Spring 2017 - Issue 2

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CATALYST

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MARCH 1, 2017 VOLUME XXXV ISSUE II

New College of Florida's student-run newspaper

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Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

Following the fight for transgender rights nationally and in Sarasota

BY JASON D'AMOURS Over a year’s worth of discussions and protests have endured in Sarasota and across the nation relating to transgender people’s fundamental right to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Donald Trump rescinded the protections for transgender students that were issued under President Obama, just in time for an upcoming protest and speak-out in Sarasota.

The Trump administration's decision once again conflicts with promises he made on the campaign trail. A New York Times report on

Thursday, Feb. 23, claimed that Trump made a statement in April in which he supported the rights of transgender people “to use the bathroom they feel is appropriate.”

Even Betsy DeVos, the narrowly appointed Trump administration’s Secretary of Education, was hesitant to cooperate with Trump - who was persuaded by Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ desire to abrogate transgender civil rights protections. This move comes just a month before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments from G.G. v.

Gloucester County School Board on March 28, a case resulting from a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties

Union (ACLU) against the Gloucester County School Board for adopting a discriminatory bathroom policy.

“I have dedicated my career to advocating for and fighting on behalf of students, and as Secretary of Education, I consider protecting all students, including LGBTQ students, not only a key priority for the Department, but for every school in America,” DeVos said in a statement released Wednesday evening. DeVos considers this issue best to be discussed at the “state and local level. Schools, communities, and families can find – and in many cases have found – solutions that protect all students.”

In a statement sent to the entire campus community on Friday, Feb. 24, New College President Donal O’Shea pledged that, “New College will continue to enforce our regulations and policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity and any other protected characteristic under the law.” This is the third statement released by O’Shea directly relating to the Trump administration and its actions.

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Provost search narrows and nears decision

Questions of student involvement in the search for new campus leader

BY JASMINE RESPESS Stephen Miles is resigning from his role as provost after his three year contract ends this year. In June 2017, he will return to his faculty role as a Professor of Music.

The search for the new provost is already far under way. The final candidates have been narrowed down to Rhonda Phillips, Barbara Feldman, James Ostrow and Katherine Walstrom.

“I’ll be sad, because Miles is goofy.

I remember at orientation my first year, he sang some song with his guitar about contracts,” thesis student Kasia Burzynski said.

The Provost is in charge of many academic responsibilities at New College. This includes professorial faculty hiring and firing.

WHAT’S INSIDE

It is important that the new Provost would be an academic that professors can respect. They will also need to be able to represent New College at the Board of Governor's Meeting, where all Florida public school leaders meet.

“The way in which we are judged, the Provost has a lot to do with that,” College President Donal O’Shea said.

The responsibilities of the new Provost will be great due to the proposed expansion that New College plans to undertake.

“We are hoping to expand 50 percent on faculty,” O’Shea said. “The question is what direction to take and where do we put the lines. It is my job to try and get as much money as we can and it is the provost’s job to lead the charge and do a new round of strategic planning.”

“If you ask any particular person, they have got their favorite discipline,” O’Shea said. “It is usually their own, so the provost will need to sort that out and lead.”

How it is done The applicants were decided on in a multifold process.

“We kind of used a hybrid model,” New College President Donal O’Shea said.

“We used [Doug Dittberne of Management Development Search] to answer any questions that candidates that were thinking of applying might have.”

This was done so that before they formally applied, those interested could ask questions off the record. The Management Development Search service cost $10,000.

4 BUCHANAN PROTESTS

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

“It was the first time we ever tried that,” O’Shea said. “I was pleased with the results.”

The next aspect of selection was the New College search committee.

The five people on the search committee were: • Alum Felice Schulaner ’78 chair of the New College Board of Trustees.

• Patrick McDonald Professor of Mathematics, Director of the New College Data Science Program • David Rohrbacher Professor of Classics • Sarah Hernandez Professor of Sociology • Alison Gamble Assistant Librarian, Science Librarian “We didn’t want somebody

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12 COMEDY FRIENDS

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NEWS PAGE 2

Green Fee funds $50,000 to make Heiser expansion solar powered

BY KATELYN GRIMMETT Five years of sustainability advocacy - and $50,000 - have finally resulted in the accomplishment of a long-standing goal: solar panels have been approved for installment on the roof of the new Heiser extension.

An ambitious solar energy initiative back in 2012 was the spark that created the Council of Green Affairs (CGA), a branch of the New College Student Alliance (NCSA) that has grown exponentially in the past year, resulting in several new paid positions and a food forest.

The primary goal was to get solar panels on top of some structure on campus. The original candidate was Four Winds, but the building was deemed too old to hold.

More logistical complications arose, years passed, and still no solar panels. The momentum that had gone into getting the project off the ground went idle.

Luckily, a key piece of the initiative was quietly gathering money for when the day came. The Green Fee – a $28 fee students pay yearly – was getting green indeed.

Around last Spring, the Green Fee had stacked up over $70,000,

every dollar of which is reserved for sustainable campus initiatives. One iconic project sponsored by the Green Fee is the food forest, spearheaded by thesis-students Jay McWilliams, Gardening TA, and Orion Morton, Vice President of Green Affairs (VPGA).

“The reason we had so much money is because people kept saving it to spend on solar panels,” Morton said.

“It was piling up and there wasn’t yet a tangible means of getting solar panels so we started spending it on other projects.”

By happy coincidence, the peak of the Green Fee’s accumulation coincided with Heiser’s expansion, providing the right circumstances to invest in solarpowered infrastructure.

“These panels are symbolic, partly because getting solar panels was the primary goal of the CGA literally at its genesis,” Morton said. “It’s satisfying to finally complete what it’s initial goal was and that can be part of our image now, so that as we build new buildings in the future this is a precedent for that.”

The Green Fee is the sole sponsor of Heiser’s new solar panels, making them an entirely student-funded ecoproject. $50,000 was decided on as

the middle ground figure that would maximize the impact of the panels while balancing other, ongoing sustainable projects.

“We can add more [panels] later, in future years, as funds become available but this is a start and everything helps,” Physical Plant Project Manager John Milton said. “We’re putting the infrastructure in for future additions.”

The solar panels will cover 10 Kilowatts of electricity an hour out of Heiser’s 300-400 Kilowatts an hour, averaging an hourly 5 percent energy coverage for all of Heiser. Though this may seem small, it is making an appreciable dent in Heiser’s monthly electric bill – the highest campus-wide.

“Heiser is a laboratory buildingthe labs are high energy users because we have to condition a lot of the air because of the chemicals being used we can’t recirculate the air,” Milton explained.

With 50 grand unanimously approved by voting members of the CGA at the last allocation session, the Green Fee will come close to being spent by the year’s end – which was the goal at the beginning of the year, Morton says.

“It’s actually been the easiest Green Fee project that we’ve had to

fund,” Morton said. “I just had to meet with Physical Plant. They’re motivated to make this happen and they’ve been really helpful throughout. It was as simple as agreeing on $50,000.”

While the Green Fee (and by extension, all students) covered financials, Physical Plant took care of the logistics. Local solar company Brilliant Harvest was hired to design and install the panels and Tandem Construction to build the base for them.

Solar energy initiatives are not only ecologically savvy practices but economic ones as well. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy revealed that while solar power employment makes up 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation workforce, oil and gas combined makes up only 22 percent.

“Florida has a lot of potential and I think that companies are moving ahead with it, despite the president's insistence on oil and gas,” Morton said.

“Even people who aren’t necessarily environmentalists are realizing that solar energy has a lot more long-term economic benefits than oil and gas does. I mean, right now, just solar alone employs more people than oil and gas combined."

Students learn black history from award-winning film Hidden Figures

BY KELLY WILSON Nine hundred students buzzing around the lobby of a movie theater chatting with friends and staff poised to see a movie that they had been studying for days. With a specially designed curriculum to accommodate it’s everyday lessons into their school work to help them recognise lessons in the movie created an impressive turnout for the movie Hidden Figures at the Hollywood Twenty movie theater in Sarasota. All thanks to the generous donors from the community.

