The Sandspur Volume 125 Issue 15

Issue 15 • Volume 125 Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 www.thesandspur.org

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Staff positions slashed from women’s program

Diversity Council suggested increasing Lucy Cross Center’s staff and scope, but instead, both were reduced

By Heather Borochaner

hborochaner@rollins.edu

D

espite recommendations to increase its size and scope, the Lucy Cross Center’s leadership positions and compensation for staff members have been cut, hindering its mission to promote gender equality through gender-inclusive events and discussions.

The director position of the Lucy Cross Center was eliminated in the summer of 2018. The position is now a recommended responsibility for the director of the Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies (SWAG) program, a minor that analyzes social justice issues.

“It felt as though we were being told it was supported, but it felt like it was being squeezed out,” said Dr. Jill Jones, associate

professor of English and former director of the Lucy Cross Center.

The graduate assistant position was also eliminated, along with the course release compensation for the director position, which allowed the role to count as teaching credits for a faculty member.

“To say there is still a faculty director is a misrepresentation.

If the compensation for a role is eliminated, the role is effectively eliminated,” said Dr. Margaret McLaren, current coordinator of SWAG and original co-founder of the Lucy Cross Center in 2010.

“Unfortunately, that role is a big job (bigger than the time that a course release compensates for) so it is not feasible for a faculty member to do this without the necessary release time,” said McLaren in an email.

The position and course re-

lease removals came after the Diversity Council, at the request of President Grant Cornwell, completed a task force evaluating gender equity at Rollins. At the beginning of each year, Cornwell works with the Council to develop a charge for the year. He said that he is concerned about gender equity at Rollins; “I believe we should have a robust, supportive program for women’s identity and professional development,” said Cornwell.

At the end of its study, the Diversity Council recommended that the College provide more funding, support, and staff to the Lucy Cross Center, but instead, all three areas were reduced.

The task force collected data in the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018 from faculty, staff, and students about their experiences regarding gender equity and ‣ See LUCY CROSS Page 3

Courtesy of Scott Cook

The Lucy Cross Center supports social justice issues through inclusive events.

Art piece reimagines America’s complex #MeToo founder to visit campus later this month history with interracial relationships

Master’s student Holly Jefferies’ thesis explores race using personal anecdotes, historical documents

By Maura Leaden

P

mleaden@rollins.edu

rinted scrolls hang on the walls of Carnegie Hall. The modge podge of black, white, and red fabric and text appear overwhelming at first, but upon a closer read, the viewer is transported through decades of history relating to interracial relationships in the U.S. The five scrolls featured in Carnegie Hall, the English department’s headquarters, illuminate Holly Jefferies’ captivating prose in a reflective stream of consciousness, a style that eliminates punctuation. Jefferies earned both her bachelor’s degree in 2014 and a Master’s in Liberal Arts Studies in 2018 from Rollins.

“Reimagining the Narrative: A Contemporary Creative Collection of Interracial Perspective” is a five-piece installation that Jefferies completed for her thesis

project in the summer and fall of 2018. The artwork is nearly floorto-ceiling in length.

The first scroll from the left, “No Margins,” reads: “That is the difference in race I think That I can walk away from another race and my husband can walk away from another race but he does not and I do not It is the very thing that makes us different and the same and vul-

nerable and strong and in love.”

Combining stream of consciousness and poetry, Jefferies contemplates the narrative of interracial relationships across history, specifically the absence of voices. It invites viewers to do the same.

“We don’t know what that voice would say, or look like, or sound like when there is an ‣ See ART Page 8

Tarana Burke will shed light on movement’s role in combatting sexual assault and harassment

Courtesy of Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke visits Feb. 27.

By Christina Oliviera

T Enzo Romano

Holly Jefferies wove personal anecdotes and historical documents into her project.

coliviera@rollins.edu

arana Burke, the founder of the hashtag #MeToo, will come to Rollins on Wednesday, Feb. 27 to talk with students and the community about the social movement’s origins and intentions.

