University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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i Ik 4 1 1 fck-. NOW IT’S A TRENDING TOPIC. NOW ANYONE CAN PLAY. ♦

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A CAMPUS BY STORM STORY | JULIA TRUPP PHOTO I CAYDEN HARTMAN ILLUSTRATION I KAREN HESSING DESIGN | MADISON LANDRY Campus was quiet from the summer lull, but halfway through, Fayetteville wasn’t a ghost town anymore. It became a Gastly town, and students were ready to catch them all. Pokemon Go, a free, location-based game for iOS and Android phones hit the scene in July 2016 and quickly became a trending topic around the world. In the game, players set up virtual characters, or avatars, to play as Pokemon trainers. A map is set up with various Pokestops around the area. Players are in through the device’s GPS, and certain Pokemon are connected to those locations. By flicking a finger across the phone screen, players use a limited supply of Pokeballs to catch the nearest Pokemon, so it’s all very interactive - and at times, obsessive; players can get so focused on catching the virtual Pokemon in the real world shown through the camera on their phones they fail to pay attention to their surroundings. In Fayetteville, players can catch many Pokemon that range from Psyducks to Rattatas, and more than 86 Pokestops were made available on campus to help students try to, as Pokemon trainers attempt in the game, catch them all. But the location-based game makes this feature physically impossible, as one student said, because some Pokemon are only available in certain countries, so unless players want to buy plane tickets and travel around the world, realistically they will only be able to catch a fraction of the 151 total virtual creatures. UA senior Hansen Chao said there is a huge difference playing in the city versus playing in rural areas, which, to the game’s creator, Niantic, is what Fayetteville is considered. “I’m still surprised there are people sitting on Arkansas Avenue catching Pokemon,” Chao said. “It’s like, what are you still catching? But if you’re living in New York, you’re catching different things all the time.” Even local restaurants and businesses have caught the Pokemon Go bug. JJ’s Grill on Dickson Street created drink specials to go with the game. Some businesses like Red Kite Coffee and the Northwest Arkansas Mall, and even Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art were filled with some. As a trending movement in Fayetteville, it wasn’t surprising that most of the players around town were college students and young parents - the entire game stemmed from the t ime of their childhoods. “I fully believe that the reason I wear glasses is because I’d play Pokemon at night under the covers, hiding from my mom,” Chao said. “I’m sure that little screen in the darkness did not help my eyesight.” Whether the game sticks around for a while was to be determined, but one thing is for sure: these little pocket monsters have found their way back into the lives of their players. “Honestly, it’s just the appeal of Pokemon for the most part,” Chao said. “Pokemon has such a huge grasp on so many people’s childhoods. Just having that property and the new format was really exciting. You don’t even need a perfect aim or a perfectly working game to make it blow up like this. Now it’s a trending topic. Now anyone can play.” 16 FALL

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US Investigators Scrutinize Title IX Cases Editor’s Note In the summer and autumn months of 2016, the University of Arkansas came under national scrutiny for the handling of Title IX sexual assault cases. The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights began investigating the university’s handling of three 2015 complaints in April 2016, but the controversy surrounding the Title IX policy and the progressing federal investigation continued throughout the year. The following story first appeared in The Arkansas Traveler student newspaper May 4, 2016. Victims of sexual assault are not named per Traveler policy. This story was a Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 Honorable Mention for Breaking News 2016. STORY I SHELBY EVANS, GINNY MONK. ALEX GLADDEN WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM UATV The UofA was one of 181 higher education institutions being investigated for allegedly mishandling Title IX sexual violence cases. The U.S. Education Department Office for Civil Rights began the investigation to determine the validity of students’ claims that the UofA did not handle Title IX complaints of sexual violence quickly and efficiently enough and failed to keep students away from sexually hostile environments, according to a letter from the department to Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz on April 21. The Office for Civil Rights received three complaints addressing the UA response to the reports, which were filed in 2014, on June 15, 2015 and Aug. 3, 2015, according to the letter. These three complaints resulted in the investigation of two issues, Mark Rushing, the assistant vice chancellor of university relations, said in an email. Danielle Wood, the director for the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance, declined to answer questions surrounding the investigations and said the Traveler should file open records requests and review the student life handbook. Wood also said she did not want her interview with the Traveler recorded. Wood said that the Traveler should reach out to Rachel Eikenberry, the director for the Office of Student Standards and Conduct. Eikenberry directed questions to Rushing. “The OCR has advised the university that is it seeking information as to whether the university adequately responded to three Title IX-related matters,” Rushing said. “We are fully cooperating with OCR in its investigation.” Title IX is a federal law that states that no person, on the basis of sex, will be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance, according to the DOE website. Investigations undertaken by the OCR may examine whether schools respond promptly and effectively to reports of sexual violence. They also can look at whether a school violates sexual discrimination laws by creating a hostile environment that limits or denies students the ability to participate in educational programs, according to the letter. One student filed a complaint with OCR and was told that the issues brought up in her report would be sufficiently covered by investigations. “The department told me that my issues would be addressed in the other complaints,” law student Samantha Baker said. Baker filed the report because she noticed trends in the way the UofA deals with Title IX cases. One of the complaints being investigated involves a reported sexual violence case that was first filed with the UA Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance by a sophomore student. 18 FALL