October 2019

MEETING THE MASTERMINDS BEHIND GENEVA’S CLIMATE MARCH

By Gabriel Pietrorazio ‘20 Herald Staff

A community’s charge and dream for climate change recognition and reconciliation was realized when more than 150 activists united along Seneca Lake for the Geneva Climate March on Sept. 27.

In particular, three professors at the Colleges who are affiliated with the Geneva Women’s Assembly were instrumental in coordinating the march.

In this article, the Herald connects with them and reflects upon the political spectacle and their collective struggle to attain climate justice in Geneva, explores the essence of political activism, candidly addresses concerns of student apathy on campus and explains what this civil action means for the future of the Colleges.

Last year, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science Ricky Price was invited to join the Geneva Women’s Assembly alongside his peers and acknowledged that social justice activism is a crucial component to his scholarship.

However, he admits that it is easier said than done within his profession as a scholar in higher education.

“Generally, in academia you’re punished quite heavily if you’re involved in the things that you talk about. There’s an idea that you lose objectivity. I come from a different training and different school of thought,” Professor Price says.

From his perspective as a policy scholar, Price explores the ways in which institutions shape lives, particularly from a focus on the LGBTQ community and HIV/AIDS research.

Despite suffering backlash from the academic community by participating in action, Price’s passion for social justice transcends his occupation for the sake of his sanity and well-being.

“It’s difficult in those arenas to preach the politics but not participate in the politics, just morally and ethically. It’s not good for my job, not good for my job prospects, but it’s good for my soul,” he says.

For Price, this participation included the climate march, which was organized with merely two weeks of planning. Price mentions that the GWA “gets things done in short periods of time.”

“The capacity to do actions is every strong because they built a strong network of people who can volunteer and help and they know how to delineate tasks without being directed by one person,” he states.

After one brainstorming session it was clear to organizers that connecting the global to the local and individual to community were crucial components in creating a successful climate change coalition in Geneva amid the week of global climate strikes.

Jacobsen Inaugurated as President

By Olivia Rowland ’21 Copy Editor

On Friday, Oct. 18, Joyce P. Jacobsen was officially inaugurated as the 29th president of Hobart College and the 18th president of William Smith College. The inauguration ceremony, held on the Quad and open to all members of the HWS community, was the centerpiece of a day filled with celebration, which included a community lunch and the President’s Ball held in Saga.

In contrast to the 2017 inauguration of former President Gregory Vincent ’83, which was held off campus in Geneva’s Trinity Episcopal Church and required tickets for attendance, Jacobsen’s inauguration was more inclusive of students, who were able to attend the

Frederick Holmes

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Dear Readers,

Welcome to this semester’s second issue of the Herald! We appreciate your taking the time to pick up this issue and read about news that matters to students and other members of the Colleges’ community.

Many of the articles in this issue focus on important events that have taken place on campus, foremost among these being the inauguration of President Joyce Jacobsen as the first female president of HWS. Though Jacobsen has been serving as president since July, this event formally marked the beginning of her presidency and was a time for the HWS community to come together and reflect on the future of the Colleges.

We also cover Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow’s visit to campus as part of the Genocide and Human Rights Symposium, during which he talked about his book on white nationalism and discussed ways to fight this ideology as a community.

In addition, this issue delves into local events in Geneva that have significance for the Colleges and for students in particular. Our article on last month’s climate march in Geneva explores the involvement of HWS faculty in the Geneva Women’s Assembly, which organized the march, and considers HWS students’ involvement in these political struggles. In the same vein, we cover local elections in Geneva involving a number of alumni as candidates and the Colleges’ role in the community as a topic of debate among candidates.

This issue also picks up on some areas of investigation that the Herald has covered thoroughly in the past. We provide an update about the Title IX Office, in which new Title IX Coordinator Bill Boerner discusses his plans and goals for the office, and an opinion piece on the coordinate system continues the many coordinate conversations that have taken place on campus and in the Herald over the past few semesters.

By reporting on these important topics, we hope to provide students with the information they need to get involved and create change on campus and in the Geneva community. It is up to you, our readers, to act on this information. If all of the articles in this issue show one thing, it is that there is much to be done to make HWS a better place for all members of its community.

Though we encourage students to take action outside of the Herald, we do also need help from our student readers in order to thoroughly cover important topics of relevance to the campus community. We always welcome opinion pieces on any such topic as well. If you would like to join our team as a writer, photographer, editor, or designer, let us know by emailing us at herald@hws.edu or visiting our website, www.hwsherald.com.

On our website, you can also find both of our current podcast series: The Seneca Scene and Career Journeys. Recent episodes of The Seneca Scene, which covers campus news, include and interview with President Jacobsen and an engrossing miniseries on the history of Tommy the Traveler at HWS. Produced by Alex Kerai ‘19 and the Salisbury Center for Career, Professional, and Experiential Education, Career Journeys explores the career paths of accomplished alumni and alumnae.

We hope that you enjoy reading (and listening)!

Sincerely, Reed Herter ‘22 Russell Payne ‘21 Olivia Rowland ‘21

HWS Debate to Host Humans Versus Zombies Event

By Reed Herter ‘22 News Editor

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, would you rather be a human or a zombie? This is the question HWS Debate Team members will answer in the Sanford Room outside of the library next Thursday, Oct. 31, in a show debate open to the public. To know what you’ll be in for, here’s a quick rundown on the debate.

The HWS Debate Team does a style of debate called British Parliamentary Style Debate, or BP for short. BP consists of four teams of two people arguing as either side government (who is in favor of the motion) or side opposition (who is against the motion). For the debate taking place on Halloween, the government teams will be pro-zombie, while the opposition will defend remaining human.

In competition, teams are randomly assigned to one of the four positions: Opening Government (OG), Opening Opposition (OO), Closing Government (CG), and Closing Opposition (CO). Each of the teams has a specific job to do, with OG defining terms and parameters for the debate to take place in, OO setting up the case against what has been proposed and

possibly giving their own plan, and the back half teams adding new and significant arguments or viewpoints as well as contextualizing the debate as a whole.

At a tournament, there is a panel of judges normally led by the Chair, who helps lead the panel in the decisionmaking process to see which team takes what score. For next Thursday’s debate, the audience will decide what group reigns supreme.