The event will consider the creation and implementation of

the movement, which aims to bring to light the pervasiveness of sexual assault and harassment. Burke started the hashtag movement in 2006, but it did not receive wide recognition until 2017 after actress Alyssa Milano tweeted it in response to multiple sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, film producer and Miramax founder.

Abby Hollern, director of the Center for Inclusion and Campus Involvement (CICI), said that the community is very excited to welcome Burke to campus.

“She has done incredible work to create such a strong movement that has taken the world by storm. Her message is critical to the college population, and we’ve received a very positive response,” Hollern said.

Burke’s hashtag and message raise awareness of the ‣ See #METOO Page 6

2 Established in 1894 with the following editorial:

The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

New program tracks students’ energy consumption

Student-initiated program will award money to room with lowest energy use in February

EXECUTIVE STAFF Ellie Rushing Editor-in-Chief Christina Fuleihan Managing Editor

CONTENT STAFF Alex Candage Head Copy Editor Siobhan Nolet David Smith Hannah Butcher Copy Editors Maura Leaden Assigning Editor Alyssa Malto Headlines Kira Bernhard Photo Editor

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Graphic by Anastasia Rooke

By Christina Oliviera

A

coliviera@rollins.edu

fter Kailey Boltrucyzk (‘21) heard an on-campus speaker talk about energy consumption, she decided to inspire students to save energy in the Sutton Place Apartments.

With the help of Facilities Services, Boltrucyzk, biology major and social entrepreneurship minor, created a sustainability competition in Sutton Place Apartments.

Every student in the building is automatically entered in the contest with the opportunity to win the $300 first place prize or $200 second place prize. The contest will run until Feb. 28.

The only Sutton residents who will not participate in the contest are Boltrucyzk and her roommates, in order to avoid accusations of bias. However, they will still attempt to reduce their energy consumption as much as possible throughout the month.

“The whole purpose of it is to have kids break bad habits,”

said Boltrucyzk. These bad habits include keeping the lights on and leaving unused electronics plugged-in. “It only takes 21 days to break and start a habit,” she said.

Boltrucyzk will use an Excel sheet to record energy consumption measurements, retrieved from each apartment’s metered system, on the first and last days of the competition. She will then divide the total energy consumption by each resident to get an average number.

The competition will only

measure energy consumption, not trash or recycling disposal.

“It’s a little tricky to read [the meters], but I work with an electrician at Rollins to help me look at the numbers,” said Boltrucyzk. Also helping her with the contest is Scott Bitikofer, assistant vice president of Facilities Services. “He’s helped me so much with it, and I really owe everything to him,” she said.

Boltrucyzk was inspired to start this initiative after a guest speaker in one of her social entrepreneurship classes described a similar competition at University of Central Florida (UCF).

According to Boltrucyzk, the speaker revealed that UCF saved $45,000 worth of energy by the end of the competition.

“I was blown away by that,” she said.

As for whether this is something she would like to continue annually, Boltrucyzk has not thought that far ahead. She said that her primary goal is “to have students be engaged in sustainable activities.”

Expanding the event also seems unlikely since the other dormitories on campus do not have the same metered system as Sutton. This would make calculating energy consumption more complicated.

“My main idea was to get every single building to do it,” said Boltrucyzk. This was until Bitikofer informed her that the other buildings are metered per floor or building rather than per room. For now, Sutton is the only feasible option.

The money for the cash prize will be provided by Facilities Services. The $500 will be given to Boltrucyzk and then be split into first and second place prizes.

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The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

Courtesy of Laura J. Cole

Singer. Abby Hollern is the director of CICI. Singer said she believes that the co-ownership between the Lucy Cross Center and CICI gives the students a better voice.

“I think this model of involving students, faculty, and staff provides the best of everything mixed in there. We just have to keep playing with it. Everybody values Lucy Cross tremendously.”

Cornwell said, “From what I see this year in the richness of the Lucy Cross offerings, it looks like they’re fulfilling their mission under CICI. Once we try this model, if it emerges that we are short on staffing, I am open to proposals on how best to address it.”

