ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS ON PAGE 15

By GRETEL MONJAR Reporter

Weber State University students protested Utah Senate Bill 283, which intended to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in Utah higher education. The Haven J. Barlow Civic Leadership Forum hosted a panel to discuss the bill on March 29, with students gathering to peacefully share their concerns and questions.

The Haven J. Barlow Lecture Hall was overflowing with attendants, many holding poster-board signs in protest of SB 283. Students also filled a secondary room where the meeting was broadcast.

“I am the Black Student Senator,” Terri Hughes’ sign read. “EDI matters. Black education matters.”

Sen. John Johnson, Sen. Luz Escamilla, Rep. Angela Romero and podcast host Cari Bartholomew were the featured panelists.

“I’m laughing at so many of these signs,” Bartholomew said. “You don’t know — you don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Bartholomew is in favor of the bill that Johnson first proposed in February. The original bill was intended to prohibit funding from going into DEI programs and was substituted for a study of the programs, but it didn’t pass.

Johnson is concerned that DEI programs push ideology on students. During the discussion, he asked whether the investment of taxpayer funds was worth the return. For many, his question wasn’t rhetorical, but a vivid and threatening one. One student had to consider losing their campus job if they participated in the protest.

“They told me that if I came to the protest, I needed to reconsider if I wanted to have a [job] tomorrow,” the student, who wished to stay anonymous, said. “They literally told me that if I came to this protest and it got violent, or if I was wearing anything from Weber State University, they were going to fire me.”

Romero, who represents District 25 which has a majority of people of color, shared her concern about SB 283 and bills similar to it. Romero also spoke about the exhaustion she and others experience in the need for frequent explanations for equity.

“We’re tired of people trying to erase us and erase our history and erase our communities,” Romero said.

Some student protestors stood with their backs to the panelists as Bartholomew spoke promoting the bill. She said the peaceful display of protest caused her to lose respect for them.

“Those are the kind of things that I wonder about when I see DEI,” Bartholomew said. “I see people who don’t know how to be mature.”

POR DANIELA IMBRETT Traductor

By GRETEL MONJAR Reportero

Los estudiantes de Weber State University protestaron contra el proyecto de ley 283 del Senado de Utah, que pretendía poner fin a los programas de diversidad, equidad e inclusión en la educación superior de Utah. El Foro de Liderazgo Cívico Haven J. Barlow organizó un panel para discutir el proyecto de ley el 29 de marzo, con estudiantes reunidos para compartir pacíficamente sus preocupaciones y preguntas.

El Haven J. Barlow Lecture Hall estaba repleto de asistentes, muchos de ellos con carteles en protesta por la SB 283. Los estudiantes también llenaron una sala secundaria donde se transmitió la reunión.

“Soy el Senador Estudiantil Negro”, decía el letrero de Terri Hughes. “El EDI importa. La educación negra importa”.

El senador John Johnson, la senadora Luz

Escamilla, la representante Angela Romero y la presentadora del podcast Cari Bartholomew fueron los panelistas destacados.

“Me estoy riendo de tantos de estos letreros”, dijo Bartholomew. “No saben, no entienden lo que están diciendo”.

Bartholomew está a favor del proyecto de ley que Johnson propuso por primera vez en febrero. El proyecto de ley original tenía la intención de prohibir la financiación de los programas DEI y fue sustituido por un estudio de los programas, pero no fue aprobado. A Johnson le preocupa que los programas de DEI impulsen la ideología en los estudiantes. Durante la discusión, él preguntó si la inversión de los fondos de los contribuyentes valía la pena.

Para muchos, su pregunta no era retórica, sino vívida y amenazante. Un estudiante tuvo que considerar perder su trabajo en el campus si participaba en la protesta.

“Me dijeron que si venía a la protesta, tenía que reconsiderar si quería tener un [trabajo] mañana”, dijo el estudiante, que deseaba permanecer en el anonimato. “Lit- eralmente me dijeron que si venía a esta protesta y se volvía violenta, o si vestía algo de la Universidad Estatal de Weber, me iban a despedir”.