If you attend, you will be able to see this take place and watch some of the world-class and award-winning debaters we have at HWS go head-tohead on some Halloween fun! The event will begin at 5:45 pm.

The half-mile parade route was designed to spotlight past environmental transgressions, including the former Geneva Foundry and Marsh Creek spill site, in addition to El Morro Restaurant as a way to highlight how climate migrants come to the city seeking refuge.

Meticulously planning for the march was never easy and necessitated precision and focus in the form of finding speakers for the rally, marketing and publicizing the event, walking and measuring the route, designing posters and banners as well as purchasing props and costumes for political skits.

Despite the absence of any scientists or HWS students as speakers at the climate march, Democratic Party Ward 4 incumbent candidate Ken Camera ’74 was invited to speak on behalf of the Geneva Women’s Assembly by Democratic Party Councilor AtLarge candidate Tamarie Cataldo.

Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric Hannah Dickinson, another one of the professors involved with the GWA and organizing the march, wrote rhythmic chants that, according to Price, “cohere a message and strategy together” and ease anxieties about jumping into social activism.

“When [people] first think of activism, they’re either really nervous or fear repression, which is a real fear, but … I learned in AIDS activism that the more creative and more fun it is, the more it builds community and then people want to come back for more because they take the rage, they take the anger that they feel from things that are happening in the world to build community rather than alienating ourselves,” Price says.

He also emphasizes that marchers should be proud to exercise their First Amendment rights, rather than being fearful to speak and assemble freely, especially when it comes to the prevalence of internet trolls.

“You ignore the trolls. You laugh at what they say cause they’re funny, but they’re missing the point,” he says.

Prior to the march, online trolls imposed tactics to address the alleged hypocrisy of climate activists that partake in modes of political and social activism. Price considers these comments as nothing short of “defensive and reactionary.”

More importantly, however, he believes that the aims of activism are supposed to “annoy people” as a disruption of norms and mindsets, which was what the Geneva Climate March essentially accomplished.

But beyond trolling, Price sees that there is still plenty of room for solidarity among the climate activism movement in the hopes of building a better world. He also acknowledges that activism is not the end of this conversation but rather the start of something new.

“The action builds into something else. Obviously doing a rally is not going to end climate change but it raises awareness and it starts to show people that the community is interested,” he states.

This semester, Price teaches a course titled “The Politics of Climate Change.” He sought for his students to step outside of the classroom to march downtown, but turnout from his two sessions and the rest of the Colleges was low and less than anticipated.

“I tried almost for two or three weeks to get students from HWS to speak at the rally or be involved. There were definitely a handful of students there and that made me feel great, but

it was much easier to get the middle schoolers in Geneva there, like they were ready to go,” Price says.

In class, Price explored with students “Why HWS isn’t on the frontlines of this like many other small liberal arts colleges and big universities are as well. So, where is the action?”

From his perspective as a visiting professor, it seems that a desire to act out exists but a social stigma as equally powerful, if not greater, forces a sense fear or embarrassment upon students at the Colleges.

Students have confided in Price and disclosed the consequence of being seen on campus as someone who is different, politically or socially, and the costs incurred for “stepping out of bounds.”

But even beyond the march, Price admits that he was shocked when he did not see any hurricane relief efforts organized on campus for the Bahamas.

“Things you typically see at other universities or colleges, there’s a reticence here and again I don’t know what causes it,” Price says.

Aside from social stigmas, Price adamantly feels that many students are overwhelmed based on their varying levels of responsibilities during college life, which places additional burdens on them to attend events throughout campus, “pulling them in different directions,” as he puts it.

Professor of Political Science and Director of the Fisher Center Jodi Dean also contributed to crafting the climate march and shared similar sentiments.

Dean adds to Price’s comment about alleged campus apathy by mentioning that Geneva should “not just be a background for four years of fun.”

Professor Dean also admits that she was surprised with the march’s turnout and expected to see more HWS students in attendance.

In comparison, she claims that 300 people participated in Geneva’s We Are Seneca Lake mobilization in 2016 during January while cold winter precipitation rained down upon activists.

Ultimately, Dean thinks that the vast majority of students “don’t see a reason to march in Geneva,” further elaborating that they may not even think of the city as “their own home” despite living here for the tenure of their undergraduate studies.

Dean is adamant on reminding readers that climate change does not universally affect everyone in the same way.

“Climate change does not affect everyone equally. Everyone is not equally responsible for it,” Dean says. In contrast, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric Hannah Dickinson differs with Professors Price and Dean.

“I guess I am not sure that HWS students are apathetic,” she says.

Instead, she believes that they spend hours a day navigating issues on campus, especially the structures of race and how to find inclusion within the Colleges. Dickinson credits this justification as a main reason why students are not getting involved in Geneva’s local politics and social actions.

“Students here are navigating a whole variety of challenges and issues. I think that if you’re spending, right, hours every day thinking about how to navigate racism in your residence hall or in Saga or in the classroom and that’s where your organizing energy is going around, making a more anti-

racist campus, it’s hard for me, I think, to blame those students for not getting more involved in Geneva politics. I can understand that,” Dickinson states.

Dickinson also sees the ongoing struggles on campus that preoccupy students as struggles “to make this campus itself more egalitarian and environmentally just.”

However, she also offers that students who are either frustrated with campus politics or the political system are encouraged to participate and mobilize with the GWA.

Dickinson notes that the City of Geneva offers many opportunities for students to get involved with community organizing, radical or feminist politics.

“I do wish that students would understand that there are opportunities to do that work in Geneva,” she says.

Similarly, Dickinson is proud of their most recent action that was predominantly organized by “working class women of Geneva.”

But when it comes to reflecting on the climate march, she is grateful most of all for the Geneva middle schoolers leading the charge through the city’s neighborhoods, which gave the march a “real community-orientedfeel where marchers “claimed the streets for themselves.”

Following the march, Dickinson hopes that this action will continue to unite institutions within the community, particularly the Colleges and city government.

Dickinson considers cooperation in creating climate change propositions with the city as a component crucial for the movement, which has been characterized as a people’s struggle for climate justice.

“It’s everyday people who live and work and raise their kids here,” Dickinson says.