Margaret McLaren, right, leads a discussion in the Lucy’s original space in 2012.

‣

LUCY CROSS Continued from page 1 inclusion on campus. It conducted focus groups, issued surveys, and analyzed similar college’s practices. Then, it provided a series of recommendations on how to improve gender equity.

The Diversity Council’s final report stated that “a co-director model should be developed with a faculty co-director who is given at least one course release to be present and involved with programming, and a full-time staff person, present and available during normal working hours.”

Instead of following the recommendation, the College demoted the director position, removed the course release, and eliminated the graduate student position.

At this time, there are no fulltime staff members fully dedicated to running the Lucy Cross Center, which, according to the Diversity Council’s report, could harm marginalized students.

“Our findings lead us to believe that failing to staff the center adequately and appropriately is potentially harmful for students who are marginalized and needing appropriate support on campus,” the report stated.

Justifying the changes The changes were initiated

by Cornwell; Dr. Mamta Accapadi, vice president for student affairs; and Dr. Susan Singer, vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Accapadi said that the Diversity Council “gives recommendations of a ‘perfect world,’ and then we implement what is realistic.”

Accapadi said that after reviewing the Diversity Council’s recommendation, she did not believe it was reasonable from

a budget standpoint. “What we did, that’s not the recommendation. We agree with their principle, and we believe that we still honor that,” she said.

Cornwell defended their decision to remove the course release from the director position.

“Course releases are a complicated currency in faculty workload.

I’m always inclined to be very austere with course releases,” he said.

“Given faculty’s training to do what they do best, which is to be outstanding professors, one course release is one less available course for students to take.

In that sense, every course release is a loss. It’s great when you have a student affairs professional collaborating with a faculty advisor who has academic expertise in the area. When these collaborations are working well, each of the partners is bringing their respective skills to the work to be done. I’m not persuaded that you need another course release,” said Cornwell.

Jones did not agree with this.

“I wouldn’t call a course release a loss. If gender equity and identity was truly a cause important to him, he would dedicate these resources to it,” she said.

The Center for Inclusion and Campus Involvement (CICI), which oversees all student organizations and promotes diversity, now manages the Lucy Cross Center and its three workstudy students. Accapadi said that there is a dedicated full-time staff member in CICI who works on diversity and inclusion programming support. She said this includes the administrative tasks and mentorship of student leaders in the Lucy Cross Center.

“We shifted all the planning to Abby Hollern, and with SWAG, we don’t need an additional faculty member,” said

“If gender equity and identity was truly a cause important to him, he would dedicate these resources to it” ‘It’s impossible for Lucy to reach its full potential’ The change caused confusion among former Lucy Cross staff members and students about how much the College values its role. Those involved fear that without as much faculty involvement, outreach will become difficult. Faculty and staff are not barred from participating in Lucy Cross activities, but there is little incentive to do so without compensation for their time.

“I wish someone had consulted with me throughout this process. I was asked to write up a plan that involved a lot of students, faculty, and staff, but I feel that nobody looked at it,” said Jones, who had been the director of the Lucy Cross Center since 2015.

Since its founding in 2010, the Lucy Cross Center has held discussions about women’s issues and has helped advocate for social justice. It holds a Women of Color lunch twice a month for women of color and their allies, runs menstrual product donations, and hosts weekly discussions surrounding gender equality.

“It only ran as well it did because of the grad assistant and me as director working together.

I’m not sure why it never had a

solid budget,” said Jones.

Historically, the Lucy Cross Center was funded by the Office of the Provost and the Academic Dean’s office through discretionary funds. This means that when funds were needed, a request would have to be submitted for approval to the aforementioned offices.

This year, according to Accapadi, it is funded through the CICI, and its budget is $7,500 for student programming initiatives.

“The Lucy Cross Center has been through different departments and has been led by a lot of awesome women on campus; however, it’s been having trouble finding consistent support in terms of staffing and funding,” said Gabbie Buendia (‘19), one of the three work-study students at the Lucy Cross Center.

