The Student Newspaper of Lawrence University Since 1884 THELAWRENTIAN VOL. CXXXV NO. 9 APPLETON, WISCONSIN JAN. 12, 2018 Clubs advertise and inform at Winter Activities Fair Dannielle Konz Staff Writer _____________________________________ The annual Winter Activities Fair was held from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2018 in the Somerset Room in Warch Campus Center. The Activities Fair was open to all Lawrence students and all student organizations and offered new and returning stu- dents the opportunity to explore all the winter organizations that are being offered. Around 55 student organiza- tions were present, offering infor- mation to interested students about their clubs and events. The groups present ranged from winter athletics such as Ultimate Frisbee, Lawrence Crew (rowing club) and Hockey to academic clubs such as the Society of Physics Students and the LU Geological Society. Everything offered in between was represented as well, from sororities and fraternities to cultural clubs and interest groups. A full list of on-campus stu- dent organizations, including ones not present at the Winter Activities Fair, can be found on the Lawrence website under Student Life > Campus Life- Activities > Directory of Student Sophomores Alex Dahl, Allegra Taylor and Claire Zimmerman promote their club at the Winter Activities Fair. Organizations. Information, meet- Photo by Sara Nocton ing times, places and contacts for each group are listed there. Winter Renovations In Sage Hall HDI holds empathy Zoe Adler Staff Writer _____________________________________ training session Over winter break, Lawrence that feature gendered pronouns undertook renovations in both the Celeste Hall and classic literature classes with Conservatory of Music and Sage Staff Writer _____________________________________ homogeneous writers on the syl- Hall. labus. Half of the practice rooms in Advocating for better “lis- The organization was the the Conservatory now boast new tening skills” on campus, the idea of several students, including sound-blocking panels. The plan Humanities Diversity Initiative fifth-year Deepankar Tripurana, is to replace the rest this summer. (HDI) held its first meeting of the who saw the reality of these kinds Sage Hall saw the bulk of the term in Sabin House on Monday. of issues at Lawrence. Tripurana construction this break. The most Students were invited to attend and others noticed that when peo- noticeable change to non-Sage and engage in an empathy train- ple feel underrepresented in their residents was the replacement ing session to better coexist classes, it can create frustration of stairs with a flat wheelchair- among their peers and professors and alienation on campus, lead- accessible entrance. Sage Hall is one of the renovated areas, with a new kitchen on the first floor and new on campus. lofts planned for the basement. ing to potential crises between Sage and Kohler Residence According to co-chairs soph- Photo by Emma Gilshannon students and faculty. They saw Hall Director Spencer Morgan, omores Miriam Thew Forrester spaces in the basement were don’t really have a reason to do an opportunity to create a safe explained that in addition to the and Emily Beale, it’s all part of a removed, the school also spent things with the larger hall com- space for both students and staff front porch, the entire basement plan to improve relations between December renovating the commu- munity,” Morgan explained. to bring issues to light, resolv- is in the process of being con- Lawrence students and faculty, nal areas on the first floor. However, he said that this is ing conflicts before they arise verted into a loft. and to increase diversity and “Our new kitchen is much just part of replacing traditional and fostering connections in the Morgan said that as a school inclusion at the university. nicer than the one that used housing with loft living. Lawrence community. “we’ve been moving more towards In an increasingly polarized to exist,” Morgan said. “They Other than that change, With this in mind, they the loft style spaces… [The school] society, students and staff at uni- replaced the carpet, painted the Morgan added, “I think most stu- formed HDI. The organization designated the basement of Sage versities all across the country walls, upgraded the elevator, dents won’t really have reason to holds weekly meetings for stu- to be a spot that would be ideal often find themselves at odds. The painted the inside of the lounge know it’s there. It’s kind of tucked dents on Thursdays, and bi-week- for a loft. They took the computer identities of minority students— and now we’re working with a away down in the basement. ly meetings for faculty members. room, lounge room, TV room and whether it be based on national- designer on campus to get new Unless you use