Although Professor Dickinson recognizes the gradual changes both in the city and on campus regarding climate change awareness and policy action, she still thinks that the proposed solutions both by city government and the Colleges are far too small.

When it comes to the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts that holds a LEEDS building certification, she asks, “Why are we patting ourselves on the back?”

Despite the mounting ceremonial victories collected on behalf of the environment in Geneva, Dickinson believes that the Finger Lakes Institute can help solve the puzzle of how to keep Seneca Lake sustainably producing accessible drinking water for future generations.

A lesson Dickinson wishes to leave for students espouses that someone does not need to be an environmental justice advocate to get involved in the movement that has historically expanded to encompass more than just “white guys and tree huggers.”

With Geneva’s Climate March in the back mirror, a burning question still remains: how will Hobart and William Smith Colleges continue sparking conversations about climate change?

ceremony and other celebratory events. Many students participated in the inauguration itself as musicians, singers in the Colleges’ Cantori, and dancers in a West African dance performance.

Students were joined by faculty, staff, members of the Board of Trustees, and other community members on the Quad to watch the ceremony. Associate Professor of History Matt Crow opened the ceremony by recognizing the history of the Colleges’ land. “As we stand here on land that was traditional territory of the Onondaga, the Seneca people, we acknowledge and express our gratitude and our place in history,” he said.

In his remarks, Crow noted the historic importance of Jacobsen’s inauguration for the Colleges. “It is the honor of my tenure here at the Colleges to address you as the Presiding Officer of the Faculty, and to do so on the occasion of the inauguration of President Joyce Jacobsen, our first woman president,” he said. “You don't have to be a historian to know that this is a pretty historic day.”

Student Trustee Gianna Gonzalez ’20 shared this sentiment, saying, “It is on this important day, as we inaugurate the Colleges’ first female president, that I look forward to the future of the Colleges.”

Chair of the Board of Trustees Thomas S. Bozzuto ’68 also emphasized this fact in his introduction of Jacobsen. He highlighted how her career “has led her right here, to this moment when, in just a few seconds, she will be officially inaugurated as the first woman to serve as the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.”

In his introduction of Jacobsen, Bozzuto echoed the glowing endorsements and support Jacobsen received from all of the speakers in the ceremony. “In my months of getting to know Dr. Jacobsen well, she has impressed me as being exceptionally smart and pragmatic, straightforward and thoughtful, a person of integrity and compassion. She understands the dynamics and tensions of higher education implicitly, and has all of the skills and qualities necessary to be successful,” he said.

Though stoic during the beginning of the ceremony, Jacobsen was animated during the investiture, or her official installation as president, and her inaugural address.

After being formally inaugurated by Bozzuto and Vice Chairs of the Board of Trustees Cynthia Gelsthorpe Fish ’82 and Craig R. Stine ’81, Jacobsen waved to the crowd wearing a pair of Hobart and William Smith mittens. Her first words following the investiture: “I told them it wasn’t going to rain.”

Jacobsen herself did not dwell much on the significance of the moment for the Colleges or for herself. “I’m going to hold my emotions more in check today,” she said, referring to the more emotional speech she made following the announcement of her presidency.

In the rest of her inaugural address, Jacbosen joked about her family’s concerns about her career path and told humorous anecdotes from the Colleges’ past, such as “students rolling cannonballs down the corridors” in the 19th century. However, the subject of her speech, the problems currently facing higher education, was serious and her research thorough.

Jacobsen noted that higher education has always had challenges, some considerably worse than those faced by postsecondary institutions today.

“If you want to see real problems, go back and look at the American higher education system in the 19th century and early 20th century,” she said. “If you think it is hard to convince folks nowadays that a college education is a good bet, try convincing them in a time when most people didn't finish high school, when the population was mainly rural and engaged in farming or other basic industries, when you have constant bellicosity.”

She argued that HWS has never been exempt from the problems facing higher education in the United States, which include financial precarity, high costs of attendance, low student and faculty retention rates, and perceived problems with students’ preparedness for college.

Ultimately, Jacobsen was pragmatic yet optimistic about the future of higher education and the Colleges, coming to the conclusion that higher education can never be completely stable but will continue to endure.

“U.S. higher education has had, and continues to have, a remarkably successful run as a business sector,” she said. “The survival rate of colleges and universities, and the growth of the sector, stands in strong contrast to the average business history.”

Drawing from her training as an economist, Jacobsen argued that rising income levels will continue to create greater demand for education. “Why do I want to be a college president? Actually, it looks like a pretty safe career bet,” she said.

Jacobsen further specified why she wants to be the president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, which she called “spunky, scrappy colleges that have survived numerous existential threats over their years and nonetheless just keep on keeping on, hustling and marketing and serving the community in which they are embedded.”

She concluded, “To have the opportunity to guide not one, but two [colleges], myself, to help them not only survive into the next two hundred years and try to get better in that future, is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Come and visit our Quaker community

What do Quakers believe?

We believe all people can have a direct experience of the Divine, individually and in shared worship. We believe everyone is equal. We look for the Divine in every person we meet. Our guiding principle is love

What happens in a Quaker meeting?

We come together in a circle for worship and sit quietly. We listen to the small still voice of the Divine within us. We speak only if we feel led to do so.

Come join us: Sundays at 10:30am in the Fisher Center 2nd Floor of Demarest Hall

For further information contact: John (607) 243-7077

Cherry (315) 789-8792 Chester (315) 781-1251 www.quakerwny.com

Photo Credit: Frederick Holmes

News & Opinion

How To Improv(e) Your Life

By Bailey DiSanto ‘21 Herald Contributor

You’ve seen the posters. You’ve heard people talking about the shows. But you still don’t know what Improv Club is.

You’re not alone. So here’s a crash course on what exactly HWS Improv Club does and why you should attend their next show.

What is improv? Improv is short for improvisation. It’s a form of live theatre where the characters, plot and dialogue are made up on the spot. There are rules that accompany particular skits —one HWS favorite is Bachelorette, where the Bachelorette must guess what characters the contestants are playing. However, there are no scripts, and no pre-planning on the part of the actors.