“The current work-studies report to the staff at CICI and they have been wonderfully supportive throughout all of Lucy’s transitions. But without the course release and proper compensation for a Lucy director, whether it be a faculty or staff member, it’s impossible for Lucy to reach its full potential,” said Buendia.

“Abby Hollern is a remarkable woman. CICI is a terrific organization, but it’s been added to their plate without any additional compensation. You no longer have the co-curricular, co-academic partnership. It’s not the same, but they’ll do a great job,” said Jones.

Advocating for faculty and staff According to McLaren, the changes impact the Lucy Cross Center’s ability to effectively provide for faculty and staff.

“As a co-founder of the Lucy Cross, I can tell you that origi-

nally, the Lucy Cross was envisioned as a center that would address gender issues and concerns for not only students, but also faculty and staff,” said McLaren.

McLaren expressed how important she believes faculty involvement with the Lucy Cross is, “especially in terms of advocacy and bringing more faculty involvement.”

Hollern echoed this. “Faculty are at the core of the academic experience of our students—they are able to advocate and educate in ways that are critical to the student experience,” she said.

To try and keep faculty involved with the Lucy Cross Center, Hollern created the “Faculty & Staff Fridays” program. Every Friday from noon to 1 p.m., a faculty or staff member leads a discussion about a topic of their choosing in the Warden Dining Room.

“This allows students to be exposed to staff or faculty who they may have otherwise never met in a relaxed environment and build relationships around similar interests with peers,” said Hollern. Topics have ranged from raising children to “mansplaining” to how to navigate dating apps. “It’s a really fun way to end the week,” she said.

Currently, there is no dedicated space for the Lucy Cross Center. Originally, it was in Chase Hall, but that building will soon be demolished to make way for the new lakeside residential complex. However, the Lucy Cross Center will have a space in the residence hall that is projected to be completed in the fall of 2020.

Until construction on the new residence hall is completed, the Lucy Cross will be in the Sutton Lounge alongside CICI.

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The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

Legislative limbo: Wall divides more than just U.S., Mexico Trump said another shutdown is not likely, but he may still declare a state of emergency to get his way

By Hannah Butcher

hbutcher@rollins.edu

T

OPINION

rump continues to dangle his presidential power over citizens’ heads as he threatens to declare a national state of emergency to get his precious U.S.-Mexico border wall. This is abusive and undemocratic, yet accurately highlights just how divided our country is.

The President held a conference committee with Congress members on Tuesday, Feb. 12 to sort out negotiations and avoid another government shutdown.

They were determined to reach

an agreement before the Friday, Feb. 15 deadline; however, Trump has announced that another shutdown, while unlikely, remains possible.

Contrary to popular belief, the issue does not simply concern the $5.7 billion funding demand for the border wall; it also concerns an approval for the number of detention beds for detained undocumented immigrants. Republicans and Democrats disagree on the number of immigrants that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can detain, creating a whole new slew of problems.

Last month, President Trump warned that if Congress did not reach an agreement on

border security by the deadline, then he would declare a national state of emergency. Last Sunday, he re-confirmed this by tweeting that declaring the emergency is still a viable option.

Such a declaration would allow Trump to over-step Congress and build a southern border wall in the name of national security “in a time of crisis,” thereby granting himself immense executive power. Democrats and Republicans alike are terrified of this possibility, as President Trump would set a precedent for future executives.

Part of the problem—and the reason President Trump is able to make such a bold threat— is the extreme centralization

of U.S. power, which has been building over the last decade. An increase in centralized power has indirectly created the dysfunctionality of Congress, the consolidation of executive power, and the rampant fear of the government’s decisions among citizens.

Stripping pieces of power from state legislatures and pasting them on the federal government is a tactic that has gone on too long.

My most pressing thought in regards to the impending consequences of the Congressional stalemate is disgust—disgust for our government’s inability to cooperate, for allowing such a freeze to last so long, and for causing thousands of govern-

Graphic by Grace Street

ment employees to feel insecure about their financial standings.

Is there someone to blame?

