VOLUME ISSUE VOLUME 45,45, ISSUE 39 45
Thursday, March 27, Thursday, February 27, 2014 2014
I, TOO, AM UW-MADISON STUDENTS SPEAK OUT ON DIVERSITY Campaign raises awareness about common stereotypes against marginalized students Ye Jin
Herald Contributor After seeing students purchase sombreros and ponchos for a themed party, Marianna Rivera felt unwelcome and disrespected. Rivera, a University of Wisconsin senior, was photographed as part of the “I, too, am UWMadison” Tumblr page. In the photo, she holds a sign that reads, “My culture is not the theme for your dumb party.” A group of UW students led by Claire Zhuang organized the campaign as a way to raise awareness about microaggressions against ethnic minority students on campus.
Microaggressions are brief verbal, behavioral or environmental exchanges that intentionally or unintentionally communicate negative or insulting slights to marginalized groups in society. Inspired by Harvard’s “I, too, am Harvard” and the “I, too, am Oxford” campaign at Oxford University, Zhuang, a UW senior, decided to launch a similar project for the Madison campus. Emily Yee, a contributor to the campaign, said she felt an emotional connection to some of the quotes when she was reading through the Harvard campaign. Yee assisted Zhuang in setting
up the Tumblr page and posting photos on the blog. Zhuang said she started the campaign to let people know that racial discrimination still exists, although it might appear in different forms. Many UW students face these situations on a daily basis, she said. “I think this is inspiring since it shows a fresh angle of racial stereotypes and might be able to call more attention and enrich the chapter of fighting against racism,” Max Ma, a UW junior studying journalism, said. The goal is not to discourage students from talking about racism, but to encourage white students to be more thoughtful, Zhuang said. “They should just be more conscious of some of
the things they are asking before they say them, especially like sensitive identity questions,” she said. One of their main goals is to represent a variety of multicultural students as the campaign gains popularity on campus, Yee said. The campaign is still developing and students from many underrepresented groups are reaching out to get involved, she said. Rivera said the campaign helps show ethnic minority students and international students are the same as all degree-seeking students on campus. She said she hopes this campaign will open people’s eyes. Specifically on UW’s campus, which prides itself on being progressive, tolerant and
diverse, there are still a lot of “micro-questions” going on campus, Rivera said. “Madison may be a very liberal place, but even the ally could still unknowingly pass on the microaggression, and they may not have to think about it, but there are other students going through that everyday,” Rivera said. Approximately 40 students are active in this campaign, a number that continues to grow, Zhuang said. While Ma commended the project’s goal, he said he was hesitant to get involved because he does not feel he has been treated differently than his peers on campus based on his ethnicity. “The campaign is where the minority stands up
and speak for themselves. It shows the gut and vitality of non-white students and it helps them communicate their feelings and problems to the masses,” Ma said. “The most encouraging aspect, to me, is that it’s using social media to reach more audience and let them hear what they might have never heard of.” Echo Zhang, an international student, said international students can be quite shy and might only make friends in their own ethnic community. Zhang also said she sometimes felt her American classmates did not want to make the effort to be friends with her either, although she generally feels she fits in well with the campus community.
Campus reaction mixed over graduation speaker Rachael Lallensack Print Campus Editor
As Badgers prepare to walk across the stage at Camp Randall in less than two months, the announcement of Jon Huntsman, Jr., former governor of Utah and a United States ambassador, as the commencement speaker
sparked mixed reactions from the student body. Huntsman, who started his career as a staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan, has served under four U.S. presidents and was a 2012 Republican presidential candidate. Most recently, he served as the U.S. ambassador to China.
“He is a moderate, bipartisan leader who has a record of positive public service,” Andrew Bulovsky, senior class vice president, said. The University of Wisconsin will not pay Huntsman for his appearance, he said. It has been two decades since Badgers graduated
in a single ceremony, and Huntsman is a speaker who could unite the class, Bulovsky said. However, other students do not share his opinion. Laura Killingsworth, a graduating senior studying rehabilitation psychology, said she was not pleased with the announcement because
Huntsman is a politician and is not affiliated with UW. “As a unifying event on campus, a politician representing a certain party shouldn’t be the keynote speaker,” Killingsworth said. The move to a singleceremony commencement was announced in the fall, with one goal being to bring a
prominent speaker to campus. Bulovsky said he encourages students to withhold judgment until they hear what Huntsman has to say at the ceremony. In a UW statement, Huntsman said, “I consider it a great honor to be a small part of sending them off to conquer the opportunities ahead.”
Self-likeability: a Facebook effect Professor finds that looking at own profile can lead to viewing oneself more positively Rachael Lallensack Campus Editor
After moving from Europe and finding herself isolated for the first time, Catalina Toma began to rely on technology to ease the transition to college. Toma, a University of Wisconsin professor of communication arts, recently completed studies on the effects of Facebook self-presentation on self-esteem, cognitive task performance and self-affirmation. She found people thought of themselves more positively after looking at their own Facebook profiles. “I came from Europe to the United States for my college education, and I found myself for the first time in my life completely isolated from friends and family,” Toma said. Toma spent much of her time studying the psychological effects that
Facebook profiles have on users. One of the main topics of the research is selfpresentation, the images that people construct of themselves in front of an audience, Toma said. “I study how technology affects personal relationships, and how it affects people’s abilities to relate to one another, to understand one another,” she said. Facebook, with its massive network, is a venue unlike any that people have had before, Toma said. She wanted to investigate how a person’s carefully constructed profile affected their selfesteem and cognitive performance. To conduct her research, Toma said she needed a way to measure self-esteem and decided to veer away
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A team of researchers has compiled 2.5 million images to create a vivid panorama of the Milky Way Galaxy. NEWS 2
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