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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE
September 19, 2016
NEWS
Coffee Chat stirs up discussion on women by Sisam Shrestha
Coffee, fresh beignets and the ULM Women’s Symposium team was all it took to get female students and faculty eager to talk. The symposium hosted its first fall event, “Coffee Chat,” Thursday morning, promoting thoughtprovoking discussion topics that concerned women empowerment, social equality and better communication skills. The symposium had 12 table leaders from various fields of occupations, who together conducted discussions ranging from gender stereotyping, the social importance of volunteerism and ways to bridge generation gaps. A list of recommended board books and podcasts from the women’s symposium members were handed to attendees at the beginning. According to Brooke Foy, a VAPA assistant professor and Coffee Chat table leader, the symposium was very relevant for today’s society. “We can benefit a lot from hearing
BREWTIFUL DISCUSSIONS: Female students and faculty members dine on beignets and coffee before the Coffee Chat event.
each other’s opinions,” Foy said. “Someone giving us a question to have to think about will allow us to be Patel open minded to talk about it and just bounce ideas off. It’s invaluable to our lives.” Many of the attendees were active participants in the symposium and Femhawk series last semester. Among them was Bridget Garner, a
sophomore social work major. “The toughest question for me was how to get generations together,” Garner said. “Past generations and younger generations always have different ideologies…I never thought we could blend together.” Nirali Patel, a senior secondary education major, said the main purpose of attending the symposium was to learn from powerful women in the community who had started from the bottom and worked themselves to be leaders in their respective fields. “It’s important for us to realize
that it’s okay to be outspoken, it’s okay to be assertive and not to feel afraid of people thinking that you are being Garner j u d g e m e n t a l ,” Patel said. “When you are standing for your rights, for your beliefs, it’s okay.” Patel considered herself lucky to be at a table where two ULM staff members had the best advice to give female students concerning working in a male dominate competitive field.
SGA helps students celebrate U.S. by Pujan Dahal
To commemorate Constitution Day and inform the students about its importance, SGA distributed pocket Constitutions in front of the library and the SUB. Brianna Vanderboeven, an SGA senator for the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said that it was SGA’s way of celebrating the special day. Constitution Day is celebrated on September 17, which marks the day the ‘Framers’ (the crafters of the Constitution), signed the document. “The Constitution is the most influential living document,” said Vanderhoeven. “It is the cornerstone which maintains good governance and rule of law.” “Not many people know about their rights, so passing these out is a good way for students to know about their rights,” Vanderboeven said. Vanderboeven suggests that students learn the Bill of Rights and the different amendments that discuss our rights as citizens. Vanderboeven said handing out
a pocket Constitution would benefit freshmen students who are not registered to vote and get them excited about it. “Some people are very aware of the Constitution, but for others, the Constitution gives complexity about the things they really don’t know about,” said Vanderboeven. Vanderboeven said the large number of students stopping by and asking questions made it clear that students are very interested in learning more about the Constitution. Joshua Chisholm, a junior finance major, accepted the pocket constitution because he believes that it is important for citizens to review the laws they are governed by. “The way that American law is right now, it continuously changes and evolves,” said Chisholm. “I think it’s important to be upto-date on the Constitution.” Chisholm said, for the most part, he is informed about the law changes in policy concerning healthcare and business. Chisholm finds all the parts of the Constitution to be equally important,
but he thinks some parts need special attention. “I think there are some parts of it that our founders wrote that are meant to be subjective to anybody from our judicial system,” Chisholm said. “Those parts are specifically subjective, and some people might say that they are not important as they are not explicitly detailed.” Chisholm said the particular parts of the Constitution that are vaguely written, should be given a lot of importance because they are the ones that allow the judges and lawmakers to interpret and create further laws based on how they feel the information has to be interpreted. Chisholm said the original parts of the Constitution that were written before the amendments are the most important. “We can retain an idea that the founding fathers wanted our country to be like,” Chrisholm said. “There is a lot of material in there that should tell us how they thought the country should be best be run.” contact Pujan Dahal at dahalp@warhawks.ulm.edu
photo by Ansell Jordan
“Knowing that I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do in life just yet, it’s pretty awesome to hear from women who have accomplished what they want to accomplish and are both in leadership positions here on campus,” Patel said. The event ended with gift certificates for some lucky participants. Although the symposium holds its main events during the spring semester, there is a chance for a few more programs this semester. contact Sisam Shrestha at shrests8@warhawks.ulm.edu
Did you know? 1. Of all the spelling errors constitution, “Pensylvania”in the the signers name is probablyabove the most glaring. 2. It took one hundred days to actually “frame” it. 3. George Washing James Madison wertoen and only presidents who the signed it. 4. More than 11,000 amendments have be en introduced in Congre ss. 5. Only 27 amendm ts have received the necessen ar y from the states to be approval official amendments come to the 6. The U.S. Con 4400 words: thestitution has written constitut shortest major governmenion for any t of the world. graphic by Kandice Johnson
September 19, 2016
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE
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NEWS
The results are in: SGA Freshman Senators selected by Olivia Barfield
Ten freshmen were voted to the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate on Wednesday and Thursday after 78 freshmen applied. An unprecedented tie called for an extra senate seat in the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences, according to SGA Adviser Laura Jennings. Typically, three senators from each class are elected to each of the three colleges, meaning that nine spots were originally open. Jennings said that she and SGA leaders looked through all guidelines and found nothing that could help them break the tie in a multi-seat election. “We are allowing them both to participate and discussing how to implement a tie-breaking procedure in the future.” While a tie in a freshman senate race is unusual, so is the number of applications received this year. Jennings said that she has never seen this many applicants for freshman senate before. Although most applicants won’t
make senate, she hopes they still seek involvement on campus. She asked current SGA senators to encourage freshmen who don’t win a senate seat to still seek on-campus involvement. “If you do know people running and they don’t get in, tell them that you’re proud of them for running and give them another idea to get involved,” Jennings said. Of the 78 students running, nearly 64 percent were from the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The College of Business and Social Sciences and the College of Arts, Education and Sciences were each represented by about 18 percent of freshman applicants. There were 975 total votes counted in last week’s election. There are currently about 7,216 undergraduate students enrolled at ULM, meaning that about 14 percent of all undergraduate students voted. All votes are held online at ulm. edu/vote. Cassidy Jurkovich, a freshman prenursing major, was one of the senators that tied in the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
She said she is honored to be elected. “I am willing and excited to be the voice of all students and can’t wait to see what all I can accomplish for others,” Jurkovich said. The students representing the College of Arts, Education and Sciences are Ellen Ingram, Baylee Waldrop and Amber Moore. Jurkovich The students representing the College of Business and Social Sciences are Jansen A. Nowell, Hannah Corley and Luke Prejean. The students representing the College of Health and Pharmaceutical Sciences are Annmarie Cash, Caroline Edge, Cassidy Jurkovich and Erin Branch. Those wishing to see how many votes each applicant recieved can see them posted in the window of the SGA Office. contact Olivia Barfield at barfieldor@warhawks.ulm.edu
78 Freshmen applied for senate...
64% were from the College of Health & Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18% were from the Colleges of Business and Social
Sciences and 18% were from the College of Arts, Education and Sciences.
975 total votes were counted, which is 14%
of all undergraduate students. graphic by Kandice Johnson