Not exactly. After all, our Constitution intentionally makes lawmaking difficult, and our two-party system often creates stalemates. But Democrats’ anti-Trump platform and Republicans’ internal division causes a new kind of stalemate, one that is too long, too overdone, and too overkill. President Trump has only increased friction between the Democrats and Republicans,

Democrats’ anti-Trump platform and Republicans’ internal division causes a new kind of stalemate, one that is too long, too overdone, and too overkill.

as well as friction between him and his own party. As a result, Congress is not delivering.

Ambiguity is partly to blame. Trump’s “wall” is a vague demand; is it a literal, concrete structure? A fence? Merely a piece of political rhetoric?

Previous presidents have supported such a structure; as senators, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama voted for the Secure Fence Act, which added miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing on the border. But what constitutes the so-called wall? Such information is crucial if the U.S. wants to dodge any future shutdowns.

More technology—such as sensors and the reinforcement of weak links—would be more effective than a literal wall. In addition to an increase in funding for more ICE officers, the system would ideally be modern, humane, and formulaic.

In either case, Americans are forced to wait, wringing their hands and checking news updates every hour. Right now, the only thing our government has left us is feeling helpless in our own country.

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The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

Basketball team fights uphill battle for final conference spot If the team beats Tampa, Barry this week, it may secure its place in post-season play

Kira Bernhard

Daniel Loh (‘19), left, Jakobi Bonner (‘20), top right, and Parker Davis (‘21) put up points against Palm Beach Atlantic, but it was not enough to secure the win.

By Henri Balla

T

hballa@rollins.edu

he men’s basketball team is faced with a final sprint as just three weeks decide the team’s postseason fate. The Tars are in a three horse race for the much coveted eighth spot in the Sunshine State Conference rankings, the last ticket to the conference tournament.

The team’s quest did not get any easier after its 91-80 defeat against Palm Beach Atlantic (PBA) University on Saturday, Feb. 9.

Both teams had a timid start, with the first field goal coming after three minutes.

Then, Rollins took a 20-10 point lead over PBA, mainly thanks to a 10-0 run when they were trailing 7-8. However, PBA started edging back and finally managed to draw 36-36 by the

end of the first half.

After the lead switched hands multiple times at the beginning of the second half, PBA grabbed a streak of three-pointers which put them comfortably ahead. The Tars’ efforts to catch up were thwarted by a multitude of fouls and lost possessions.

Jakobi Bonner (‘20) was prolific as ever, with a team-high of 22 points. “Offensively, I felt great. When you dedicate the amount of time that I have into your craft, stuff on the court begins to flow,” Bonner said.

Nonetheless, Bonner remained unsatisfied with the end result. “When I have games like that, it is all second nature, but it still doesn’t matter because we lost. Defensively, I feel like I could always do more to help my team; I felt like I wasn’t doing enough,” he said.

Another influential play-

er was Hutton Yennor (‘22), whose 16 points, including four three-pointers, helped keep Rollins’ hopes alive until the very end of the game. “I think we need to improve our transition defense and our defensive rebounding,” Yennor said.

“We’re too inconsistent in focusing on executing the schemes and movements we’ve practiced, and Saturday’s game was another example. We’re all here for one another, and difficult times don’t define tough people. It’s a matter of taking a loss and seeing life in it in order to accumulate success in future occasions,” said Bonner, who maintained a positive attitude nonetheless.

Other top performers included Connor McKim (‘20) and Eric Castaneda (‘19), who had six rebounds and five assists each.

Rollins, in eighth place, now trails behind the Univer-

sity of Tampa by two wins. The Tars host the Tampa Spartans on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

After the midweek clash against Tampa, Rollins travels to Miami shores to face Barry University on Saturday, Feb. 16, before facing Eckerd College on senior day a week later.

The Tars finish up the regular season with a road trip to Melbourne to play against Florida Institute of Technology and then to Lakeland to meet Florida Southern College.

Despite the busy schedule, the Tars are not showing any signs of cracking under pressure.

