THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
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Friday February 5, 2016
WVU provides safe spaces for LGBTQ members by kayla asbury associate city editor @kaylaasbury_
Whether it be on a laptop, a window or a professor’s door, a Safe Zone sticker invites LGBTQ students into a safe environment to talk about themselves and their problems openly with someone certified to listen. The goal of the Safe Zone program at West Virginia University is to “foster an atmosphere of support and celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning individuals on the WVU campus,” according to its website. There are hundreds of students, faculty and staff at WVU who are Safe Zone certified, according to Sean Fitzwater, a Safe Zone certified student. “I would hope that people look at it as a way to kind of show that the University as a whole is more inclusive,” Fitzwater said. “The more stickers that show up, the more people that come for tours see that this place might be a little better than what West Virginia as a whole is stigmatized as.” Making WVU a safe space is one of the biggest missions for the Safe Zone program. “I think that one of the things that Safe Zone has extraordinarily done, particularly for students is, a lot of LGBTQ students recognize they may not necessarily have the safest place,” said Daniel Brewster, an instructor at WVU. “They may not have parents that they can go to, they may not necessarily be able to go to their friends, they may not even necessarily be able to go to their therapist because they don’t trust their therapist to keep their privacy from their family.” However, creating a “safe space” is not the only goal of the program. “Particularly on a campus like this, it gives that individual someone that they can turn to; whether it’s private conversations, whether it’s questions. It’s also educational for the allies. One of the biggest reason why I want to (have a safe zone program) is to increase that alliance, but also let a lot of allies on campus, in academia, which is supposed to be inclusive,” Brewster said. “Let them understand the role that they play in this as well. It doesn’t just have to be the LGBTQ faculty, staff and administration, we want everyone to be involved.” Safe Zone stickers are a starting point to building relationships between allies and those in the LGBTQ communities. “I guess it’s subjective, right? You know, to some people (the Safe Zone sticker) probably does (make them feel comfortable). To others, they’re like, ‘I don’t know that person, so can I really trust them?’ So you have to develop some type of rapport,” Brewster said. Although all students, faculty and administrators are welcome to participate, the Safe Zone program isn’t exclusive to people that are knowledgeable about LG-
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Alumna starts local clothing line by tessa iglesias correspondent @dailyathenaeum
A West Virginia University alumna recently launched her own clothing line, featuring a Wild and Wonderful Morgantown collection. Nicole Molinaro graduated from WVU in 2014 with a degree in agribusiness management and rural development with minors in public relations and equine studies. Now she is the proud founder of Welsh
near and dear to the hearts of many WVU students and alumni alike, including Blue Hole, High Street and Los Mariachis, as well as the brand’s Corgi logo wearing a coonskin cap. By choosing a Welsh Corgi as the brand’s logo, Molinaro was able to take advantage of a popular trend that held ties to her experiences at horse shows. Through social media, she saw the world was falling in love with the breed, and from being in the equestrian
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Amanda Potts performs as the lead dancer in “Serenade”, a Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School performance, which was given at the Creative Arts Center on Thursday evening.
WVU School of Theatre and Dance presents annual ‘Dance Now!’ concert by meg weissend A&E writer @dailyathenaeum
Annual concert “Dance Now!” gives students a chance to explore individual creativity work alongside professionals and perform in front of a large audience. Thursday night, the West Virginia University School of Theatre and Dance presented this year’s show, premiering in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre of the Creative Arts Center.
