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University leaders decline sanctuary campus designation, sign support of deferred action TAYLOR FLEIG Alestle Reporter Days before the start of the spring semester, students at SIUE received an email announcing that SIU System President Randy Dunn will not designate a sanctuary campus among the three SIU campuses — Carbondale, Edwardsville and Springfield. In December, two student groups from SIUC asked university administrators to designate a campus as a formal sanctuary for undocumented students. The students sent a letter to administrators asking them to adopt policies to protect students who may be at risk of losing their documented status. In the email, Dunn said the designation of a sanctuary campus would potentially put SIU at risk of losing federal financial aid since it is not clearly defined in any legal sense and suggests the university would be willing to violate the law. “At the same time, there are principles that we believe are important during this uncertain period,” Dunn said. “We will continue to do everything we can within the scope of our established law to support our students.” According to a separate email sent to SIUE students Jan. 6, Chancellor Randy Pembrook became one of 600 university leaders from across the country to sign the statement in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Started in 2012 under the Obama Administration, DACA allows undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before their 16th birthday to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. In order to be eligible, immigrants must be currently enrolled in school or have been honorably discharged from the military, under age 31, and have not been convicted of a felony, or otherwise pose a threat to national security. “Though we do not know what specific changes may occur to DACA in the coming weeks and months, SIUE will continue to support and protect our students on campus as we have in the past,” Pembrook said in the email. “A key component of SIUE’s mission to shape a changing world is to provide access to higher education, particularly to first-generation students.” Out of more than 30,000 students, the SIU system as a whole enrolls fewer than 60 DACA students, according to the Jan. 6 email. “Obviously the 60 students, no matter how big or small that number may be, should be protected. They are already facing so much criticism. We have such a diverse campus, and we should keep it diverse, but also safe for everyone,” sophomore mass communications major Allison Wyrsch, of Bethalto said. If DACA students or other international students need assistance, they are urged to contact the office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at 650-2020. Contact TAYLOR FLEIG Call 650-3527 Tweet @tfleig_alestle Email tfleig@alestlelive.com
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vol. LXIX no. XXIII
#SMASHTHEDICKTATORSHIP Interactive art project smashes expectations, patriarchy MIRANDA LINTZENICH Alestle Reporter When senior graphic design major Travis Ware, of Sacremento, first heard the news of who would soon take presidential office, he wanted to make a statement. As a comedian and side show performer, his way of doing so started by creating an interactive art project like no other, and between noon and 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 — Inauguration Day — Ware’s project will conclude with the smashing of 70 phallic sculptures in the Stratton Quadrangle. SMASH | pg. 4
As a part of an interactive art project created by senior graphic design major Travis Ware, of Sacramento, two women write messages on porcelain phallic sculptures Dec. 30, 2016, at Shameless Grounds in St. Louis. | Photo courtesy of Travis Ware
Local artists petition loan of painting for inauguration MIRANDA LINTZENICH Alestle Reporter SIUE Art History Professor Ivy Cooper and St. Louis artist Ilene Berman started a petition to stop the loan of a painting at the St. Louis Art Museum from going to the 58th Presidential Inauguration and Luncheon, which the museum declined. SLAM is loaning former Missouri Legislator George Caleb Bingham’s painting “Verdict of the People” for the luncheon Jan. 20, according to Hyperallergic. As of Jan. 18, the petition was only 65 supporters short of having 5,000 signatures from both the local area and nationwide. Cooper and Berman said they believe the painting should have no part in the luncheon and have asked SLAM to cancel the loan as a result of that disagreement. “I first found out about the loan in an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch stating that Senator Roy Blunt had selected the piece,” Cooper said. “We feel like the painting represents the St. Louis community, and we don’t want it representing us at the inauguration.” Cooper said she sees the loan of the painting as an endorsement of Trump’s presidency. The petition states that the signers object to the “painting’s use as an inaugural backdrop and an implicit endorsement of the Trump presidency and his expressed values of hatred, misogyny, racism and xenophobia.” Cooper and Berman notified SLAM of their actions. “We have notified the director and the petition is still open online,” Cooper said. “The museum issued a statement, and we met with the director this past Wednesday [Jan. 11].” “The museum takes no position on
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candidates for public office, nor does it support or opposed individuals elected to such offices. It does, however, support the office of the presidency itself. When the bipartisan Joint Congressional Commission on Inaugural Ceremonies requested the loan of a painting for the Inaugural Luncheon, it was an honor for the museum to participate in the long-standing tradition,” Brent Benjamin, the Barbara B. Taylor director of the SLAM, told Hyperallergic. Cooper said the director’s decision to decline the loan disappointed her. “They told us that the loan of the painting is not in support of any presidential candidate,” Cooper said. “Instead, it supports the inaugural tradition. The loan itself is not political.” Cooper said she knows the director won’t change his mind. “We are just happy that people are talking about art and its role in the political process,” Cooper said. “I would like people to look at the petition and consider signing it. But it is more than that — art is used to represent various views, and [they] may want to become more aware of how art is sometimes used for political purposes.” The painting was completed in 18541855 and depicts small town Missourians’ reactions to the result of a county election. During the same time period, slavery was legal and women could not vote. “I think, ironically, [the painting] also reflects the kind of division and the kind of exclusion that Trump would bring to his presidency,” Cooper said. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Missouri Senator and JCCIC chairman Roy Blunt was the one who thought the painting would serve it’s place at the event. Sen. Blunt and the JCCIC sent a statement regarding the background of the
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painting and how it would serve on Inauguration Day. After Trump takes the oath of office and delivers his inaugural address, Sen. Blunt and the JCCIC will host a luncheon in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C., the statement said. The JCCIC has organized the celebration for the incoming president, vice president, their families, congress leaders and other invited guests since 1953. According to the statement, the program includes a set of speeches, JCCIC presentations and toasts to the new administration. As JCCIC chairman, Blunt had the responsibility to select a work of art to be displayed during the luncheon. The George Caleb Bingham Collection arrived on loan to the SLAM from the Bingham Trust in 2015, which is the first comprehensive exhibition of paintings and drawings by Bingham in 25 years, according to the JCCIC. According to the Columbia Missourian, a man seated in the foreground of the painting poses in a similar manner to that of the Roman sculpture, “The Dying Gaul.” The Missourian speculated the pose may correlate with Bingham’s feelings about the election results and pointed out that Conneticut College art history professor Nancy Rash related the painting to Bingham’s opinion about slavery in her book, “The Paintings and Politics of George Caleb Bingham.” Cooper said she has no affiliation with SIUE when it comes to the petition.
Contact MIRANDA LINTZENICH Call 650-3527 Tweet @mlintz_alestle Email mlintzenich@alestlelive.com
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