The Quinnipiac Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 19

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FEBRUARY 26, 2020 • VOLUME 90 • ISSUE 19

The official student newspaper of Quinnipiac University since 1929

THE BATTLE OF WHITNEY AVE

CHATWAN MONGKOL/CHRONICLE

NEWS P.3: NEURON

Quinnipiac co-hosted the 33rd annual Neuron Conference last weekend.

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

A&L P.6: QU Bananas An Instagram account posts QU students eating bananas.

The most anticipated game of the year is almost here — Quinnipiac vs. Yale P.12 CHRONICLE ARCHIVES

PHOTO FROM TWITTER

OPINION P.4: Pop Smoke

The late rapper was murdered Feb. 19, in his Hollywood Hills rental home.

Activist talk focuses on community

Office of Cultural and Global Engagement promotes organization By NICOLE MCISAAC Staff Writer

ILLUSTRATION BY CONNOR LAWLESS

Quinnipiac’s Office of Cultural and Global Engagement held an open discussion in SC 120 on Wednesday, Feb. 19, for students to come and talk about community organizing and the legacy of black activism. “We wanted to do an event like this to get students geared up about their own student voice and to recognize their own power,” said Daymyen Layne, director of multicultural education and training. “It’s important for students to realize that they have a certain amount of power on campus.” The event allowed students to hear the thoughts of two separate activists and to share their own ideas on the material. Layne made the decision to hold the discussion after being co-panelists with one of the activists at the beginning of the fall 2019 semester. “We want to open student’s eyes about the legacy of black feminist activists and organizers, but also about the rich history that comes along with organizing in America,”

Layne said. “If we can help students realize this stuff a little sooner, we can start to see different changes on campus.” Students of different majors and ages attended the discussion and each had various hopes of what they wanted to get out of the event. They were also able to share why they originally chose to be there before the discussion began. “I came to this event because I wanted to stay abreast and not be blind to things that are going on,” said Alexys Small, biomedical sciences graduate student. “I wanted to see what Quinnipiac was doing towards problems for social injustice and race.” Vanessa Liles, one of the guest speakers who is the co-project director at PT Partners, spoke about her involvement and work as community activist organizer. “I work with people who are centered in the community to help them recognize that there are conditions that are created through institutional oppression,” Liles said. “I also

help work with other members of the community to help them recognize how it is formulated and how to use that understanding to create strategies to address it.” Liles used the event as an opportunity to share her real-life experiences with students and to help them understand that they play a key role in creating change in the world and on campus. “A college campus is the place where I learned to become an activist and to organize,” Liles said. “This is a great place to hone in your intellectual ability around it, so it can afford you space to start operationalizing some of that.” One major element that was stressed throughout the event is how students can get involved. Students were able to listen to the activists talk about the importance of being personally connected to community organizing while also still being enrolled at the university. See ACTIVISM Page 2


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