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THE NEWS RECORD
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
NEWSRECORD.ORG
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
Candidates for student body president discuss diversity, safety PATRICK MURPHY | NEWS EDITOR
ALEXANDRA TAYLOR | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeremy Morall, running for vice-president with Sara Whitestone, talks about how he interprets divsersity within a school setting.
Student Government passes bills designed to improve education
A gentle balance of laughter and earnestness pervaded McMicken 127 as Student Government candidates for president, vice president and senator-at-large discussed their views on diversity and safety at the University of Cincinnati. Due to inclement weather canceling the previous diversity debate, the Election Facilitation Committee combined the discussion with the Student Safety Board’s discussion on safety. There were a total of 17 senate-at-large candidates and three slates at the event. Each senator-at-large was given one minute to answer some of the questions that centered on the diversity and safety of UC. The slates were given 90 seconds to respond to the questions, with a 30-second rebuttal by the other slates. “I thought they really let their platforms and their personalities shine through, and I think that’s something that we haven’t seen in a while,” said Cierra Carter, Student Government director of ethnic and cultural affairs.“We normally get this façade of a
formal politician or [we’ll see] the one that’s trying too hard to not be a politician and we just got exactly who they were and they were proud of it and they owned it.” Three themes within the questions were to define diversity, how candidates planned to implement diversity and their beliefs of diversity as they see it on UC’s campus, including getting a read on how these candidates felt about such social topics as #BlackLivesMatter. The questions were then given to the student body. One of the most recurring questions asked was how each of the candidates interpreted white privilege. Andrew Naab, at-large senator and presidential candidate, and Andrew Griggs, speaker of senate, asserted that while they recognize that they are both white, cisgendered individuals, they have sought to represent student groups other than those who they identify with. “In order to fully address white privilege, you first have to acknowledge it, and you SEE DIVERSITY DEBATE PG 3
UC COLLEGE OF LAW TALKS POLICE, RACE RELATIONS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
CASSIE LIPP | CHIEF REPORTER
As undergraduate students at the University of Cincinnati vote for next year’s Student Government president, vice president and at-large senators, the organization met Wednesday to appropriate funds to improve academics and support Relay for Life. SG passed three bills at its weekly meeting — one bill appropriating $1,000 to co-sponsor the annual UC Relay for Life, one bill appropriating $413.60 to fund free student access to the New York Times and one bill pledging SG’s support in the selection of books for the First Year Common Reading Program. Funds from Relay for Life co-sponsorship defray the overhead costs of the fundraiser, according to Brady Ramsaur, Colleges Against Cancer committee member who spoke at the SG meeting about the event. The more overhead costs are defrayed, the more money goes directly to American Cancer Society, the organization the fundraiser benefits. Internal Holdover Senator Trevor Smith added that it is important to defray overhead costs for fundraisers as much as possible, as this year’s Cincinnati Dance Marathon did not make enough money to cover its overhead costs. “If you don’t make your overhead … bad things happen,” Smith said. The UC Relay for Life attracts about 2,000 participants each year, and the goal for this year’s fundraiser is to raise $150,000 for the American Cancer Society, Ramsaur said. “The American Cancer Society has tangible benefits,” Ramsaur said.“It’s done a lot for cancer research, and it also helps improve the lives of people who have been impacted by cancer.” The money SG appropriated to give students free access to the New York Times will cover 50 free-access passes per day for eight weeks. These passes will give the students free full access to The New York Times mobile app for 24 hours via an online code. The passes will be first come, first serve and be available through the students’ Canopy accounts or the SG website. Some senators brought up the issue that some professors require students to have a subscription to the New York Times for certain classes. The 50 free passes will not be enough for a class of 150, for example. Student Body President Christina Beer responded by reminding the students that the current initiative is just a pilot project. The pilot project will help UC Provost Beverly Davenport see how many students SEE STUDENT GOVERNMENT PG 3
LIZ FRYLING | CONTRIBUTOR
Panel members discuss criminal justice and racism reformation during a discussion Tuesday in the Russell C. Meyers Alumni Center.