David Pickei ’21 is a third-year veteran of the HWS Improv Club. He shared that the club’s function is “to act as a form of entertainment and comedy” for the audience. “We [the club members] just kind of have fun and joke around.”

Improv is popular due to the low stakes of rehearsals and shows. Compared to the standard theatrical plays and musicals, where actors dedicate hours of practice both on and off stage, improv requires no preparation. Members show up to rehearsal, play some games, then go home. And a show is no different: members show up to Albright Auditorium, warm up, play some games (this time, in front of an

audience), then go home.

When asked why he joined HWS Improv, Pickei highlighted the lowstakes aspect of the club. “I’ve always liked to make jokes and have fun,” he said. Three years in, Pickei looks forward to weekly meetings as a way to “destress during the week.”

Hosting shows is one way that the club shares their fun with the larger HWS community. HWS Improv aims for two to three shows per semester. Each show promises an original lineup, because, of course, improvisation implies an element of “if you blink, you’ll miss it.”

If you attend a show, you can expect the following: two actors at the door asking for you to pick up a pencil and write something, a mashup of vines playing on the large screen as you walk in, and an hour of uncomplicated tomfoolery. And it’s all over with in time for you to go out and begin the main course of your night.

“I think it’s definitely better than nothing,” says Pickei when explaining why students should attend Improv shows. “It’s free, it’s no cost, and you

can come at any time.” Yes, you read that correctly: the doors don’t close after the actors take the stage. The low stakes extend to audience members as well. If you’re running late, don’t worry! There’s no long-winded exposition that, if you miss it, you lose the chance to understand anything at all. In improv, skits last only three to four minutes, and actors start from scratch with each new skit. So if you miss one skit, you’ll be at no disadvantage for the next one.

Still not convinced that you should attend an HWS Improv show? Pickei says that nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche says you should.

According to Nietzsche, normal people will navigate life through “distraction, anchoring, and isolation.” Attending an Improv show can provide you with all three: distract yourself from homework by anchoring yourself to an isolated chair in the back row of Albright Auditorium.

HWS Improv will host its first show on Friday, Oct. 25. The show will begin at 7 p.m. in Albright Auditorium. Admission is free. Attendance is encouraged.

Coordinate Conversations Continued

From the first moment prospective students step onto campus, they can witness the unique history of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Standing on Pulteney Street, one stands on the old dividing line between the Colleges and sees in the scissors statue on Stern Lawn the unity of two pieces coming together as one. However, what do those two united pieces still keep separate? What lines are there on campus besides Pulteney Street? What do those scissors cut away? The coordinate system that brought Hobart and William Smith together in the early 20th century is keeping the modern Colleges from growing and maturing. The Hobart and William Smith student body, specifically LGBTQ+ students, are restrained from expressing themselves and living their lives how they want to live them, and the invisible barriers of gender identity and tradition permeate the campus and shackle it to the past.

The origin story of Hobart and William Smith Colleges is a commonly known one. Hobart College was founded in 1822 by Bishop John Henry Hobart, William Smith College was founded in 1906 across the road, and the two were united in 1922. Starting with a joint commencement, then graduation, then bringing the colleges together equally in 1943, Hobart and William Smith Colleges slowly merged into the HWS that is present today: one college experience with separate deans, athletic departments, and student governments.

The divisions between the two run much deeper than they originally appear to; from the college application process and matriculation to graduation and diplomas, students are forced to pick Hobart or William Smith. Aside from the maleness of Hobart’s history and the femaleness of William Smith’s, there is no major difference in the lives of

current HWS students, and the gendered division only hurts the Colleges.

In recent years, students have pushed for changes to or the complete abolition of the coordinate system in order to better cater to the needs of non-binary, transgender, and genderqueer students.

In 2015, the “Culture of Respect” report, which recognized the faults of the coordinate system, was published, and in 2018, the Board of Trustees sent out a report on the changes that were made and about to be made to the coordinate system. The 2019 Coordinate Report and Policy continues this promise of change by laying out plans for short-term and long-term solutions.

In the short term, the plan to change the coordinate system includes educating faculty, staff, and students about the coordinate system; changing the gendered language of diplomas, transcripts, application forms, and advertising materials; promoting Hobart and William Smith traditions to the entire student body; supporting conversation about gender and the coordinate system; and “[making] gender inclusiveness explicit on campus.” For the long term, the report mentions the availability of adequate gender-neutral bathrooms in each dorm, the creation of a single Dean’s List, and the furthering of education and awareness.

The conversation about the coordinate system and its impacts on LGBTQ+ students is alive and well among the student population. In September, the LGBTQ+ Resource Center hosted a Coordinate Conversation between the students and several of the Deans of both Hobart and William Smith. During this meeting, students had the opportunity to discuss the reality of living on a heavily gendered campus and going to a heavily gendered college with the Deans, and the

By Julia Cilano ’23 Herald Staff

students suggested ideas like explaining the true weight of the coordinate system to prospective students, changing the gendered language and implications of being either a Hobart or a William Smith student, and changing traditions to accept and include HWS’ entire student body. The details of the implementation of these ideas weren’t discussed, but there is enough student-led force to ensure change in HWS’ culture.

At the heart of the debate over the coordinate system is the negative impacts it has on the lives of HWS students, especially LGBTQ+ students. Such a dedication to a system built on the differences between “men” and “women” suffocates queer students and their ability to explore their gender identity, transition, and come out. The assumption that students are either male or female, the need to pick between Hobart or William Smith, and the traditions and expectations of the two schools uphold outdated ideas of gender, gender identity, and sex.

HWS can congratulate itself on being one of the first colleges in the country to have an LGBTQ+ Studies major and minor, but relying on the gender binary supported by the coordinate system flies in the face of all of the progress the Colleges have made. The off-campus world is changing rapidly, and students are bringing that spirit of change to Hobart and William Smith and demanding it of the Colleges. It’s only right that HWS changes with the students it supports, and in this case, that means that the very foundations of this college need to be reshaped and revolutionized to adequately move into the future.

News

Title IX Welcomes Bill Boerner

By Olivia Rowland ’21 Copy Editor

This semester, the Title IX Office welcomed Bill Boerner as assistant vice president and Title IX coordinator. Boerner was hired following an extensive and rigorous search to fill the position vacated by former Title IX Coordinator Susan Lee, who retired at the end of last semester. His arrival on campus ensures that the Title IX Office, which also includes Deputy Title IX Coordinator Katie Stiffler and Title IX Fellow Regina Gesicki, remains fully staffed.

