The Marquette Tribune
Opinions
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
PAGE 10
Editorial Board
Alexandra Garner, Executive Opinions Editor Hope Moses, Assistant Opinions Editor Aimee Galaszewski, Executive Director Benjamin Wells, Managing Editor of The Marquette Tribune Skyler Chun, Managing Editor of The Marquette Journal
Megan Woolard, News Executive John Leuzzi, Sports Executive Randi Haseman, A&E Executive Lelah Byron, Projects Editor
Eleanor McCaughey, Copy Chief Grace Pionek, Design Chief Izzy Bonebrake, Executive Photo Editor Kate Hyland, Social Media Executive
Andrew Amouzou, Station Manager of MUTV Reese Seberg, Station Manager of MURadio Alex Rivera Grant, Editor of Diversity and Inclusion
STAFF EDITORIAL
Slow MU seal redesign failing Native students
It has been over a year since the Native American Student Association called on Marquette University to improve its support of Native students on campus and change the Marquette seal. The seal has not yet been changed. Marquette must take more swift steps to get the university seal changed, as it severely misrepresents the interactions between Father Marquette and the Native peoples on the land and may isolate Native members of the Marquette community. The bottom half of the current seal has a cropped image from the 1869 painting by artist Wilhelm Alfred Lamphrect titled “Father Marquette and the Indians.” In the original painting, Father Marquette is conversing with a group of Native Americans who are guiding him on his journey. However, in the cropped image on the seal, Father Marquette appears to be the one guiding the Native American individual, as they are turned away from view.
Additionally, part of the Marquette community has spoken out that this cropped image perpetuates colonialism, white supremacy and Native submissiveness. The Marquette seal has been contested among students and faculty since 2014, but a recent wide-reaching call to change the seal began July 2020 when a Marquette student started a petition to change the seal and October 2020 when Marquette’s Native American Student Association presented a list of demands to the university. In response to Native American Student Association’s demand to change the seal, Marquette announced it was forming a committee to redesign the seal March 2021. The next update on the seal was last August which said that the committee would “… continue its work this fall to ensure that the seal represents Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and acknowledges the influence of Indigenous peoples on our history. continuing its work on the
seal’s design.” Bryan Rindfleisch, an associate professor of history and a member of the research team for the seal redesign, said a proposed redesign of the seal was shared at the Dec. 10 Board of Trustees meeting but was voted down. To Rindfleisch’s knowledge, the seal’s redevelopment is still going on. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of urgency on the university’s behalf to get the seal redesigned. The university seal not only harms people of Native communities but also harms people who are not part of Native communities. The university seal is everywhere — buildings, flags, paraphernalia, diplomas. By continuing to print and endorse this seal, Marquette is showcasing that it supports what the seal stands for. This is unacceptable. Changing the university seal is important because it is a tangible action the university can take to show it supports Native people on campus
and in the surrounding communities. People of Native communities are telling the university that changing the seal is important to them, so making quicker efforts to change it is essential. As of the fall 2021 semester, there are only 13 undergraduate students, six graduate students and nine faculty and staff members who identify as Native American, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis. Native Americans are one of the least represented groups on campus. Representation matters. Especially with such a small population of Native Americans at Marquette. Improving representation can begin with something as simple as changing the seal. The university recently shared it had adopted a land and water acknowledgment to acknowledge that Marquette is on traditional and ancestral land of Native peoples and nations, including the Menominee,
Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Ho Chunk, Fox, Sauk and Mascouten people. This is a positive step toward creating a more inclusive environment for Native people as well as acknowledging the history of genocide and displacement Native Americans experienced during colonization. The same efforts should be made to change the seal. By acknowledging that the cropped image of Father Marquette and the Native American grossly misrepresents their interactions, and dedicating more time and resources to quicken the process of redesigning the seal, Marquette can follow through on its verbal commitments and words with tangible action. Native students have been calling on Marquette to change the university seal for years. Marquette has been aware of the issues. There is no excuse for the delay. Marquette needs to quicken the process and change the seal. Enough is enough.
