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Minnesota State University, Mankato
Healthy insight for women
WEDNESDAY
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THURSDAY
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Pan African Conference highlights Michael Dyson
MEGAN KADLEC
news editor
The National Association for the Advancement of Colassistant news editor ored People gave him two imThe Centennial Student Union age awards. Ebony Magazine filled the halls with popcorn, named him one of 100 most condoms and chocolate vaginas influential black Americans Monday for the Women’s Health and Minnesota State UniverFair. sity, Mankato will be hosting In efforts to promote women’s his latest speech this weekend. health awareness, organizations, Michael Eric Dyson will communities and committees be the keynote speaker at the gathered to educate and inform 36th annual Pan African Stuany and all who were interested. dent Leadership Conference The Women of Action ComFriday at 7 p.m. in the Centenmittee of the Women’s Center nial Student Union ballroom. promoted the Violence Aware“Recognizing and Celebratness Response Program as ing Pan Africans in the Global well as Peer Educators Acting Society” is the theme for this for Change and Equality. The year’s conference. Women’s Center not only supMichael Fagin, founder and ports the women’s stance but also coordinator of the annual conmen, who can enforce their take ference and professor in the against violence through their Department of Ethnic Studies Men Against Violence program. at MSU, said that Dyson is a Employee Wellness at Work dynamic speaker who has a offers Minnesota State Univerdetermination to change the sity, Mankato employees an perceptions of Black America. opportunity to exercise or take Dyson is a professor of a relaxing yoga break during Sociology at Georgetown lunchtime with other MSU University and has written employees. 16 books including “Why I Student Health Services is ac- Love Black Women,” “Is Bill tive in promoting safe touch and Cosby Right?” and “Come masturbation. Ten dollar t-shirts, Hell or High Water, Hurri$2 chocolate vaginas, and $1 vagina suckers were sold to cleverly advance their message. St. Peter Hospitals and Clinics gave out handy Body Mass Index ALLISON MATTHEWS (BMI) indicators to educate stu- staff writer dents about morbid obesity and Gender Blur is hosting Safe treatment options. Bathrooms for All: A Viewing The LGBT Center highlighted of “Toilet Training” and a Panel key points of the top 10 things Discussion to educate audiences lesbians should discuss with their on the benefits of gender neutral healthcare provider. bathrooms. Safe Bathrooms for Amid the CSU were Satori All will be held in Ostrander Violet belly dancers, an organiAuditorium in the Centennial zation that offers belly-dancing Student Union at 2 p.m. Tuesday. classes to anyone interested. New As a program of the Lesbian, classes are open in March and Gay, Bisexual, Transgender registration is online at www. Center, Gender Blur hopes to satoriviolet.com. raise awareness at the event on Do you remember Dove’s why gender- neutral bathrooms campaign “Real Women” modon campus are a necessity and not els? Stacy Nadeau, the creator of an accommodation, according to the captivating images of women LGBT Center Intern Zan Christ. of all shapes and sizes in their unGendered bathrooms include derwear caught the public’s eye in indications on whether or not the the summer of 2005. Stacy’s bold bathroom is meant specifically approach is reaching out to MSU for men or women. People with February 29, at 7 p.m. in the CSU nonconforming gender expresBallroom to extend her message sions who enter bathrooms may on a positive body image for all face humiliation, violence and women. possible arrests, Christ explains. ELISE KONERZA
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cane Katrina and the Color of Disaster.” Dyson also wrote a book investigating the ways in which African Americans have made it into the “Promised Land” Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about before his assassination on April 4, 1968. Dyson also attempts to shed light on the ways in which the United States has failed in the search for racial justice. He also discusses the virtues, and flaws, of African American leaders who have followed King, including Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama. The conference opens with a focus on New Sub-Saharan African immigrants and will feature speakers Kimmie Weeks and Judge LaJune Thomas Lange. Weeks, a Liberia native, is the Executive Director of Youth Action International and will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday. Lange is the President of the International Leadership Institute and will provide the keynote speech at Friday’s lunch session along with Minnesota State Senator Bobby Joe Champion A panel, to be held Friday
• web photo Michael Eric Dyson was recognized as one of the top 100 most influential black Americans.
at 2 p.m. in Ostrander Auditorium, will discuss the educational, economic, social and cultural concerns of African communities throughout Minnesota. The panelists will
consist of community and civic leaders. Another panel aims to address major social and legal
Pan African / page 4
Gender Blur hosts safe bathroom film viewing, discussion
inside: A&E.................................................5 Sports.............................................6 Classifieds.....................................7
As a result, many transgender and gender nonconforming people tend to have anxiety or fear entering gendered bathrooms. Advocates for Youth’s Amplify Your Voice website states that Dean Spade, a transgender activist and lawyer, was arrested in Grand Central Station’s men’s room because police thought he was in the wrong place. Spade helped in the making of “Toilet Training.” In 2003, Tara Mateik and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project made the documentary to show the prevalence of harassment, discrimination and violence people who contravene gender norms in gender segregated bathrooms, according to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s website. In a guide to the documentary, Spade says, “We should all be treated on an equal basis with other people who share our gender identity. No one should be forced to use a facility that does
not match their gender identity.” On Safe Bathrooms for All’s Facebook event page, it says that many transgender and gender nonconforming students undergo health complications because of waiting long periods of time to go to the bathroom. On the Facebook event page, it states that the event will be an opportune time to ask questions and learn why more gender-neutral bathrooms are important for MSU. Other campuses around the United States are moving forward with more accessible bathrooms for many communities. According to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, more than 150 campuses nationwide have gender-neutral bathrooms. Some campuses completely renovate bathrooms or change the signs on single-stall male/female restrooms, according to TLPL. TLPL goes on to say that a variety of institutions implemented
policies that require at least one gender-neutral bathroom in all newly renovated buildings. Safe Bathrooms for All hopes to create a dialogue on how to make Minnesota State University, Mankato bathrooms more accessible for transgender and gender nonconforming students. Gender-neutral bathrooms benefit more than the LGBT community, according to Christ. “It has benefits to multiple groups including people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, parents or caregivers accompanying people of different genders, and people who need a private space for a variety of reasons,” Christ said. Gender Blur is an education advocacy group a part of the LGBT Center for transgender and gender nonconforming students to learn leadership skills and engage in transgender activism on campus.
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