The Kent Stater - Nov. 16, 2015

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The

Kent Stater

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Plane crash victims identified

Bernie Sanders comes to CLE

Basketball home openers

The Summit County Medical Examiner released the names of the seven passengers who died in Tuesday’s plane crash in Akron.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders will be in Cleveland for a rally Monday night.

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams won their home openers this weekend. Check out the sports page for more details.

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Muslim students dispel Islamic misconceptions

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France bombs Islamic State HQ

Erin Zaranec Student Life Reporter The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks in Paris that killed at least 132 people Friday night. Kent State’s Muslim Students’ Association is hosting an Interfaith Prayer Vigil Thursday to honor the victims. Members said they have seen an increase in discrimination against Islam due to increased media coverage of the Islamic State, especially after the attacks in Paris. Freshman applied engineering major Ibrahim Albadri said he believes the Islamic State is not a religious group but a political group misrepresenting Islamic ideals to justify its actions. Albadri said in an interview last week that he struggles with certain aspects of American media that portray the Islamic State as a segment of the Islam religion. “(The Islamic State) has a different way of trying to maintain power,” he said. “They advertise the fact that they have guns, they have weapons, they advertise violence. Say there are 16,000 of them, or even 30,000 (members of the Islamic State). That doesn’t even represent 0.05 percent of those who practice Islam.” Members of the group said they have increasingly been objected to stereotypes based on their religion over the last few years. Amanda Lamadanie, a senior psychology major and MSA president, said she does not focus on the discrimination she has experienced as a result of her religion. “I have definitely encountered (stereotypes) but…there are a lot of stories out there about things people have encountered that are much worse than anything I have encountered in my own life,” Lamadanie said in an interview last week. “I really try not to focus on any of those things and would much rather just talk about what Islam is versus what it isn’t.”

SEE ISLAM / PAGE 2

Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times Women run past French soldiers on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, as panic spread through the streets of Paris when rumors of a car bomb surfaced. It turned out to be a car left running in the street.

Greg Keller, Philippe Sotto Associated Press France launched "massive" air strikes on the Islamic State group's de-facto capital in Syria Sunday night, destroying a jihadi training camp and a munitions dump in the city of Raqqa, where Iraqi intelligence officials say the attacks on Paris were planned. Twelve aircraft — including 10 fighter jets — dropped a total of 20 bombs in the biggest air strikes since France extended its bombing campaign against the extremist group to Syria in September, a Defense Ministry statement said. The jets launched from sites in Jordan and the Persian Gulf, in coordination with U.S. forces. Meanwhile, as police announced seven arrests and hunted for more members of the sleeper cell that carried out the Paris attacks that killed 129 people, French officials revealed to The Associated Press that several key suspects had been stopped and released by police after the attack. The arrest warrant for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old born in Brus-

sels, calls him very dangerous and warns people not to intervene if they see him. Yet police already had him in their grasp early Saturday when they stopped a car carrying three men near the Belgian border. By then, hours had passed since authorities identified Abdeslam as the renter of a Volkswagen Polo that carried hostage takers to the Paris theater where so many died. Three French police officials and a top French security official confirmed that officers let Abdeslam go after checking his ID. They spoke on condition of anonymity, lacking authorization to publicly disclose such details. Tantalizing clues about the extent of the plot have emerged from Baghdad, where senior Iraqi officials told the AP that France and other countries had been warned on Thursday of an imminent attack. An Iraqi intelligence dispatch warned that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered his followers to immediately launch gun and bomb attacks and take hostages inside the countries of the coalition

fighting them in Iraq and Syria. The Iraqi dispatch, which was obtained by the AP, provided no details on when or where the attack would take place, and a senior French security official told the AP that French intelligence gets these kinds of warnings "all the time" and "every day." However, Iraqi intelligence officials told the AP that they also warned France about specific details: Among them, that the attackers were trained for this operation and sent back to France from Raqqa, the Islamic State's de-facto capital. The officials also said that a sleeper cell in France then met with the attackers after their training and helped them to execute the plan. There were 24 people involved in the operation, they said: 19 attackers and five others in charge of logistics and planning. None of these details have been corroborated by officials of France or other Western intelligence agencies. All these French and Iraqi security and intelligence officials spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation.

