VIEWPOINTS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SPORTS
ECQSA aims to change the world one gender binary at a time. page 5
Eckerd hauls in seven Hollings scholars.
Tennis looks towards rebuilding after this season. page 15
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Vol. 6, Issue 11 April 17, 2015
Students show their colors during annual Pride Week
photo by Peter Bouveron
Delta James to be next gender neutral house By Timothy Lee Asst. News Editor
Housing has announced that Delta James will join Kappa Oberg as the second gender-neutral dorm for the 2015-2016 academic year. This means that any student, regardless of their sex or gender identity, may live on either floor with any other person as their roommate and use either floor’s bathroom. Housing will be implementing this change in response to student requests for housing options that provide a safe and comfortable environment for students who are transgender or who for any reason feel more comfortable living with someone who is legally considered of the opposite sex. “We knew that we were going to be adding more gender-neutral housing on campus, we just weren’t sure where…We finally were able to make a decision and settle on Delta James,” Associate Director of Housing Victoria Reeves said. According to Reeves, Housing’s primary concern throughout this process was ensuring that whichever house they chose to be made gender-neutral would have bathrooms with shower doors to ensure student privacy. Kappa Oberg’s showers are outfitted with these doors, and Reeves explained that doors will be added to the showers in Delta James over the summer. Suites in Nu and Omega have been gender-neutral for several years, and Kappa Oberg was made officially gender-neutral beginning in the fall of 2014. Eckerd’s experiment with gender-neutral housing in Oberg appears to have come off without any major issues. “This year, it’s been amazing. I haven’t had any [unusual] troubles, really,” Oberg’s Resident Advisor and Senior Sarah Sims said. “Everyone has been really accepting here.... I don’t think there’s been even a question of it being different. People are friends.” But some students expressed concerns that Oberg was insufficient. Oberg only has one floor of traditional housing, with the top floor devoted to suite-style rooms.
See Delta, page 3 Please Recycle
INDEX: NEWS
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photo by Chelsea Duca ECQSA President Beth White and Publicity Chair KT Klens hold the banner as the club parades across campus on April 13.
By Chelsea Duca News Editor
As LGBTQ rights continue to make waves in the national and global dialogue, Eckerd’s own EC Queer Straight Alliance is hosting a series of what they hope will be fun, educational and empowering Pride Week events. Pride Week got off to a start with the Drag Show on April 10, which was organized in conjunction with Palmetto Productions, according to ECQSA Publicity Chair and Senior KT Klens. The winning act, Junior Abby Walter and Freshman Connor Alsheimer, took home a $150 prize for their rendition of the “Time of My Life” routine from “Dirty Dancing.”
Right on the heels of the Drag Show, ECQSA expressed their gratitude to LGBTQ allies during the April 12 Allies Rock Slam ‘n’ Jam event in Slater’s Woods, with music, food and slam poetry. “It’s a chance to really focus on the allies. We want to celebrate them and all the work they do,” Klens said. “We wouldn’t have any rights if it weren’t for the help of our allies.” On April 13, ECQSA members and friends marched in a Pride Parade that started at Miller Auditorium and ended in a party on Kappa Field, complete with cupcakes, games and a bounce house. The club is also asking Eckerd to acknowledge and participate in the National Day of Silence on April 17
to honor LGBTQ voices that have been silenced. To finish off the week, ECQSA is hosting a “Burn the Closet Bonfire” at 8 p.m. on April 19. According to Klens, this is the third year that students have participated in this therapeutic bonfire, and the event usually draws a large crowd. Klens said that an accordionstyle closet door gets broken apart and everyone gets a piece on which to write something that they would like to let go about being LGBTQ. “Maybe someone said something that they want to let go, or maybe something is going on in their family right now about it and they want to talk about it,” Klens said. “It can be totally public or private, whatever they want.”
Then they throw all the pieces in the fire and watch them go up in flames. “We literally and metaphorically burn the closet that we feel like we are in sometimes,” Klens said. A lot of work has gone into the organization of this week of events. According to ECQSA President and Senior Beth White, she met with all of the ECQSA officers at the beginning of the semester to discuss ideas and coordinate the group’s spring events — including Pride Week — to work with the Campus Activities calendar. They then submitted the forms for all of their events as early as they could.
Other renovations are also on the way. President Donald Eastman and Dean of Students James Annarelli detailed some of the admin-
istration’s plans during a meeting with The Current staff. The administration plans to knock down the Ransom Visual
Arts Center and erect a new art building with refurbished art studios in its place.
See Pride, page 3
Plans currently in the works for campus renovations B R H y
iley
uff
Staff Writer
The Eckerd campus is currently undergoing renovations and may experience more in the next few years. Construction began this semester on a sailing cove near the Galbraith Marine Science Laboratory. The school plans to move the sailing team’s practice location to this cove from the Waterfront. Sophomore and ECOS Vice President Jack Layden eagerly awaits the new addition and sees it as an opportunity to encourage the team in its activities. “The sailing cove will be cool because then we can actually support the sailing team,” he said. In addition, Eckerd plans to get rid of the land bridge to the Wireman Chapel and construct a path along the outskirts of Fox Pond. Construction for this could begin as early as this coming fall semester. VIEWPOINTS
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See Renovations, page 4
photo by Lia Nydes Workers install the docks in the new sailing cove.
SCIENCE & TECH. 9-10
A & E 11-12
HEALTH & FITNESS 13-14
SPORTS 15-16
The Current is a free, biweekly student newspaper produced at Eckerd College. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the writers.