The Student Newspaper of Lawrence University Since 1884 THELAWRENTIAN VOL. CXXXV NO. 16 APPLETON, WISCONSIN MARCH 2, 2018 Students elect new VP in second LUCC debate and election a yearly budget of a quarter of a million dollars. What makes you qualified to handle this responsi- Ben Hollenstein bility?” they asked. Staff Writer Pimenidou responded first, _____________________ explaining that she worked on The second Lawrence the budget this past year, and has University Community Council been working on finance for the (LUCC) Vice Presidential debate last two years. was held on Sunday, Feb. 25 Cuccria said that he has two from 3 to 4 p.m. Junior Saahil years of experience working with Cuccria debated sophomore Maria finance academically, and has Pimenido in preparation for the learned to apply logic to the issues second Vice Presidential election of campus finance and to justify held on Tuesday, Feb. 27. budget decisions. Both stated that The debate was held in the they knew where to make cuts to Mead Witter Room of the Warch the budget. Campus Center and moderated The next question covered by sophomore Cristina Sada and the other main responsibility of junior Umer Amer. the VP. “As the Vice President of The reason for a second LUCC, you’re expected to be an VP election and debate is due advocate. What experience do you to junior and former President- have being an advocate?” asked elect Rufino Cacho resigning his the moderators. position as LUCC president-elect Cuccria responded, “I’ve on Feb. 19. Sophomore and Vice worked with the Student Alliance President-elect Colleen Murray against Sexual Harrassment and Newly elected Vice President sophomore Maria Pimenidou will assume the vice presidency in the spring. will be taking over as President. Assault (SAASHA) since freshman Photo by Emma Gilshannon year, and in my time as a Residence The debate began a little ing freshmen.” to “host more open forums with outside of the group. Life Advisor (RLA) I advocated for after 3 p.m. Eight people attended The moderators also asked themes to focus discussion.” For The moderators pointed out different sides of issues. I’m good the debate. Senior and current the candidates to describe an example, students in Trever Hall that both candidates mentioned at understanding opposing view- LUCC Vice President Naomi Oster under-talked-about issue on cam- were given recycling bins after open forums, and acknowledged points and opinions.” opened the debate before passing pus and a solution to it. Cuccria a lack of recycling options was their importance for student Pimenidou said, “I’ve served the floor to the moderators, Sada brought up the issue of student brought up at an open forum. participation on campus. They as a class representative in LUCC, and Amer. concerns not being brought for- Pimenidou added that there asked the candidates how to get so I have experience working with They started off by pointing ward due to a lack of commu- was a lack of support for LUCC more attendance to the forums. opposing viewpoints. I’ve also led out the responsibility of the vice nication between students and from the student body, and the Model United Nations and done president, especially with financ- officials. The solution would be low interest in campus politics es. “The Vice President manages CORE, giving me experience help- See page 4 POC Empowerment Week creates conversation As a senior, this was Owens’ first munity of today. year doing a large portion of the Other events included week’s organization, but she said Colores’ workshop on Friday with she received a lot of support from Racial Justice Youth Organizer Ali Diversity Center leaders and other Muldrow, who works at the Gay groups on campus. Straight Alliance for Safe Schools, Each diversity organization and Kai Davis on Tuesday, a pop- was given a day of the week to ular spoken-word poet whose bring in their own speaker. These work on feminism and African included speakers from a wide American issues is often praised variety of backgrounds. For exam- for being both resonant and pow- ple, Lawrence University Native erful. An additional event featur- Americans (LUNA) invited Dr. ing fellow poet Sabrina Madison was unfortunately canceled due Menominee Nation of Wisconsin to the ice storm that froze campus toSasānēhsaeh give a talk titled Pyawasay “Decolonization of the on Monday. and Community as Sources of The week culminated with Empowerment” on Wednesday. Cultural Expressions on Saturday According to the event organiz- in the Warch Campus Center ers, Pyawasay’s work is “centered Esch Hurvis Room. Cultural around modern-day colonialism Expressions is a yearly artistic and its impact on individuals and performance that participants communities.” spend weeks rehearsing for, revis- Another event brought a ing poetry and rewriting songs. familiar face back to Lawrence Everything that