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Quarterback controversy?
Head coach Tuberville leaves door open for Kiel return
Midpoint Music Festival
Future Islands, J.J Grey and Mofro and Band of Horses headline
THE NEWS RECORD / UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI THURSDAY, SEPT. 22, 2016
Phelps, SG members sit for Pledge KINSLEY SLIFE AND LAUREN MORETTO | NEWS EDITORS
ALEXANDRA TAYLOR | PHOTO EDITOR
President of Latinos En Acción, Adam Winget, opens the LEA social September 3, 2015.
UC’s Latino community:
views on election, Trump JEN HAM | STAFF REPORTER
The Latino influence is integral in American culture today: food trucks, color TV, the jet pack, the Oscar statue. With these immense contributions, homage should be paid to what is even more impactful: the Latino voice. Amidst the unique presidential election of 2016, views between the multiplicities of ethnic groups across the country vary, leaving many with an imperative feeling to draw in all perspectives. The remarks of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have made shifts the dialogue about the presidential election to focus on those remarks some view as negative and to whom Trump includes or excludes. “All the things we hear on the TV and all the rhetoric that Trump uses towards Latinos affects me individually as well as my people,” said Adam Winget, a University of Cincinnati fifth-year sports administration student and president of Latinos En Accion (LEA). “We don’t really know where we fit in the first place. We get stereotyped by everyone and now that includes the man who is running for presidency: it messes with the mind. It makes me believe that this is what the country is coming to and I don’t want to believe that.” “[Trump] made it ok for extreme groups to show anger against people who
have different ideas. I didn’t think we had this animosity before in the sense that it was ‘ok’ to attack someone because of their race or gender or opinions,” said Ligia Gomez, a UC Spanish professor. Since the idea of Trump running for presidency became a reality, members of the Latino community, as well as other minority groups, have become more self-conscious and compelled to react. “Everyone expects you to have an opinion one way or another and some people just assume your opinion,” said Sandro Leon, thirdyear computer engineering student and LEA event planner. Clearly not all opinions are the same, as Sebastian Cornejo, a third-year computer-engineering student and Trump supporter. “As a Latino, people say I’m crazy when I say I’d rather have Trump in office over Hillary. I agree with him that the drug cartels in Mexico are a big problem that need to be stopped and that we can’t keep helping everyone else when our country has its own problems,” Cornejo said. The highest elected office in the nation is one that has a responsibility to respect differences, Leon said. “As President, you have to communicate your opinion, consider others’ opinions and make sure that you’re representing the country as a whole effectively. Hilary has the best balance of these qualities,” said Leon.
University of Cincinnati leaders, including Student Body President Mitchell Phelps, have joined a national dialogue by sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance at a student senate meeting Wednesday. “We sat because we’re really standing for something greater,” Phelps said. Phelps, and additional representatives of Student Government and of the Irate8 — donned in all black— sat in solidarity with the growing yet controversial motion of sitting or kneeling through the national anthem in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. “We did not stand and recite it out of disrespect for our nation, out of disrespect for our armed forces or military or even for police officers or for those who died for our freedom,” said Phelps in a statement following the silent protest. “Its difficult to stand and recite words and phrases that end with ‘justice for all’ when you turn on the TVs and look at media and you see that there’s really not justice for all in a lot of sentiments,” the student body president said. The motion has become a topic of
national interest since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem at a series of NFL games. The silent protests follow a series of police-involved shootings of black men, including the most recent deaths of Terence Crutcher of Oklahoma and Keith Lamont Scott of North Carolina.
We sat because we’re really standing for something greater MITCHELL PHELPS
Various other athletes of both the collegiate and professional levels have also refused to stand during the national anthem in protest of what they feel are wrongdoings against black communities and other minorities in the United States. “[We] want to set a reminder to be aware of some of the national issues going on and things that are really affecting others and really affecting all of us and specifically those within the black community including some of your peers and the students that we represent daily,” said Phelps.
