YOUR AD THE INDEPENDENT BELONGS COLLEGIAN HERE Wednesday, March 28, 2018
99th year • Issue 25
Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919
INSIDE
www.IndependentCollegian.com
sales@independentcollegian.com 419.530.7788
FREE SPEECH
Banner sparks debate
Students question free speech, content By Areeba Shah & Ben Morse Community & Associate News Editors
Running toward answers COMMUNITY / 5 »
Heavey’s battle for the ballot
“
NEWS / 4 »
“Technology is moving so quickly, ideas that were once science fiction are now a reality.” WILL SANDERS Threatening technology OPINION / 3 »
UT mourns STEM professor’s death NEWS / 4 »
“
“The liberal arts didn’t prepare me for one specific career; it prepared me for almost any career. ”
They hung up a banner. Someone took it down. The university held a town hall. To tell all sides of the story, the Independent Collegian interviewed participants to write this comprehensive timeline. In pop culture, President Trump’s portrait has gained the pointed-white hood infamously donned by the Ku Klux Klan. After he initially failed to publicly condemn a group of white supremacists at a protest that left one dead in Charlottesville, Va. over the summer, the New Yorker published a cover of the president blowing into a Klan hood posed as a sail. Before that, The Economist illustrated Trump speaking into a white bullhorn with two holes cut out of the front for eyes—another ode to the hate group. Last week, the UT College Democrats took their turn to display the president in the same compromising light after hanging a banner in the Student Union emblazoned with an image of Trump in the familiar white hood and a message urging students to join
their organization. But, what was originally intended to start a conversation surrounding alleged “racism of the president,” as President of the College Democrats Sydney Jones said, turned into a campus-wide argument surrounding free speech, adding UT to the list of colleges participating in a national discourse on First Amendment protections. The Decision The College Democrats’ office is a short walk away from where the banner hung. Their work space is covered in yard signs promoting Democratic candidates and a large “Bernie” [Sanders] sticker is posted on the filing cabinet. During an interview, communications director Alexander Seifert, Jones and member Nick Horsman sat at a conference table just outside the office door, the political signs visible in the background. Addressing where the idea for the banner originated, Seifert made it clear: “This was a discussion we had about how we were going to go about recruiting more members.” Because it’s “difficult to get students involved, we started talking about a more aggressive
EMILY SCHNIPKE / IC
recruitment tactic and maybe being slightly more controversial to get more people interested in the organization,” Seifert said. “[We want people to know] what our views on the president are.” Based on his statements, his policies, the appointment he’s made, the endorsements he’s received, the group felt justified associating Trump with “a racist terrorist organization in the U.S.” Since conventional methods
MEDICINE
Students secure residency at match day
By Gabrielle Huff Staff Reporter
Match Day at UTMC paired 156 medical students with residency positions in an array of specialties at hospitals and clinics across the country. This year’s matches on March 16 included 23 different fields including child neurology, family medicine and orthopedic surgery. Most matches were in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Of the matched students, 10 percent of them will work in Northwest Ohio. One of those graduates is Christina Camick, who matched to a general surgery residency at UT. She said she was ecstatic to continue at UT because she is from Toledo and is very comfortable on campus. Camick attended UT for both her undergraduate and medical degrees. As for her future career after residency, Camick said, “I think academic medicine is for sure my future. I enjoy research as well as working with students.” Camick also said she wants to continue her career at UT but would be happy to be anywhere in the Midwest close to her family. Grace Maltbie and 59 medical students matched to residencies in Ohio. Maltbie matched to a radiology residency in Cleveland, her hometown. The residency is split between two hospitals, with the first year at St. Vincent’s, and the rest at University Hospitals, which is affiliated with Case ReserveWestern University.
She plans to specialize in breast and abdominal radiology. Maltbie has visited many hospitals and done several rotations with them, and from all the feedback she has gotten, people say she seems very well-prepared, Maltbie said. She attributed her preparedness to her training at UT’s medical school. Several matches were also made in other states, with Michigan and Pennsylvania being the second and third top contenders after Ohio. 12 students, including Latima Collins, matched in Pennsylvania. Collins matched at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – Magee Campus in a OB/GYN residency. “I’m from Detroit and I’m also a minority. I’m black, and so many of the people I know from Detroit all have children, but they aren’t married, they don’t have an education and they’re struggling to take care of their kids,” Collins said. “They aren’t really informed about women’s health.” Collins is specializing in maternal/fetal medicine with education on women’s health: two areas at the forefront of her career goals. Collins said UT did a great job preparing its medical students for residency, holding meetings and conferences about matching, providing mock interviews with professors and meeting with students to talk about what residency would be best for them. UT Medical students matched to positions in 26 other states across the country, but Ohio remains the number one choice for students.
MORGAN KOVACS Choosing my major for myself OPINION / 3»
HARIS AHMAD / IC
Students in the UT medical program matched March 16 with residency programs across the United States.
Sydney Jones, fourth-year political science major and president of UT College Democrats, spoke at the town hall March 22 in the Student Union.
of recruiting members through flyers is no longer effective, the group decided to turn towards something attention grabbing, fourth-year political science major Connor Kelley said. According to the group, the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership approved their banner. After a dialogue with the OSIL, the Office of Conduct, the administration and a unanimous vote, the final decision was made. The banner placed in the
Student Union on Tuesday afternoon was gone by Wednesday. However, the College Democrats decided not to replace the banner since everyone was already talking about it, Membership Director Kelley said. The administrators explained why they allowed the banner to go up in the first place. “We are here to [allow you See Town hall / 4 »
Young activists protest
BRYCE BUYAKIE / IC
Toledo area high school students protest at the March for Our Lives against gun violence and a neglected education system March 24.
SAFETY
UTPD to get new hub By Olivia Rodriguez Staff Reporter
The Ohio State Highway Patrol and UT Police Department partnered up to build a new safety building at the corner of Dorr Street and Secor Road. UT’s master plan outlines the proposed safety building, but the timing worked out that the State Highway Patrol also needs a new building, UT Police Chief Jeff Newton said. UT and the highway patrol requested capital funds to finance the building. “It is tough to finance a building alone so with the state patrol we are hoping to do it together since it is difficult to do it on our own,” Newton said. The 10-year master plan calls for the removal of the transportation center being replaced by the new safety building. “The State Highway Patrol security station on Airport Highway in Swanton was built in 1962 and is too small for the number of people that go in and out of it,” Captain John Altman said, Findlay district commander of Ohio State Highway Patrol. With the move, neither UTPD nor the state highway patrolmen will experience operational changes. “We will still have our duties and UT will still have theirs, just
both forces will be in the same building,” Altman said. The building will be on Secor and Dorr in the empty lot UT owns across the street from Oasis. The transportation center will be removed after the new building is constructed. “We will be able to help each other when we cannot do it on our own like the opioid problem and fatality rates, we are here to support everyone,” Altman said. “They saw a collaboration of assets to be more efficient.” Some students hope the new building will reduce crime and increase student safety in the area. “I think it is a great idea, I have heard the neighborhood near that area is not good so hopefully it will reduce crimes in the area,” said Alexander Miller, a third-year information systems major. It will act as a central hub for UTPD, Newton said. In an emergency, UT police or students can go to the patrol post of help. “My concern is the efficiency going to be there, there is a lot you can do with the multimillion dollars they are requesting, is it going to be worth it?” said Jeremy White, a third-year international business major.