JOHNNA JACKSON | CONTRIBUTOR
Over a hundred students and community members gathered Tuesday night in the Russell C. Meyers Alumni Center at the University of Cincinnati to have what Rob Richardson, co-moderator and vice chairman of UC’s Board of Trustees, referred to as an uncomfortable conversation regarding race and reform in the criminal justice system. The event, including a panel discussion with a question-and-answer follow up, was intended to align with Black History Month, but Richardson said the conversation has year-round importance. “This is Black History Month; this is part of why we are having this,” Richardson said. “But I think it’s important to understand that black history is American history.” The panel was comprised of six black community members with a shared goal of creating a dialogue around social issues that disproportionately affect communities of color on UC’s campus, in the city of
Cincinnati and throughout the country. Members of the panel included Cincinnati police officers Phillip Black and Louis Arnold, Attorney David Singleton, Bishop Bobby Hilton of Word of Deliverance, community activist Iris Roley and Alex Shelton, a fourth-year international affairs, French and political science student. Richardson said he hoped the event would address the framing of the narrative surrounding the criminal justice system in order to make it equitable for every citizen. Reform in the criminal justice system was the prevalent theme of the conversation, and panelists were tasked with analyzing what Shivam Shah, co-moderator and student body vice president, identified as a racial “us versus them” mentality seemingly prevalent in law enforcement. Black agreed that the “us versus them” line of thinking is easy to yield to once a person has become a part of the subculture of policing. His solution is education. “Learning doesn’t stop once you come out of the police academy,” Black said.“You
do have to do some of your own personal educating that it isn’t an ‘us against them,’ because one day you might find yourself on that ‘them’ side.” Roley said that a historical understanding of police relations with the black community is necessary. “The impact of enslavement — what has it done to people? How has that impacted the way police that particular group of people who were enslaved?” Roley asked.“Police officers were once overseers —KKK, white night watchmen.You have to understand the premise of which they came from in order to understand how you then begin to change the culture of policing.” In regard to police interactions, panelists also shared concerns involving mass incarceration as it relates to the black population. “The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners,” Richardson said. SEE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PG 3
Students teach other students how to use social media for a good cause DANIEL DEITSCH | CONTRIBUTOR
DANIEL DEITSCH | CONTRIBUTOR
Students discuss the importance of using social media as a way to build a brand for activism in a Social Media Week panel in the App Lab Monday afternoon.
A diverse group of over 20 University of Cincinnati students gathered in the App Lab on Main Street Monday to learn how they can use social media in establishing a brand around a cause. As it continues to grow in popularity, social media has become an integral part of everyday life for most people and is a powerful tool for organizations and business alike. Most students are not aware of the full potential of social media as a tool, but the goal of UC’s Social Media Week is to expand upon students’ knowledge. With an offering of gourmet cupcakes to all those in attendance, seven student speakers led a panel discussion on how anyone can use social media beneficially. The extent of the majority of students’ social media use is posting a status update on Facebook, throwing out a tweet about weekend adventures or just creeping a friend’s timeline out of boredom. The goal of the workshop was to teach students to utilize social media in various beneficial ways aside
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from posting selfies. “Individuals scrolling down their Instagram or Twitter timelines are expecting to see a collage of selfies, what someone ate for lunch and women-crush Wednesdays or man-crush Mondays,” said Ashley Nkadi, a UC neuroscience student. The workshop aimed to encourage students to discover methods in which they can be active in educating others, explaining that social media can be a useful tool when used correctly. Social media can be used to reach a large audience, but how in this time of instant satisfaction and short attention span can it be done? Is it as simple as sharing links and posting updates? Is social media alone enough to reach all those out there? The answer might be simpler than you think according to Maria Merrill, a first-year graduate student. “It is important to think about the people who might not be reached via social media; SEE UC ACTIVISM PG 3
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