massage Epstein. One of the pieces of evidence shown at the Maxwell trial was Jeffrey Epstein’s “black book,” an address book containing numerous names of girls that Epstein “employed” as well as public figures Epstein and Maxwell associated themselves with. Court ruling determined that these names would not be publicized. Differentiating between the victims and Epstein’s and Maxwell’s connections is a crucial part of Maxwell’s trial, as to not override the rules of justice and focus on the victims. Yet, this book and their elite connections must be investigated further by the FBI. Since Jeffrey Epstein’s death, radicalized groups like QAnon have flocked to the internet to dream up conspiracy theories that America is run by a pedophilic corporate elite. While many of these theories can be dismissed, it is hard to ignore the influence and power that money brings. In the era of #MeToo, an online movement that brought light to the harassment women experience, many of the victims of sexual exploitation point to the power that their alleged abuser had. In cases like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, their power allowed them to
say and do whatever they pleased because they had influence through their fame and wealth. This happens to be the case with Epstein and Maxwell as well. In 2009, Epstein was able to obtain special treatment, such as generous work release from jail, after he was convicted of perpetrating sex crimes, theorized due to his generous donations to the Palm Beach
flix documentary “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich,” it is noted that it was not just Epstein, but Maxwell and other famous figures such as Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz, who sexually abused young girls on various trips to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, and party cities such as St. Tropez. In 2009, Epstein also was promised immunity for his “coconspirators.” Children around the world suffering due to commercial sexual exploitation is not just a criminal issue. It is a societal one. Sex trafficking is characterized by the FBI as a type of human trafficking where an individual is compelled by force, fraud or coercion to engage in commercial sex acts. According to the Liberate Children Foundation, an organization driven to end child trafficking in the United States, children are four times more likely to be trafficked for sex than adults are. In Wisconsin, the average age to be trafficked is 11-13 years old. Milwaukee is a growing hub of sex trafficking for its geographical location and the fact that it is embedded within our community, as many who are sex trafficked do not realize that they experiencing trafficking.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that experiencing childhood sexual abuse creates an adverse childhood experience, meaning that it will affect a child in long and short-term consequences, such as physical and mental trauma. These instances of sex trafficking are rape and sexual assault. To prosecute rape, it must be brought to authorities and put through the justice system. Only 23% of sexual assaults are reported to the police and rape trials result in conviction 35% of the time. The abuse has gone on for long enough and the rest of the case must be brought to light. With Maxwell’s sentencing date set for June 2022 and a burgeoning new case for accused Prince Andrew, it appears that justice has already begun. However, there is a long road still to bring justice to the victims of child sex trafficking. Wealth and influence must not allow criminals to go undetected and unnoticed. Justice must be served equally.
Ghislaine Maxwell trial must create expansive accountability Laura Niezgoda
In July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and former New York financier, was found dead in his jail cell. In December 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell, former romantic partner to Epstein, was found guilty of five out of six counts of sex trafficking charges. This is a tremendous victory for the victims of Epstein and Maxwell, as some justice has been served. However, this does not mean the case is fully resolved. After Epstein and Maxwell’s meeting in 1992, the two allegedly began their abuse by recruiting young girls with promises of wealth, status or opportunities. These instances took place in many of Epstein’s properties, such as New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Palm Beach, Epstein and Maxwell would recruit young, disadvantaged girls in the early 2000s, before authorities got involved in 2005. Almost all the individuals told the same story that Maxwell would greet the girls then bring them upstairs to Epstein, where the girls were then told to strip and
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...special treatment to those who have immense power and influence cannot continue.” Police Department. This special treatment to those who have immense power and influence cannot continue. In many of the testimonies from the alleged victims in the 2020 Net-
Laura Niezgoda is a sophomore studying communication studies and criminology and law studies. She can be reached at laura.niezgoda@marquette.edu