The students were lined up to see the movie Hidden Figures, an important film about the impact of the hidden figures, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Margaret Jackson - three black women who helped The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) become what it is today.

Booker T Washington High School sent 900 of approximately 1200 students and 100 teachers and volunteers and chaperones.

This required 21 busses which were funded by donors from the Sarasota

Community. One donor covered the cost of the tickets, while another covered the cost of transportation.

Booker T Washington Middle School also took 100 students to see the film. Their trip was sponsored by the Newtown Nation - a charitable organization which works as a community outreach organization in Newtown.

The movie Hidden Figures is a movie based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was created to give publicity to three black female engineers who worked for NASA at a turning point in space history. The movie deals with themes such as the sexism and racism which these women faced during the time, and still face today, as engineers.

It gives their history and reveals the forgotten nature of the work that these women contributed to the space race.

“The movie made me realize that there is so much more to history than we read in a book. Hearing the story from the women's side make me think more about women's rights,” Dylan, a student from Booker T Washington Middle School, wrote in a thank you

"Your mom." © 2016, the Catalyst. All rights reserved.

The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst, @ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria Vesperi. It is developed in the New College Publications Lab using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign and printed at Sun Coast Press with funds provided by the New College Student Alliance.

letter to the donors that funded this trip.

In the film, the women not only express their frustration with sexisim but the racisim that was prominent at the time as well. Katherine Johnson, played by Tarjia P. Henson expresses her frustration with the segregation of rest rooms.

“There are no colored bathrooms in this building, or any building outside the West Campus, which is half a mile away. Did you know that? I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve myself!”

“The movie was beneficial to me because I was exposed to the achievements of a racial minority,” Christina, a student at Booker High School, said.

These responses were similar among many students from Booker Middle School who waited in line to see the movie politely and were given popcorn and water, thanks to the Newtown Nation at the movie.

“The Newtown nation thought it would be a good idea to give students exposure to the movie Hidden Figures,” Ardell Otten, a member of the Newtown

Pariesa Young General Editor Giulia Heyward Managing Editor Ryan Paice Copy Editor Magdalene Taylor & Jacob Wentz Online Editors Audrey Warne & Layout Editors Anya María Contreras-García Katelyn Grimmett, Staff Writers Jasmine Respess, Dylan Pryor, & Photographers Jordi Gonzalez, Jason D'Amours, Kelly Wilson, Cassandra Manz,

Nation Board of Directors, said.

Once the idea was proposed the Newtown Nation spoke to school administration and arranged for 104 students from Booker Middle School to attend the movie. As well as seven volunteers and three members of the Newtown Nation Board of Directors.

“We chose this film because of our deep belief that exposure is important to young people especially, there’s a quote, I don’t know who it’s by but it goes something like ‘it’s hard to be what you can’t see.’ So what was the impetus for taking the students to see the movies,” Otten said.

“The impetus behind wanting to take the students to see this film is that it is a poignant and significant film for many reasons,” Michelle Anderson, a teacher at Booker High School, said.

“Primarily it gives you view into a world that many people are not even aware of. We had this large quantity of women engaged in doing the mathematical computations for NASA

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Direct submissions, letters, announcements and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, Florida 34243 ncfcatalyst@gmail.com The Catalyst reserves the right to edit all submissions for grammar, space and style.

No anonymous submissions will be accepted.

Submissions must be received by 12:00 p.m.

Friday for consideration in the next issue.

CATALYST

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NEWS PAGE 3

SAC clears up budget discrepancy

BY KATELYN GRIMMETT

The Activist Newsletter Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst

This week (3/1 – 3/9), activists have the opportunity to participate in rallies, marches, local meetings, panel discussions, and fundraisers! Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding racial justice, worker’s rights, intersectional feminism, trans rights, disability and mental health awareness. Check out ncfcatalyst.com every week for an extended calendar of events!

BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERAS-GARCÍA Thurs, March 2 Feminism in the Black Lives Matter Movement @ 7 – 9 p.m.

USF Cooper Hall, Room 126 @ 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33620 Join the conversation with community leaders on feminism in the Black Lives Matter movement.

This talk will feature Dr. Cheryl Rodriguez, cultural anthropologist and an Associate Professor of Africana Studies, and Donna Davis, an experienced community organizer and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Tampa chapter.

For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.

Fri, Mar 3 Java for Justice @ 7 – 9 p.m.

USF Amphitheater, Tampa, FL, 33620 International Justice Mission at USF is once again hosting Java for Justice, an open-mic event filled with music, poetry, spoken word and, of course, free fair-trade coffee. If you would like to perform or would like more info, check out the event page on Facebook.

Fri, Mar 3 Wall of Love: Trans Is Beautiful @ 9 p.m. – 1 a.m.

7th Ave Ybor, Historic Ybor, Tampa, FL 33605 Organizers are looking for as many trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming people and drag entertainers to stand together in a human wall in honor the six trans women murdered in the US so far this year. Bring rainbow and trans flags and signs supporting the trans community. Organizers also need cisgender people (especially cisgender women) who agree to accompany trans folks to safe bathrooms nearby. For more info or if you’d like to help, check out the event page on Facebook.

Sun, Mar 5 Trans Rights Rally @ 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Five Points Park, 1 Central Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236 Nate’s List has tirelessly protested, spoke, and rallied for trans rights in Sarasota County.

Please bring anti-Trump and trans rights protest signs. Contact Nate Quinn on Facebook if you require any accommodations, would like to speak, or if you have any questions.

For more info, check out the event page on Facebook.

Mon, Mar 6 Coalition of Immokalee Workers + Women! @ 6 – 7:30 p.m.

University of South Florida, MSC 3707 Join the collaboration of Triota Honor Society at USF, United Students Against Sweatshops and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) as students spend learn how CIW empowers women and has successfully addressed gender based violence in farm working communities and in the working fields! For more information, check out the event page on Facebook.

Tues, Mar 7 Speak Out for Trans Rights @ 6:15 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Sarasota County Schools, 1960 Landings Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34231 After rallying support on Mar. 5, the Nate's List campaign will host a speak-out during the Sarasota County School Board Meeting. Nate's List demands inclusive bathroom and locker room policies, adding gender identity and expression to antiharassment policies, and training staff and faculty on inclusion of trans identities. Please prepare 3 minute speeches and sign up to speak when you arrive. For more info, check out the event page on Facebook.

After careful accounting and a few impromptu meetings, the Student Allocations Committee (SAC) has cleared up what was thought to be a budget discrepancy.

At the close of the Feb. 5 SAC meeting, the remainder of the budget was recorded to be $22,528, but a cross-check with the records of Student Government Business Manager Dawn Shongood found a roughly $6,000 gap, with Shongood’s recorded balance being $16, 515.

Through meticulous backtracking, the current SAC representatives found the issue to be a glitch in bookkeeping from last semester. A recurring $5,000 allocation for annual Center of the Universe Party (COUP) security was not subtracted from the SAC budget at the beginning of the school year, in addition to several minor allocations approved throughout last semester.

Unfortunately, because the SAC was unaware of these previously allocated funds, they approved more expenditures in fall than the ideal semesterly amount and are now faced with a slightly tighter budget than usual for Spring semester.

To address this pinch, SAC representatives have worked out temporary amendments to the bylaws in order to ensure that funds can be spread throughout the semester. For example, a $50 hard cap for walls is being enforced as well as a restriction on funds for sports and travels, so as to prioritize campus-wide events.

Additionally, the SAC has taken account of major, annual Spring events and are reserving at least $5,000 for Graduation COUP, Booze Cruise and other graduation festivities.

“We don’t want anyone to be concerned that these things won’t happen, they will happen,” fourth-year

SAC Representative Jennifer Gierson said.