“We are not looking too far ahead and worrying about the conference tournament right now. We are going to focus on one game at a time and keep trying to keep getting better each week,” said Yennor. He called for better concentration through-

out the team.

Despite the ambitions for continuous progress, the ultimate goal is still there. “Obviously, we all want to make the tournament, and, hopefully, we can make some noise after we get in,” Yennor said.

“More than likely, we need to win all of our games in order to make the tournament, but it is possible. Not that I’m saying it will be easy, because that is far from the truth. Everyone has to give a little more. But you’re talking to someone who was on an 8-8 team and made it to the Division Two Elite Eight,” said Bonner.

As Bonner vows to hold on to his positivity, the rest of the team will be looking to the upperclassmen and head coach, Tom Klusman, for leadership in a stretch that could make or break the team’s postseason.

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Old photos do not excuse blackface Blackface perpetuates decades of harmful stereotypes, people should be held accountable

By Victoria Alvarez

valvarez@rollins.edu

B

OPINION

lackface originated over 200 years ago, when racism was normalized and white actors would play black roles that were meant to stereotype and demean the African American community.

It’s 2019, and we are just now making it a point to shed light on how disgusting this “trend” was—or rather, is.

The first time I saw someone paint their face black was during my freshman year of college. It was a girl I knew from high school. She was Serena Williams for Halloween and thought painting her pale skin black would make her more “funny” and “recognizable.”

She posted it on Twitter as a joke, expecting people to comment on how “clever” her costume was. Instead, her close friend throughout high school commented and publicly ended their friendship. Honestly, I was in shock.

All three of us grew up in a very sheltered community, but each of us had very different perspectives on racism. The girl who painted her face was clearly ignorant—she thought it was “not that big of a deal” and that everyone was being dramatic.

The girl who commented has experienced racism most of her life. At the time, I did not think people were still so outwardly racist. Keep in mind, this only happened three years ago.

Blackface is still a thing, and it is still disgusting.

‣

#METOO Continued from page 1 omnipresence of sexual assault and harassment. She helps unite and empower victims across the world by encouraging survivors of sexual assault and harassment to come forward with their experience by posting #MeToo on their social media accounts.

The idea started while Burke was working at a youth camp in 1997. She met a 13-year-old girl

Something as simple as a Halloween costume can completely disrespect and hurt others.

There is a reason why everyone is so politically correct now. It’s because we read articles about colleges finding photos from the 1980s of people painting their skin black and thinking it’s funny. It’s because this is the 21st century and it is still a problem.

Everyone thinks we have made all this progress in terms of equality, but the truth is no one will be able to make real change if we are not aware of how bad things were and still are. As a freshman, I was guilty of this line of thinking because when I saw that picture on Twitter, I was in disbelief.

People are still racist. People are still ignorant. It’s a sad truth, but it needs to be recognized.

College has definitely made me more aware of our nation’s social climate, but I don’t think everyone at Rollins is as educated as they should be regarding the underlying trends of racism.

Calling a black person “white” because they “act white” is never okay—just like painting your face black is never okay.

Saying the N word, even if it’s in a song, does not excuse you.

Racism comes in many forms. Blackface is one of the worst. It’s not funny—it’s atrocious, and ignorance is no longer an excuse. When you see articles that are exposing these awful, racist acts, think about how you can be better. If you are better, the next generation will hopefully continue in that direction.

who was a survivor of sexual abuse.

As a sexual abuse survivor herself, Burke was then inspired to start “Just Be” in 2003, a non-profit organization that created a camp for young, black girls, ages 12 to 18, who had survived sexual abuse.

Three years later, Burke founded the “Me Too” campaign and published the statement on a Myspace page. The page itself became relatively successful, and

The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

The Sandspur Is hiring for 2019-20

Apply today!

Freelance writers Staff writers Copy editors Section editors Page designers Photographers Ad representatives Illustrators

Open meetings: 6:30 p.m. every Monday Room 230, Olin Library

Email sandspur@rollins.edu for applications for year-long, paid positions, or apply on our website for freelance positions. in the ensuing years Burke would facilitate workshops through it.