Romero, quien representa al Distrito 25 que tiene una mayoría de personas de color, compartió su preocupación sobre la SB 283 y proyectos de ley similares. Romero también habló sobre el agotamiento que ella y otros experimentan en la necesidad de explicaciones frecuentes por equidad.

“Estamos cansados de que la gente intente borrarnos y borrar nuestra historia y borrar nuestras comunidades”, dijo.

Algunos estudiantes que protestaban se pararon de espaldas a los panelistas mientras Bartholomew hablaba promoviendo el proyecto de ley. Ella dijo que la muestra pacífica de protesta le hizo perder el respeto por ellos.

“Ese es el tipo de cosas que me pregunto cuando veo a DEI”, dijo. “Veo gente que no sabe ser madura”.

By MCKINNA BAIRD Reporter

Weber State University hosted the second annual Utah Southwest Regional Conference on Student Research in Gender and Women’s Studies in the Shepherd Union Building on March 30 and 31.

The event began on March 30 at 6:30 p.m., with a presentation titled “(Re) imagining Selu: Healing our communities through healing ourselves” by Devon Isaacs over Zoom. Isaacs is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and has received numerous awards throughout her research, which focuses on Indigenous communities. Through the story of a divine character called Selu sacrificing her body to nourish others, Isaacs taught how women tend to take on too much, in professional and personal roles. She emphasized that the ability to nurture those around them is a unique and powerful gift most women have, but it is most effective when women care for themselves, too.

The presentation ended with a Q&A, where Isaacs highlighted more of Cherokee tradition and provided advice on dealing

with guilt.

On the second day, student presentations were split up into three one-hour sessions, with three rooms that hosted three to four presenters each. The presenters consisted of students from Utah State University, Brigham Young University, Weber State and Amity University in India.

The presentations were around 15 minutes each and covered a wide range of topics.

Rachel Lyons, a student from BYU, analyzed the play “La Laureta” by Maria Martinez Abello, an 18th-century Spanish playwright who is almost completely unknown.

Lyons summarized the play and explained how the themes of social class and victim-blaming have been previously misunderstood.

The next presentation was from Emily Slater and Kadie Kunz from USU. They had conducted research regarding cosplaying scientists and worked with the organization Cosplay for Science throughout their research. With their research, they talked about how cosplay is connecting scientists to the public and is challenging previous ideas of who scientists are supposed to be.

“The research question we brought here today is ‘How do scientists resist or challenge norms and assumptions about who participates in science?’” Slater said.

Their research consisted of interviews with a diverse range of students, to gain their insight into what a scientist is and how those norms are being challenged.

Another USU student, Jade Velazquez, gave a brief speech on her experience with microaggressions.

“An impactful way to prevent microaggressions is to educate yourself,” Velazquez said.

In the next session, BYU students Collette Burton and Alexandra Carlile Butterfield both presented on femininity in biblical lore.

Burton taught about a grotto in Jerusalem with a breast-shaped stalactite that drips white water. She described the lore behind it, and analyzed the symbolism and connotations of feminine fluids, like breast milk and menstrual blood in ancient Christianity.

Butterfield presented the “Golden Miracle” altar-piece, a unique piece of religious art in that it depicts the lives of some of Jesus Christ’s female ancestors. Butterfield discussed the significance of their portrayals in the panels and pointed out patterns and meanings in the paintings.

WSU student Raissa Rohbock presented research on the experiences of women who were pregnant and gave birth in prison. She explained that because prisons are designed for men, they are often unprepared to care for an expecting mother.

“One of the primary questions we had was, ‘Were these institution measurements taking care of these women?’” Rohbock said.

Rohbock’s research concluded that prisons and jails are poorly prepared to help women through pregnancy and birth. This lack of proper care has resulted in multiple infant deaths.