The SAC generally has eight representatives –– two per year – but the committee is currently experiencing two vacancies. The remaining six representatives, two of whom are newly appointed this semester, had to pull together to address the error made last semester.

Preventative measures have been taken to address the wider issue of communication. Amendments to the Duties and Expectations for the SAC Chair will be proposed to include weekly meetings with Shongood and collaboration with the Council of Academic Affairs (CAA) and Council of Green Affairs.

An Emergency Towne Meeting is scheduled for this Saturday at 2 p.m. to maintain transparency throughout the re-budgeting process and to hear any comments or concerns students may have.

“We want everyone to know that they can still come to us for allocations,” Interim SAC Chair James Montgomery said. “Just because we have a lower amount [this semester] doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear you,” Montgomery said.

“We definitely put hours into fixing it but it was part of our responsibility to take care of it,” Gierson said. “We all went forward and fixed it together.”

Bylaws outline criteria for funding such as a 75 percent maximum coverage of students’ travel expenses and a cap of $2,000 for COUP. The SAC makes amendments to the bylaws whenever necessary and these changes, as well as the weekly updated budget, are recorded in the SAC meeting minutes.

This past Sunday, the SAC allocated $1,230, of which the largest line item was Disability Awareness Month planning for $770, leaving the semesterly budget at $15, 270.

CORRECTIONS:

In the Feb. 22 issue of the Catalyst, the article “Thousands ‘missing’ from the SAC budget” misrepresented a budgetary discrepancy in the Student Allocations Committee (SAC).

The article incorrectly stated that an emergency non-allocations meeting of the SAC held on Feb. 19 was not publicized to the student body, however SAC Interim Chair and thesis student James Montgomery sent an email about the meeting to the students-list two days prior.

Furthermore, at the conclusion of this meeting, all SAC expenditures and line items were accounted for, and the budgetary discrepancy between the SAC budget and the balance of Student Government Business Manager and Coordinator Dawn Shongood was found to be due to $5,000 for Center of the Universe Party (COUP) security, paid before the SAC was able to account for it in their budget. This expenditure is an aggregate fee for security at all three annual COUPs and is taken from the SAC budget every year.

There is no relationship between this bookkeeping error and the incident where $6,000 of camera equipment was found to be missing from the campus darkroom. There is no money “missing” from the SAC records or budget, and the student committee continues to allocate funds to events and activities each Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Old Mail Room.

The Catalyst apologizes for the errors.

In the article "O’Shea hesitates to sign statement opposing Trump’s executive orders," Taylor Rothenberg, an alum who who was cited for posting about border patrol agents near downtown Sarasota, was called a student.

The Catalyst apologizes for the error.

CATALYST

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NEWS PAGE 4

Sarasota congressman pressured by immigrant rights group

BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERASGARCÍA “People more than ever need to know that there is someone out there fighting for them, someone willing to go to the end of the world to make sure that they don’t get deported back to nothing,” second-year and volunteer with All of Us Sarasota Ximena Pedroza said.

This is the motivation behind the weekly protests targeting House Representative Vern Buchanan (R-Sarasota), a congressman who has supported calling Syrian refugees a “terrorist diaspora” and supported two bills cutting federal funding for sanctuary cities and toughening penalties against anyone who re-enters the country after being deported.

All of Us Sarasota – a multi-issue group prioritizing immigrant rights, climate action and defending social programs – began organizing to resist President Donald Trump’s agenda after he won the election.

“What we’ve been doing so far are weekly delegations to Representative Vern Buchanan’s office,” Sean Sellers, volunteer with All of Us Sarasota, said.

“To date, Buchanan has not broken with the Trump administration on any issue of consequence and he’s showing lockstep agreement with a very extremist agenda. Ultimately, we want to show that we’re his constituents and we don’t agree with these policies.”

The first action organized by All of Us Sarasota was in the aftermath of President Trump signing Executive Order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” also known as the “Muslim ban” because it bans travelers from seven predominantly-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Approximately 50 people, including several refugee and immigration experts, presented

photo courtesy of All of Us Sarasota

Approximately 100 Sarasota locals prepare to occupy the lobby of House Representative Vern Buchanan's (R-Sarasota) office on Feb. 21, 2017.

a signed petition to Buchanan’s staff in Sarasota. Several hundred people signed the letter calling for Buchanan to oppose the travel ban. Vern Buchanan did not meet with the activists.

The following week featured a Valentine’s Day themed action, with approximately 50 people delivering dozens of Valentine’s cards to Buchanan’s Sarasota office asking him to “have a heart” for immigrants and “love thy neighbor.” The crowd was met

by Buchanan’s Field Representative Danny Bilyeu, but not Rep. Buchanan.

For the most recent action on Feb. 21, approximately 100 protesters filled the lobby of Buchanan’s office calling on him to host a Towne Hall meeting, but Buchanan, again, was not there to meet the crowd.

“He’s one of 200 Congressional

Republicans that refuse to hold a Towne Hall meeting during the February recess which is very unusual,” Sellers said. “Usually Congressmen go back to their home districts and the tradition is you hold a Towne Hall meeting.

Instead, this year Buchanan booked a trip to Afghanistan. He is hiding out.

He doesn’t want to come home and face constituents.”

According to CNN, there is a trend of Republican lawmakers avoiding town hall events this week and the passionate constituents that come with them. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) also scheduled a trip out of the country during the February Congressional recess.

Matt Wolking, Rubio's press secretary, said organizers are using an online activist manual made by the

group Indivisible "to stage a hostile atmosphere, record themselves booing no matter what is said, and refuse to give up the microphone." The Indivisible manual is being used as a foundational guide for All of Us Sarasota.

According to Seller, constituents have been given no formal reason why Buchanan will not meet with them or host a Towne Hall. Despite the lack of follow-up, All of Us Sarasota is committed to organizing weekly protests and sustaining pressure on Buchanan.

“We view [these protests] as a first and necessary step in a more protracted effort to put pressure on him and specifically to spotlight his lock-step agreement with the Trump administration’s most extreme policies,” Seller said. “One of the next steps would be stitching together a broader fabric of opposition in Sarasota by connecting with other local groups.”

Both Seller and Pedroza are eager for more involvement from the New College of Florida community. “The vast majority of this school isn’t affected by these issues and they don’t want to take action. Just because it doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care, because it affects millions of people in this country.”

“If you go to a march or a rally and you say, ‘Immigrants are welcome here!

Refugees are welcome here!’ then stand up. Take all that energy that you got from that march or that rally and put it into actions. Go volunteer. Educate yourself on what being deported is like, about what the process of getting citizenship is like. Do something, because if you don’t help then you’re no better than them.”

To get involved, like All of Us Sarasota on Facebook or e-mail allofussarasota@gmail.com.

Information for this article was taken from the Orlando Weekly and CNN.

The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1

BY JACOB WENTZ The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Spitzer Space Telescope has identified not one, but seven new Earth-sized planets orbiting a dwarf star. All seven of these planets could potentially contain liquid water, but three are firmly located in the habitable zone – the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to contain water. The discovery sets a record for most habitable-zone planets found orbiting a single star outside our solar system and raises questions about the potential of extraterrestrial life.

“This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in the agency’s press release.

The exoplanet system, called TRAPPIST-1, is roughly 40 light-years — or 235 trillion miles — from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius. Its name comes from The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile, where researchers first discovered three planets in the system. Using information from the TRAPPIST research, the Spitzer telescope confirmed the existence of two of the three planets and discovered five additional ones.

"This is the most exciting result I have seen in the 14 years of Spitzer operations," Sean Carey, manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California, said in the press release.

The TRAPPIST-1 star is classified as an ultra-cool dwarf. This classification suggests that, in contrast to our sun, the star is so cool that liquid water could be found on planets orbiting very close to it.