Burke referred to the unity that comes out of expressing solidarity with other victims as “empowerment through empathy.”

Burke’s speaking event will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Bush Auditorium.

The event is open to the public.

This event is possible due to funding from the Thomas P. Johnson’s Visiting Scholars and Artists program. This is the same

program that brought renowned philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum to campus in October.

The CICI has also been involved in bringing accomplished activists into Rollins, such as Judge Victoria Pratt. Pratt is a criminal justice reform advocate and nationally recognized expert in procedural justice and alternative sentencing.

The CICI also has more events coming to Rollins for students to look forward to.

“We’re excited to have a full slate of events this spring. Connected to this topic, nominations are now open for our annual Rollins Women’s Leadership Institute during the first weekend in March,” said Hollern.

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The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

Hamilton Holt broke racial barriers through education, service Iconic former president awarded first honorary degree to African American leader, setting standards high

By Caroline Klouse

T

cklouse@rollins.edu

his month is Black History Month, a perfect time to look back to 1949 when Hamilton Holt, Rollins’ eighth president, awarded a female civil rights leader an honorary degree, raising standards for institutions across the country.

Holt’s activism was evident in his friendship and academic correspondence with Mary McLeod Bethune, known for her accomplishments in education and civil rights. In 1935 she founded the National Council of Negro Women, a non-profit organization whose mission is to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent.

More notably, she co-founded Bethune-Cookman College, a historically black university, which is now Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. She was also a prominent figure in Washington, as she was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s special advisor on minority affairs.

Holt’s friendship with Bethune went one step further when he fought to award her with an honorary doctoral degree of Humanities in 1947. Unfortunately, without the Board

This was the first time an African American received an honorary degree from a white Southern college.

of Trustees approval at Rollins, Holt was not allowed to do so at that time.

In an act of defiance to the Board of Trustees, Holt awarded Susan Wesley, an African Amer-

ican, the Rollins Decoration of Honor on June 2, 1948. Wesley had dedicated more than 24 years of her life to keeping the Cloverleaf Cottage, now Ward Hall, clean in her role as a housemaid.

However, he did not let the accolade for his other long-time friend, Bethune, fall short. He pushed forward, received approval, and was finally allowed to honor her with an honorary doctorate in Humanities in Knowles Memorial Chapel on Feb. 21, 1949.

This honor to an African American woman was an extremely foreign concept to those in the South, as it was the first time an African American received an honorary degree from a white Southern college. This garnered a certain amount of backlash.

A month before the honor was bestowed to Bethune, Rollins Dean Welldell C. Stone expressed to President Holt his fears about how others might respond: “If it gets out we are going to give her a degree... should we have the state militia or a cordon of local police surround the chapel to prevent a possible descent of the KKK?” Despite the trepidation and criticism, Bethune received her honorary degree in noble fashion.

“You have in your own person again demonstrated that from the humblest beginnings and through the most adverse circumstances it is still possible for one who has the will, the intelligence, the courage... to rise from the humblest cabin in the land to a place of honor and influence among the world’s eminent,” stated Holt in his address to Bethune on the night of her award.

Following the award, Holt was swarmed with applause and celebration for breaking the cultural norms of the South.

For instance, The Miami Herald labeled it a “simple, courageous act” that catapulted Rollins beyond the “dependence on a football team for prestige.”

Others, such as the Washington University in St. Louis, Park University, and the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. admired Holt for raising the standards for society, as well as

for higher-learning institutions in the South.

Bethune and Holt fostered a strong, educational relationship, to the point that Bethune pleaded with Holt for many years to

Universities admired Holt for raising the standards for society, as well as for higher-learning institutions in the South.

become one of Bethune-Cookman College’s Board of Trustees members: “You have built up a wonderful Rollins College. You had a marvelous record before coming to Rollins. The world knows you as Hamilton Holt.

Your connection with us would mean so much to our work,” Bethune said.

