Collidescope 3.0 explores America’s racial history Page 6
OPINION: Humor makes politics easier to handle Page 10
Club ice hockey #2 seed in playoffs Page 13
Aaron Carter makes a return with his new music Page 17
Old Gold&Black WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 T H U R S DAY, F E B RUA RY 16 , 2 017
VOL. 101, NO. 6
“Cover s the campus like the magnolias”
oldgoldandblack.com
Speak out on the quad challenges immigration policy MSA and SASA organized a speak out in response to a professor’s article about immigration BY LAUREN BARBER Staff Writer barblp0@wfu.edu
Photo Courtesy of Elle.com
An abridged copy of the “A Seat at the Table Syllabus” by the scholars appears on Elle.com, while the full syllabus spans 25 pages of an online publishing portal.
Dozens of students, faculty and staff convened on Manchester Plaza on Friday, Feb. 10 for a speak out in response to recent events that have raised questions about the role of Islamophobia in federal policy-making and campus climate. According to attendees, the direct impetus for the speak out stemmed from an inflammatory article, “Europe’s Islam problem and U.S. immigration policy,” written by Shannon Gilreath, a Wake Forest professor of law and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. In late January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order effectively barring entry to the U.S. by people from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and nearly all refugees for 120 days. Gilreath uses his identity as a gay man to advocate for increased controls on the immigration of Muslims like the ones that result from the order, writing that “Islam is endemically antithetical to the wellbeing of gay people.” Gilreath also claims that Muslim immigrants have “no intention of integrating into more enlightened Western concepts of equality and tolerance.” Many students, faculty and staff found his central argument Islamophobic. “The way [Gilreath] talked about Muslim people was offensive and overgeneralizing,” said sophomore Roohi Narula, an executive member of the South Asian Student Association (SASA). She, along with other student leaders in SASA and the Muslim Student Association,
Elle scholars offer ‘A Seat at the Table’ After meeting Solange, ELLE.com scholars created a comprehensive syllabus on race and womanhood BY HEATHER HARTEL Social Media Chair harthf15@wfu.edu Solange Knowles’ new album A Seat at the Table is an anthem for solidarity, pride and healing — specifically to celebrate the existence and humanity of black womanhood. Recently, a group of women invited other scholars to do exactly this: to offer them a seat at the table. Five undergraduate women — Lauren Barber, Mankaprr Conteh, Alex Dean,
See Speak Out, Page 5
Erica Jordan and Ann Nguyen — collaborated to create and to publish a syllabus to accompany Solange’s masterpiece. The collaborative effort combined literary texts, pieces of music, art and videos to reflect the ideas Solange portrays through her music. The women that made this possible are the ELLE.com scholars. These scholars are part of a highly competitive undergraduate journalism program, which aims to create content focused specifically on girls and women of color. They are taught under the expertise of Melissa Harris-Perry and Sherri Williams as a subset of the Anna Julia Cooper center. After the group travelled to Stanford in
the fall to participate in conversation with Solange, senior ELLE scholar, Ann Nguyen, suggested the idea of a syllabus for her new album, designed after Candice Benbow’s famous “Lemonade Syllabus.” “The ELLE scholar program aims to center young women of color, which is exactly what the syllabus aims to do,” Nguyen said. “This syllabus frames young women of color as readers; readers of really important texts meant to create change not only in society but in ourselves.” The “A Seat at the Table Syllabus” published on ELLE on Feb. 10 was a collaborative effort by the five scholars. It is respectively divided into five sections central to the album, each chosen by an individual scholar: resisting racism, understanding gender and sexuality, the role of relationships, nurturing ourselves and a section for young girls of color. “It was a two part collaboration both between the ELLE scholars but also collaboration with complete strangers,” said senior ELLE scholar, Mankaprr Conteh. “Solange talks about how her conversations created her album, and we wanted that to be a part of the syllabus, so we reached out to strangers ages 16 to 30 as well as to famous people to add their voices.”
Photo Courtesy of seatsyllabus.com
See Syllabus, Page 4
Former deacon to lead graduate program Wake Forest alumnus Stan Meiburg will direct the Graduate Programs in Sustainability BY KATHERINE CASSIDY Staff Writer casski15@wfu.edu
Wake Forest announced on Feb. 2 that that former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Official and Wake Forest alumnus Stan Meiburg has been selected to direct the Wake Forest Graduate Programs in Sustainability. Meiburg received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Wake Forest University in 1975. He then pursued a Masters and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.
Meiburg has significant experience in public service, as he began his work for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1977, shortly after graduating from Wake Forest. Throughout nearly 40 years at the EPA, Meiburg engaged with a variety of vital projects throughout the agency. He has served in several different positions at the EPA, and has received numer-
ous recognitions for his accomplishments, including the Distinguished Federal Executive acknowledgement in 2010 and the EPA’s Gold Metal for his contributions to the amendments of the Clean Air Act in 1990. Most recently, Meilburg served as the second-highest ranking official in
See Sustainability, Page 6