Astronomers believe that the

exoplanets may be tidally locked to the star. This prediction suggests that the same side of the planet is always facing the star; each side is either perpetual day or night. The weather patterns on these planets, therefore, could be completely unlike those on Earth.

Despite funky weather conditions, astronomers believe that one or more of the exoplanets could be at a temperature that supports oceans and, perhaps, life.

“I think that we have made a crucial step toward finding if there is life out there,” Amaury H. M. J. Triaud, astronomer at the University of Cambridge and member of the research team, said in the release. “Here, if life managed to thrive and releases gases similar to that we have on Earth, then we will know.”

Researchers plan to continue the investigation of this exciting discovery in hopes of learning more about habitable planets. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, for example,

has initiated a screening of four of the exoplanets, three of which fall inside the habitable zone. The screenings aim at assessing and interpreting the presence of hydrogen-dominated atmospheres around the planets.

Spitzer, Hubble and Kepler will help astronomers plan for follow-up studies using NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch in 2018. The Webb Telescope is much more sensitive than others: it will be able to detect the chemical fingerprints of water, methane, oxygen, ozone and other components of a planet's atmosphere in order to determine habitability.

“Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal,” Zuburchen said.

Information from: www.nasa.gov and www.nytimes.com

CATALYST

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NEWS PAGE 5

RA programs keep late night 'Walls' on campus

BY CASSIE MANZ Although the long-standing tradition of Walls faltered a bit last fall, students and Student Affairs found a way to keep some semblance of the party going. Despite the fact that the Walls were now technically late night events sponsored by Resident Advisors (RA) and thus substance free, music still played and people still danced and to some that was all that mattered.

The New College Police Department (NCPD) has dealt with understaffing for several years now.

However, the issue began to affect Walls last fall semester when several unexpected absences popped up in the department a month into the semester.

The Wall sign-ups had been sent out, the most voted on Walls had gotten a date and then Student Affairs realized that they didn’t have adequate policing on several weekend nights when Walls were to be thrown.

For a Wall to be thrown there must be two police officers on duty, which has been policy ever since an incident in 2008. Due to understaffing, many of these nights had only one police officer.

On Friday and Saturday nights, New College police officers are responsible not only for patrolling the Wall but for patrolling the entire campus, as well as the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus down the road. This vast expanse is why, according to Chief Officer Michael Kessie, one police officer is not enough to ensure a safe Wall experience for everyone, as well as a safe environment on both campuses.

The Loophole

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst (left) Attendees enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries, donuts and even a glitter chocolate fountain! (right) The Old Mail Room was transformed into a "dreamy scene decorated with romantic pinks and pastels" as advertised on the Forum.

At first it was suggested that Student Affairs or New College Student Alliance (NCSA) could pay the overtime amount for another officer to work weekend nights, so that there could be two police officers on duty. However with their already limited budgets this option was ruled out.

And so, students, RAs and Student Affairs worked around it. The idea was thrown out during a meeting between NCSA and Student Affairs that RAs could sponsor the Walls and turn them into late night programs, where one police officer on duty would not be an issue.

Centeno took the idea to the RA staff meeting and let them know of the situation and the proposed idea.

“They kind of gave me the weird smile like, ‘What are you getting at.’ But we talked about if they were open to it and I told them and made sure that they knew you do not have to say yes… but if you want to I support that,” Centeno

said. “And I think a lot of them wanted to support that. It was definitely out of respect and concern for their peers that a few of them took on that extra work.”

Once it was clear that the RAs were on board, Student Affairs gave the Wall throwers two options: push the Wall back to the Spring semester where a date with two police officers on duty could be guaranteed or turn the Wall into a late-night RA event. Four Wall throwers went with the former option and five Wall throwers went with the latter. Get FUN-ky Wall, Taco Truck Wall, Young Wild & Free Pt. 3 Rave Wall, Scene Wall and Space Whale Wall became late night RA programs.

The most recent late night RA program held was Slow Jamz Part Two. The event was sponsored by RA and second-year Riley Lewis.

“As an RA you're not allowed to throw a Wall and so it’s kind of interesting that we've gone to this opposite extreme where we've almost

encouraged us to throw a Wall,” Lewis said. “Honestly I think that if your end goal is community building a late night wall event is going to build community much better than some other RA events and stuff like that.”

The criteria the late night RA programs had to meet to be thrown were as follows: they had to be indoors, they had to be substance-free and marketed as such and the event hosts or the sponsoring RA were expected to address behavior that needed addressing - for example, if someone came to the event with alcohol.

The long-term solution With two spots open in the NCPD it might seem obvious that the easiest way to solve the understaffing issue is to hire more police officers, but this is not always so simple. The testing candidates have to go through and the training once they get hired can take up to nine months. According to Chief Kessie, if someone is coming in with no experience it could take up to a year to get them out in the field. In addition, the NCPD runs a strict background test that more and more candidates have not been passing.

Aside from the rigid requirements, being a police officer on a college campus brings its own set of expectations.

Kessie cited a younger population and more mental health issues on campus as two factors police officers must be adept at dealing with. An ideal candidate, according to Kessie, is someone who has had previous police experience, but

continued on p. 11

Muslim activists raise A LEAP forward: The CEO’s thousands in solidarity 6-part mini-workshop series with Jewish community

BY DYLAN PRYOR

BY DYLAN PRYOR In the aftermath of the vandalism of a St. Louis Jewish cemetery, two Muslim activists have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $20,000 for repairs.

Within a few hours of being posted last Tuesday, the LaunchingGood fundraising page created by Tarek ElMessidi and Linda Sarsour exceeded its $20,000 goal to cover the damages to a least 170 gravestones that were toppled over last weekend in Chesed Shel Emeth Society Cemetery.

“Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America,” El-Messedi and Sarsour wrote on their page. “We pray that this restores a sense of security and peace to the Jewish-American community who has undoubtedly been shaken by this event.”

Following the rise of hate crimes

after this year’s presidential election, Messedi believes that both the Muslim and Jewish communities have been brought together in solidarity as a result of them both being targeted by such discrimination.

As his inspiration, El-Messedi cites the story of the prophet Muhammed, who stood up when a Jewish funeral procession passed, and when questioned, responded, “Is it not a human soul?”

El-Messedi also founded and leads a nonprofit organization, Celebrate Mercy, with the mission of both educating people about Muhammed’s teachings and also rallying Muslims to respond to evil with good. His previous efforts include launching a Muslimled fundraiser that raised more than $215,000 for the victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015.

Information from this article was taken from the Jerusalem Post and the Washington Post.

After a year’s absence, the Career Engagement Office (CEO) has recently restarted its six-part LEAP mini-workshop series to develop professionalism in both interviews and the workplace.

LEAP stands for “Leadership, Engagement, Awareness, and Professionalism” and was first started two years ago by the CEO’s Assistant Director for Community Engagement Andrea Knies.

“When I first started at New College, I talked to a lot of alumni, about what we can provide for students that would help them be better prepared to share their talents and skills with the world,” Knies said. “And time after time, alumni have said, ‘it’s these really simple soft skill things, but no one’s sharing this information,’ and I said, ‘Well, the information’s out there on what you should do.’ And someone said, ‘it’s not telling them what to do, it’s telling them why to do something.’”

According to Knies, LEAP was developed based on the concept of why people do certain things, rather

than what they do. Therefore, every LEAP session is backed by research and scientific articles and information that is aimed at making sure students understand the why behind certain skills and how to share them with the world.

Each session is also facilitated by several representatives from different departments on campus who have unique experience with their chosen topic and are able to present it both enthusiastically and effectively.

“Each of these people brings a certain amount of expertise from their background, second, it’s more interesting, and the third benefit - it’s a big part of why we designed it this way is coming to all the sessions introduces students to different people on campus that it’s really good for them to know,” CEO Career Coach and current organizer of LEAP Michelle Flint said.

All LEAP topics, dates and facilitators are posted online on the forum and Students List. Flint also encourages students to take part in fellow CEO program Job Quest as a way to supplement many of the concepts learned in LEAP.

