CHIPS September 28, 2017

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Family Weekend Concert

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Takkefest celebrations add to Family Weekend festivities

Men’s and Women’s Soccer beat Nebraska Wesleyan

COLLEGE

LUTHER “Let the chips fall where they may.”

VOLUME 140, NO. 3 • EST. 1884

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Abortion debate sparks campus conversations

Maxwell Eness (‘20) (center) moderates Asha Aden (‘20) (left) and Shannon Baker (‘20) (right). OLIVIA ENQUIST STAFF WRITER The Luther College Philosophical Society hosted the year’s first Daniel H. Andreotti Memorial Debate titled “Is Abortion Permissible?” which was sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement on Sept. 20. The debate discussed abortion from ethical and political standpoints. Asha Aden (‘20) and Shannon Baker (‘20) participated in the debate, representing prochoice and pro-life, respectively. Philosophy Society President Maxwell Eness (‘20) moderated. The debate was split into three distinct parts. First,

Asha Aden (‘20) advocated the pro-choice side. Olivia Enquist (‘19) I Chips

Aden and Baker began with an opening statement. Second, they engaged in crossfire questions and rebuttals. The event ended with closing remarks. The debate focused on serving as an example for academic discourse and dialogue. In an interview before the debate, Aden discussed the process of preparing for a debate where the subject is controversial and decisive. “I thought a lot about why I’m pro-choice,” Aden said. “I used that in my argument to further everyone’s understanding about my decision. I also did a lot of research about the other side of the debate, the pro-life side. I looked at what their beliefs were and why they believed abortion was worse.” Aden’s opening statement and her subsequent remarks focused largely on womens’ right to have agency over their own bodies, the argument over the time at which a life begins, and the larger argument that a person cannot be pro-life if they do not support all lives. Baker also described the process of her preparation. She focused on the difficulties of engaging and debating important topics in front of a crowd. “I would say preparing for the debate was honestly a lot more mental effort than it was physical effort,” Baker said. “For me it was more psyching myself up saying ‘this is something that needs to be discussed on campus, so you need to do it.’” Baker’s arguments during the debate revolved around the larger moral and ethical questions within pro-life ideology. She spoke about ownership of one’s life and

Olivia Enquist (‘19) I Chips the human limits of knowledge regarding the future. To Baker, this will always create uncertainty about permissibility of abortion. Audience member Filiberto Lopez- Garcia (‘19) expressed his appreciation that both participants were willing to discuss such a difficult issue in a respectful manner. “I think it’s very important that we bring light to certain issues,” Lopez-Garcia said. “These are issues that most people don’t like talking about even if we know that they are there. Having these conversations make us talk about them and it makes us see that these issues aren’t going to go away.”

Shannon Baker(‘20) advocated the pro-life side. Olivia Enquist (‘19) I Chips

1967 Nordic Tour documentary compiled KARL NYCLEMOE STAFF WRITER To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first international Nordic Choir tour, a documentary titled “To This Day: Remembering Nordic Choir’s First International Tour,” will premiere Oct. 7 during homecoming weekend. Professor of History Jackie Wilkie and Nordic member Aidan Spencer (‘18) collaborated on the creation of the documentary. While Wilkie and Spencer were the documentary researchers and editors, the idea for the piece came from Luther alum and member of the 1967 tour, Carol Birkland (‘67). Birkland got the idea for this project after watching the documentary on the 1936 international Concert Band tour

a few years ago. “It was an interesting documentary, but there were so few people left,” Birkland said. “I think there was only one surviving member of the band. I walked out of there thinking, ‘there’s another story to be told here, and that’s the first international tour of Nordic Choir.’” When the 50th anniversary of the tour was only a few years away, Birkland, working as a consultant on the project, turned to Luther College to create the documentary. Wilkie was chosen to work on the project due to her previous experience with oral history, and Spencer, a first-year at the time, was chosen as the student researcher. NORDIC| PAGE 4


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CHIPS September 28, 2017 by Luther Chips - Issuu