UNION BOARD CONCERT Gavin DeGraw and David Nail to play in Lilly on March 17. Please see story on page 3.
Indiana’s Oldest College Newspaper
FEBRUARY 10, 2012
VOL. 160, ISSUE 28
‘New wave’ Civil Rights historian shares untold past By MATTHEW CECIL news@thedepauw.com
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robinson made great strides for Civil Rights, but Ohio State University professor Hasan Jeffries says social movements take more than just a great individual. “When you focus on an individual or an individual organization, you miss a lot more that’s going on,” Jeffries said. The history professor visited DePauw Wednesday afternoon to deliver a lecture
PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION BY MARGARET DISTLER
SURVEY SAYS 5
Results from the National College Health Improvement Project Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking
Students report having FIVE drinks when pre-gaming before they go out to party.
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Average DePauw student reports drinking FIVE to SIX drinks during a single drinking occasion.
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ILLUSTRATION BY MARGARET DISTLER AND BECCA STANEK
On campus, there were 22 hospital transports for potential alcohol poisoning last academic year.
stemming from his doctoral dissertation on the intersection of the 1966 elections and start of the Black Power movement in Lowndes County, Alabama. John Ditma, a former DePauw University history professor who introduced Jeffries, said the young professor is on the “cutting edge” of a “new wave of Civil Rights history.” But Jeffries said he doesn’t think he has discovered anything new. “It’s not about creating new history,” he said. “It’s about reemphasizing the history we do have and whose voice is heard.” Jeffries began his lecture, “Life is not a spectator sport: The fightfor freedom rights in the borough of Brooklyn to the Black Belt of Alabama,” focusing on Jackie Robinson, the first African-American baseball player to break into the major leagues. Jeffries said that Robinson’s mantra, “life is not a spectator sport,” guided and informed the lives of ordinary people in the Civil Rights movement. “The grandstands of life and the American experience aren’t filled solely with individuals
with miraculous and sensational individual accomplishments,” Jeffries said. “The grandstands of life in American history, when we think about the African-American experience, are filled with ordinary people.” Ordinary people like those in Lowndes County, Alabama defined the social movements of the Civil Rights era, Jeffries said. Located just to the west of Montgomery, Alabama, “Bloody Lowndes” was a breeding ground for racial discrimination. Of the 5,122 African-American residents of the county eligible to vote in 1965, none were registered. With the help of Stokely Carmichael and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, local African-Americans started the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and chose a snarling black panther as their Party symbol. Four years later, the county elected its first African-Americansheriff and the black panther soon became a national symbol for the
Rights | continued on page 2
“BLOODY LOWNDES” ALABAMA
Hasan Jeffries spoke Wednesday afternoon about the essential role “ordinary” African-Americans played in the Civil Rights era.
Pregaming at the root of campus drinking By ABBY MARGULIS news@thedepauw.com
A recent university alcohol report says pregaming contributes to a dangerous drinking culture, but students view it as just another part of their social life. Cindy Babington, vice president for student services, believes that hard alcohol is at the root of many alcohol related issues on campus. “The hard alcohol use scares me,” Babington said. “I feel like that is what has changed over the past five years — the increased use of hard alcohol.” However, students believe the contrary. Freshmen view pregaming as a social opportunity to congregate before
going out and to gain some liquid courage. “It puts me in the mood,” one freshman woman, who is under the legal drinking age and preferred to remain unnamed, said. “I’m an awkward person and a shot takes the edge off. It helps me relax and have a good time.” Another freshman woman agreed. “I do it because it is a fun way to bond with people before going out and it lowers the level of awkwardness at frats.” For most, pregaming is a simply another step in getting ready to go out on a Saturday night. Many freshmen wait to go out until the fraternities until later on in the night when the party is in full swing, but want to get the party
started. Their solution to this problem is to begin their partying early on with pregaming activities. “I pregame because it is a social activity and part of going out,” a freshman male said. “It makes everyone have a good time by loosening people up.” Fraternity members, similarly to freshman, view pregaming as a social bonding activity. “Guys in frats generally like to pregame because it gives them a chance to chill and hangout together before the party gets going at which point it’s their job to entertain guest,” a fraternity
Pregame | contd. on page 2