Black history month: a recap

BY GIULIA HEYWARD Black History Month at New College was once the brain child of alum Nasib McIntosh (‘12) and Professor of Sociology Queen Zabriskie. Three years later, and the Black History Month (BHM) Planning Committee is a subsect of the school’s Black Student Union (BSU). The committee is made up of its co-founders and New College Student Alliance (NCSA) co-Presidents and third-years Paul Loriston and Miles Iton, as well as a team of dedicated students who have been meeting weekly since the beginning of the school year.

Zabriskie is now joined by other faculty sponsors, Professor Brendan Goff, Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC) counselor Duane Khan, Professor of German Wendy Sutherland and Professor Amy Reid. This year, funding for BHM came from the $750,000 Andrew W. Mellon Grant, which was generously awarded to the school in support of the Humanities program.

“My first year, [Black History Month] was very limited in the scope of events because it was only a few people,” Loriston said. “As black people, we only get one month of recognition.

Even in school curriculum, they don’t teach about blackness and, when they do, it’s constrained into the shortest month of the year. [...] We deserve so much more than just a month.”

This year’s Black History Month was centered around the theme of Black Action, and the intersection between blackness and social activism. The month began with an Arts n’ Crafts event, on Feb. 3, an informal social that challenged students to utilize posters, magazines and markers to create posters of self expression. Following this was a concert at the bay on Feb. 12 featuring Sekajipo and the People, a regular performer at past Black History Month celebrations, that took place in front of College Hall. A Black Student and Alumni Connection Event was held on Feb. 12 and served as a mixer for both

black students as well as black faculty and alums at Cook Hall. On Feb. 16, Reid invited Cameroonian writer Patrice Nganang to campus for a discussion on his recently published novel, Mount Pleasant. The Florida Studio Theatre provided 70 seats for students to watch a performance of the critically acclaimed Brownsville Song (B-Side for Tray) on Feb. 18 while graphic novelist Mildred Louis was invited to present at the African-American Read-in at Jane Bancroft Cook Library on Feb. 20.

Miami-based artists Stephany Camacho and SDotBrady were both invited to perform at the highly anticipated Concert Sur la Bay in front of College Hall.

With the month coming to a close, the committee has planned several events to extend Black History Month into March including a Def Jam Open Mic Night at the Four Winds on March 3rd and the Symposium on Redefining Activism: Navigating Identity and SelfCare on March 4th. Both events will feature this year’s Keynote Speaker, Kavindu Ade, a spoken word poet, activist and educator who meditates on themes of blackness, queerness and social activism.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst Third-year Cheilkhou Kane cuts into cake at the Black Alum event in Cook Hall.

Students listen as Dr. Lisa Merritt discusses her experiences as a black college student.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst

Third-years Kailah Santos, Mary Robertson and second-year Andreina Carrasquero and alum Snousha Glade ('12) mingle at the Black Alum Connection Event.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst

Retired Natural Sciences Professor Ellzie McCord and third-year Briana Nieves discuss Nieves's thesis plans for her fourth, and final, year at New College.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst Giulia Heyward/Catalyst Concert Sur la Bay performer, SDotBrady, holds the crowd's attention as the event's

First-year transfer Kingsley Reeves performs at the Concert Sur la Bay.

final act.

Giulia HeywardCatalyst

Black History Month was able to invite performers such as Sekajipo and the People with the generous funding courtesy of the Andrew W. Mellon Grant.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst Third-year and BHM co-founder Miles Iton demonstrates his ability on the mic.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst

Musician Stephany Camacho sang a mix of English and Spanish music as the opening act at the Concert Sur la Bay.

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst Robertson constructs a collage at the Arts n' Craft ice-cream social event.

CATALYST

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SUBMISSIONS

PAGE 8

Million Hoodies chapter launches

SUBMITTED BY DAJE AUSTRIE, SAIF IQBAL, AND KAYLA KISSEADOO

After months of planning, organizing, and overcoming various hurdles, the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice - West Florida Chapter was officially launched this month. A Black and Brown led national racial justice network to end mass criminalization and gun violence, Million Hoodies is a chapter-based movement organization that was started after the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012.

In addition to fighting for racial justice, Million Hoodies has members of, and is open to, all people of color, and stands side by side with organizations like Black Lives Matter, United We Dream, and Mpower Change to combat racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia.

From California to Washington D.C., Million Hoodies has chapters across the country that are working to empower young people of color. Every chapter is independent and receives micro-grants, guidance, and support from the National Office located in New York City.

The West Florida Chapter is still in its infancy stages and is currently focused on recruiting its membership base and educating the base about the

photo courtesy of Saif Iqbal Thesis student Saif Iqbal and second-year Dajé Austrie gathered with a group of young leaders at the Million Hoodies Fall National Training in New York City last November.

basics of organizing, activism, and power dynamics. Million Hoodies is an organization that focuses on taking on the status quo in local communities and the West Florida Chapter is looking to fill leadership roles and bring motivated, hungry young people into the movement.

Next month, the Executive Director of Million Hoodies, Dante

Barry, will be coming to speak at NCF. Named in Revolt TV’s New Leaders of Social Justice and The Root’s list of 100 Black influencers, Dante is a Black writer, grassroots organizer, and communications strategist. He works out of the National Office and collaborates with staff, board, and national leadership to build a powerful network of emerging human rights

leaders on the front lines of social change.

In conjunction with Black History Month’s symposium on March 4th, Redefining Activism: Navigating Identity, and Practicing Self-care, Dante will be coming to New College to speak and meet with young activists and leaders in the Tampa/Sarasota Area at 2 P.M. in ACE Lounge.

Faculty submission:

Professor David Brain on the Feb. 8 faculty meeting

SUBMITTED BY PROFESSOR DAVID BRAIN Dear Colleagues,

I've been thinking about this since our February 8 meeting, but the article I just read in the Catalyst today has reinforced my concerns.

First, I want to say that I appreciate the Catalyst’s generally balanced account of the discussion of the resolution that was proposed at the faculty meeting on February 8. At the same time, I would like to add a perspective that is missing from the article: that of a member of the faculty who not only would have voted against the resolution (as presented), but who was appalled by both the wording of the resolution and by its ill-considered political intentions.

As a faculty, we were not being asked to take a stand in opposition to President Trump’s executive orders, or in support of students, staff or faculty who might feel threatened by them.

We were asked to take a stand against “the administration.” I have a problem with political discourse that starts out by reifying something called “the administration,” when in fact it was really about an actual person who was sitting there in the room— President O’Shea. I know this is a time-honored rhetorical strategy, but I believe we need to be more skillful and sensitive in the way we build consensus around

Anya Maria Contreras-Garcia/Catalyst President Donal O'Shea at the faculty meeting on Feb. 8.

collective action, especially if it is to be anything more than an empty symbolic gesture. The tactical choice of this kind of accusatory resolution presented to the faculty is both inappropriate in context and generally a bad idea. It is fundamentally destructive to healthy democratic discussion in a small community.

“The administration” is a fiction that is used sometimes out of convenience and at other times (as in this case) as a device to set up an adversarial opposition. As became clear in the discussion, President O’Shea had reasons for his decision not to sign the same letter as other university presidents had signed. As it turned out, he stated that he would be happy to sign a similar letter without that one paragraph in the Pomona paragraph that referred to “DACA beneficiaries” on our campus. So we were looking at

underlying agreement on values and goals, and disagreement on tactics-- all reduced to a list of demands to be put to "the administration."

We might disagree with President O’Shea’s choices or his reasons, but the least we ought to be able to do is listen and discuss them. In fact, we might well have had a discussion of the issues, of the goals and consequences of taking a public stand in relation to those issues, and the nature of the kind of stand most likely to be meaningful and effective.

