TheMetropolitan December 8, 2011
MetNews
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Our new name: still to be determined process, explaining the many sources of information, including studies by both Metro and the University of Denver as well as two The Metro State Board of Trustees met surveys and an analysis conducted by Denver Dec. 1, and despite more than an hour of dis- research and strategy firm Corona Insights. cussion, Metro still doesn’t have a new name. Matt Herndon, a research manager According to board Chairman Robert Cohen, at Corona Insights, presented several key however, that’s okay. findings from that analysis, including the “One of our concerns when we initially strong support from the Metro community set the agenda was that we thought we needfor a name change. Herndon mentioned that ed to take action today in order to secure a whenever Metropolitan State University of bill title,” Cohen said at the start of the name Denver was included in a survey, the other discussion. “We’ve been able to secure a bill three name choices – Denver Metropolitan title that we can drop the name into at a later State University, Metropolitan Denver State date. Obviously the sooner we can do that, University and Denver State Metropolitan the better, but that has relieved a little bit of University – fell in popularity. Of those three the pressure on this meeting.” names, however, DMSU polled highest. Cohen, as well as Board of Trustees memDiscussion of the legal issues followed, ber Terrance Carroll, outlined the history with concerns again raised against Metroand current situation of the name change politan State University of Denver as a name
Steve Musal smusal@mscd.edu
due to complaints by both the University of Denver and Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. Speaking next, Metro Student Government Assembly Senator Jason Dirgo reminded the board that in a survey conducted by the SGA, 63 percent of students still favored Denver State University, and with the passing of Senate Resolution 1158, “Our official stance is in favor of DSU, even though we see struggles with that.” Responding to Carroll’s suggestion to start a citizen’s petition to the state assembly, Dirgo said he’d be more than happy to do just that. His fellow SGA senator, Jeffrey Washington, agreed, adding that, unlike the last time the SGA attempted to convince the legislature of the DSU name, this time “we’d start on campus first.” The board did not vote to narrow down
the names, though they agreed unanimously on four principles for naming: - Minimize any legal infringement on trademarks - Need to replace the word “college” with “university” - Metropolitan will be included in the name - Denver will be prominent, in the first or second position in the name. Despite these principles, Cohen also promised the board would not ignore students’ attachment to the DSU name, nor alumni attachment to the MSUD name. A follow-up meeting specifically for the name change has not yet been scheduled, though Cohen said he expects it to happen within 30 to 45 days.
Occupy Denver Metro douses fund frozen but not dead for Phoenix Center Jessica Wacker jwacker@mscd.edu Occupy Denver’s physical occupiers took on the coldest night yet as temperatures dipped below zero on Dec 5. The evening’s general assembly meeting ran unusually short—around an hour. The frigid cold meant there was less bantering and in-fighting than on a warmer day, according to Occupy Denver 24/7 Committee representative and Outreach Committee delegate and representative Anthony Chavez. The question “is it time to for Occupy to scale back?” has been posed. Adbusters, the Vancouver based activist magazine, called for the initial Occupy march on September 17th. “As winter approaches, an ominous mood could set in,” Adbusters wrote in a Nov. 14 blog article titled TACTICAL BRIEFING #18. “Hope thwarted is in danger of turning sour, patience exhausted becoming anger, militant nonviolence losing its allure.” Regardless, Occupy Denver is active. On Dec. 5, they appeared in court to push for an injunction against the enforcement of ordinances that restrict occupy Denver’s First Amendment rights. Their case has been taken up by prominent civil rights attorney David Lane, who previously represented former Colorado University professor Ward Churchill. The basis of the suit is that police have selectively enforced laws to stifle the movement, according to the Denver Post. Occupy Denver is asking for a restraining order against the Denver Police Department. US
District Judge Robert Blackburn is expected to arrive at a decision this week. For Chavez, this is merely the beginning of the movement’s long-term presence. “The visionaries are there, the forward thinkers are there,” Chavez said. A lot of people wanted immediate results and were disenchanted when they didn’t happen. “It’s the reason we’ve seen the people that we’ve seen go to the wayside,” he added. Time and weather left a core group of people who are serious about the movement and making it function, Chavez explained. Chavez acknowledged that continuous disorganization and confusion had also deterred people from participating in the General Assembly meetings or the movement as a whole. Nationally, a stir was caused when Oakland Mayor Jean Quan mentioned during an interview with BBC that she participated in a conference call with mayors of 18 US cities shortly before the crackdown on Occupy movements across the country. Dan Siegel, legal adviser to the Oakland mayor’s office, resigned in a show of protest shortly before the Oakland raid. While Occupy Denver Media Committee member Tim Holland is hopeful about winning the suit against the police, he worries the weather will force them to seek out a warmer option for a base of operations. “It’s just not viable,” Holland said. Despite a drop-off in the number of participants, Occupy Denver has begun highlighting issues during its Saturday marches— the Dec. 3 march focused on foreclosures and resulting homelessness—and restructuring its general assembly meetings.
Ramsey Scott rscott42@mscd.edu The doors of the Phoenix Center at Auraria have been closed to Metro students. Metro’s administration, on Dec. 1, decided not to fund the center due to the current financial crisis the college is facing. The center, which deals with survivors of sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and stalking, had asked Metro to fund $90,000 of the center’s $170,000 operating cost in the form of a $2-per-semester student fee. “I wish that there were a way that we could have retained the access to the services provided by the Phoenix Center for Metro students. However, this is the directive that we’ve been given,” said Joanna Snawder, associate director of Metro’s Institute for Women’s Studies and Services. “For the short term, this is the direction that the college has chosen to go.” “Prior to the Phoenix Center getting their grant three years ago, the Health Center and the Counseling Center were the main points of entry for these types of situations,” said Steve Monaco, executive director of the Health Center at Auraria. While Metro is using existing school and community resources to help provide support to survivors of these crimes, the new system will not be able to fully take over all of the services provided to Metro students by the Phoenix Center at Auraria. “Our greatest concern is the range of case management and advocacy services the Phoenix Center exists to provide,” said Barbara Paradiso, the director of UCD’s Program and Center on Domestic Violence. Those services range from going with a
survivor of sexual assault to the hospital to helping a survivor of domestic violence file a restraining order with the police. Having one contact to help navigate the multiple issues facing survivors of these crimes is an invaluable resource, according to Laura Haynes, a graduate of UCD’s Program and Center on Domestic Violence and a survivor of domestic violence and stalking. “Personally, looking back to what was happening, having one contact that really understood all the issues involved would have been really helpful to navigate who I would need to talk to,” Haynes said. Metro will use community resources to provide survivors with personal advocates. Metro’s SGA is not satisfied with the current solution and hopes to bring an initiative forward in support of the center for students to vote on in the spring, according to Tesa Jones, the SGA vice president. If you want to voice your support for the SGA initiative, email mscdsga@gmail.com.