Boerner comes to the Colleges with 20 years of experience in higher education, most recently at SUNY Fredonia, where he worked as Chief Diversity Officer. In that role, Boerner also acted as Fredonia’s Title IX Coordinator, which involved handling reports of sexual violence and working on prevention.

After doing this work at Fredonia, Boerner realized that he wanted to focus more exclusively on Title IX. This led him to HWS, where he could work on Title IX and stay relatively close to Fredonia, where his partner still lives.

Before choosing to come to HWS, Boerner was aware of the 2014 New York Times article about the Colleges’ management of a sexual assault case and the institution’s response to that article.

“There was a lot of turmoil here that happened five years ago that warranted the institution looking at what they needed to change,” Boerner says. “I think a lot of efforts have been made to move in that direction, and with the retirement of the former Title IX director it was an opportune time for someone to come in with some fresh eyes, fresh energy, and move us into the next chapter.”

Boerner believes that he has the experience and skills to work with the rest of the Title IX Office to make this happen. “I like systems and structure, and I think there was some needed work to establish some further systems and structure in this area,” he says.

Some of this work has already begun. In addition to picking up on projects left over from Lee’s time as coordinator and learning how Title IX processes and protocol are implemented at HWS, Boerner has been thinking about changing the way the office does training.

Title IX is required by state and federal law to provide training to students and faculty. Some student populations, like athletes, leaders, and employees, require further training.

Boerner knows that “some students are complaining about too much Title IX training.” For example, he says, “It gets really boring if you’re an athlete for four years and you’re seeing the same exact thing.”

With this in mind, Boerner wants to implement a system for keeping trainings as new and engaging as possible. “I want us to have perhaps a three-year cycle of workshops specifically for athletes that are different,” he explains. “Obviously our resources haven’t vastly changed, our process hasn’t vastly changed, but there’s other things we can focus on.”

Boerner is also looking for ways to make the Title IX Office more transparent with regard to the data it provides for the community. While the Colleges do release annual statistics about reported sexual assaults, “the annual security report doesn’t paint the whole picture,” says Boerner. Disclosures made to the Title IX Office concerning off-campus instances of sexual violence, for example, do not make it into the report but are part of the office’s work in providing students with services and supports.

“To paint a more accurate picture of what’s going on in our campus, it would be wise for us to publish [this data] in some way,” Boerner argues. Along with Stiffler and Gesicki, he is working on figuring out how to make this information public without violating the privacy and trust of students who come forward to the office.

According to Boerner, trust is central to the function of the Title IX Office as a safe place for students to disclose their experiences. It is also, in his view, the reason why more cases of sexual assault have been reported in the past year.

Based on the Living Safely report, there were 13 reports of rape occurring on campus in 2017 and 23 in 2018, representing a 77 percent increase. “I fully anticipate that more reports of sexual violence will come to this office, and we will continue to see an increase in that, not necessarily because we’re seeing an increase of violence in our community, but because we’re establishing that HWS is a safe space to come forward and talk about these things and hold people accountable when we can,” says Boerner.

His broader aim as Title IX Coordinator is to make it less intimidating for students to come forward and work with Title IX. This involves making sure that students understand how the reporting and investigation processes work.

“I’m a neutral party, so I support all students who are involved in a situation, whether they’re coming forward about the situation or they’re accused, so sometimes the situation doesn’t go in the favor the person wants,” Boerner explains. He wants to make sure that students working with Title IX “would still feel heard, that they felt it was a fair process, that the process itself wasn’t a contributing factor to their trauma, and that they feel that after the process they can continue to be a productive member of our community, if they want to.”

Another large part of making students feel comfortable to come to Title IX for Boerner is building relationships with them, which he also sees as a large part of his role and one of his strengths. “I don’t want to just be stuck behind my desk all day. I want to talk with students and work to better our community in lots of ways,” he says.

One way in which Boerner has already been doing this work outside of Title IX is through the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, which he co-chairs with Chaplain Nita Byrd. Created by President Jacobsen while the Colleges search for a new Chief Diversity Officer, the task force is moving forward with the goals established in the Strategic Diversity Plan.

“As the co-chair with the chaplain, Nita Byrd, we’re both new to this community,” Boerner says. “So I think it affords us fresh eyes to look at where we’ve been, where we’re going, and where we want to go. And I think that’s been really helpful.”

The task force is currently focusing on identifying what parts of the Strategic Diversity Plan to implement. To do so, it has been engaging with students and faculty, both whom it aims to include in its work.

Aside from his official roles on the task force and in Title IX, Boerner is interested in working to better the Colleges’ community in other ways.

“I hope that people would see me as a person that they can talk to about these difficult things, and not necessarily just sexual violence,” Boerner says. “I’m excited to be part of this community.”

CANDIDATES OF CONSEQUENCE: THE COLLEGES AND POLITICS OF CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS

By Gabriel Pietrorazio ’20 Herald Staff

This year’s citywide municipal election sparks conversations about the Colleges and its their position in Geneva between stakeholders, constituents, residents and even college students.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges play a vital role in the City of Geneva and impact the lives of all residents, especially amid a crucial election cycle that may dictate the future of this learning community and rest of the city.

Conversations surrounding the Colleges and its students have circulated throughout Ward 1, where the campus resides.

The City of Geneva is segmented into six wards that represent the entire city. Each ward selects one city councilor.

Ward 1 encompasses from as south as Snell Road past Houghton House, northward to Hamilton Street and all of Pulteney Street and South Main Street respectively.

Recently, Jim Meaney of the Geneva Believer noted that the Colleges possess 13 properties from 577 to 775 S. Main St. that overlook Seneca Lake and are collectively valuated at an estimated $7,309,000.

If such properties were not designated under nonprofit status, the city could collect more than $316,000 in taxes, with roughly $125,000 returning back to Geneva.

As a nonprofit entity, the Colleges are exempt from paying property taxes and instead offer a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes).