We might have been presented with a resolution that was actually drafted to be something more than an effort to provoke confrontation between the faculty and the “Administration.” The intention seemed to be to compel the President to take an action with which he disagreed, while piling on list of demands that we were asked to support without real discussion. The result was

a package in which good intentions and worthwhile goals (around which there is probably substantial consensus) were wrapped up along with a mixed bag of debatable tactical assumptions.

We might have been presented with a question of what is to be done, given our underlying goals. We might even have gotten into a discussion of what it might mean to be a sanctuary, how we might best serve those threatened by the current political climate, and by both the actual and potential actions of the Trump administration. This might have led us to a meaningful commitment of some kind. Instead, the proposed resolution sent us off on a side track.

In my opinion, there is a lesson in this. This resolution was a good example of one of the ways that the progressive left has been so consistent in the tendency to lose its focus, its efficacy and its relevance in what turns into ultimately pointless internal conflict.

It seems likely that we will be presented with a lot more issues in the future where the campus community needs to respond (or might choose to respond). Can we please try to be better than this?

Sincerely, David Brain Professor of Sociology Environmental Studies

&

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FEATURES

NCSA Darkroom comes back into focus

BY JORDI GONZALEZ

After last fall’s still unexplained $6,000 loss of equipment, the New College Student Alliance (NCSA) Darkroom is up and running once again with its Teaching Assistant (TA) third-year Sabrina Finn set to develop a love for photography in interested individuals.

“My job is to help students learn how to use the darkroom… I have resources for both aspects of photography [film and digital]. I’m here to also give basic photography lessons,” Finn said.

Finn has experience with darkroom maintenance from their high school days at Cincinnati Country Day School in Ohio. Finn would even use the darkroom here consistently as a first and second-year. So, once a TA position opened up in the fall, Finn jumped at the opportunity to apply.

However, unexpectedly enough, on the first day Finn received a key to enter the darkroom the experience was discouraging. “I opened the door and there were no cameras or supplies in the whole place. There was beer everywhere.

It was a mess,” Finn said. “I went to quite a few people before ending up at the SAC [Student Allocations Committee].

At which point a police investigation was launched.”

In the past, the Cop Shop was the only place that had possession of

photo courtesy of Jack Micoli Artwork from second-year Jack Micoli's film photography series "Ground", which was creating using New College's darkroom.

a key to the Darkroom and a key list was used to monitor those who would come and sign the key in and out. It became increasingly difficult to track exactly who was in the darkroom and what times or days, since anyone who had the key could allow any friend or foe in as well. The key list was under loose surveillance and with different users coming and going constantly, the ownership of the key during the time of the theft is still unknown.

The key list has since been abandoned for obvious security reasons and liability issues. Now the only way

for anyone to enter the Darkroom and use its resources is to have Finn present during office hours (which can change from time to time due to varying reasons) on Mondays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m..

Otherwise, one can contact Finn directly via e-mail, text, or even Facebook message in order to inquire on further accessibility. Only those who have academic reasons for using the darkroom can be allowed access while Finn is not present. With Finn’s presence, however, anyone is welcome

PAGE 9

to discover the darkroom’s possibilities.

“I might end up reinstating [the key list] for people who have academic projects and I’ve talked to Dawn [Shongood] about that,” Finn said.

Student Government Business Manager and Coordinator Dawn Shongood works with Student Affairs and the NCSA. She handles finances for the SAC, keeps track of discretionary and whenever new materials need to be ordered, Finn reports to Shongood.

“She’s been very helpful with keeping this a secure space. She helped me change the locks that were broken when I first got here,” Finn said.

The four-month period between June and September is when the crime occurred, but still the New College Police Department (NCPD) has yet to find definitive answers to the ongoing mystery. Nonetheless, the beloved Darkroom is currently revamped with improved security precautions.

Second-year General Studies AOC Jack Micoli's photographic series titled “Ground” shows the merit a creative endeavor exclusively created in the Darkroom can have. The images, created for his recent ISP last January, Micoli explained, “Darkroom processing served as one of the harshest, most unforgiving experiences I've had in photography. It taught me to see, and to persist.”

The darkroom offers free rolls of film, lessons, film chemicals and more.

BEE-utiful Myakka

BY JASMINE RESPESS Shaded by the trees and hanging Spanish moss, I drove down a dirt road to meet Jim Cutway of Myakka’s Gold Apiary.

Cutway is a beekeeper with a biker-like black and gray beard and ponytail combo and a welcoming smile.

He specializes in raw honey, which is believed to hold enzymes, help with allergies and serve as an antiviral and antibacterial. Cutway sells his honey at local markets in the Manasota area.

He takes the bees seriously, so I was grateful that he allowed me to tag along. I arrived at a field parallel to a citrus grove. We began the process by putting on the bee suits. The suits were flexible but thick white onesies. They featured screened masks and many zippers. Since I don’t normally beekeep, I wore my black, leather Doc Martens, and they actually worked quite well.

Besides, there is something punk about immersing yourself in a beehive.

Cutway carried a smoker with a hand pump.

“The smoke simulates a wildfire,” Cutway said. “It causes the bees to eat more.”

The bees gorge themselves when exposed to the smoke, they then become tired and less agitated.

I noticed that every hive behaved slightly differently. Some hives were less concerned with us than others.

“That has to do with the personality of the hive,” Cutway said.

“They are all girls.”

Actually, I learned that about 95% of the hive is female, while the rest are male drones.

In the hive where they where they were growing a new queen, the bees darted about wildly.

“We keep our bees in Myakka and near the Manatee and Braden rivers,” Cutway said.

Cutway’s honey holds the flavor of the area the bees collect pollen in.

“Our bees produce Orange blossom, Palmetto, Mangrove, Wildflower and Brazilian pepper honey,” Cutway said. “We also have Feral bee honey from time to time.”

Honey is not the only product that come from the hives.

“We also have lip balm, facial scrubs, candles and beeswax. All containing our honey or wax,” Cutway said.

The honey is available at the following locations, Scuba Quest in Bradenton and Sarasota, The Barefoot Market in Myakka City, Manatee Family Pharmacy in Bradenton, Paul and Frankies restaurant in Bradenton, and a new place Mermaid Pies and Produce on Cortez.

“I personally bring it to the Central Sarasota farmers market along with a few other venues that we post on Facebook.”

Cutway showed us four hives. We saw the different stages of production and reproduction.

Usually, bees are born and they spend four weeks working in the hive, on maintenance and more, and

Jasmine Respess/Catalyst

Thesis student and Catalyst staff writer Jasmine Respess suits up and observes honey bees, subdued by smoke.

then they spend four weeks collecting pollen outside, which they collect in their pollen sacs. Bees live longer when nectar is not as readily available, so they can live up to four months in the winter.

“They will literally work themselves to death,” Cutway said.

Queen Bees are bigger than the rest - since they were raised on a diet of royal jelly - and they can live much longer. Their main job is to reproduce.

“It’s documented that there was one queen who lived to be 17 years old,” Cutway said.

We saw how the Bees would build their hives, clean them and eventually cap honey in the cells.

Cutway is attentive to his bees.

He said he often spends whole nights

moving them. Still, he admitted that without him the bees would carry on just fine.

“Mother nature is pretty good about that stuff,” Cutway said.

The cells were also used for reproduction and the bees would lay eggs in them. We even saw a bee beginning the process of hatching.

At one point, I became so engrossed in the bees that I pressed my face to the mask and got stung.

I spent two days with an asymmetrically swollen face, but the experience was well worth it.

Check out Myakka’s Gold Apiary online at https://www.facebook.com/ myakkasgoldapiary.apiary

CATALYST

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The Reserve:

a cozy place to get work done

BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR

From the outside, The Reserve might look a little too nice for us college kids. The new coffee joint, situated in a cluster of buildings previously owned

by Charles Ringling (before his bayfront mansion days), touts itself as a coffee house, bookstore, market and tasting room.

“Tasting room?” you may be saying to yourself. “A young student such as myself has no business in a tasting room.”

