The Bates Student the VOICE of BATES COLLEGE SINCE 1873
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Bates College SCARAB The aB tes Student Archives and Special Collections 3-29-2017 The aB tes Student - volume 147 number 17 - March 29, 2017 Bates College Follow this and additional works at: https://scarab.bates.edu/bates_student Recommended Citation Bates College, "The aB tes Student - volume 147 number 17 - March 29, 2017" (2017). This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Special Collections at SCARAB. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aB tes Student by an authorized administrator of SCARAB. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Bates Student THE VOICE OF BATES COLLEGE SINCE 1873 WEDNESDAY March 29, 2017 Vol. 147, Issue. 17 Lewiston, Maine FORUM ARTS & LEISURE SPORTS Will Murray ‘20 takes Halley Posner ’18 reveals how Bates’ baseball a stand on academic theater and neuroscience team was back in requirements at Bates. intersect in On Emotion. action with two victories last weekend. See Page 2 See Page 5 See Page 8 Pushing for more Picking your conversation on new room degendering restrooms Assistant Dean for Residence Life and Health Education Molly Newton talks about upcoming The Bates Student interviews Cash Huynh ‘18 and Maddy changes to the housing process. Smith ‘20. plans to make signifcant changes to MARIAM HAYRAPETYAN housing options or processes. ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR MH: What is the process of se- Amidst the excitement of Gala lecting an of-campus house? and the approaching fnals week, MN: Our process for of cam- students were asked to pick their res- pus housing remains the same. idence for the upcoming academic Groups are approved to live of year. To learn more about the hous- campus via the Of Campus Lottery. ing selection process, Te Student Rising seniors are eligible to apply interviewed Molly Newton who is for 125 of-campus spaces, which the Assistant Dean for Residence are flled based on randomization. Life and Health Education. Because we do not break up groups, the actual number of students living Mariam Hayrapetyan: Why of campus is usually a few above did Bates switch to HouseCat? 125. Currently, there are no plans Molly Newton: Bates has been to reduce the number of students considering a switch to an online living of campus below 125. It is housing system for a number of important to know that students do years. Online systems like House- need to apply for of-campus hous- Cat allow us to make the housing ing, and that in some years not every selection process more fexible and group receives a position of-campus less stressful for students. For the via the lottery. past several years we received feed- back from students identifying that MH: Will Bates continue using participation in the in-person hous- HouseCat the next year? ing lottery provoked anxiety and MN: Yes! We will continue to was not fexible enough for students use and fne-tune HouseCat next who were away from campus, study- year. Every time we use HouseCat, ing abroad, or taking a leave. we learn more about how we can Using this feedback, we worked adapt it to better-ft student needs. with our student steering commit- So far, we have made adaptations tee to build both HouseCat ap- based on feedback from Winter plications and the online selection Placement (for students returning process. During the fall semester, we from abroad) and the Of Campus ofered open meetings and opportu- Lottery. After the recent housing se- nities for students to test the system lection processes, we have more ad- and ofer feedback. Tis feedback aptations in the works. For example, was a very important part of devel- this year students were not able to oping HouseCat as students expe- form groups of two after housing Students push for gender neutral bathrooms in order to spark conversation on campus. rienced it during room selection, selection was in progress. We heard MADDY SMITH/THE BATES STUDENT and is directly responsible for op- from students that this was an op- tions such as roommate groups and tion that they would like to have, CHRISTINA PERRONE housing profles. We will continue so we are working on adapting the STAFF WRITER to work with returning members of process for next year. this group and others on campus to Unlike the old in-person lottery, make improvements to the House- HouseCat gives us the fexibility to On Sunday March 26, I sat Cat system. make these types of changes. Our down with Cash Huynh ‘18 and staf in the tech support room dur- Maddy Smith ‘20 to talk about their MH: What are the changes to ing the lottery worked with many latest action on campus. Huynh, a housing for next year? students during this year’s housing Women and Gender Studies and MN: Housing changes every selection. Te feedback they received AVC