Best of 2015
C.U.N.T.S.
Student organization Reflecting on the best 2015 recalls sexism experiences UVM sports moments LIFE
BURLINGTON, VT
VTCYNIC.COM
VOL. 132
ISSUE 15
SPORTS
pg. 5
facebook.com/ thevermontcynic
@vermontcynic
instagram.com/ vermontcynic
pg. 7 youtube.com/ cynicvideo
W E D N E S DAY, J A N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6
‘Voices’ make up for low turnout by bryan o’keefe bpokeefe@uvm.edu
Students protested the University’s decision to remove reading days Jan. 25. Senior Alexander Collingsworth, who organized the event, led about 10 students from the Bailey/Howe Library, through the Davis Center and Central Campus, to the executive offices in the Waterman building. Collingsworth said they could’ve used a few more bodies, but their voices made up for it. “This is about the Faculty Senate and the administration respecting what students think, respecting the student voice,” Collingsworth said. “This is an incident of the SGA, which is supposed to be the body that represents us, being completely ignored.” The Faculty Senate voted April 13, 2015 to remove reading days, starting in the 20162017 academic year, according to the meeting minutes. Instead, time will be allotted for a three-day break in October, SGA President Jason
Students protest the removal of reading days outside Bailey/Howe Library Jan. 25. One of the students’ signs read, “Dear Faculty Senate, what are you smoking?” OLIVER POMAZI/The Vermont Cynic Maulucci said. In response to the decision, students created a Facebook protest event page, where 300 people confirmed their attendance, and a petition which generated nearly 2,000 signa-
tures as of Jan. 25, 2015. This decision was made to cut down “undesirable student behavior, including the Naked Bike Ride” before final exams, according to the 2014-2015 Annual Report from the Student
Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate. “I definitely believe more transparency was and must be necessary and provided, and more involvement of the general student body … was abso-
lutely justified and entirely ignored,” senior Duncan Gamble said. The Naked Bike Ride was a factor in making the decision, but other elements were taken into account, Gary Derr, UVM’s vice president for executive operations said to protesters. Derr also said he would pass the protesters’ message along to administration. The committee pushed the final proposal on reading days through the Faculty Senate without consulting the SGA a second time, Maulucci said. Maulucci said he has appointed a student task force headed by junior and SGA senator Bhumika Patel to develop alternatives to the proposed academic schedule. They will draft this into a formal resolution for the Faculty Senate before spring break, Maulucci said. Faculty Senate members have not yet responded to request for comment. Read the full version of this story at vtcynic.com.
UVM reboots bottle ban with new campaign By Kelsey Neubauer kaneubau@uvm.edu
After receiving national attention for its water bottle ban, UVM is striving to better the policy by taking it back to its origins: student involvement. One of the reasons the ban was unsuccessful was a lack of student involvement said Richard Cate, treasurer and vice president for finance at UVM. The University implemented a campaign centered on educational publicity and student involvement following UVM nutrition professor Rachel Johnson’s May 14 study on the ban’s effectiveness. The campaign has a budget of $11,000, he said. This budget is a “combination of discretionary funds from the office of the president coming from gifts to the University and from the University’s general operating funds,” Cate said. Behavioral studies found that students were more likely to fill their water bottles if there was a water fountain inside the retail dining facilities instead of directly outside them, he said. The second half of the campaign involves educational publicity, or educating students about the importance of water through marketing, Cate said.
The marketing campaign was led by a local design company, Tally Ho, located on Bank Street in Burlington, according to University Communications. Ted Olsen, owner of Tally Ho, said he found students of the millennial generation like simple, relatable things. “If you look closely at the water drop,” Olsen said, “you will see that it says ‘UVM loves water.’” Thus, the posters that plaster the residence halls and the walls of locations such as the Davis Center and the Bailey/ Howe Library contain images of student water bottles and simple messages, he said. The origin of the water bottle ban was born out of student activism as early as 2012, Cate said. After looking at the issue from both an environmental and nutritional perspective, University officials decided to put the ban into place, he said. In January 2013, UVM became the first university in the nation to create a campus wide water bottle ban, as reported by the Cynic Feb. 2, 2013. UVM’s water bottle ban increased the sale of sugary drinks sold in bottles, according to Johnson’s research.
A water bottle refilling station in the Davis Center is pictured. UVM is launching a new marketing campaign to encourage students to drink water. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PHIL CARRUTHERS Senior Sarah Shaffer, the sustainability intern at UVM dining, is leading an educational tabling campaign alongside EcoReps to promote both nutritional and environmental goals of the ban, she said “Our main objective is rekindling for students why this is important, why people should care,” she said.
Her primary project this semester is a tabling campaign to educate students on why the water discussion is important. “We were a leader for the nation by successfully implementing the water bottle ban, and we the nation saw its flaws when the study came out, it is our responsibility to take action,” she said.
Olsen found that working with the EcoReps allowed them to learn how to bring students back into the discussion. “Working with the students allowed us to see what we needed to do to get across the to the students with our designs,” he said.