Muslim Student Association Seeks to Bring Understanding to Campus
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NEWS A student’s guide to the confusing memo dilemma in D.C., pg. 4 A&E Social media director previews movies to premiere this spring, pg. 6 OPINIONS First year student adamant that aliens are an illusion fueled by fear, pg. 12 SPORTS Coach Green ecstatic about women’s basketball fan turnout, pg. 14 TUESDAY,TUESDAY, FEBRUARY OCTOBER 17,13, 20182017 FLYER NEWS, VOL. 65 NO. 9 UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Muslim Student Association seeks to bring understanding to campus EMMA KAPP with facts about the rights of people hardening their hearts, Staff Writer women in Islam attached to closing their ears and not being the stems. Facts included infor- willing to learn. The MSA con- In today’s world, discord is mation about Muslim women’s tinues to work toward peace and rampant in the news. Stories right to own property and how understanding among students of disagreements and misun- Islam was one of the first reli- of different backgrounds. derstandings rule the airwaves gions to allow women the right “A lot of students do not and social media feeds. How- to divorce. Hussain says they know much about Islam, and ever, the University of Dayton handed out around 125 roses. our goal is to properly inform Muslim Student Association is “It was really cool to see so them about our religion and doing its part to bring hope and many people ‘stopping to smell show that we have a lot more positivity into the lives of oth- the roses’ while also learning in common than many people ers. something about Islam in re- realize,” Syed said. The Muslim Student Asso- gards to equality and women’s Hussain agreed and emphasized ciation (MSA) is a national rights,” she said. “The impact her desire for the organization non-profit organization found- and the smiles were amazing.” to become more of a resource ed over 50 years ago, according Hussain is proud of what the to students on campus. to its website. Chapters exist organization accomplished in a “We want the MSA members around the nation and share semester but is looking forward to be the examples of Muslims the common goal of creating a to doing more. She says the that UD students think of when positive impact on college cam- group is planning a traditional they hear the word ‘Muslim’ in- puses. event to be held in March or stead of what negative media The organization is not only April. outlets try to spread with igno- meant to be a resource for Mus- The Muslim Student Associ- rance and hate,” she said. “We lim students, but for the student ation faces more societal chal- want the MSA to be a group community as well. lenges than other student orga- that anyone can email if they “We are able to set up week- nizations. According to a recent have questions.” ly speakers or prayer leaders study from Pew Research Cen- For more information about the for Friday prayer and allow for ter, 69 percent of Americans Muslim Student Association at UD, Muslim students on campus to say there is “a lot” of discrim- please visit https://www.udayton. stay connected with their reli- ination against Muslims in the edu/ministry/student_religious_ gion, remaining close to God,” U.S. This prejudice can lead to orgs/msa.php. said Rehan Syed, a junior en- trepreneurship and marketing major and treasurer of MSA. “We’re also working to reach out to all of the non-Muslim students on campus to show a positive representation of Islam and the values we stand for.” Hussain, along with other MSA members, promoted their “Muslims for UD’s chapter is sponsored by Campus Ministry and has put women’s rights” event outside of KU by handing out colorful roses to those passing through campus. Photo courtesy of Anam Hussain. together several initiatives this academic year. The organiza- as a yearly event.” tion handed out treat bags to During the third week of No- “The UD students and faculty all students in recognition of vember, the group held table loved this event and we had stu- the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha hours and asked students walk- dents competing to write more in September. To continue the ing by to reflect on gratitude. things so that we would donate celebration, members visited a Students were then invited to greater amounts of money,” she local, underfunded mosque and write what they were grateful said. “It was fantastic!” gave more treat bags to Muslim for on a sticky note and attach MSA’s most recent event was children in the community. it to a poster. For every sticky inspired by movements for “The response was amaz- note received, the MSA donat- women’s empowerment. Many ing, and the children were so ed a quarter to families in need. stereotypes and false assump- happy,” said Anam Hussain, Hussain was pleasantly sur- tions exist about the Islamic co-president of UD’s Muslim prised at the response. view of women’s rights, so this In November, members of the MSA participated in their “what are you grateful Student Association. “This re- event was designed to correct for?” event on campus, consisting of students writing what they were grateful ally touched us as an organiza- these misinterpretations. The for on a sticky note. The organization then donated a quarter for each sticky tion, and we plan on doing this MSA team handed out roses note written to local families in need. Photo courtesy of Anam Hussain. 