TUESDAY MARCH 3, 2020
Black History celebrated with 44th Pan African Conference MICHAEL MCSHANE NEWS EDITOR Voter participation and the danger of disenfranchisement were the topics of discussion at this year’s Michael T. Fagin Pan-African Conference. Many elected officials and civil rights advocates came to MNSU to speak to students on the important subject over the weekend. While 2020 is a very important election year, the conference wanted students to know that the Presidential election isn’t the only election they should care about. “With this conference we’re not even talking about the presidential election,” Kenneth Reid, the Director of the Center for African American Affairs, said. “We’re talking about senators, council people.” The goal of the day was teaching students, primarily African American students, that their vote was their voice being heard and that all elections, from the city council to
Keynote speaker Ja’mal Green, a Community Activist/Actor, speaks during Pan African Seminar held in the Centennial Student Union Friday, Feb 28, 2020, in Mankato, Minn. (Prasad Pol/ MSU Reporter)
the U.S. Senate, were important. This lesson was taught early in the day as the opening keynote speaker, Ja’Mal Green, a civil rights activist,
Chicago mayoral candidate and at 24 the same age as some of the students he was speaking to Friday went up on stage to speak about his experience dealing with both
the aftermath of police brutality against African Americans and a criminal justice system that he says targeted him due to his activism. “I was at the helm of a
movement, my life was in jeopardy every single day, as I was fighting the mayor, the superintendent of police and a state’s attorney, which at the time I didn’t realize had a lot of power,” Green said. Green spoke about how after getting arrested during a protest, Green was falsely accused of nine felonies. The judge presiding over his bond hearing would take a leave of absence due to “getting sick” and the replacement judge was a friend of then Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Even though Green had no previous convictions or arrests, the judge placed his bond at $350,000. Green’s legal fight would go on until Alvarez’s exit as state attorney in 2016. “I want to tell you how I became the leader that people look to and that the
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Phi Delta Theta celebrates 55th anniversary ANDREW BRAVO STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER The 55th Anniversary Phi Delta Theta’s Founder’s Day was celebrated this past weekend in Downtown Mankato, bringing together members of the fraternity both alumni and current. Traveling from as far as Florida and California to the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, the reunion kicked off with a social at the Loose Moose on Friday and events throughout the day Saturday which included a chapter meeting and house tours in the afternoon and banquet later that night. With over 120 Phis in attendance and as many as 200 at the dinner and dance, the Grand Ballroom was packed with Phis returning to their former stomping grounds. Among those in attendance were special guests President of Phi Delta Theta Sean Wagner and President
Phi Delta Theta President Sean Wagner speaks at the chapter meeting this past Saturday in the Mankato Civic Center. Presenting a Strategic Plan for the chapter’s future, called Phi Delt 2030, the president and chapter are strong as ever.
of Minnesota State University, Mankato Richard Davenport, both speaking on the state of the chapter and plans for the future. Wagner, the President of Phi Delta Theta General
Headquarters in Miami, Ohio, addressed the chapter at the meeting Saturday afternoon by commending the hard work everyone involved has done to put the weekend’s events together while focus-
ing on the state of the chapter. “We’re bigger than ever before,” Wagner said. “But with growth, there come challenges, challenges which cannot be ignored.”
Among the topics discussed was the Strategic Plan, also known as Phi Delt 2030. With the goal of being recognized as the premier fraternal leadership society in North America, the groundwork for the plan emphasizes goals in various areas such as growth, retention, and cultivation of culture for members to reach their own personal greatness. Davenport also spoke at the banquet later that night the chapter’s history and plans for a Greek row in the future. Following the speech, the distinct awards of Active of the Year and Alumni of the Year were given out for extraordinary contributions to the chapter. The recipients of those awards, active Tyler Guggisberg and alumni Bill Rose
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