Abdeslam is one of three brothers believed to be involved: one who crossed with him into Belgium was later arrested, and another blew himself up inside the Bataclan theater after taking the audience hostage and firing on them repeatedly. It was the worst of Friday’s synchronized attacks, leaving 89 fatalities and hundreds of people wounded inside. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Its statement mocked France’s air attacks on suspected IS targets in Syria and Iraq, and called Paris “the capital of prostitution and obscenity.” In all, three teams of attackers including seven suicide bombers attacked the national stadium, the concert hall and nearby nightspots. The attacks wounded 350 people, 99 of them seriously. Abdeslam rented the black Volkswagen Polo used by the hostagetakers, another French security official said. A Brussels parking ticket found inside led police to at least one of the arrests in Belgium, a French police official said.

SEE FRANCE / PAGE 2

Pan-African Studies supports Stephen A. Smith to discuss adversity casting of white MLK in play Dan Armelli Sports Reporter

Emily Mills Managing Editor Kent State’s Department of PanAfrican Studies said in a statement Friday it supports director Michael Oatman’s decision to cast a white actor to play Martin Luther King, Jr. in a recent production of Katori Hall’s play “The Mountaintop.” The statement, authored by Amoaba Gooden, chair of the Pan-African Studies’ department, said Oatman, a part-time theater professor who is African-American, has the right to artistic expression as a director.

“The director’s attempt to probe how we hear the national discussion on race ultimately raises questions about the role of theatre, its writers, producers and performers in that conversation,” Gooden said in the statement. “Ultimately, what we envisioned is a conversation with the director ’s use of creative artistic expression, the authenticity of the play expressed and the playwright’s vision.” The play, which premiered Sept. 25 and ran through Oct. 4, is a fictional retelling of the night before King’s assassination and takes place in his hotel room.

SEE MLK / PAGE 2

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith will be the Center for Student Involvement’s last speaker in its 2015 Leadership Speaker Series. The columnist will speak at 7 p.m. Monday in the Kiva. Smith’s discussion is entitled “Adversity and Keeping Your Head in the Game.” Smith is currently known for his work on “ESPN First Take” alongside fellow journalist Skip Bayless and host Molly Qerim. The show is known for its lively debate between Smith and Bayless. Smith got his start with ESPN in 2005 when he hosted “Quite Frank-

ly with Stephen A. Smith,” a daily, hour-long program. After the show ended in 2007, Smith appeared on various other ESPN shows, including “Jim Rome is Burning” and “Pardon the Interruption.” After a stint with Fox Sports Radio from 2010 to 2011, he became a columnist for ESPN.com and radio show host featured in various ESPN Radio cities. Smith eventually earned a permanent spot on “First Take” after making many guest appearances. Smith has also written for the New York Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer. darmell1@kent.edu

Photo courtesy of Twitter

Volleyball claims share of MAC East title Jesse Runner Sports Reporter

Nate Manley / The Kent Stater The Kent State women’s volleyball team reacts Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, after defeating the University at Buffalo 3-0 to earn its first MAC East title in program history.

Kent State’s women’s volleyball team defeated its last two opponents of the regular season this past weekend to extend its winning streak to five games and claim a share of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division Championship. The Flashes, who finished the year with a record of 19-9, claimed victory over the University of Akron Friday night before hosting the University at Buffalo and defeating them Saturday afternoon. After the win against the Bulls Saturday, the Flashes finished tied for first in the MAC East Division, a feat never before achieved by Kent, with a record of 13-3, tied with Ohio University. “This was the epitome of our sea-

son and our team today, a great team effort,” said coach Don Gromala after the game. “I thought we played really good floor defense. Our offense was really balanced as well.” The Flashes hosted Akron at the M.A.C. Center Friday as the teams matched up for the second time this season. Kent started fast and never looked back, posting a score of 25-13 to claim the first set before taking the second set by a similar score of 25-15. The Zips fought back in the third set, but their effort wasn’t enough, as the Flashes held off Akron to achieve the sweep in three sets after wining 25-19 and ending the game in just 76 minutes. Both senior Kelly Hutchison and sophomore Kelsey Bittinger finished tied for a match-high with nine kills each. Junior Katarina Kojic added 29

digs while sophomore Challen Geraghty logged 11 digs in the team’s winning effort. Saturday’s action proved to be much of the same for the Flashes as they hosted the University at Buffalo at the M.A.C. Center in Kent. Kent found itself on the winning side of a 25-16 first set performance and looked to carry the momentum into the second set. After Buffalo scored the first three points, the Flashes offense, led by Bittinger and Kojic, fired back and eventually found itself with a 15-11 lead before taking the set by a score of 25-17. The third set proved to be the most difficult of the night for Kent, as the two teams fought back-and-fourth until the Flashes claimed the victory and the sweep, 25-23.

SEE VOLLEYBALL / PAGE 2


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