Although the institution is not required to issue a PILOT, former President Mark D. Gearan negotiated a deal starting in 2012 with the City of Geneva as part of a 10-year, $1.7 million commitment that was established to help balance the city’s budget.

An estimated PILOT that ranges from $170,000 to $200,000 is paid annually from the Colleges to the City of Geneva.

A new agreement will need to be renegotiated and signed sometime before 2021 by those elected to office, particularly the mayor.

Despite the Colleges’ contribution of the annual PILOT and expansion of economic growth throughout the city, candidates during this election are still calling out the Colleges to carry more financial weight and ease the burden for taxpayers.

CANDIDATES AND THE COLLEGES

One of those candidates is Mark Salvatore Pitifer ’82 who graduated from Hobart College and seeks the top seat as mayor on behalf of the Republican Party.

Although he has been endorsed by the Republican Party, Pitifer is registered as an independent and seeks to bring balance and unity to Geneva if elected to office.

In a recent conversation as a part of the Geneva Candidate Snapshot series produced by FingerLakes1.com, Pitifer explained that his transition from attending classes at the Colleges to paying taxes in Geneva was a humbling experience that presented alternative perspectives to him.

“Our taxes are sky high and one of the big reasons is because Hobart and William Smith Colleges owns all this property that cannot be taxed,” Pitifer said.

As mayor, Pitifer hopes that the Colleges will continue sharing their generosity toward Geneva while remaining cognizant of the heightened tax burden that affects the city’s middle and lowermiddle class.

Despite his charge for the Colleges to consider the struggles of the working class, Pitifer is still filled with the most pride when reminiscing about his memories at Hobart College.

After graduating 223rd out of 260 at Geneva High School, Pitifer attended Finger Lakes Community College and traveled to the Colleges’ campus to run on their track. That was when he encountered the famed Coach David J. Urick, who inspired him to eventually attend Hobart as a student athlete.

“If I can do this, you can do this; and my journey to Hobart College is nothing short of miraculous,” Pitifer stated.

Antonio Gomez, the Republican candidate for Ward 1, shares similar sentiments with Pitifer about the Colleges’ responsibility in bearing a greater financial burden for the community.

In contrast, on the same program, Ken Camera ’72 firmly backs his alma mater despite its vast control of taxexempt land.

“I believe the Colleges are paying their way,” he stated.

Camera doubles down on not asking the Colleges to cover more costs for the city’s budget.

“I do believe that the problem can be solved but not by asking the Colleges for more money; it’s by asking people who don’t pay anything to pay something, and one of them is the town of Geneva,” he continued.

Gomez’s opposition during this election, Ward 1 Democratic candidate Tom Burrall, also discusses the Colleges and its students on the Geneva Candidate Snapshot series.

Burrall was quick to share that the key issue in his ward seems to be the presence of Hobart and William Smith college students.

“The key issues in my ward from standing on a lot of porches is what are (we) going to do about those darn college kids,” Burrall said.

Despite many residents informing Burrall about the nuisances that college students pose to Ward 1 residents, he also mentions that he can simply walk across the street and find that they are not bothersome for others.

“I think it should be because there are some noisemakers, both residents and on the other side with the students and I think they can be addressed with not a whole lot of effort, but we just have to be involved in the process,” Burrall said.

While campaigning, Burrall has learned that Vice President of Campus Life Robert Flowers has contributed in establishing better neighborhood and

community relations.

One of the steps taken to ensure that the Colleges remain friendly, especially with its Ward 1 neighbors, has been mandating a meeting in the fall for all students that live off campus.

“I didn’t realize until a couple of taxpayers advised me that there is a mandatory meeting in the fall for all students who are living off campus,” Burrall stated.

As previously mentioned, Meaney of the Geneva Believer indicated that the Colleges own 13 properties along Seneca Lake on South Main Street that are collectively evaluated at an estimated $7,309,000. Burrall was asked whether the Colleges are obligated to financially contribute more to the city through additional taxes or an increase of the PILOT.

“The college is a business. The municipality is also a business. The college knows the income that it needs to generate their services. The municipality also knows the income or taxes that they need to provide the services to run our community. If an exempt institution can help us achieve those goals, then the municipality can also help the exempt institution in achieving their goals,” Burrall responded.

Although Burrall considers the annual PILOT allocation as a starting point, he expresses that it “needs to be continued” but also balances his comments by considering how the Colleges contribute beyond offering a payment in lieu of taxes.

“People do not realize that. Oh, the college is getting away with murder. Oh, they don’t pay taxes; and of course, that’s not true because they also pay property tax right now on some properties that they own in addition to what they’re giving the community in the form of the $200,000,” he added.

Burrall was also not shy in dismantling all of South Main Street’s parking problems.

“The South Main Street crosswalks are horrible, of course. The signage is not proper. It is inconsistent as far as the amount of space between the crosswalk and first parked car. They’re not lit. Night is partly dangerous, especially when there is parking on both sides,” he said.

Aside from criticizing the infrastructural faults of South Main Street, Burrall ponders how college students may contribute and accentuate the conflict more broadly.

“Perhaps the school is giving out more parking permits for students. I don’t know how many students are allowed to own a car and to keep that car on campus but perhaps that’s something that should be looked at,” Burrall stated.

Although conversations about the Colleges exist as constant talking points for Ward 1 candidates Gomez and Burrall, slates of other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, have disclosed their own opinions about how

the Colleges should be more culpable for the community’s future success.

THE CANDIDATES OF CONSEQUENCE

Amid politically charged conversations about the Colleges and their role in the City of Geneva as a tax contributor and potential neighborhood disruptor, a crucial election cycle continues, where at most one incumbent candidate shall be reelected to office across an open field of nine positions.

Camera, a Democrat, is the sole candidate seeking re-election as the Ward 4 City Councilor incumbent.

After graduating from Hobart College in 1972, Camera continued participating in community activism and local politics.

“I was always interested in what city government was doing,” Camera said.

Camera ran for a few city council races, once as a write-in candidate and a second time under the Republican Party until he won his first election eight years ago as a Democrat.

Jacqueline Augustine, a William Smith College ’99 graduate, columnist for the Finger Lakes Times and former city councilor shared her observations with The Herald about this upcoming election in relation to her fellow alumni.

