The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, NOV 10, 2022
VOLUME 144, NO. 10
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
HUMAN RIGHTS
MEN’S BASKETBALL
VOLLEYBALL WINS
Q&A with a law professor on reframing discourse surrounding gun control. (News, pg 3)
The Bears open season with exhibition game against Mizzou. (Sports, pg 7)
The team advances to NCAA tournament after finishing second at UAAs. (Sports, pg 7)
WashU students weigh in on midterm results and ballot items
University of Michigan professor presents research on 1918 Ukrainian pogroms ZACH TRABITZ STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF PHOTO EDITOR HOLDEN HINDES
A student checks in at the Atheltic Center to head to the polls.
LILY TAYLOR, JAMES ELLINGHAUS, ALIANA MEDIRATTA CONTRIBUTING WRITER, JUNIOR NEWS EDITOR, STAFF WRITER 949 students and community members voted at the Sumers Recreation Center in the midterm elections this Tuesday, Nov. 8. Voters decided on Senate and House seats, police funding, and the legalization of marijuana, among other ballot items. The Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement hosted student bands and provided food and entertainment for people outside of the voting center, and people could sign up for a virtual waitlist to be called in to vote. In Missouri, Republican Eric Schmitt won a Senate seat; six out of eight House seats went to Republican candidates; and St. Louis Congresswoman Cori Bush won her re-election. Missouri voters also voted yes on Amendment 3 to legalize the sale and possession of marijuana for people 21 and older. On campus, students turned out to vote for a variety of reasons. Some out-of-state WashU students voted in Missouri because they believed their vote mattered more here than at home. “I’m from New York and I’m a Democrat, so I thought that my vote might not count as much if I vote in New York,” Freshman Dani Brinberg said. “[NY is] a classic Democratic state and I thought that it would be better to make an impact here.” Many students felt strongly about two amendments up for vote, including Amendment 3 and Amendment 4, which increased
police funding in Kansas City. Sophomore Eric Abrahams said he believes legalizing weed will move Missouri forward in racial equality. “It’s going to help to solve some of the inequities that we have in our criminal justice system,” Abrahams said. “I think it’s also going to be a good thing for the economy because it is a pretty powerful industry.” Some students did not want to support the amendment when major political players, like the Missouri NAACP and Cori Bush, came out against it. According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, Nimrod Chapel Jr., president of the Missouri NAACP, said that the amendment will allow powerful cannabis companies to “[misuse] political power and [take] advantage of working families.” The Post elaborated that “Amendment 3 would give the first ‘comprehensive’ marijuana business licenses to existing medical marijuana companies…[and] the amendment does not increase the number of available full market licenses’ and calls a program that would give ‘micro’ business licenses to disadvantaged groups ‘very limited.’” “When a lot of minority leaders are saying this isn’t good for the community, I’m inclined to defer to their judgment,” Sophomore Andrew de las Alas said. De las Alas also criticized Amendment 4, citing racial injustices tied to police activity. “Any increase to police funding, I think, can be interpreted as anti-Black,” he said. “Expanding funding to the police amplifies militarization of the police where we don’t need it.” Despite some students’ hopes
for more progressive victories in Missouri, many still felt content with the national election results. Political analysts predicted a “red wave,” which would have brought GOP control back to the Senate and House, but Democrats exceeded
expectations. “I think it was the Times that said it was like the ‘Red Wave’ was more of a ‘Pink Splash’,” de las Alas said. “I’m happy to see that the country did not adamantly support election deniers.”
HOLDEN HINDES | STUDENT LIFE
Two students stand at the butter churning table to spread enthusiasm for the democratic process.
HOLDEN HINES | STUDENT HINDES
Balkan Treat Box food truck serves people near the polls.
Bechdel, author and cartoonist, speaks on her career, self discovery CHLOE HUGHLETT, TUESDAY HADDEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER HEAD OF ILLUSTRATION Alison Bechdel, a MacArthur Fellow and acclaimed lesbian
cartoonist, received the 2022 Washington University in St. Louis International Humanities Prize, and delivered a lecture on her body of work and her experiences that inspired it, Nov. 9th. Awarded biannually, the
Humanities Prize is presented to candidates whose lifetime contribution to the arts made a lasting impact on society. The ceremony boasted a full-capacity event in Hillman Hall with a watch party runoff location and a Zoom that
hosted more patrons. Guests heard from Bechdel on her work surrounding queer identity, family trauma, and sense of self. Her first novel, “Fun Home:
SEE BECHDEL, PAGE 2
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University of Michigan Professor Jeffrey Veidlinger contextualized and explained Ukrainian pogroms, or organized massacres, and their subsequent responsibility in the onset of the Holocaust, Nov. 3. Veidlinger’s lecture focused on his research in Ukraine on the development of Ukrainian pogroms from 1918 to 1921. Veidlinger, a professor of History and Judaic Studies, visited Ukraine 10 times between 2001 and 2010 to interview Yiddish speakers about their experiences and their families’ experiences. Veidlinger’s main topic of the lecture was how pogroms, usually occurring against Jewish people, were prevalent in Ukraine both in the form of inter-community violence and military violence. Ultimately, these pogroms were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews. “There were about 1,500 pogroms in about 500 different locations, resulting in the death of 100,000 people,” Veilinger said. “About 40,000 Jews were killed directly during the pogroms at the time, and another 60,000 died subsequently as a result of things like starvation or disease caused by the pogroms.” The lecture featured two video interviews of individuals that Veidlinger interviewed. The pair of videos painted two co-existing pictures of pogroms: the first man spoke of how his local community incited a pogrom, while the second man detailed how the Ukrainian military came to incite a pogrom. Veidlinger said his research was partly inspired by the photos and stories his father, who fled to the United States from German occupation in Budapest, would share with him. Veidlinger described one photo, in particular, that profoundly affected his view of the Holocaust, and how it meshed with everyday life for those living through it. “It looks like a perfectly nice picture of a happy father and his son sitting on the balcony of their Budapest apartment,” he said. “But you have to look a little bit closer to recognize that they’re both wearing yellow stars.” In a plan to stigmatize and persecute Jews, German authorities forced Jewish people to wear yellow stars so non-Jews could identify them. Veidlinger explained how common stereotypical tropes were used to vilify the Jewish people living in Ukraine, and how these tropes were partly responsible for the violence against them.
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