Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College 2017-2018 Student Newspapers 2-20-2018 College Voice Vol. XLI No. 8 Connecticut College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/ccnews_2017_2018 Recommended Citation Connecticut College, "College Voice Vol. XLI No. 8" (2018). 2017-2018. 7. https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/ccnews_2017_2018/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Newspapers at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in 2017-2018 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018 VOLUME XLI • ISSUE 8 THE COLLEGE VOICE CONNECTICUT COLLEGE’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1977 Students Rally Title IX Coordinator Behind Dr. Baldwin Debate Continues HANNAH JOHNSTON DANA GALLAGHER NEWS EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR The Connecticut College Gender and Within a week of the announcement of Women’s Studies department is in a time Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion of transition. Last year, a long, national and acting Title IX coordinator B. Afeni search yielded the hiring of a depart- McNeely Cobham’s departure, students ment chair, Professor Danielle Egan, gathered in Cro to discuss the shortcom- who officially began at the beginning of ings in Conn’s approach to upholding Ti- this semester (Spring 2018). At a recent tle IX requirements. Although the 2015 intra-departmental GWS meeting, con- “Dear College Letter” released by the U.S. sisting of Egan and fellow tenure-track Department of Education states: “Des- professor in the department Ariella Ro- ignating a full-time Title IX coordinator tramel, and the majoring and minoring will minimize the risk of a conflict of in- students, the future of the GWS depart- terest and in many cases ensure sufficient ment was discussed. Part of the meeting’s North and South Korean atheletes waving the unified Korean flag. Photo courtesy of Matthias Hangst/Getty Images. time is available to perform all the role’s purpose was to announce the changing responsibilities,” Conn does not currently of the department name (from Gender 2018 Olympics: A Chance for Peace embrace this protocol. Since Spring 2018, and Women’s Studies to Gender, Sexuali- gerian women’s bobsled team; Title IX coordination has fallen under the JADE HUI ty, and Intersectionality Studies). Visiting and the promise of American Associate Dean of Instituional Equity and CONTRIBUTOR Professor Andrea Baldwin, who started gold-medal favorites Nathan Inclusion’s jurisdiction, and previously, at Conn in the 2015-16 academic year, The world came together in Chen (ice skating) and Chloe the Dean of Institutional Equity and In- was not invited to this meeting. After anticipation of the 23rd Win- Kim (snowboarding). Howev- clusion had assumed the responsibilities several students, including Joseph Cas- ter Olympics currently taking er, the games’ location in South of Title IX coordinator. tro ’19 and Zaiden Sowle ’21, inquired as place in Pyeongchang, South Korea has dominated 2018 At the Feb. 14 meeting, concerned stu- to why Baldwin was not at the meeting, Korea. In Olympic Games of Olympic conversations, as the dents noted the distinction between des- Egan disclosed to them that Baldwin had the past, fans have expressed location in Pyeongchang has ignating Title IX as a responsibility under decided not to return for the 2018-2019 excitement regarding specific stirred apprehension regard- a full-time position, like Dean or Asso- academic year. events, favorite athletes, and ing the country’s relationship ciate Dean of Institutional Equity and Castro and Sowle reached out to Bald- even the designs and fashions with its neighbor North Korea, Inclusion, and making Title IX coordina- win after the meeting and found out presented in the opening cer- as well as the role the United tion itself a full-time job. The Associate that she had been offered an extended emony. News headlines to do States will play in their geopo- Dean position holds additional responsi- visiting contract for the next year and with this year’s Winter Olym- litical standoff. bilities, which some students say prevent an offer to be included in the national pics include the participation South Korea and the IOC Ex- the office from providing full-time atten- search for a new tenure-track position of Russian athletes competing ecutive Board extended an invita- tion for Title IX complaints. The meet- being created in GWS. The search to fill under the Olympic rather than tion to North Korea to participate ing—organized by Hannah Johnston ’18, the tenure-track position was to occur in the Russian flag as a result of Michelle Lee ’18, and Emma Race ’18— represented an initial step in a process to CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 a doping scandal; the first