But before you get too scared of/ intrigued by the words “tasting room,” consider the Reserve for what it is first and foremost designed: as a comfortable community space.

The Reserve is a multifunctional space owned by three women, two of whom are partners. It’s a coffee shop that also serves beer and wine and sells a curated selection of books. Soon enough, they will also be selling jams and eggs and other goods that will fulfill the “market” aspect of the business.

For now, though, the main thing to do at the Reserve is grab a nice, reasonably priced latte made with almond milk and plop down in any of the many rooms on the property.

There is tons of space at the Reserve: the business is actually two buildings separated by a sunny courtyard. Stick to the building where you bought your coffee for a traditional coffeehouse vibe, with nice furniture and a bar-like table to do work at. Or, head to the other building and go upstairs to find numerous other rooms to completely hide away and get work done in. You and your friends can basically claim one entire room to yourself for the day, and once you’re sick of coffee you can switch to wine or beer.

Head Barista Zaria Tappen says that the most common customers at the Reserve so far are Ringling professors, retired people and New College students. Thesis student Eric Young checked out the Reserve after hearing about it from other students.

“I’ve seen too many Facebook posts,” Young said.

Despite its outward exterior, The Reserve does immediately seem like a New College type of place. The book selection seems to be the first indicator

PAGE 10

Songs you should heAR SLOW JAMZ EDITION

BY JASMINE RESPESS AND JORDI GONZALEZ Slow jamz is that type of music that releases a lot of inner desire or pent up emotion. It is dentified as slower than usual tempos of RnB sounding music that is generally romantic, lovey-dovey or sexual in nature. Check out these picks:

Magdalene Taylor/Catalyst Part-bookstore, coffeehouse, and tasting room, the Reserve is most importantly a community space.

of that. Though the current selection is slim compared to other bookstores, the choices that are available are there for a reason.

In fact, a New College student is responsible for their curation. Thesis student Allya Yourish was recently hired as book manager of the Reserve. Her job so far has been to choose which books the Reserve will sell based on national sales, customer recommendation and even personal consideration. The Reserve sells most major genres, and you’ll definitely see common bestsellers like David Sedaris. But you’ll also find the kinds of books you’d hope other locals would find and read, like The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindess by Michelle Alexander, Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay and Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.

Some of those books might already be New College favorites, which brings an added value to the Reserve: it could easily be the place to find your next pleasure read, if you have the time.

Yourish gives solid recommendations based on what you tell her about your most recent reads, and if you recommend something to her strong enough yourself, the Reserve might end up carrying it.

Yourish also wants customers to

know that if there’s a book they have in mind to purchase, even a textbook for a class, The Reserve can order it and have it available in about two days at retail price. This makes for a pretty easy way to support a local business.

“If you’re going to buy a book on Amazon, buy it here instead,” Yourish said. “Support your local bookstore. It’s on us to make sure these places stay open.”

The Reserve is still in its early stages only one month after being opened, but there’s clear direction toward its growth. According to Yourish, soon the Reserve will be hosting talks by local authors, group writing critiques and reading groups.

They will also be hosting open mics soon, as well as performances by local musicians. Yourish encourages New College musicians to stop by and inquire if they’re interested in performing.

Above all, the Reserve is intended as a community space. Soon enough it’ll grow into a small bar and wine tasting room, as well as a market and cafe of sorts. However, the space will remain open and inviting and welcome to community use. It seems like the kind of place where if you have an idea for a type of community event, they’d be happy to hear it.

“In them Jeans” by Ginuwine The funniest aspect of slow jams is that I was in middle school when my fanhood was strongest. I remember dancing to this at a community center dance. Even though the lyrics are grown, makes me feel young again.

“Stick Wit U ” by Pussy Cat Dolls.

Although everyone remembers ‘“Don’t Cha,” the song is literally iconic, this song has stuck with me. It is just so sweet. Perfect song for when cuffing season is over and it gets real.

“Marvin’s Room” by Drake/JoJo Not all slow jams are outright romantic. Sometimes you don’t end up with the person. Sometimes you send an embarrassing text at 3 a.m. Sometimes love is petty and both versions of this song express that. P.S. the Jojo one is better.

“Thinkin’ Bout You” by Frank Ocean This heart wrenching yet beautifully produced soulful RnB song

by Frank Ocean is a must listen to if you haven’t heard it already. Coming from Ocean’s 2012 debut album Channel Orange it is one of Ocean’s most widely acclaimed works.

“Slow Jamz” by Kanye West feat.

Jamie Foxx and Twista West who is well known for his expertly executed sampling and production skills created yet another cultural masterpiece. With the very title of the genre in question, this became necessary for the list; although the “slow jamz” blow up towards the end with a speedy flow form Twista.

Hidden Figures CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 before the computers went online to be able to do all of that. Even more specifically African American women and the role that they played in that endeavor.”

“There were so many curricular connections. I mean you have a historical connection, just from the framework of segregation and women in society and engineering and mathematics. You’ve got social and cultural connections and those kind of dynamics at play. So for us

it was an opportunity to take students to see and engage in an experience they might not have on their own and then connect it back to what they’re learning in their classrooms outside of just a textbook,” Anderson said.

“If I had a physical copy of the movie I would watch it over and over again...because of the events and the cause and effects relationships,” Matthew, a student at Booker Middle School, said.

After the Oscars, despite the film losing in all three categories that it was nominated in, NASA's Langley Research center in Hampton Virginia tweeted, "Katherine Johnson won the Oscars!"

Johnson was escorted on stage by astronaut Yvonne Cagle, and introduced as "a true NASA and American hero" by the cast of the movie. She then received a standing ovation.

NASA's Langley Research center

has a new building in the works, which they will name the Katherine G. Johnson Computation facility, in her honor. Because, thanks to the movie Hidden Figures, and donors who supported showing this film, here in Sarasota and across the United States, to the eager eyes of next generation NASA scientists Johnson and the other black women who helped NASA become what is today will no longer remain Hidden Figures.

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PAGE 11

Transgender rights CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 These actions come nine months after the Obama administration pledged to protect transgender students and just over a year after Nate Quinn, currently a first-year Psychology major and Music Performance minor at The University of Florida (UF), launched the Nate’s List Campaign for transgender student’s rights while attending Pine View High School, a Sarasota county public school.

After facing discrimination when trying to use the restroom that aligned with his gender identity, Quinn felt that it was time to take action.

“It started my activism, because I didn’t want other students to have to go through everything I did just to be seen as an equal,” Quinn said in a Facebook interview.

Nate’s List, a compilation of transinclusive policies written by Quinn and other Pine View High School students, calls for the Sarasota County School Board to adopt dress code, harassment, bathroom and locker room protections

for transgender students. Quinn thinks it is crucial for Sarasota schools to adopt such policies because “protecting transgender students in policy allows for action when harassment and other excluding situations occur. It is also important for transgender students to know that they are supported, because when they aren't we will continue to have high suicide, self harm, and depression rates among transgender people, which results when they are excluded by the system,” Quinn continued.

Five months after the launch of Nate’s List, and after five different events, a combination of call-ins to the Sarasota County School Board, protests outside of school board meetings, speakouts during school board meetings and large protests in downtown Sarasota, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, under President Obama, issued a guidance calling on schools across the country to uphold Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

BY DYLAN PRYOR

the next month will 100 percent sway the outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court case regarding transgender students. I hope that people will see this decision and know how necessary it is for them to come out and rally for transgender rights with us. The school board speak-out needs to be a priority as well, they haven't heard from us in a while and they need to see that we won't stop until we succeed,” Quinn said.

Join Quinn on the streets of downtown Sarasota on Sunday, March 5 at 11 a.m. to resist Trump and to stand up for transgender rights. Additionally, join him on Tuesday, March 7 at 6:15 p.m. at the Sarasota County School Board meeting to speak-out in support of Nate’s List.