Augustine explains that she was also involved downtown like Camera in the community but illuminates differences between their stories.

“While I accept that we all have attendance at HWS in common, I do think the routes to local government are different,” Augustine said.

Like Camera, Augustine was drawn to local politics as an undergraduate at the Colleges and ran

and won as a candidate along her own party line.

“I was participating in meetings during my senior year and ran after graduation, after being drafted to run by members of the community. Because my views were not directly aligned with either party, I ran and won on a line of my own creation, not one of the two main parties,” she said.

Augustine believes that the Colleges’ campus environment helped spark an “independent spirit” for people like Camera and her, which allowed them both to rise above party affiliations early on during their respective political careers.

“Ken Camera took a similar route when he created the ‘Lake Party’ and used that as a way to get into local politics. I think that’s the kind of independent spirit that the Colleges foster,” Augustine added.

As for Pitifer, Augustine candidly shares that while she likes him and they are even related, she believes that he has not been honest about being a selfdescribed “no party” candidate.

“I like Mark, and in full disclosure he’s my cousin, but as my recent column in the Finger Lakes Times on this subject pointed out, when he portrays himself as a ‘no party’ candidate, that is not something that rings true,” Augustine said.

Affiliations and loyalties in local politics are important to Augustine, as she took them seriously while serving in office; but she sees Pitifer as someone who cannot be characterized as an independent, despite saying otherwise.

“A ‘no party’ candidate would run independently, would not endorse and be endorsed by Republicans, and would be able to point out areas of disagreement with each party platform instead of taking on one group’s ideas,” she continued.

Ultimately, Augustine admits that while that she, Camera and Pitifer all walked along the same halls and sidewalks on campus, their respective presences on the city’s political scene starkly differs between Camera and Augustine versus Pitifer.

“So, I think the paths are similar in their origins but diverge in the methods and timeline of entering local politics. Both Ken and I attended lots of meetings and came to the podium to suggest and address policy issues prior to running, and not within the context of any campaign. We demonstrated interest in the workings of local government with concerns about social justice and the environment long before it occurred to us to put our hats in the ring to run. I still attend meetings, even though my time on Council is thankfully over, and I have yet to see Mark at one of them,” Augustine stated.

Regardless of affinities to her alma mater, Augustine admits that her allegiance remains true to the City of Geneva and premises that anyone who wishes to serve their community must prioritize principled and issue-oriented public service before anything else.

“At the end of the day, my allegiance is to this city, and I stand ready to help any and all candidates who get elected to make Geneva as successful as it can be and as responsive to the residents, but I really believe that a commitment to public service, particularly government service, has to be issueoriented and must be a principled commitment to policy, regardless of whether or not the work is in service to one’s own political aspirations. I have no doubt that Mark loves Geneva, too, but his path and mine have been very different,” Augustine concluded.

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Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist

Eli Saslow Comes to Campus

By Gabriel Pietrorazio ’20 Herald Staff

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eli Saslow ventured to Hobart and William Smith Colleges Oct. 3 to retell the transformative story of a young white nationalist who eventually expelled his racist beliefs by attending higher education.

Inside a well-packed Albright Auditorium, community members gathered at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the Genocide and Human Rights Symposium, which invited Saslow to speak through the generous donation and sponsorship of Dr. Edward Franks ’72.

In his book, titled Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, Saslow recounts the life story of Derek Black, a prominent youth within the white nationalist movement and the godson of David Duke, an infamous Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

Associate Professor of Religious Studies Richard Salter introduced the guest speaker and expressed that Black popularized the term “white genocide” in the mainstream political discourse. He hoped that the symposium could “retrieve the weight back” and ultimately restore a sense of seriousness and respect for the term that has accosted the lives of millions from around the globe, in the name of genocide.

Once Saslow was handed the microphone, he initially noted that the story he told through his reporting of Black took place at a not too “dissimilar college campus” from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

As a member of The Washington Post national staff, Saslow embeds himself for an extensive period of time among the places and peoples that he writes about in an attempt to understand how national news affects their lives.

When he was assigned to write about the Charleston shooter who attempted to start a race war after killing nine civilians inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, this

moment started Saslow’s story about uncovering Black after stumbling across his name in a thread on Stormfront, one of the largest racial hate site Internet forums.

“I decided as a reporter that I wanted to find Derek as well,” Saslow said. He elaborated that the website was translated into four languages, gained hundreds of views from daily visitors and even had a dating site, all of which culminated into a “massive and inclusion community of racist ideas.”

Calling Black the “crown prince of the white nationalist movement,” Saslow clearly signaled that this was not just a catchy moniker to sell copies of his book.

Like his father, Black also learned to code but at the age of 10 and created a white pride site tailored toward children that promoted white nationalist sentiments on the digital platform and was visited more than a half-million times.

He also developed a 24-hour daily radio network for Stormfront and even gained a slot on the mainstream airwaves in Florida.

By the age of 18, Black swiftly rose to prominence in the white nationalist coalition, often serving as their keynote speaker for gatherings.

But most of all, in Saslow’s opinion, Black’s contributions to repackaging the movement’s mission by recoding language from overtly racist comments into false racialized myths on Stormfront insidiously reinforced the power of white nationalism, while expanding its influence for a wider political audience of whites who felt disenfranchised and discriminated against.

The New College of Florida, his story’s setting, was considered as the “ideological opposite to white nationalism,” and Saslow explained that the campus community felt threatened when they eventually found out that an enrolled college student was living

a dual life by attending classes while simultaneously advancing the white nationalist cause within their midst.

“And into this space arrived the future heir to the white nationalism movement,” Saslow stated.

After spending hundreds of hours with Black, Saslow recognized him as intellectually curious and ambitious, too much for his own future’s sake, which led to him “investing in these ideas with disastrous consequences.”

It was through his ostracization from the campus and rebuilding of community through key relationships that eventually caused him to overcome his own closed-off upbringing and prejudices by encountering the faces and stories of difference.

Years later, Saslow still believes that Black felt culpable for his own actions after spewing falsehoods of hatred and racism, especially when trying to become more public about his past, even while posing a potential risk to himself.

Despite Black’s retreat from the racist ideology he once espoused, Saslow argued that transformations do not simply happen and necessitate time.