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“There’s a lot of preparation. We’re in the theater at least 10 hours a day. The end product is the result of hard work.” Yoav Kaddar
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WVU Dance Program Director
Additional performances of “Dance Now!” will be held at 7:30 p.m. tonight and at 2 p.m. Saturday. The show is mostly comprised of students with dance majors and minors. Featuring new choreography by WVU dance students, WVU dance faculty members and prestigious guest artists, the concert showcases 50 students. The original lighting and costumes are created by Theatre and Dance design faculty and graduate students. It was all hands on deck for the WVU Dance Pro-
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gantown line was inspired by her experiences in the equestrian industry, as well as her time as a student at WVU. “It was the greatest four years, and I don’t think anyone else who has gone there or is there now would feel any differently,” she said. The Wild and Wonderful line embodies everything Morgantown is about, Molinaro said, and she wants this line to really mean something to students. Designs feature places
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Wear, a preppy clothing company targeted toward college students and those involved in the equestrian world. “I want to produce something that not only caters to just the preppy lifestyle trend that’s really gotten popular,” Molinaro said, “but also can touch on equestrians, too, because it all really is just the same style, and actually, the preppy style really originated from (the equestrian style) in a sense.” Molinaro’s new Mor-
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gram. Yoav Kaddar, director of the WVU Dance Program, says all participating parties have been practicing for the production of “Dance Now!” for around eight weeks “There’s a lot of preparation,” Kaddar said. “We’re in the theater at least 10 hours a day. The end product is the result of hard work.” Students in the WVU Dance Program have the opportunity to audition for industry professionals and workshop their pieces for the annual dance concert performances each year. Eight dancers were chosen this year to dance in Masterworks Guest Choreographer Adam Barruch’s compass themed piece. “I look for dancers who have a natural sense of the way I move and an emotional connection to their bodies,” Barruch said in an interview with WVU Today. “They may not immediately grasp the complexities of the coordinations perfectly, but I can usually tell very quickly if someone will be able to grasp it. People who are committed to what they do without imposing anything artificial onto the work also catch my eye.” “Dance Now!” allows students to experience working on a close-toprofessional production. Dancers from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School traveled to WVU to perform the legendary George Balanchine’s “Serenade” in the beginning of the show. Set to Tchaikovsky’s 1880 “Serenade for Strings in C,” the number is a popular classical piece.
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“Serenade”, a ballet dance, is performed by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School at the Dance Now! event inside the Creative Arts Center.
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Dancers bow to the audience after performing “Ophidia” at the Dance Now! event hosted by the Creative Arts Center. Also making an ap- really made each perforpearance is the Pizazz mance stand out from Dance Academy from one another. Nothing Morgantown, dancing to was the same, so it kept Nouela’s cover of “Sound me on my toes. It’s also of Silence” by Simon & cool to think that some Garfunkel. The dance of these dancers are peois a tribute for those af- ple we pass on campus fected by Alzheimer’s everyday.” disease. WVU students and the Many styles of dance surrounding community are featured throughout are encouraged to see the performance. Each one of the “Dance Now!” routine is unique, incor- performances. Tickets can be purporating a diverse selecchased at ticketmaster. tion of music. “All in all, it was a very com, the CAC Box Office, unique experience,” said and the Mountainlair Madison Sterne, a fresh- Box Office. To learn more man at WVU. “Although about upcoming events the dancing was enter- in the CAC, visit ccarts. taining and special in it- wvu.edu. self, the costumes, lighting and different music daa&e@mail.wvu.edu
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industry and seeing how strong the following for the dog was, she knew the corgi would be the perfect logo for her clothing line. “These dogs are different,” Molinaro said. “They’re so much like a person. It’s amazing.” Molinaro did not intend to start a clothing line after graduation. It was an idea that popped into her head, and because of the tremendous support she got from
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‘Conversations with Cops’ works to break down community barrier by jamie mason staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Thursday night, West Virginia University students and Morgantown residents were able to have “Conversations with Cops.” Seven police officers and attorneys from around West Virginia sat down with residents from WVU and Morgantown for an open forum discussion, giving community members the chance to openly ask questions and share their opinion on law enforcement. “It means a lot to me to have members of the community, specifically the WVU student community, interested in what we do, interested in our perspective,” said Officer James Smith of the Morgantown Police Department. “It’s given me a great opportunity to listen and hear from the students and hear their perspective, they’ve gotten to hear mine, and I think we have a better understanding of one another.” In addition to the Morgantown Police Department, representatives from the University Police Department, the Monongalia County Police Department, the Morgantown City Police Department, West Virginia State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s Office took part in the forum. Many in attendance were pleased that there were different agencies voicing their opinion at the discussion. “Morgantown is a mixed community, you have the University, it is a college town and then on top of that it is an actual town,” said Terina McDowell, a WVU alumna. “(By having different agencies in attendance) I just felt like you got different perspectives within the officer community.” Two similar discussions were held last semester, and there will be one more forum this semester on April 7. The attendance at last night’s discussion was disappointing to some that participated. “We wanted a little more, but the dialogue and the conversation is exactly what we are looking for,” said Eric Jordan, the moderator for the discussion. “I felt like we could’ve went a little longer, but I think from the first time we started this last semester, we’re going in the right direction.” Jordan said that each time they have this event, the discussions are getting better. He hopes that
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