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Luther students travel abroad on J-Term adventures
Features 7
CHIPS LUTHER COLLEGE
“Let the chips fall where they may.”
Please Recycle
February 14, 2013
Vol. 135, No. 13
Since 1884
Streamlined stations shake up students Sam Molzahn
Staff Writer
The serving area in the cafeteria has undergone some notable changes in the last few weeks. Student opinions about the changes are varied. “It took some getting used to, but I definitely like it,” Hannah Strack (‘13) said. “There are some new changes. I really like the bread.” Several stations moved and new ones were added. The deserts have moved to the center island while the gluten-free items have taken their old place. New stations like the fresh bread and Pho soup have been added, and the deli line has shifted their serving area. The changes are intended to better space and increase efficiency. General Manager of Dining Services Wayne Tudor explained more about the changes made this January, saying that Dining Services made the changes to “start out the spring semester with some fresh ideas and new things.” Electronic signs were briefly installed to replace the paper ones but have since been taken down. Tudor hopes to make the signs more readable and effective by slowing down the page change rate and having the emblems denoting gluten-free, vegetarian, and other dietary needs on the signs. He stressed that electronic signs are sleeker and save paper, making them more sustainable than the paper ones. They should be fully operational in the next few weeks.
Sam Molzahn/Chips
Slicing up the sweet stuff. Cafeteria worker Dorjee Dhondup (‘16) slices loaves of bread for Brett Steelman (‘14) and other students to enjoy at one of the new stations featured in the redesigned cafeteria serving area. Student workers have also been affected. “We’re trying to make it easier for everyone to get what they want,”
Student Manager Lance Schwering (‘14) said. “I really like the changes.” Electronic signs, new decorations and a streamlined serving area are not
the only alterations to look for in the cafeteria. Cafeteria changes continued on page 10
Luther hosts 10th annual Black History Conference Brita Moore Staff Writer
Brita Moore/Chips
Breaking the silence. Visiting lecturer Dorothy Roberts discussed the depiction of African-American women today.
The Luther community recently had the opportunity to gain a new perspective on the way African-American women are presented in society. The tenth annual Black History Conference took place on Feb. 6-7, with the theme “Body Politic: Cultural Identities and Representations of Black Women’s Sexuality.” University of Pennsylvania Professor of law, sociology, civil rights and Africana studies Dorothy Roberts gave the opening lecture on how slavery’s sexual imagery still influences the depiction of black women today. “On the one hand, there’s a profound silence about black women’s subjective sexual experiences,” Roberts said. “The unattractive, asexual black woman is still the icon of black female respectability. Yet at the same time, the public displays of black women’s bodies abound throughout United States culture.” Roberts argued that slavery gave slaveholders the power to have unlimited sexual access to
their “property.” The slaves had no legal rights to their own bodies, and women and girls were particularly subject to sexual violation. Black women were the ones considered inherently promiscuous in contrast to white women. The only way for a black woman to be respectable, according to Roberts, was to be a “Mammy” figure. “Slavery’s stereotypes linking natural black femaleness to sexual promiscuity and respectability to sexlessness have left a gaping void in the cultural terms needed for black women to freely and publicly define their own sexual identities,” Roberts said. Visiting Assisting Professor of Africana Studies and History Lauren Anderson attended the conference and agreed with Roberts. “Is there a space for women to be sexual without being exploited?” Anderson asked. “Culture makes it seem like only certain types are desirable.” In another session, singer Abby Dobson Black history continued on page 10