Saslow characterized Black’s decision to escape from white nationalism and separating of familial ties not as a singular choice or moment in time, but as a continual choice that must be challenged and renegotiated for the rest of his life.

Saslow also admitted that this course of action takes a true sense of courage but mentioned that Black should not be valorized as a hero by simply ending his racist behavior.

Since then, Black has conducted scholarship at The Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University and become a prominent anti-racist figure.

Although it is clear to Saslow that white nationalists do not acknowledge

Photo Credit: Gabriel Pietrorazio ’20

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President Donald J. Trump as one of their own, he still believes that Trump’s rhetorical appeals embolden the white nationalist movement and even fuel his greater political base.

At one point, Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke told Saslow that “My life’s work is coming true. This is my platform. I’m just not the person who is at the head of it.”

Saslow now sees that the space for extremism in politics is growing and considers them as “a reenergized movement.”

“The language of Stormfront in many ways has become the language of a much more prominent political space,” Saslow said.

Since departing from his former ideology, the gravest concern that lingers on Black’s mind is whether his actions have incited an increased number of terrorist attacks in places like El Paso and the mobilization of alt-right activists in Charlottesville.

President Trump’s rhetoric includes messages taken “fresh off the pages of Stormfront,” as Saslow described.

Even Saslow expressed that he grappled with writing his book and its overall tone, one that invokes “real hope and real darkness.”

However, Saslow ultimately hopes that his book empowers readers to confront and fight insidious racism, which he

considers to be at the core of this nation.

Saslow also acknowledged that Black’s transformation was a form of “real change” that should inspire others to continue in the struggle despite real threats posed by the rise of white nationalism in America.

His final message was simple and memorable: he hopes that students at the Colleges shall carry this mantle forward in an effort to “devote ourselves to anti-racism.”

“I think the essential thing is like the students at New College, we all avoid apathy and make the case to do this work, and I hope that many of you will take up that mantle and join me in some small way,” he ended.

Long after stepping away from the speaking spotlight, Saslow stayed behind, answering questions from the audience and speaking with many vocal students once the symposium formally concluded.

Following his lecture at the Colleges, the Herald reconnected with Saslow as he shared his book’s most valuable lesson for readers.

“I think the most valuable lesson from the book is that we can all make the decision to invest ourselves in changing the people and structures around us,” Saslow stated.

For Saslow, the stakes are too serious at

this moment in time, and being silent is simply not an option when confronting racism, those who foster hate and even transforming them for the better.

“At this moment, when the stakes are so high, being silent is being complicit. We have to work to confront racist ideas and transform the people who hold them,” he continued.

On the brighter side, Saslow was cheerfully satisfied with his first visit at the Colleges after meeting students, faculty and staff.

“I loved visiting Hobart and William Smith and was really taken with the campus, the students, and the level of engagement,” he said.

Saslow also did not shy away from disclosing how he misses having dinner on campus at the Abbe Center for Jewish Life before his lecture.

If Saslow ever returns to the Finger Lakes, possibly while visiting his alma mater in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, it seems that he will surely stop by for a Shabbat dinner on Friday evenings.

“Based on the company and the food, I wish I was a regular at those Abbe Center shabbats,” he concluded.

Vaping on Campus: It’s Risky Business

By Hrithik Biswas ’23 Herald Staff

With high levels of vaping among young adults and incidences of vaping-related illness continuing to increase, many are calling vaping an “epidemic.” This is encapsulated in recent news headlines, including The New York Times: “The prevalence of e-cigarette use among minors has doubled from 2017 through this year, despite national campaigns warning of dangers” and Vice News: “People Are Dying from Vaping in the U.S. and Not the U.K.”

New York state responded to the outbreak with a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, but this effort was blocked because of a lawsuit from vaping groups, which stated that the proposed ban “would affect retailers and adults who use [e-cigarettes] to stop smoking tobacco.”

E-cigarettes are a $2.5 billion business in the U.S. A recent article published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle revealed that about 78 percent of New Yorkers believe that e-cigarettes are a major public health issue, according to the Siena College Research Institute.

Juul, a modern, sleek, USB drive-like electronic device that is used for vaping, appeals to teens and young adults. The Juul pen can be charged and vaporizes flavored pods, which are disposable. Each pod contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes does.

According to the company

website, its mission is to “improve the lives of the world’s 1 billion adult smokers by eliminating cigarettes.” But the marketing techniques used by Juul have targeted a younger audience, which has led to public backlash against the company and contributed to the vaping epidemic throughout the country.

The Colleges ban smoking in dormitories, but students seem to be vaping everywhere when they get a chance — in classrooms, in bathrooms, and even in their cars. The Herald asked students around campus what motivates them to vape. One student said, “College is stressful. And also so many kids do here that it’s a way to socialize.”

Another student noted that “the culture from high school came along to college . . . it’s the generation we live in now.” This generation experiences an increased amount of stress along with the accessibility of e-cigarettes, including their easy storage.

Some students who vape expressed their belief that it is “less harmful” than smoking cigarettes, following how the product is advertised. Vaping allows users to experience short-term pleasure and energy, but afterward withdrawal symptoms set in, prompting users to continue vaping in order to get more nicotine.

Sooner or later, nicotine products become addictive and the person

becomes trapped. Nicotine exposure in adolescents and young adults can affect their brain development until the age of 25. Many e-cigarettes contain other harmful ingredients, such as “ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs,” according to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Recently, a 17-year-old New Yorker died to due to vaping-related lung illness. The teenager is among the 23 people to die nationwide from this illness.

College may be a stressful environment — socially, academically, and mentally—and it is not easy. There are ways for people to cope with stress in a healthier way than vaping or smoking. Do things that make you happy and take your mind off work. Science shows that exercise reduces many health risks and lowers stress levels and, importantly, it provides relaxation to the mind. Having healthy and meaningful conversations can produce happiness and joy. There are yoga sessions and mindfulness clubs around campus to promote mental health.

If you are feeling lonely, seek help! Talk to your adviser, resident assistant, and even your professors— they are there to help you. The Hubbs Health Center provides comprehensive medical services access for The Colleges, and the Counseling Center has dedicated professionals who are there to talk to you and guide you. If you see a friend in need help, reach out to them.