The Student Newspaper of Lawrence University Since 1884 THE VOL. CXXXIX NO.LAWRENTIAN 3 APPLETON, WISCONSIN APRIL 23, 2021 The Shoutbox: A new age of Arts & Entertainment Highlights For more reviews and recaps of key Lawrence creative student communication? events, flip to our A&E section! Cameron Jones This post received 109 com- safety on campus, she has created Staff Writer ments and 65 reactions, as of Tues- an environment where marginal- ___________________________ day, April 20, compared to seven ized people feel unsafe, and oppres- Out of frustration with commu- to nine comments for other candi- sors feel validated.” nication at Lawrence, the Shoutbox dates’ posts, before comments were In response to the letter calling Facebook group was created by turned off by Shoutbox admins. for her resignation, Barrett issued a Lawrence students for Lawrence Moyer’s post received the most statement, which she later retracted. community members on May interaction by far, overshadowing She did not issue a new comment. 27, 2019. According to the group’s and burying other candidates’ posts. These shifts in tone have sparked header, the Shoutbox is “The all-in- Moyer declined to be interviewed for new policy considerations in the one communication platform for this article. Shoutbox, according to Mayerson. clubs, events and community an- The responses, though over- Election information will be com- nouncements.” Students can post whelmingly negative, ranged from piled into one formal administrative any announcement or question critiques of Moyer’s platform to ex- post, a greater effort will go into tak- in the Shoutbox regarding public pressions of anger and disapproval. ing down posts the administrators events, community announce- After these comments were deem disrespectful and administra- ments, or general comments and brought to Vice President for Di- tors will continue to make decisions concerns. versity and Inclusion, Dr. Kimberly on a post-by-post basis. Creator and head-administrator Barrett, she sent out an email with Among the posts which have of the Shoutbox junior Nick Mayer- the subject, “Radical Respect,” on consequently received greater son describes the page as a medium April 6. In this email, she expressed scrutiny, sophomore Erin O’Brien in-between the local community her concern that students cannot posted on the Shoutbox on April 19, and Lawrence as a whole. “From engage with each other in produc- encouraging people to flood Minne- Lawrence International’s Cabaret event featured pre-recorded video submissions from students. my perspective, I think it’s this kind tive ways when they disagree. She sota Governor Tim Walz’ inbox with Photo by Pei Robins. of middle ground that didn’t exist cited an instance in which a student messages calling for his resignation; before,” Mayerson said. expressed an unpopular platform as this post was taken down that same However, as the pandemic has part of a campaign for elected office day by Shoutbox admins. This frus- changed the mediums in which and was met with “personal attacks trated O’Brien because she felt this Caberet “soars” in this year’s people interact, the Shoutbox has and spurious accusations rather information was important and rel- increasingly become an outlet for than reasoned arguments against evant to the Lawrence community. students to air their grievances. Ac- his proposals.” Although O’Brien said she was brand new virtual format Levi Homman LI president and sophomore dents (SOS) emergency fund. cording to Mayerson, after recent This response, however, became not given a reason for her post’s re- Staff Writer Pato Cardenas, joined by his fel- This fund helps international events, although people are still another catalyst for more students to moval, Mayerson told us the post _______________________________ low board member sophomore students who are not covered by using the Shoutbox for standard engage in the Shoutbox and express was removed because it did not On Saturday, Apr. 17, Law- Subin Han. In between acts, the the federal COVID-19 relief sys- announcements and information, their concerns and grievances. For directly relate to Lawrence, and the rence International (LI) hosted two discussed previous perfor- tem meet pay for unanticipated more students have been inspired many students, this email missed administrators felt it would be more their annual Cabaret event, this mances and gave “in-flight an- expenses related to the pandem- to speak up and publicly post their the mark and was not well-received. appropriate on personal pages. year subtitled “Flying Higher nouncements” about upcoming ic. For those who are able, the opinions relating to Lawrence. Although Dr. Barrett did not To give students input in the than Ever.” Anticipating contin- performances, keeping the show link to donate can be found on confirm that her example refer- Shoutbox’s next steps, Mayerson ued COVID-19 restrictions the To view the Shoutbox cohesive and light. the Lawrence University website