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T h u r s d a y, J a n u a r y 2 6 , 2 0 1 7 | U s i s h i e l d . c o m | v o l . 4 7 i s s u e 2 0
‘Fear will not win’ Students make voices heard at community rally
Bennett lobbies for budget by Riley Guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Photo by megan thorne | The Shield
Community members hold up their signs during the “With Liberty and Justice for All,” rally and march Friday afternoon at the Four Freedoms Monument on Riverside Drive. Participants marched from the monument to Central Library rallying for Evansville’s commitment to a diverse nation.
by Sarah loesch and Riley Guerzini editor@usishield.com, news@usishield.com @seloesch, @rguerzini
Katie Biggs chooses to remain outspoken. The senior English major said not everyone can produce change on a widespread level like running for office, but everyone has a voice. “Everyone has the ability to speak out and make their voice and opinions known,” she said. Biggs made her voice heard today by attending With Liberty and Justice for All, a community rally which aimed to showcase continued hopes for community diversity and rights for all people across the nation. Wendy Bredhold, the event organizer, said she thinks it meant a lot for people to have this rally as an option for them on Inauguration Day. Bredhold said a math teacher in the crowd estimated about 300 people were in a attendance. The crowd gathered at the Four Freedoms Monument downtown to hear speakers before marching to Central Library for a community resource fair. The fair included the NAACP Evansville Branch, Tri-State Alliance, YWCA, Veterans for Peace and many other groups from around
the Evansville area. “I’m so gratified that this was something that was meaningful to so many people today,” Bredhold said. Biggs was joined at the rally by fellow English major Henry Kathman, who had similar motivations for attending. The senior said he wanted to be able to voice his commitment to the future and opposition to the current political climate. Kathman said a common misconception is that government is inaccessible. “Any progress that is going to happen is going to be through education and through actual outreach,” he said. “Community outreach and actively participating.” He said he recommends community members call their representatives. “Right now there is just a gigantic commitment from all levels of government to marginalize,” Kathman said. “...It really seems right now that a lot of people really wanted to retaliate against the last 8 years of progress.” Kathman said he thinks those feelings come from the movement toward diversity and globalization. “For some it feels like people will be left behind because of that,” he said. Biggs said worldwide there is general recoil when it comes to the attempt to diversify,
a fear that comes with change. “In the long run fear will not win,” Biggs said, “but there comes a point when occasionally it gains such strength that you do need to start pushing back again and showing everyone that fear may be a powerful motivator, but it will not squelch the progress that has been made.” Biggs said as a member of the LGBT community and an ally, she refuses to stay silent on matters where people may be marginalized or demonized. Her biggest fear going forward politically is the indoctrination of things like racism and xenophobia. She said while it’s unfortunate for one individual to feel that way, it also cannot be brought into policy and politics. “I think personally there needs to be more kindness and there needs to be more love, but honestly people need to forgive themselves,” she said. Everyone judges, but Biggs said it’s what happens after that initial judgement which can make a difference. “The key in that is not halting the process,” she said. “It’s understanding that you must reach beyond that and think, ‘why do I have this judgement and is it warranted or is it not. How can I go about fixing that?’”
University President Linda Bennett went before the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee last Wednesday to lobby for 44.7 million for the 20172019 Operating and Capital Improvement Budget. The budget request for the biennium centers on renovation for the Physical Activities Center. The $41 million requested is phase II of classroom expansion and renovation. The $3.7 million for the standard operating and repair line item requests of the budget includes continued operation of Historic New Harmony, campus security enhancements, expansion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs and dual credit opportunities. Any new state monies for the 2017-2019 budget are calculated through performance funding formulas, which include metrics like the number of graduates, on-time graduation rates and student persistence from year to year. The university is not eligible for one formula on high impact degrees connected to STEM initiatives, because it is not a research institution. Research institutions are chosen by the Carnegie classification, which decides if the institution is research or masters. “The problem is those of us who are performing these functions and doing very well at it, it seems not quite right that we wouldn’t get something under a STEM initiative,” Bennett said. Bennett said she believes that the university does have high impact degrees, citing a statistic that states 90 percent of engineering graduates are working in the state of Indiana. She said that it takes millions of dollars in grants to be classified under a research institution. “It takes resources to get the resources,” she said.
Budget, PAGE 2
Watch party draws student interest
Women’s March promotes inclusiveness by Riley Guerzini
by Riley Guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Trevion McFarland didn’t get on the Trump train until late in the primaries, but said he couldn’t take another four years of broken promises and failed policies. McFarland, along with around 30 other students and faculty, attended the Inauguration watch party in Carter Hall Friday. “We should all want President Trump to do well, because if he doesn’t do well, then our country doesn’t do well,” he said. “I think we should support him in his efforts and hope he does well for our nation to succeed.” McFarland said people need to come together and focus on the future. “I think people have blown it out of proportion,” he said. “I think he is going to do things in the next four years that should have been done in the last twenty, but people were
afraid to say it.” McFarland said he was looking for somebody strong that would stand up to ISIS and violence against police. “I think the black community especially has shaped this image of Donald Trump in a negative light and I think they will continue to hate Donald Trump no matter what he does,” he said. “I think if you have hated Donald Trump all the way through, you’re going to continue to hate him for the next four or possibly eight years.” College Republicans President Daniel McMurtry said he enjoyed the ceremony and thought it was “fantastic.” “He brought up some good talking points, such as radical Islamic terrorism and he was at least able to name the problem so we will see what he does to eliminate it,” he said. The 16-minute speech covered topics ranging from immigration to building up the military.
“I think as time passes people are going to realize that the President doesn’t have as much power as they think he does,” he said. McMurtry said he expects to see freer trade and freer markets that will allow businesses to flourish. He said he has been more convinced with Trump based on his cabinet picks although he said he was disappointed in Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos and Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson. Nearly 70 House Democrats boycotted the Inauguration ceremony after Trump went to Twitter to criticize Democratic Representative and Civil Rights activist John Lewis after he claimed Trump was an illegitimate president. “I thought it was kind of childish honestly,” he said. “It’s pretty much the equivalent of throwing a tempertantrum. I’m pretty confident the outrage will die down in a little bit, but right now I expect plenty of continued rioting.”
news@usishield.com @rguerzini
The downtown metro area of Washington D.C. was so crowded that Brandy Small said she couldn’t move. Small, who is in her second year of the Master of Arts in the Communication program, along with over 470,000 people, according to The New York Times, participate in the Women’s March on Washington. “It was inspiring to see women from different backgrounds, beliefs and ages come together in unity for our rights in a time when they are being threatened,” she said. The march in Washington was the largest of over 500 marches held in cities across the United States. “Young people are constantly being belittled and
told that we don’t get involved in our nation and this was a chance to get involved in what I believe in,” she said. Small said she wants people to know that misogyny, racism and sexism exist and society has a long way to go before defeating the ideas that separate them. She said she participated in the march as a way to put her beliefs on display and show that she won’t choose the side of her oppressor. “I think our voices were heard all over the world but I think our lawmakers and our president could have responded more appropriately,” she said. “I mean can you imagine what would have happened if Trump would have said, ‘I see you and I will do my best to help you.’ Instead he worried about his own media coverage during the inauguration.”
Women’s MArch, PAGE 5