The Commonwealth Times; February 20, 2017

Page 1

February 20, 2017 • Vol. 58, No. 20

The independent press of Virginia Commonwealth University

NEWS Planned Parenthood • 2

SPECTRUM GerryRigged • 9

SPORTS Track & Field • 6

SEEKING SANCTUARY Groups urge officials to do more for city’s immigrants HIBA AHMAD Online News Editor Activist group ICE Out of RVA, alongside more than 100 protesters, rallied outside City Hall demanding Mayor Levar Stoney formally declare Richmond a “sanctuary” city last Monday. Following the rally, demonstrators filled City Council in support of the cause. Carolina Velaz, an organizer of the event and member of ICE Out of RVA, said she applauds Mayor Levar Stoney for the first step, but more needs to be done. “We’re talking about stopping the criminalization of our people,” Velaz said. “The directive is a move in the right direction, but we need the policies to back it up.”

PHOTO BY ERIN EDGERTON

—continued on page 4

OPINION HB 2257 • 11

“Thinking of tomorrow” For Syrian refugee family: a new chapter

HIBA AHMAD Online News Editor SARAH KING Executive Editor A collection of small white houses sit quietly at the center of a suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Richmond’s city limits. In the taut winter air outside, a group of gradeschool children streak past each other, shouting breathlessly in their native tongues, in relentless pursuit of a soccer ball. At the surface, the scene is unassuming — perhaps even mundane — but from inside many of the surrounding dwellings, the view posits a stark contrast to what the inhabitants once knew. Mere miles from the heart of VCU’s Monroe Park campus, the cluster of modest houses have not yet become homes for many of their tenants: refugees who recently resettled in Richmond, many from wartorn parts of the Middle East. From inside one of these houses, Khalid — a Syrian refugee who asked, for his family’s safety, that their last names not be used — depicted the journey he, his wife and their two young children, Muna and Muhammad, endured in fleeing their country’s civil war. “We saw everything,” Khalid said, speaking through a translator, Ahmed Abdeen. “What Americans see on TV is not even 1 percent of what is actually happening (in Syria).” For Khalid and his family, the arduous journey to the United States began in December 2012. Nearly four years later, just days after the conclusion of the November 2016 presidential election, they arrived in Richmond having survived repeated losses, displacement and hardships. In the weeks since, the family has been doing their best to settle into their new neighborhood, but that has not been difficulties, either. Considering how difficult it was to enter the country — even long before the Trump administration took office last month — Khalid said he frankly expected better from the U.S. government. —continued on page 9

Protesters condemned the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Richmond outside City Hall last week.

News

News

Confirmed: Betsy DeVos Uncertain future for Title IX, student debt AUSTIN WALKER Contributing Writer SARAH KING Executive Editor Students and faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University have reservations and concerns for the future of higher education following the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as U.S. Secretary of the Department of Education. DeVos became the topic of national headlines after her first hearing before the U.S. Senate in January, where she expressed her views on topics ranging from guns in schools to federal regulations regarding disability and gender. Notably, DeVos has no experience working with public schools, which nearly 90 percent of the country’s students attend. Deirdre Condit, Ph.D., the chair of the Political Science department at VCU, said it’s possible there will be a repeal of programs such as Title IX, one of the federal Education Amendments of 1972, which protects against discrimination on the basis of sexuality and gender in federally funded education programs. The law currently protects LGBTQ students from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, too. “Part of the Title IX requirement that’s been

most talked about recently was instituted by executive order under the Obama administration,” Condit said. “I would not be surprised if President (Donald) Trump, in fact, reversed that.” During the Obama Administration, the scope of Title IX law was significantly broadened, and resulted in a number of universities, including VCU, facing federal investigations by the Office of Civil Rights for non-compliance. The list currently totals 309 cases at 227 colleges and universities, according to a Feb. 18 report by the New York Times. DeVos said during her confirmation hearing that she did not yet have a position on Title IX, and her office declined comment to the New York Times on Friday. Additionally, CNN reported on Feb. 2 that evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. — the president of the private, Christian non-profit Liberty University located in Lynchburg, Va. — will lead a higher education task force devised by President Donald Trump. “(Falwell) has an interest in eliminating what he feels are overreaches by the federal government, particularly the Department of Education, as pertains

Gerrymandering

or Democratic clustering? Gerrymandering is when state legislatures redraw voting districts based on constituent data, with the intent to skew future elections in favor of their party. Legislators on both sides of the aisle have shown support for redistricting reform, but during this year’s General Assembly session, the Republican-majority House and Senate struck down the most of the proposed legislation. —continued on page 3

GERRYMANDERING SIMPLIFIED

—continued on page 4

Sports

PHOTO BY ERIN EDGERTON

story on page 5

40% red 60% blue

0 red districts (0%) 5 blue districts (100%) BLUE RULES!

2 red districts (40%) 3 blue districts (60%) BLUE RULES!

3 red districts (60%) 2 blue districts (40%) RED RULES! information from vpap.org

INFOGRAPHIC BY DESIREE CHOE

Rams squash Spiders to win 8th straight


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