2 NEWS FLYER NEWS | TUESDAY, FEB. 13 All you need is love: Panelists unravel notions of love near Valentine’s Day JALEH SHAHBAZI Contributing Writer On Feb. 7, 2018, the Human- ities Visibility Project, led by president William Van Winkle, held a panel discussion titled “Visions of Love” in honor of the season of love. The purpose of this panel discussion was to display different perspectives on love from a variety of aca- demic fields. Van Winkle began the event by leading with opening re- marks, “Humanities are at the center of everything that we do. Humanities are all about who we are as humans. They’re about how we think, what we believe, the cultures that we live in, and that affects all of us regardless of our areas of study.” The guiding of the evening’s discussion was then transferred over to Dr. Shannon Toll, as- sistant professor in the English department, who specializes in Native American literature. Toll’s opening remarks con- Pictured left to right are panelists Ernesto Velasquez, Dustin Atlas and Kathleen Costales. The trio unraveled various aspects of love and left the audience veyed hope that the event would with a deeper understanding of the emotion. Photo courtesy of Christian Cubacub. allow for fun in discussing the concept of love and encour- tive of Jewish religious studies, over time. She explains that love “When we think about love chimed in, saying he believes aged the audience to look at explained that if love is to be is ever present in Spanish litera- and the good life, we should society feels too entitled to the love through a complex cultur- looked at from his respective ture, just as in all other cultures, think about a good life for “good life.” al lense. The humanities faculty field’s point-of-view, then the but, in Spain, love is viewed as a whom?” Velasquez retorted. The discussion went deep- who participated in the panel first question that has to be troublesome. Costales both en- “How do we move our minds er when the panel discussed the and contributed their exper- asked is “What is love doing and tertained and educated the audi- from ourselves and our lives possibility of someone being tise on their visions of love in- how is it being used?” He men- ence by sharing an old Spanish to questioning critically what able to love themselves fully.” cluded Dustin Atlas, assistant tioned how supremacy groups phenomena of medical books the good life is?” In frustra- Atlas responded by stating professor of religious studies, recently have been renaming diagnosing “love-sickness” as tion for those who have been self-love, for the most part, is Kathleen Costales, assistant themselves as “love groups” a disease. This disease was only put under the boot of injus- really not a good thing, because professor of languages and Er- rather than hate groups, and he diagnosed in men, and the med- tice where love of humanity is of patriotism and religious ob- nesto Velasquez, assistant pro- commented that “love is often ical treatment for such a disease lacking, and the “good life” is session with sexuality and love. fessor of philosophy. overstressed in places of exclu- was written to be “wine and not an option for all. Velasquez He made the bold claim that if The panel began by answer- sion.” prostitutes.” questioned, “What kind of life you want to love yourself and ing the question, “What can you Costales, from the view of As the panel took its course, is that where people are mar- perhaps find yourself to “burn say about love from your re- Spanish literature, notes that the concept of love in relation ginalized and others have cer- your phone.” Why? According spective discipline?” love is a constant, yet changes to an ideal life was discussed. tain privileges?” Atlas briefly to Atlas, there is an over em- Velasquez spoke first and phasis on connection that, in re- talked about how there’s a lot ality, people should be trying to to say about love, and most of- disconnect as much as possible, ten when it comes to love and because these days one has to philosophy, Plato’s Symposium “fight very hard for solitude.” is generally used.