Some students don’t agree with Phelps’ method of support. “Personally I think that the idea behind it is right, but it’s the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem and it’s not really something that we should be messing around with,” said Jordan Micham, a first-year architecture student. “It’s too serious of a practice and tradition to kind of alter that.” Other students fully support Phelps’ actions. “It’s basically just standing up for the injustice going on and recognizing it, and I appreciate the people actually standing up and participating in this for things they actually believe in and not scared of other people’s judgments, so that’s good and it’s good to see UC students doing it,” said Tyla McCants, a firstyear mortuary science student. Having yesterday’s silent protest include UC’s student body president makes it all the more impactful, according to McCant. “The last thing I really wanted to say is that from our acts, we are seeking justice, hope and support from our peers,” said Phelps. “We are all still together as OneUC.” FOR SG MEETING COVERAGE, SEE NEWSRECORD.ORG
N.C. BROWN | CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Student Body President, Mitchell Phelps, (middle), Kamree Maull (left), Joseph Malek, and additional members of SG and Irate8 sit for the Pledge of Allegiance Wednesday September 21, 2016 in TUC.
Cincinnati Metro bus adopts plan to improve efficiency KINSLEY SLIFE| NEWS EDITOR
The Cincinnati Bell Connector hype has drawn attention away from what some see as an inefficient mode of public transit — the Metro bus system. As of Tuesday, Cincinnati Metro and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority announced the adoption of a new five-year plan to improve efficiency and increase bus traffic with a vision of 20 million rides by 2021. The 2017-2021 plan was created by Metro board members, various employees and union representatives in order to address the way public transit was lacking ease for thousands of Cincinnati residents who may rely solely on Metro for transportation — including
many low-income residents and students with offcampus jobs or residencies. Kes Kindle, a first-year archeology student at the University of Cincinnati, lives off-campus without a car. Kindle sometimes opts to take the bus home from work or campus, but steers clear of the Metro when she’s on a strict schedule. “Luckily I’m never on a time crunch when I have to take the bus home on days that I’m not working,” says Kindle. “I could definitely see that being a big issue if I had to be somewhere on time.” Timeliness aside, a November study of Metro’s reach commissioned by the Urban Land Institute and Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber found that only 23 percent of jobs in the city were easily reachable
by Metro buses. Results also show that over 75,000 of Cincinnati jobs aren’t reachable by public transit at all, ranking the city lower than 11 other peer cities including neighbors like Louisville, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Columbus for job accessibility by public transit. For residents using Metro, making vital commutes to work, school or even the grocery store, can turn into a trip of anywhere from 6090 minutes one way. Similarly, unfamiliar riders looking for quick solutions to car trouble or other circumstances are easily confused by the complicated route system. Other members of the UC community like Rico Rowland, a resident of downtown Cincinnati
and employee of the MainStreet Subway on campus, have been taking the bus their whole life. Rowland says his commute from downtown to Clifton is usually less than five minutes. “Not all the time is it a straight easy trip,” Rowland said. “If you’re going to different neighborhoods like from down town to college hill it could be a pretty long trip.” To achieve the 2021 vision, Cincinnati Metro has narrowed its goals to four key areas including: operational excellence, strategic alignment and partnering, organizational sustainability and technological innovation. These areas will work to improve cost, efficiency in routing to cut down on ride-times
and, most importantly, route expansion to reach more destinations and improve commuting for those making trips to destinations that Metro currently doesn’t reach. “I can definitely see taking the bus as kind of a big hurdle for people. I had to do a lot of asking around
to figure it out,” said Kindle. “The route lists are a lot to look at, lots of numbers. It’s a complex thing that is kind of hard to approach.” With the “20 million by 2021” plan in place, there is hope for more efficiency and increased usage of the Metro throughout the city.
ALEXANDRA TAYLOR | PHOTO EDITOR
New Cincinnati Metro plan strives to increase efficency and ridership.
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