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An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
01.23.2020 Vol. 220 No. 081
UNTEACHABLE
SPIRIT BY MATT.BELINSON @iowastatedaily.com
The tears flowed from John Haliburton’s eyes, but the cries of help were nothing new. After years of taking care of nieces and nephews, John wanted to have kids of his own. He would constantly pray to God, asking him to bless his life with a child that he could call his own. Night after night, he would begin crying out to God for a sign. After years of asking for a sign, God came with an answer. One night, while John was fast asleep, he said God came to him and spoke to him in
HALIBURTON
PG4
DESIGN BY TALIA TORPY
THURSDAY
MLK Legacy keynote faces racism head-on BY LOGAN.METZGER @iowastatedaily.com This year’s MLK Legacy Series Keynote will focus on the concept of antiracism and how to be an antiracist. The lecture “How to Be an Antiracist” will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. This event is free and open to the public. “Every year, Iowa State has a committee that puts on the [Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy convocation],” said nicci port, project director and LGBTQ+ initiatives for the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. “That committee works to bring a lecturer to campus, and at that lecture [the Office for Diversity and Inclusion] presents the Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing One Community Awards.” The speaker at the lecture will be Ibram Kendi, an author and a professor of history and international relations at American University in Washington, D.C., and the founding director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center. “When I read Dr. Kendi’s book, I understood that being antiracist is where people who have power and privilege, such people who have had systems built for them and who benefit from them, work in ways to dismantle the systems,” port said. “Dr. Kendi’s book has provided me with a great education on utilizing the knowledge I have of the systems that benefit me and moving toward, ‘What can I do to not uphold those systems of oppression and racism?’” Kendi is the author of the best-selling books “How to Be an Antiracist” and “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” He received a doctorate in African American studies from Temple University and his bachelor’s degree in journalism and African American studies from Florida A&M University. “Author Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism re-energizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America — but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other,” according to the Lecture Series website. “Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like and how we can play an active role in building it.” The Advancing One Community Awards will be awarded prior to the keynote address. “Those awards go to people who have demonstrated the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on campus
KEYNOTE
PG4
Solve class and caucus conflicts by talking to instructors BY JAKE.WEBSTER @iowastatedaily.com Iowa State students interested in participating in Iowa’s caucuses who have labs or lectures during the time the caucuses are scheduled should speak with their instructors beforehand to see if they may be excused to participate, according to Jonathan Wickert, senior vice president and provost of Iowa State. Iowa’s Republican and Democratic caucuses are scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 3.
In response to an email about a student who said they were told they would not get a further exemption from labs for caucus night in addition to previously built-in lab drops in the class, Rob Schweers, the director of communications with the office of the provost, sent the Daily a link in an email to an article published in “Inside Iowa State” on Oct. 24, 2019. “Faculty are in the best position to decide how to teach their classes and support students’ needs,” Wickert said in the story. “Decisions about whether to excuse class for events like the caucus,
athletic contests or other events are best handled locally and on a case-by-case basis between faculty and students.” Schweers also forwarded the Daily an email sent to department chairs on Jan. 6 that linked the story from October, adding it provides “guidance regarding courses scheduled to meet the same evening as the Iowa caucuses.” Department chairs were asked to “share this start-of-the-semester message about instructor resources with [their] faculty.” There are 38 course sections that meet Mondays during the time bloc in which the
caucuses are scheduled to take place, “and nearly all of the sections are Monday-only offerings,” according to the article.The spring 2020 semester is already missing one Monday session as classes did not meet on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday. “Missing another week of a course represents a significant portion of the total time available for learning,” Wickert said in the article. “We need to be careful we’re not shortchanging students on course content or compressing too much material into the remaining weeks of the semester.”