Volume 76, Issue 4 Wednesday, March 3, 2021 www.liupostpioneer.com Censorship in the Land Down Under: Facebook Bans News in Australia Students Outraged Over Work-Study Only Policies For Campus Jobs had 17 hours of work per week, after letting go so many budget which is the maximum for stu- students. dents. In September, Dr. Frye [the “I wanted a tutor [for a chem- professor I previously worked for] istry class]. It took until about was having a hard time re-hiring November or late-October, I want Facebook has been under scrutiny me, so I was still working solely to say, for someone to realize that in the media due to allegations that for my boss in education 17 hours they needed to hire people to be the company is suppressing free- a week. But sometime around tutors based on their qualifications dom of speech the beginning of October, we find rather than how little they could be pg 4 out that I’m not going to get paid paid. So, I finally got a chemistry because [the school] fired me back tutor about five weeks too late, and The Experience of Being Black at the beginning of the school year, I ended up dropping the class,” on Broadway and somehow failed to tell my Harris said. boss,” Harris said. Sophomore musical theatre ma- “It was very easy to convince jor BrayLynn Willis is also disap- them to pay me because it would pointed that the school no longer have been too obviously illegal hires students without work study. for them to not have paid me for “I want to work in the PTC cos- the month that I worked. It was at tume shop because costuming is COURTESY OF SHAYLA HARRIS this point that I started protesting outside my major, but something I Shayla Harris protesting the new policy outside of Dean Bowditch’s office,” am still interested in,” she said. “I BY EMMA ROBINSON she said. “During this time, I wrote can’t get the experience that would On Friday, Feb. 26 Promise hosted NEWS EDITOR a letter to Ed Weiss explaining benefit me after graduation be- the Black on Broadway Q&A session exactly how this policy to not hire cause I don’t have work study.” over zoom. Students who are not eligible budget students was affecting me, Like many campus residents, pg 5 for work-study at Post have been and perpetuating the systemic age- Willis is unable to work off cam- restricted from working on campus based discrimination in FAFSA, pus, because she does not have Insula Cast Reflects on their Ex- as of the fall 2020 semester. This which got Bowditch in trouble for access to a car to get there. periences Performing has created a lot of friction be- allowing me to be a free person.” The hiring process has also tween students who previously had After the administration saw become an issue for businesses on jobs on campus and were unable Harris’s attempts to regain her campus. Like Harris’s issue with to return, as well as students who positions on campus, Chief of Stu- not being able to find a chemistry now want jobs, and the adminis- dent Affairs Michael Berthel held a tutor, The Student Body Boutique tration. Zoom conference with Harris. (SBB) has had difficulties filling Senior psychology major Shayla “He said that I would not have a sales associate positions. Harris has been protesting the job on campus ever again because “[The Boutique has used] word Seven theatre students portrayed school’s decision since October, I did not have work study, and I of mouth, the SBB instagram, and modern-day versions of Shakespearean when she was let go from two cam- needed to calm down about that, sending out flyers via email: these characters from Feb. 26 to the 28. pus jobs that helped her career and which I found to be such a cool have been the most successful pg 6 her financial obligations. thing to say to someone who’s just ways we’ve let LIU students know “So, before the beginning of this lost all of their financial security we’re hiring,” freshman fashion Fans Reenter the Stands year, I was working in the psychol- due to a policy that you were com- merchandising major Anna John- in New York ogy department as a statistics and plicit in,” Harris said. son said. “Zoom meetings have methods tutor [where I was] paid Harris used the money from been conducted all year in order to above minimum wage, and for a her campus jobs to pay for food have interviews with SBB appli- professor in education as a re- and rent. Eventually, the school cants.” search assistant [I was paid] above allowed her to work for minimum Even though she is the store minimum wage with the promise wage as a tutor again. manager, Johnson does not get On Feb. 10, New York Governor Andrew Cuo- of co-authorship on articles in pro- Harris believes that this is due paid for working at the SBB be- mo announced all professional sporting events fessional journals, which is huge to the fact that the school has had cause she does not qualify for work could bring back fans in attendance. for an undergraduate student. I a difficult time filling positions study. pg 12 continued on page 4 2 NEWS THE PIONEER Winter Storm Uri Leaves Texas in Disarray resident Lee Metaxa said. “One word I’d have “After the storm hit, many of my family and to use to describe the current conditions down friends were without water and electricity for here are overwhelming- because no one down so long that we had to adjust, accommodate here is used to or even knows how to deal with and even learn how to live without it,” Scoggins this kind of weather. Seeing the content on so- said. “When I went home this past weekend, I cial media, especially from friends and family, had to go two houses over just to take a shower of them struggling through this is tragic. It’s all for a family birthday party.” just a complete disaster.” Metaxa also commented on the detrimental When the news of this aggressive winter loss of water and power in Texas due to Winter storm hit the media, the masses were extremely Storm Uri. worried for Texans. “I saw a post from a family friend literally “Before this awful weather hit, I was here living out of their car, with their two children, at school. Once I saw the weather report the just to charge their phones and get some heat,” night before, I knew things were going to get Metaxa said. “They had no heat, no power, and bad quickly so I booked the first flight out that no water all due to the freezing cold conditions. next morning before the snow even started,” It’s been extremely hard and scary for me to see sophomore music entrepreneurship, technol- people I know and love go through that.” ogy and production major Scoggins said. “And Millions of Americans are still living even though it’s been snowing a lot in New through these conditions, and the Texas gov- York recently, I’d have to say that it’s absolutely ernment has limited-to-no resources to help A frozen road in texas COURTESY OF JOHNSON SCOGGINS nothing compared to what’s going on in Texas; them because of Uri’s unexpected element of BY LILA NOLAN because nobody down here really knows how surprise. STAFF WRITER to deal with it, everything is just worse. To put “My take away from this whole situation The Texas storm, unofficially referred to things into perspective, the unplowed areas on would have to be that this is all just more proof as “Winter Storm Uri”,hit the Lone Star State campus are way better than the roads in Texas. that climate change is real,” Metaxa said. “For causing power and water outages for millions of They don’t drop salt or sand on the roads, they the sake of people’s lives, we need to acknowl- Texans on Feb. 13. just wait for it to melt and then it’s even worse edge this as something that’s actually happen- Over the course of the past few weeks, news because it becomes ice and even more danger- ing. For future reference we need to be more coverage has shown what life is like for Texans ous.” aware so that we can combat these situations that have been affected by the recent snow/ice Along with the dangerous road conditions before they happen again, even in different storm. During this time, the nation has been that Texans have been undergoing, another ways. Overall, we must take all this seriously, exposed to the severe weather conditions that major issue is the widespread loss of water and this is not a joke. There is something we can all have Texas in a disarray. Over 2 million Texas power across the state; even in the areas that do within all of our communities so this hope- residents have been affected by the sudden haven’t been directly hit. Over the course of the fully won’t happen again; or at least we’ll be severe winter weather. past few weeks, Texans have been forced to live more prepared for it.” “This has all been very unexpected for Tex- through freezing conditions with no water or For more information on how to help those ans,” senior musical theatre major and Texas power.