Point Park Globe Fall 2018 Issue 7

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@PPUGlobe October 10, 2018

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Check out this week’s Pioneer Public on an unconventional freshman Have you gotten a good night’s sleep lately? Read about why sleep is key Women’s soccer has officially made Point Park history ppuglobe.com

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Issue 7

Students hold rally, speak against inaction to sexual assault

Demonstration spawned in response to Justice Kavanaugh confirmation By Mick Stinelli and Sarah Gibson Co-News Editors

Gracey Evans | The Globe

Mia Sterbini, a sophomore acting major, organized a campus protest to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “I am a survivor of sexual assault,” Sterbini stated during her speech on Monday afternoon in Village Park.

USG discusses communication reform USG By Amanda Andrews USG Beat Writer

The United Student Government (USG) Legislative Body meeting on Monday was dominated by discussion of potential reform to the USG Constitution and the organization’s role of representing the student body. New senators in particular, including Dennis McDermott, Matthew Johnson and Monae Findley, criticized the organization’s and the USG executive council’s apparent lack of initiative in reaching out to students effectively. Various ideas on how to improve USG’s outreach to the student body included proposals to electronically post legislative body meeting agendas prior to each weekly meeting, creating and updating a USG bulletin board in the second floor of Lawrence Hall and posting a physical sign more prominently in the Student Center detailing USG’s legislative meeting location and office, among others. Some senators even called for reviewing and revising certain bylaws and procedures in the USG Constitution. Senator Findley called the progress USG was making “remarkable,” and was certain that its discussions will lead to a successful semester. Findley had her own proposals for USG to improve com-

munication with the student body. “I believe, as I suggested before in the meeting, that we should start having some open floors in Lawrence Hall so that students can start coming in, start speaking because of that student traffic that is coming in would be perfect,” Findley said. “Because students will be seeing us sitting out there in the lobby and they’ll be like, ‘Hmm what’s going on’. You know, we can have some music, have some pizza, some food [and] feel welcoming [to] students [who] are more willing to come talk to us about whatever issue they’re having.” Some senators, like Jacob Berlin, expressed reservations about USG expanding its role and presence in student body. “It’s important that we take this job seriously because we are elected to do so, but it’s also important to not take it too seriously and remain grounded in reality,” Berlin said. “And we are still one of our peers, we are still students and I think we should level ourselves out and not try to be too ambitious with this capacity that we have.” Berlin believes that the student body attendance to USG legislative body meetings is a small concern compared to senators’ direct outreach and communication with students. Specifically, he felt students think their concerns will disappear in “an echochamber” since updates and results stemming from

student concerns are not clearly publicized as of now. The senators adjourned the meeting with the intention of continuing discussions related to reform and revision of current USG procedures in next week’s legislative body meeting. Following last Monday’s meeting, Alex Popichak resigned effective immediately

USG page 2

An impromptu rally drew dozens of listeners and stories of sexual assault to Village Park on Monday. It started with a post on Facebook. Mia Sterbini, a sophomore acting major, sent a message out to friends on a Conservatory for the Performing Arts page, calling it a “Rally Against Complacency and to Support Sexual Assault Survivors.” What started out as a three-speaker lineup drew several more speakers who told stories of being personally assaulted, read poetry and urged fellow students to vote. Sterbini said she never suspected the rally to gain as much traction as it did. Sterbini said the rally could be summed up in one word: Powerful. She explained that by voicing their stories, they were bringing truth to light, and that the truth was power. Daniel Murphy, a senior acting major, felt similarly about change that can come from sexual assault survivors sharing their stories. “When survivors speak out, it empowers others to speak out, and the more people authentically speaking about things that happened in their lives, the more people that listen and change gets made,” Murphy said. The rally was organized in the wake of the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Multiple sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh surfaced during his con-

firmation process, putting his appointment to the highest court in jeopardy. After a week-long FBI investigation, Kavanaugh was confirmed following a vote of 51-49 in the senate. Several of the speakers at the rally cited Kavanaugh’s confirmation as a call to action. Shouts of “What do we want?” by Sterbini were met with the response “Justice!” by the crowd. Murphy was pleased with the turnout of the event, citing a sense of community between all that attended. “It was really exciting to see so many artists; especially young students, new students [and] freshmen; angry, ready to share their stories [and] ready to listen,” Murphy said. “It was nice to see the community coming together, and it was exciting to see the deans watching as well.” Dean Paylo observed a portion of the rally, but declined to comment. Rafael Figueroa, a sophomore musical theater major, addressed the crowd and described an encounter he had with a man he met on the gay networking app Grindr. Figueroa said the man picked him up, drove him to the lowest level of a parking garage and began clearing out the backseat of his car when a gun fell out of his pocket. Figueroa looked at the gun, then back at the man. “If you get in the backseat, and you just go along with me, then nothing will happen,” Figueroa recalled the assaulter saying. Figueroa said the man

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CAPTIOL IGNITES IN PROTEST AFTER KAVANAUGH

Dannys Marrero | The Globe Vice President Mike Pence exits the U.S. Captiol building and encounters the protestors outside. Pence presided over the confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The confirmation process was interrupted several times by protestors, who shouted, “Shame” and stood outside the Supreme Court building for most of the day.

Weather Forecast Today: Sunny H 82, L 68

Thursday: Thunderstorms, H 70, L 47 Friday: Cloudy, H 52, L 40 Saturday: Sunny, H 56, L 43

Sunday: Rain, H 57, L 47 Monday: Showers, H 52, L 42 Tuesday: Partly Cloudy, H 55, L 40

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