Holt declined this offer on several occasions, not in disrespect, but in a manner of care and attention for Rollins and Bethune-Cookman College.

“I am loath to take on any new organizations unless I can devote real time to their welfare, and I don’t see how I can do this for the Bethune-Cookman College. I shall always be glad to do any specific thing I can for the College’s welfare,” said Holt in a typed letter.

Bethune’s legacy continued even after Hamilton Holt.

On March 24, 1985, Rollins College placed a stone in honor of Bethune on the Rollins College Walk of Fame. This honor was in conjunction with Dr. Oswald Bronson, President of Bethune-Cookman College.

Courtesy of Rollins College Archives

Hamilton Holt stands with Mary McLeod Bethune after she received her honorary degree in Humanities in 1949.

Courtesy of Rollins College Archives

As the first African American to recieve an honorary degree from a white Southern college, Bethune accepts her degree from Holt.

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ART Continued from page 1 absence of voices, so it is our responsibility to reimagine [the narratives],” said Jefferies.

As a white woman married to a black man since 1995, Jefferies has had decades of experience navigating through interracial marriage.

“This union presents unsaid difficulties about being human in a racial society which is often more about race than about being human,” wrote Jefferies in the artist statement that accompanies the project.

Each scroll contains Jefferies’ experimental writing on “interracial narratives from the 1800s through the 2000s—inspired by racial tension within Supreme and District court cases and presidential elections, and [her] own experience with interracial marriage,” as described in her artist statement.

Although there are personal elements to her work, Jefferies said that this is much less about her than someone else having an experience with the finished product. Her hope is that viewers will bring their own knowledge of race and interracial relations to view the piece, fill in the

spaces in the narrative with their story, and perhaps even have an emotional experience.

In Jefferies’ own words, it is meant to be “an exercise in reimagining the narrative through

Although there are personal elements to her work, Jefferies said that this is much less about her than someone else having an experience with the finished product. what they see—and what they do not see [in the poetry and erasures]—along with their own experience with race and interracial relations.”

The first scroll, “No Margins,” was completed during an independent study with Dr. Vidhu Aggarwal, professor of English. This was the stepping stone that led her to complete the next four scrolls for her thesis project, which was advised

by Rachel Simmons, professor of

art.

Each following scroll represents a different time period.

Hanging beside “No Margins,” “The Intercommingling of Races” focuses on the 1800s. The next scroll, “Within this Race,” relates the 1900s to the 1950s.

“On this Journey” covers the 1960s through the 1990s and includes a clipping of the 1995 New Jersey marriage index that lists Jefferies’ marriage as her own mark in history. The final piece, “Knocking on Doors,” focuses on the 2000s.

Jefferies described her creative writing process as experimental. Each scroll has two columns of writing: the left-hand column is a stream of consciousness, and the right-hand column uses experimental poetry techniques such as extraction and erasure.

Erasures are created by erasing words in an existing text and leaving the result on the page in order to create a poem. In Jefferies’ work, her erasures come from many pages of court cases.

In describing her stream-of-consciousness writing, Jefferies said, “I would sit in a very focused setting where I would contemplate either the history that I was writing about,

The Sandspur • February 14, 2019

or some of the voices within the history. And there would be a big responsibility in writing so that I would not censor my thoughts. So that they would be authentic.”

“The Intercommingling of Races,” has a right-hand column covered in blocks of black fabric that reads “VOID,” because interracial marriages in the 1800s were considered void or invalid. This scroll may stand out the most due to all the dark fabric, and it delivers one of the most influential lines of the work. The stream of consciousness reads, “No license protects us from the

hate which exists beyond the veil.”

In the context of her work being displayed during Black History Month, Jefferies said that since there is heightened awareness, “my hope is that my work might prompt conversation and change.” She thought her work is important because “it’s critical that we look at history through a contemporary lens and reimagine how the narratives have been told, or not told.”

Jefferies believes that once the work leaves her hands, it becomes the narrative of the viewer.

Enzo Romano

The five scrolls of woven text each represent a historical time period of racism.