The Signal: Fall '15 No. 11

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Breaking news, blogs, and more at TCNJSignal.net. Vol. XLIII, No. 11

Serving The College of New Jersey community since 1885

November 11, 2015

Trans activist Laverne Cox: ‘Ain’t I a woman’

Kimberly Iannarone / Photo Editor

Cox gives her perspective on the struggle many transgender people have in the workforce.

By Sydney Shaw News Editor

When Laverne Cox introduced herself to students at the College, she refused to confine herself to a single label. “I stand before you as a proud, African American, transgender woman,” Cox said. “I believe it is important to name the various intersecting components of my multiple identities because I’m not just one thing, and neither are you.” During her “Ain’t I a Woman” lecture in Kendall Hall

on Friday, Nov. 6, the “Orange is the New Black” actress and activist launched into statistics about the struggles transgender people face every day in the United States. Citing the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Cox said over 50 percent of all LGBTQ homicide victims are trans women. “This year is the deadliest year on record for trans women,” she said. “Twenty-two murders of trans women have been reported so far this year. Only 12 last year.” Cox said the unemployment rate in the transgender community is twice the national average, and four times

that for trans people of color. She also said 78 percent of transgender or gender nonconforming people have experienced harassment or bullying because of their gender identity. “It is a state of emergency,” she said. Cox recounted her own experiences being bullied in school for breaking out of the gender binary. “They made fun of me because I acted like a girl — whatever that means, because we know girls act all sorts of ways,” Cox said. When Cox’s elementary school teacher asked what the difference between a boy and a girl was, her response was, “There is no difference.” Since people called Cox a boy, but she felt like a girl, she figured they must be the same. “I knew in my heart and my soul and my spirit that I was a girl,” she said. Cox shared a quote that has resonated with her from philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, reimagined by gender theorist Judith Butler. “One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one,” Cox said. “But it is not guaranteed that the one who becomes a woman is necessarily female. And ain’t I a woman.” Cox analyzed the ways in which society polices the gender of individuals through institutionalized means, Cox analyzed the ways in which society polices the gender of individuals through institutionalized means, such as the persistence of gender-segregated bathrooms. “Another example of that is we do not count see COX page 3

Time slots: Holocaust ‘witness’ details personal story How they’re really assigned By Sydney Shaw News Editor Whether it’s to snag a single room in Phelps Hall for the housing lottery, or a spot in an elective that’s only available every few years come scheduling time, everyone hopes for that coveted 9 a.m. time slot. But what can students do to increase their odds of getting first pick over their classmates? According to Assistant Director of Housing Bryan Dunphy-Culp, nothing — at least not when it comes to housing. “Time slots are 100 percent randomized,” Dunphy-Culp said. “It takes nothing into account other than x number of students based on gender for a given class year.” After the College receives all of the applications from students wanting to live on campus, Residential Education and Housing splits the total number of students by gender. “We split it by gender to make sure we have the right number of spaces for each gender for their class year,” Dunphy-Culp said. “We need to calculate what would be a reasonable number of people to select every 15 see TIME page 3

INDEX: Nation & World / Page 9

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Sarina Gupta / Staff Photographer

Middleberg explains being uprooted from his home at an early age. By Chris Roser Correspondent

Charles Middleberg doesn’t define himself as a Holocaust survivor — he is a Holocaust witness. Middleberg discussed this differentiation alongside his experiences in France during the atrocities of World War II, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in the Education Building, as part of Jewish Education Week, co-sponsored by Hillel and Chabad. Poised, Middleberg said the thought Editorial / Page 11

Opinions / Page 12

of calling himself a Holocaust survivor was not enough. He said “survivor” could mean someone who survived a car accident, for example. He is a witness because he has such an important story to tell. “My life was disrupted from the time I was a little child,” Middleberg said. Middleberg grew up in a working class family in Paris, France, with his stay-athome mother, watchmaker father and younger brother. Middleberg was nine years old on Sept. 3, 1939, when France declared war Features / Page 15

on Germany two days after Germany invaded Poland. Within months, France surrendered, and things changed for Middleberg’s family. Middleberg’s father was first bused from Paris to a “holding camp,” along with 9,000 other Jewish men. His father sent letters saying that he was “bored out of his gourd” and pitied the guards that were forced to remain with them, according to Middleberg. A couple of years after his father was sent away, Middleberg’s life as a hidden child began. A janitor in Middleberg’s apartment building, a one-legged World War I veteran, provided a secret rooftop spot for Middleberg, his mother and brother. The janitor warned Middleberg and his family when German soldiers were about to search the building’s apartments by knocking his peg leg on the wooden floor as the soldiers got closer to the Middleberg apartment. However, upon their mother’s insistence, a woman took Middleberg, 12, and his brother, 8, out of the city to a goat farm where they could be safe. His, mother however, wasn’t as fortunate, and later died in a gas chamber. Eventually, Middleberg and his brother returned to the city to live with a woman and her family who had offered him see STORY page 3

Arts & Entertainment / Page 18

Sports / Page 28

ANAD Week DPhiE raises money for philanthropy

Orchestra Students display musical talent

Field Hockey Lions finish first in NJAC

See Features page 15

See A&E page 18

See Sports page 28


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