appears on stage in alumnus Jaime Gonzalez is written, directed and performed Dr. Sasānēhsaeh Pyawasay delivered a talk on decolonization on Wednesday. ‘16. Gonzalez graduated from by the students themselves. Many Celeste Hall Photo by Emma Gilshannon Lawrence in 2016 and current- people of color feel that Cultural Staff Writer _____________________________________ Young Women of Color (AIO) and dent and senior Mauranda Owens. ly works at the Cassandra Voss Expressions is an essential com- Colores: Empowering LGBTQ The dinner was casual and open Center at St. Norbert College. He, ponent to their Lawrence experi- As a designated time for peo- People of Color, featured a differ- to everyone, with hot food and along with Alianza, led a work- ence, and one of the most pow- ple of color on campus to “shine,” ent prominent speaker for each soft drinks. Owens explained, “It’s shop on Thursday titled “La Lucha: erful opportunities to express the People of Color Empowerment day, and ended in the annual important to start things off right, Remembering Latinx Resilience, themselves all year. Performers Week occurred from Sunday Cultural Expressions perfor- that we can all be relaxed and not Living Tomorrow’s Dream” which included junior Shauna Simmons, through Saturday of eighth week. mance. worry about logistics. This way, was meant to “familiarize par- senior Bernard Lilly, junior Briana The event, organized by a vari- The week began with a din- we can go into the week with good ticipants with Latinx ancestral Faulkes as well as many others. ety of diversity organizations, ner on Sunday in the Diversity vibes—we can go in feeling great knowledge” and work to create a including Black Student Union Center organized by AIO presi- and end up feeling even better.” bright future for the Latinx com- (BSU), All is One! Empowering See page 4 Variety Sports Features A&E Op-Ed Lawrence Passion Project: Broadcast Track team broke records Poet Heather Dobbins Pocket Pups Naomi Oster PAGE 3 PAGE 4 PAGE 6 PAGE 8 PAGE 10 THIS WEEK 2 NEWS March 2, 2018 THE LAWRENTIAN UW professor discusses partisan gerrymandering case Stephanie Meyer classified as extreme partisan ger- later, in 2014, the original legal Staff Writer rymandering, and therefore gave team was put together, and they _____________________________________ a significant unfair advantage to filed a complaint to district court On Wednesday, Feb. 21, the Republicans in the election. in July 2015. In September of the named plaintiff of Gill vs. Whitford, In the past, the Supreme same year, a special three-judge Professor of Law Emeritus at the Court has ruled that gerryman- court was appointed. University of Wisconsin-Madison dering based on race or ethnicity, Almost a year later, in May Bill Whitford addressed both the or extreme partisan gerrymander- 2016, the four-day district court Lawrence and greater Appleton ing, is unconstitutional. The Court trial occurred in Madison, and in community about the historic case has yet to define what extreme November, the trial court ruled on that is currently being deliber- gerrymandering is, and this case the case: Whitford and his team ated by the United States Supreme hopes to achieve this. had won. The state of Wisconsin Court. The case argues that the swiftly appealed to the United Whitford used the evening redistricting in 2011 caused States Supreme Court, and oral to describe the dangers of ger- the 2012 election to be biased: arguments were set on Oct. 3, rymandering and how the case Republicans accounted for 60.6 2017. unfolded. In his lecture, Whitford percent of State Assembly seats, Whitford talked briefly about defined gerrymandering as estab- even though they only received how after the Supreme Court Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Bill Whitford is one lishing electoral districts to ben- 48.6 percent of the vote. This agreed to hear the Wisconsin of the named plaintiffs in Gill vs. Whitford. efit a particular party or group. prompted Democrats to claim state gerrymandering case, in Photo by Marieke de Koker This case in particular, as their votes were “wasted.” which Republicans are accused ing” is, and by choosing to hear rule in his and his group’s favor, Whitford explained, is so signifi- In his talk, Whitford of extreme gerrymandering, the cases from both parties where the resulting law would not van- cant because it is the first appor- explained how the plaintiffs and Court then accepted a case from both parties may be at fault, they quish bias when drawing elec- tionment case that was ruled as the lawyers worked together to Maryland in which the Democrats are showing the American people toral maps, only limit it. Whitford unconstitutional by a state trial tackle this case. In the summer of are accused of extreme gerryman- that their decision is unbiased and argues that it is impossible to court.