After two sessions of presentations, a luncheon was provided. The final hourlong session was held, and the event was concluded due to the previously-planned walking tour being canceled due to weather conditions.

By COOPER HATSIS Reporter

Weber State University students and local community members filled into the Austad Auditorium in the Browning Center to see Howard University professor Nikole Hannah-Jones on March 31.

Hannah-Jones is a writer for the New York Times Magazine and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for her polarizing essay on democracy and slavery, “The 1619 Project,” which was initially released as a cover-to-cover edition of the NYT in August of 2019. Among Hannah-Jones’ other awards, she has achieved the MacArthur Fellowship, three National Magazine Awards, and two George Polk Awards.

“The 1619 Project” tackles slavery and its relationship to the founding of the United States of America. The essay was later turned into a book that became a New York Times #1 best seller, as well as a six-episode mini docu-series on Hulu that premiered in January of 2023.

Doug Fabrizio, a KUER radio host, spoke with Hannah-Jones about the “The 1619 Project” in front of the packed auditorium.

Hannah-Jones went into depth on her upbringing in Waterloo, Iowa and where her interest in history began when she was growing up.

“I was just really fascinated by how people lived a long time ago … I was always just interested in how studying the past — why things were like how they were,” Hannah-Jones said.

When Hannah-Jones was 11 years old, she wrote a letter to the editor of her local newspaper in response to Jesse Jackson, a Black candidate that Hannah-Jones felt was a good presidential candidate, dropping from the 1988 United States presidential election. This letter was published in her local paper, and from there her interest in journalism was born.

Hannah-Jones told the audience she began her career as a journalist when she joined her high school newspaper and started as an investigative journalist when discovering the date 1619 in a book titled “Before the Mayflower.”

The first ship to bring African slaves to North America, named the “White Lion,” came in 1619 — just one year before the Mayflower arrived on North American soil. Hannah-Jones was shocked that this was never taught to her in school.

“We didn’t learn about that,” Hannah-Jones said. “I just realized in that moment that history is not what happened. History is what we are taught about what happened — we are taught to remember about what happened,” Hannah-Jones said.

Hannah-Jones’ goal with “The 1619 Project” is to get people to understand the reality of our country’s history and not the version of history we were taught was true. She feels that “The 1619 Project” has felt like something she has been building to her entire career as a journalist.

“I wanted to use this as an opportunity to do something really big,” Hannah-Jones said. “And not just talk about what happened all those years ago, but the way that what happened all those years ago would lay the foundation of our country that would come to be.”

Much of United States history has been purposefully mistaught, leading to a nation of citizens uninformed about the full history of their country. The goal of this project is to clear up those issues and bring forth a nation that is more aware of its past — both the ugly and the great.

“We traffic in transparency but don’t actually like being that transparent ourselves,” Hannah-Jones said.

After Hannah-Jones’ discussion with Fabrizio, a few WSU students got the opportunity to ask Hannah-Jones some questions.

The final question of the night asked Hannah-Jones what idea from “The 1619 Project” people should walk away with.

“That this nation owes not only a great moral debt to Black Americans, but a great financial debt to Black Americans.” Hannah-Jones said. “I want you to come away with a charge that we can alleviate the primary cause of suffering of Black people in this country.”

The final essay in the collective “The 1619 Project” deals with this issue of reparations.

“We have to make financial repairs. We have to pay that debt and it is a collective debt…you have to own the debt,” Hannah-Jones said.

Camyrn Taylor, a communications major at Weber State, first discovered “The 1619 Project” while browsing Hulu.

“I really enjoyed the series when I watched it a few months back. When I heard that she was going to come talk here, I felt that this would be a good chance to learn more about this project,” Taylor said. “The project … was really informative and moving. I could really tell that this was something personal to Nikole.”

On April 1, Hannah-Jones visited the Shepherd Union building for a book signing as well as a discussion co-hosted by the NAACP chapter with those who attended the meeting.