Facebook group, enced Moyer, she said she did not also posted a survey on April 19 for following spring, the LI board scan the QR code: The show itself was made up under the “Giving” tab. state a name because she “think[s] students to provide feedback, in began planning their yearly of a multitude of talented per- In the words of junior Jamie people know who it’s about.” which he thanks members for en- show after they were forced to formances and projects, includ- Dong, LI’s vice president, Caba- Consequently, on April 7, Law- gaging and asks them to respond cancel 2020’s performances. ing a group of friends dancing ret “combines diverse culture rence alumnus Brian Mironer so administrators can best work to This year, they chose to pivot to to BTS’s “Boy with Luv,” a music with talented students.” Dong, posted an annotated response to serve group members. a pre-recorded video, rather than video from the Chinese cultural the self-proclaimed “producer an email Dr. Barrett sent to another When discussing what he hopes the in-person performances that club singing about friendship, as of the entire show,” emphasized alumnus regarding her radical to see change going forward, Mayer- usually take place in Stansbury well as a Vietnamese music video how hard everyone worked respect email. The post expressed son expressed the hope that Shout- Theater. This year’s show was and a dramatic short film titled on the project, especially LI’s discontent with the “problematic box members can be vulnerable made up of music videos, short “Trapped.” The show closed out eight board members, including One of the earliest instances of nature” of the message and encour- and respectful to have productive films and dance videos put to- with some salsa music, some ma- sophomores Michael Zhang and the shift in the Shoutbox’s interac- aged further discussion within the conversations. He emphasized that gether by cultural clubs and vari- riachi music and a music video Nupur Vaghasia and freshmen tions started on Jan. 18, when senior Lawrence community. the Shoutbox is an extension of the ous individuals throughout the from fifth-year Daniel Green per- Diego León and Violet Rho, as Tim Moyer posted on the Shout- Furthermore, on April 16, a community and is just one way to community, all interspersed with forming his song “Liams Lulla- well as the previously mentioned box announcing his candidacy for letter-to-the-editor calling for Bar- engage in discussion. short videos showcasing tradi- by” under the moniker Jeayahr. board members. When asked Senior Class Representative. Part rett’s resignation was published in “Lawrentians are outspoken. tional clothing from countries Dispersed throughout the show about what she was most proud of his platform was to “protect free The Lawrentian and posted in the That’s kind of the people that we represented on the Lawrence were also short videos featuring of, Dong said, “I’m proud of ev- speech: prevent hate-speech policies Shoutbox Facebook group, where are,” Mayerson said. “People care campus. traditional clothing from various erything! This is the most perfect from censoring underrepresented it could be read unedited and in full. passionately about things, and this As the subtitle suggests, countries, including the Philip- thing that I’ve ever put together.” perspectives” and “End the pledge: The letter states, “Instead of foster- is another platform I think for that this year’s show had a theme of pines, India, Jordan and Paki- Dong also said she is excited and return to normal at the beginning of ing a feeling of community and passion.” flight. The event programs were stan. The event had over 60 in- hopeful to see what the artistical- designed by junior Len Nguyen person attendees, as well as over ly talented group can put togeth- to look like boarding passes for Do you have questions about any new developments on cam- 150 viewers online, giving the er for next year’s performance. a commercial airline, and the show even more exposure than Soon, a complete video of entire video was guided by two pus? Should the Lawrentian be covering any event? in previous years. what was shown will be avail- more of Cabaret’s organizers, As the credits rolled, LI made able online, on YouTube and on the “captain” and “co-pilot” for a point to direct people to donat- the Lawrence website under the Let us know! the viewers’ airborne trip around ing to the Supporting our Stu- “Cabaret” section. the world. Guiding the flight was Send any tips to [email protected]. spring term.” Sports Variety Features A&E Op-Ed Women’s softball Trans Day of Visibility at Asian influence in Continued war drums in Spacemart picks up win Dr. Jekyll’s classical music the South China Sea PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 6 PAGE 8 PAGE 10 THIS WEEK 2 NEWS April 23, 2021 THE LAWRENTIAN Weekly updates on the status of COVID-19 at COVID-19 Lawrence ON CAMPUS TESTS TOTAL POSITIVE A “Raise the Wage” sign is displayed across from the Warch Campus Center.