‘The Big Short’
Double standards
Movie focuses on the 2008 financial crisis
One student comments on gender stereotypes in bed
ARTS
BURLINGTON, VT
VTCYNIC.COM
VOL. 132
ISSUE 19
LIFE
pg. 10
facebook.com/ thevermontcynic
@vermontcynic
instagram.com/ vermontcynic
pg. 3 youtube.com/ cynicvideo
W E D N E S DAY, F E B R UARY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6
KAKE WALK
Alumni and faculty reflect on winter carnival tradition
F
or 73 years, UVM fraternity members danced in blackface and satin tuxedos during the longest running winter carnival in the country. At its peak in the 1960s, this event, known as the Kake Walk, was held twice over a February weekend in the Patrick Gym in order to fit all 8,000 spectators, according to ticket sales reports. “It was like going to a world fair every year,” Mike Johns, who walked in 1961, said. The concept of the Kake Walk originated with slaves on northern plantations who performed in outrageous ways for their owners. The “most comical” slave won a piece of cake, sociologist James Loewen stated in the book “The University of Vermont: The First 200 Years.”
The Kake Walk began in 1893 to replace a canceled military ball at a time when Jim Crow laws were rampant and minstrel shows were becoming more popular in Vermont, Loewen wrote. In the years following the Kake Walk’s end, it wasn’t talked about, Ken McGuckin, who walked in 1965, said. “It was blacklisted – you couldn’t say the words on campus,” McGuckin said. Current SGA president Jason Maulucci said some students aren’t aware the Kake Walk existed, or that it was an institutional part of UVM. “It’s so important that we are reminded of what our past was, so that we know that we should never repeat that past,” Maulucci said.
ILLUSTRATION FROM THE 1961 KAKE WALK PROGRAM
ENTERPRISE
pages 6-7
UVM Rescue to have a new facility by caroline alkire calkire@uvm.edu
UVM Rescue is spending $1.6 million to build a new facility to house their ambulances and on duty student staff more efficiently. The current building, located on 284 East Ave, doesn’t meet their need to safely store their vehicles, UVM Rescue Director of Operations Mike Barnum, a senior, said. “We have two ambulances, yet we only have room for one in our bay, so we have to leave the off duty truck outside to face the harsh Vermont weather, which severely depletes the life of our $200,000 ambulances,” Barnum said. Additionally, the building doesn’t provide staff with a comfortable setting when they’re on the job. “We have one bedroom with two bunk beds in it yet we typically have six students on duty per night, leaving two members to sleep on couches in the common room,” he said. By working with Director of Capital Planning and Management Robert Vaughan and the architectural firm Freeman French Freeman, UVM Rescue has come up with a budget and design for their proposed facility, Barnum said.
A UVM Rescue ambulance responds to a medical call Feb. 21. The rescue squad secured funding through a private donation to build a new facility. OLIVER POMAZI/The Vermont Cynic “Our call volume is increasing every year and the new facility will allow us to increase our provided services if necessary to meet the demand of emergency requests,” he said. Funding for the new building will be paid half from funds UVM Rescue receives for their services, while the other half will be funded by a loan from the University that will be paid back over the next 10 years, Vaughan said. Barnum gave a presentation
to the board of trustees educational policy and institutional resources committee Feb. 5, Vaughan said. “The way any project works is we have a requirement to report to two different subcommittees on the board of trustees,” he said. The next step for UVM Rescue is to present the project to the budget and finance committee, Vaughan said. Once they approve it, the project is allowed to begin.
UVM Rescue is a student club and full-time advanced life support ambulance service staffed by about 20 student volunteers, Barnum said. UVM Rescue has been providing emergency services to UVM and the surrounding communities for over 40 years, he said. They have responded to more than 1,300 calls in 2015 alone, according to their website.
SGA objects taxation of Greek houses by kelsey neubauer kaneubauer@uvm.edu
Greek life has received new support from SGA in their efforts to remain tax exempt. SGA passed a resolution Feb. 16 in support of bill H725, which will allow Greek housing to be tax exempt, SGA President Jason Maulucci said. As such, he said he will be joining members of Greek life in Montpelier Feb. 23 to lobby in support of the bill. In passing this resolution, SGA is backing a huge portion of their constituency, not only in Greek life, but the student body as a whole, Maulucci said. “I believe that [the property tax] is not just a Greek issue, it is a UVM issue and a community issue,” he said. Greek houses would have to pay an additional $225,000 each year in property taxes if H725 is not passed, according to the resolution. Sophomore Lachlan Francis and junior Niki Brown, both SGA members, introduced the resolution. “I’m supporting H725 because I think removing [Greek life’s] tax exemption is a classic example of a solution looking for a problem,” Francis said. Additionally, “forcing,” students out of Greek housing would add to the strained Burlington housing markets, he said. Greek life at UVM is “thankful,” and “looking forward to working with SGA,” said president of the UVM’s panhellenic association, senior Jenna Nash. “I’m very happy that the SGA was able to support us by unanimously passing a resolution supporting this bill that will allow us to maintain affordable housing,” said August Siebs, the president of the Interfraternity Council at UVM. The bill was introduced in January 2016 after Chittenden County Rep. Barbara Rachelson saw the activism from members of the UVM community, she said. The tax has been a possibility for years, Director of Student Life Patrick Brown said. Student Life has worked alongside students and alumni to address the issue over the years, Brown said. “SGA, as a student advocacy organization, studied the issue and responded appropriately within their role of student advocacy,” he said.