that back stairwell, The two groups have separate kitchen down there, and they’re ity, race, sexuality or gender—are artwork for the spaces.” you won’t really go down there.” sessions. This allows discussions building a five-double bedroom marginalized, or underrepresent- While these changes are a Lawrence student groups to be confidential and as com- loft down there.” ed by curriculum in many depart- good step forward, there will be that are interested in applying fortable as possible. The meetings He added that if everything ments. some impact on the Sage com- for a loft space should have the themselves can take several dif- goes according to plan, the Sage The humanities, which are munity. opportunity to add Sage to their ferent forms, including listening loft would be open for occupancy based on language and experi- “What we do tend to see is list of choices in the upcoming ence, can be particularly suscep- sessions, discussions, and listen- next fall. that people living in lofts tend to housing selection. Because many of the social tible to this: in language classes form their own community and See page 2 Variety Sports Features A&E Op-Ed Hidden Figures: Brandon Wardell comes “And we’re back!” Sports in the New Year Hairy Feminist Jodie Bonikowske to Lawrence PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PAGE 7 PAGE 8 PAGE 11 THIS WEEK 2 NEWS Jan. 12, 2018 THE LAWRENTIAN Lawrence alumnus shares philosophy research Empathy training session tioned if this concept is really true. Landes argues more towards continued from page 1 He did this by explaining several the side of Deutsch and Cappelen, ing skills training as in Monday’s upcoming summit for Promoting thought experiments which have but focuses on how testimonial meeting. Inclusion in Academia through Rikke Sponheim been done. knowledge is used in philoso- At the listening sessions, stu- Dialogue, which will be held on Staff Writer ________________________ Another key part of exam- phy. Testimonial knowledge is dents are asked to simply share January 20 in the Warch Campus To explain the research he ining thought experiments that knowledge gained from being told their experiences instead of Center in the Somerset Room. All is working on for his PhD and to Landes went over was the idea of something by someone else. Some debate a topic. At listening skills Lawrence University diversity give an example of what Lawrence intuition. Commonly when per- philosophers argue that people training, they learn how to be organizations, including HDI, will philosophy majors go on to do forming thought experiments, a cannot learn just from testimony, more attentive to one other. be planning and participating in after graduation, alumni Ethan philosopher will have an intuition but Landes believes differently. The group also participates the summit. Landes ‘13, a current doctoral about the thought experiment and To explain this, Landes in on-campus events, such as a For those students who feel student at the University of St. then that intuition is taken to be explained a thought experiment seminar on gender and language marginalized in their classes, Andrews, returned to Lawrence the answer to the thought experi- where some monks were tran- that was held last term. The event Beale and Thew Forrester stated to give a lecture on his research. ment. According to Landes, this scribing history. Then just for fun, attempted to address some of that a great solution is to come Landes gave his lecture “How is flawed because minor changes they based some of it off of what the needs of non-binary students to an HDI meeting. Meeting times Philosophers Learn From Each in how one does thought experi- their cat was doing, so part of the in the Humanities. In language can vary, but are regularly updat- Other” on Friday, Jan. 5 at 4:30 ments changes the results of text in their history book was writ- courses with gendered pronouns, ed on the group’s Facebook page. p.m. in Main Hall 201. the intuition. Since intuition is a ten by a cat. Then at the end they some people feel pressure to “Not only is it safe,” said Professor of Philosophy major part of philosophy and it explained this was written by a cat “out” themselves in class, which Beale, “but we also have a lot of Thomas Ryckman introduced cannot be relied on, “philosophy so that someone reading it would is uncomfortable. “Obviously, we connections with the faculty. Even Landes, mentioning how he is one seems to be in really bad shape,” only be temporarily fooled. There can’t change the fact that there are if one professor doesn’t come to of the many Lawrence graduates said Landes. were three different takes on this. gendered pronouns,” added Thew our meetings, we can use the fac- who came back to share the work While it might seem that phi- The “Feline Monk” take says that Forrester.