Information from this article was gathered from nytimes.com, justice.gov, ed.gov, washingtonpost.com, and aclu.org.

Provost

Walls the department is not getting a lot of those types of candidates anymore.

“When you look at the community, we have unique students coming here.

And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing, I mean we pride ourselves on being unique,” Kessie said. “However, I then have to find the right people to fit into that community and so it becomes difficult.”

According to Kessie, there are currently two people in the hiring process and they plan to hire at least one. They have also submitted a legislative request to the Board of Trustees for more funding so that the department can increase their number of positions.

Despite the issues Walls faced last semester, it seems that everyone police, RAs, Student Affairs - can agree on the fact that Walls are needed and an important part of campus culture.

“I just think in general it’s important to give our community things to connect around. It’s important to balance [the many academic responsibilities and stressors] out with

protecting and ensuring the civil rights of transgender students.

Despite this historic call, the Sarasota County School Board still denied to adopt Nate’s List, but Quinn did not hold back. With the help of Answer Suncoast, a regional chapter of a civil-rights organization, Quinn and allies organized at least another six events that took place between the Obama administration’s guidance and December of 2016. However, the Sarasota County School Board has still not adopted Nate’s List.

Even though Quinn is no longer regularly in Sarasota, he is continuing the fight more than one year later. He feels that now is as important as ever for Sarasota County School Board and other school boards across the country, to embrace trans-inclusive policies like those proposed on Nate’s List.

“It is crucial to be in the streets protesting the actions going on from Trump right now. Our direct action over

things that you can kind of shut off the academic thoughts and just have fun and chill,” Centeno said. “Because that's what keeps you, in a sense, balanced and grounded and helps you connect with your peers and know that you're not doing this alone. You have an entire community that's here experiencing something similar and I think that's really important.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 selecting and doing everything for us, so it was a different kind of procedure,” O’Shea said. “The committee looked at a 100 or so applications. Then they got it down to about 16 and did Skype interviews. Then they sent me about six applicants, which I did Skype interviews with.”

O’Shea conducted Skype interviews with all the applicants to keep the process as fair as possible.

Much of the interviewing took place in the first part of January, when students have Independent Study Projects. Often times these projects are not on campus.

Some students expressed frustration that they, and the larger community, was not more included in the Provost selection process.

"I think it's important that students are not only on the search committees, but that our input is taken seriously when heard,” second-year Volanta Peng said. Peng attended the open interview of candidate Rhonda Phillips.

“The notices should of been more

publicized and sent out earlier,” Peng said.

There were open meetings held that students and the community could attend, but this was only an option for the final round candidates who were invited on campus.

“I don’t think [student and community involvement in Provost hiring] has been any different than the past [...] The Provost is the second highest position at the college,” O’Shea said. “So a group that feels the highest claim [to being involved in the selection process] is the Board of Trustees.”

With all the new possibilities and plans in the works, which rest on the decisions of the Florida Legislature, New College’s desire to stay plugged into what is happening on the campus is only going to continue to grow.

The candidates’ resumes may be found online at https://drive.google.com/drive/ folders/0B56qO0ZJ8XRjNU9CSnVGNy 1zZXc

Giulia Heyward/Catalyst

Zealandia: The eighth continent?

Antarctica, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America… and Zealandia. The world’s continents recently gained a potential new member when a team of researchers found a vast landmass attached to New Zealand Zealandia was discovered using upgraded satellite-based elevation and gravity map technology and is composed of a vast 1.9 million squaremile single slab of continental crust that is separate from Australia and includes New Zealand and its neighbor

New Caldonia.

“The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth... [and] provides a fresh context in which to investigate processes of continental rifting, thinning, and breakup,” the researchers responsible for the discovery wrote in a paper published in the Geological Society of America’s (GSA) journal.

Zealandia is believed to have broken away from Gondwana, the immense landmass that once

encompassed Australia that sank between 60 and 85 million years ago.

The process of discovering the continent has been an ongoing process for years now. Barry Kohn, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Melbourne who previously worked with one of the paper’s publishers, explained that there was a “fair consensus in the scientific community” in favor of its existence, which was further supported by pieces of continental crust dredged up from the area.

However, despite evidence found so far, the landmass’ status as a continent may still have a long way to

go until it is confirmed. Nick Mortimer, one of the authoring researchers of the GSA’s paper, explained that Zealandia’s status as a continent was always dependent on an ongoing scientific effort.

“If you want to name a mountain, there are certain procedures you have to go through to get it formally ratified,” Mortimer said. “If Zealandia makes its way into popular culture and onto maps, that’s all the validation that we’ll seek.”

Information for this article was taken from the Huffington Post and the Guardian.

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PAGE 12

Comedy Friends earn top spot at national improv tournament

BY PARIESA YOUNG The Comedy Friends went to Chicago. For real this time.

Out of 129 teams, the New College improv outfit were named one of the top five in the nation, when they proceeded to win at Super Regionals in the 10th annual College Improv Tournament.

The best 15 college improv teams from around the United States met in Chicago on Feb. 25 to compete in a March Madness style tournament.

These 15 teams improved their way through five semifinals, with the best team from each of five regions moving on to the final round.

Teams from across the nation competed in round after round of sidesplitting sketches at the Vittum Theater in Chicago’s West Side.

The Comedy Friends were chosen as the winner of the South Super Regional round, knocking out Georgia Institute of Technology’s “Let’s Try This!” and Texas Christian University’s team “Senseless Acts of Comedy.”

Second-years and Comedy Friends co-facilitators Alba Abrams and Austin Gray, thesis students Jacob “Qake” Cooley, Zachary Conn, Francesca Tignor, and third-year James von Hollen made up the six-person team which would go on to be named fourth in the nation.

“We were the only group that didn’t have a coach,” Abrams said. “We just teach ourselves and give each other critique and advice.”

In preparation for competitions and performances, the Comedy Friends meet twice a week to practice improv by playing games. But they don’t prepare too much.

“That’s what makes always makes bad improv, when you think about it too much,” Abrams said.

The whole Comedy Friends troupe of 12 people traveled to Chicago. The Student Allocations Committee (SAC) funded 75 percent of travel costs for

students to fly to the tournament.

The Comedy Friends also fundraised through an Indiegogo campaign to pay for lodging while continuing to hold free performances on campus.

They competed in the final round against Columbia College Chicago, University of British Columbia, Illinois State University, and Boston University.

Cat Booty from Columbia College Chicago took the title after performing a twenty-minute sketch in one scene without changing characters, while The Milk Routine came in fourth.

“We were just honored to be in the same competition as them,” Abrams said.

Third-year and Comedy Friend Joseph Estevez helped stream the live feed of the tournament finals in the Old Mailroom. “I think it was really cool that we were able to see the competition at all,” Estevez said in an email interview.

“I had to pay like five dollars to access the stream but it was nice for our troupe's little "fandom" to come together and watch the team compete with a bunch of other great comedy groups from the US and Canada. I really liked learning about how groups from different regions had different styles and I'm really proud that we were able to represent a ‘Floridian’ comedy a lot of people watching the competition likely weren't exposed to previously.”

The Comedy Friends made it all the way to Chicago by competing in local tournaments against nearby schools.

They split into two six-person teams to compete in separate preliminary rounds, the Milk Routine and the Chuckle Buddies, after being too large of a group when competing last year. Both teams ended up in the regional finals, but had to face off against each other to move on to Chicago. After battling Comedy Friend against Comedy Friend, The Milk Routine went on to win the Southeast Regional at Florida Studio Theater on Nov. 19, 2016.

all photos courtesy of Alba Abrams

"We have such a weird humor," Abrams said. "I think that's why we won in the beginning, we're just having fun."

The Comedy Friends break bread together in Chicago.

The Comedy Friends show off their title as the fourth best college improv group in the nation.

Thesis student Jacob "Qake" Cooley enjoys Chicago deep-dish pizza.