Ni- CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 IN THIS ISSUE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018 CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 NEWS OPINIONS ARTS ARTS Grace Amato previews Price Day takes a campus Summer Wrobel reviews Brooke Sponzo reflects on the upcoming Sustainable tour and considers local Hygienic Gallery’s Wig & Candle’s most recent Agriculture Symposium on admissions marketing open mic night on page 13. production on page 16. page 4. strategies on page 6. THE COLLEGE VOICE 2 • EDitOR’S DesK FEBRUARY 20, 2018 Covering Title IX THE COLLEGE VOICE We’re shaking up our structure a little with our Title IX coverage. I think it’s an essential issue (oth- The views and opinions expressed in The College Voice are strictly those of stu- erwise I wouldn’t have put it on two consecutive front pages), so we need to make sure it’s getting fair, dent authors, and not of Connecticut College. All content and editorial decisions remain in the hands of the students; neither the College’s administration nor its thorough coverage. That’s why this week’s Title IX story—managing editor Dana’s report on a group faculty exercise control over the content. of student organizers demanding a full-time coordinator—despite being newsy, appears in Opinions. The story would normally fall under News, but Hannah Johnston, one of our News editors, is among the organizers taking this initiative into her hands. That’s fine with me. As I’ve stated in these Maia Hibbett ’18 pages before, I don’t believe in the concept of objectivity, the view from nowhere, etc.—I think that journalists should be able to reveal their beliefs if they so choose, and I think that “objectivity” is too Editor in Chief often cited in attempts to squash deviation from the norm. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in straight reporting: sometimes, the best approach really is to present all the sides available, in a bal- Dana Gallagher ’19 anced manner, without imbuing the story with the reporter’s opinion. Essential to this process, and to all reporting, is the disallowal of subjects from reviewing the stories in which they are featured, Managing Editor because people tend to want to tailor how they come across. That’s why Dana’s story, as well as any coverage of this particular group of Title IX activists going forward, falls in Ops. It’s not that I don’t trust Hannah not to editorialize the piece; but it would be neither fair nor transparent if we gave her the chance. EDITORIAL BOARD This all relates, too, to the letter from Dean McKnight included below. Clearly he wasn’t pleased by last issue’s cover story, for reasons related to individual perception as well as factual accuracy. For Price Day ’19 the factual corrections, I thank Dean McKnight: as editor in chief, I should’ve caught the mistakes about McNeely Cobham’s responsibilities and Pierce’s position. I thought they were well-sourced, but Hannah Johnston ’18 I should have verified. The point about distributing responsibility versus offering more options, I have News Editors a harder time accepting: it seems like regardless of the officially-stated rationale, the effect falls in line with the reasoning presented in the letter as well as the article: the work is divided, and that division Lauren Baretta ’18 does provide more options. Factual errors and differences in opinion alike remind me that running this paper—like running Jennifer Skoglund ’18 an educational institution—is a learning process, and we’re constantly improving. If you want proof, Opinions Editors turn back to the front page and check out Dana’s story. That one is airtight. Sophia Angele-Kuehn ’20 -Maia James Murray ’18 Arts Editors Letter Max Amar-Olkus ’19 Creative Director To the Editor, I am writing to clarify information and correct inaccuracies in the article about Title IX in the Feb. 5 issue of The College Voice. I had been acting as the interim Title IX Coordinator after the departure of the College’s former Title IX Coordinator, whose position was part-time. As I managed the transi- MANAGING STAFF tion and planned for the future of this critical position, I determined that the College should combine Title IX oversight with oversight for other forms of bias, harassment, and discrimination. Title IX, Emir Kulluk ’21 remember, is fundamentally about harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex and gender, so this trend to combine these areas is becoming more commonplace in higher education. Business Manager With this decision, I appointed Associate Dean McNeely Cobham as Title IX Coordinator, moving oversight of the operations of Unity House, the Womxn’s Center and the LGBTQIA Center out of Hallie Carmen ’18 her area of responsibility, adding in campus-wide education, training and response to all forms of harassment and discrimination, and making the position full-time.