.”

Hot Dates

Celebrate the beginning of the semester with University Programs on Friday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. in the UA Student Center. Here We GLOW Again! will have a glow in the dark mini golf course, yard games and free food as always.

School just started, but a three-day weekend is coming up with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 17. The CW newsletter will return to your inbox after the holiday. To learn more, attend the Intercultural Diversity Center’s presentation on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at noon.

Nominations for the Blackburn Institute close on Wednesday, Jan. 19. Learn more about this campus organization and access the nomination form here.