double major, is primarily re- year in response to all sorts of difer- in the moment was overwhelmingly sponsible for mobilizing this action ent factors. Renovations, use chang- positive! Our goal is to continue to and pushing for more conversations es, and other factors can all impact use all feedback we receive to con- on degendering restrooms on cam- the way we use buildings. Acknowl- tinue to fne tune the housing selec- pus. Smith is intending to be an edging that it is difcult to predict tion process to minimize stress and Environmental Science major and with certainty what small changes anxiety while maintaining a fair assisted Cash in this action by doing may impact availability of specifc system for selecting housing for the photography and taking on general buildings, there are currently no next year. coordination. Two weeks ago, on Sunday March 12, Huynh and Smith, along with a group of ten students, dedi- cated their time to post signs that said “Toilet: Tis Bathroom is for Individuals of Any Gender” over gender designation signs in every bathroom in every academic build- ing. In the stalls, they also posted fyers that included what the action is about as well as contact informa- tion. When asked what inspired them to start this action on campus, Huynh replied, “Initially what really READ.THINK.SHARE pushed me to put together this ac- MADDY SMITH/THE BATES STUDENT tion was because as somebody who doesn’t identify as either woman or of late. It was included in a number gender or non-binary students to male, there are no facilities on cam- of amendments signed into law in use the bathrooms and locker rooms pus that really allow me to express 1972, by President Ronald Reagan, that correspond with their gender my gender in a way that makes me called the Education Amendments identity. In places such as North feel comfortable. So I had to social- of 1972. Title IX was intended to Carolina, Texas, New Hampshire ONLINE. ize myself as either a man or a wom- prohibit any form of sexual discrim- and Colorado, state legislatures have an to really accommodate the com- ination in educational facilities that considered requiring transgender fort of the school. And what really receive federal funding. Te Obama and non-binary students to use fa- solidifed my push for this was after Administration extended Title IX in cilities corresponding to the sex on the Trump administration revoked order to prohibit any form of dis- their birth certifcates. some of the guaranteed protections crimination based on gender iden- Te Trump Administration’s under Title IX for transgendered tity in educational programs and new set of guidelines is dangerous youth, and trying to see if there was sports. In 2017, the US Secretary for a number of reasons. For one, any way for us to juxtapose what is of Education, Betsy DeVos, and the the LGBTQ community has proven happening on campus to what’s hap- Trump administration issued a new pening nationally, to show our soli- set of guidelines that rescind these VISIT US AT darity and support for trans youth Obama-era protections. In efect, See DEGENDERING through the nation.” they leave it up to the states to de- RESTROOMS, PAGE 4 WWW.THEBATESSTUDENT.COM Te Title IX amendment has cide whether or not to allow trans- been a source of national debate as Forum 2 The Bates Student March 29, 2017 Beastly Narrative A take on Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast as social messages, but aspects of the ships. No one should stay in a relationship with an MARY SCHWALBE story are inherently fawed and these erratic, violent partner because they feel obligated or MANAGING FORUM EDITOR couldn’t be remedied unless Disney even believe it’s possible to ‘fx’ them. Women face do- completely changed the whole prem- mestic abuse at far higher rates than men, and this mes- On March 17, the new ise of the movie. sage of ‘taming the beast’ isn’t a positive one to be send- Disney remake of the classic, My main issue with the ing young women. In the 2017 flm, the Beast never “Beauty and the Beast,” starring storyline is the tired directly physically harms Belle, but he does yell at her Emma Watson was released in the- and potentially dan- and threaten her. After the two have a conversation in aters. For those of you unfamiliar gerous narrative which they get to know each other, the Beast softens with the story (there can’t be that of a girl ‘fxing’ and never yells at her or threatens her again. Te origin many of you), “Beauty and the a man. ‘Beauty of the Beast’s anger is also explained when the other Beast” is the story of an intelli- tames the Beast’ residents of the castle tell Belle it stems from the loss of gent, beautiful (hence the charac- has become a his mother, an abusive father, and lack of support from ter’s name “Belle”) young woman tired trope in those around him.