An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
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01.30.2020 Vol. 220 No. 086
THURSDAY
KARA DEHNER/ IOWA STATE DAILY Students discuss ideas before adjourning at the Student Government and City Council meeting on Oct 23.
DESIGN BY MARIA ALBERS
Defining the different types of relationships BY LOGAN.METZGER @iowastatedaily.com Editor’s Note: In the spring 2019 semester, the Iowa State Daily introduced “The Talk,” a series with the goal to open up a discussion about sexual intimacy among our readers. In the fall 2019 semester, we introduced “Talk About It,” a series discussing mental health. This semester, we are starting the series “Talking Connections” to dive into the different types of relationships and their purpose. Throughout this series, we will discuss issues such as breakups, fear of intimacy, how to build friendships and more. For the rest of the semester, we plan to publish one story each week addressing a topic related to relationships. Our hope is by the end of the series, we may have opened our readers up to discussions in ways they hadn’t thought of or may not have felt they were able to speak about before. Everyone has a type of connection, so let’s get talking.
Relationships come in many forms, from platonic to romantic to sexual, and all are connected in some way. A relationship is defined as “the state of being related or interrelated; the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship such as kinship; or a state of affairs existing between those having relations or dealings such as a romantic or passionate attachment,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. As this definition descr ibes, what a
relationship is can be pretty vague. Relationships can come in many forms, and each form can have a different definition depending on who is in that particular relationship. “When discussing relationships, people may instantly guess romantic relationships,” said Amy Popillion, teaching professor of human development and family studies. “Relationships are anytime there is this ongoing connection between people. Anytime you are actively pursuing a continued interaction with a person, that is a relationship.” Strong relationships are continually nurtured with care and communication, Popillion said. She said although relationships can take many forms, for healthy relationships to form, communication between partners is key, no matter the type of relationship. “In the 21st century, good relationships are generally marked by a sense of fairness, emotional as well as physical,” according to the Psychology Today website. “Partners in strong relationships also feel grateful for one another, openly provide and receive affection and engage in honest discussions about sex, if that is part of the relationship.” Another core piece of any relationship is that it has boundaries. Popillion said these boundaries are usually not talked about but instead form organically.
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Transgender protections at risk BY LOGAN.METZGER @iowastatedaily.com Protections for transgender Iowans may be at risk with a new proposed bill in the Iowa House of Representatives. On Wednesday, Iowa State Representatives Dean Fisher, Anne Osmundson, Terry Baxter, Tedd Gassman, Thomas Gerhold, Phil Thompson, Tom Jeneary, Skyler Wheeler and Sandy Salmon released House File 2164, a bill which seeks to repeal all protections for transgender Iowans and remove them from the Iowa Civil Rights Act entirely. The “Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965” currently prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit, public
accommodations and education. Discrimination, or different treatment, is illegal if based on race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, physical disability, mental disability, retaliation, age, familial status or marital status. Protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity were added to the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007, according to the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. House File 2164 is a bill that proposes “removing gender identity as a protected class under the Iowa Civil Rights Act,” according to the bill. “Such legislation would leave transgender Iowans vulnerable in the areas of employment, education,
credit practices, housing and public accommodations,” according to a One Iowa press release. “Removing an entire class from a state civil rights statute has never happened in United States history.” Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy for One Iowa, said this bill would affect around 10,000 Iowans if it went into effect. “All of the protections are extremely meaningful because we know that discriminations happen in Iowa and we know that these protections are in fact working and deterring instances of discrimination,” Crow said. “What this bill does is that it allows people, across the board, to discriminate against transgender Iowans in whatever way they see fit.”
Currently, the bill has only been introduced and has not moved anywhere within the Iowa House of Representatives. “The current legislation removing gender identity is mean-spirited and harmful,” said Connie Ryan, executive director of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, in a press release. “Iowans understand our state provides civil rights protections to ensure the rights of those who have historically faced discrimination are not infringed. Iowans also know that our state should never be in the business of taking away civil rights protections.” At the time of writing this article, none of the representatives who introduced the bill could be reached.
StuGov limits funds for conference registration BY CASSIE.LEHMANN @iowastatedaily.com Student Government was visited by a university counsel regarding the chalking policy, discussed Student Government’s Priorities and Criteria modifications and funded two campus organizations at Wednesday night’s meeting. In the fall, Iowa State implemented a temporary chalking policy putting regulations on what can and cannot be chalked on campus. Mike Norton, a university counsel, spoke on the policy. Currently, the policy says chalking would be restr icted around the Memor ial Union and the surrounding area, along with the historical quad space, the Anderson Sculpture Garden, the George Washington Carver Plaza and the Knoll grounds. The university counsel will be accepting comments and questions about the chalking draft policy until Feb. 5 at policy@iastate.edu. Additionall y, the S enate’s last meeting was filled with multiple revisions to Student Government’s Priorities and Criteria requirements along with adjustments to what was deemed acceptable to fund for fiscal year 2021. President Austin Graber later vetoed article 2019-3-008F, which had passed by a margin of 23-1-0. Upon review of Graber’s veto, the bill was tabled indefinitely. The Senate then reviewed Priorities and Criteria in the case of addressing funding for conferences and competitive trips. The policy initially said that “O rganiz ations requesting conference registration funds shall be funded at half the cost up to $150 per individual per conference,” but it was changed to “fund at half the cost up to $100 per individual per conference.” That section of Pr ior ities and Criteria passed with a vote of 21-5-0.
STUGOV
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