Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016
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SENATOR ANNA GLEASON stands at last week’s “die-in,” a demonstration responding to recent police shootings. Other senators were rebuked for not attending. PHOTO BY JAKE BULLINGTON | DIGITAL EDITOR
STUDENT SENATE
Senate scolded for “not showing up” to multicultural events Jake Bullington Digital Editor jacob.bullington@drake.edu @JakeBullington Last week, two different demonstrations took place on campus. A student organized a die-in and a protest, both in honor of the two men killed by police officers recently in North Carolina and Oklahoma. In a previous Senate meeting, Student Body President Thalia Anguiano and various senators expressed desire to reach out to their “peers,” as Anguiano said. A majority of Senate agreed to stand in solidarity with the victims of these shootings. In the most recent Senate meeting, following over two hours of debate on funding motions wherein there were fundamental disagreements, Campus Advancement Senator Jackie Heymann and Equity and Inclusion Senator Kenia Calderon scolded members of Senate for not attending multicultural organizations’ meetings and events, like UNITY Roundtable and the die-in last die-in. Calderon and Heymann noted that the other senators who included diversity or equity
and inclusion on their campaign platforms should make more of an effort to reflect these points. “Friends, we need to start showing up to things, seriously,” Heymann said. “Half of you put this in your platform and people took notes. Like seriously, people took notes on your platform. Exec has your platforms. We can easily look back and see who has it in there. So half of you currently are lying from your platforms saying you want to focus on equity and inclusion and aren’t showing up to stuff.” Calderon echoed Heymann’s point regarding how senators’ (noted, optional) attendance of these meetings and events could affect their re-election, should they decide to run. “So I make sure to tell you that when elections come around, to make sure that they know who was there and who was actually with them and standing in solidarity with them,” Calderon said. “It was very frustrating that no one showed up.” Heymann was visibly frustrated by this. “Go home, think about why you’re not showing up, think about why you’re actually not following through on your commitments, think about all of the statements that Drake has
been putting out lately and how you’re serving as representative of Drake University,” Heymann said. “You have to be fulfilling that.” Heymann continued. “Seriously y’all, this is not okay what we’re seeing,” Heymann said. “So, go home, please tonight, reflect on what you should be doing as a senator and if you need to process through it, so many of us would be happy to chat with you.” Calderon expressed a continued interest in standing in solidarity with the victims of these police shootings. She echoed Heymann’s sentiment of frustration surrounding the other senators’ lack of attendance, especially in regards to the UNITY Roundtable meeting, considering that Calderon was one of the few Senators who attended. “It was very frustrating that no one showed up,” Calderon said. “It shouldn’t be a topic that (I) should have addressed by myself. We still haven’t addressed the issue and other universities are (further) ahead than we are. Just because the hashtags stopped showing up in our timelines doesn’t mean that the issues stopped happening.” College of Business and Public Administration Senator Ava
Witthauer proposed a solution to this issue by encouraging more senators to engage in these meetings and various multicultural events. “I think if we go into it with a positive outlook and come up with fresh ideas to get people involved,” Witthauer said, “… Having a sign-up each week, if we have a list of all the events that are going on, have a Google Doc and sign your name next to who’s going … I think that’s a way we can all encourage each other to go together and make sure that we’re supporting people so we are maintaining what we campaigned on, also keeping in mind that this is a very busy time and we’re all part of a lot of organizations.” Some senators, including Grace Rogers, disagreed with the concept of having a sign-up sheet. “It shouldn’t feel like an obligation,” Rogers said. “It should be something we want to do as a student body.” Student Senate meets each Thursday in Cowles Library room 201, aka “the fishbowl.” Meetings are now streamed live every week on live.drake.edu/dbs.
ELECTION 2016
Millenials could have significant impact on election
Katherine Bauer News Editor katherine.bauer@drake.edu @bauer_katherine There are only 33 more days until Election Day 2016. However, voters in Iowa are able to fill out their ballots right now. Early voting began last Thursday. Absentee ballots are available by request. Voters registered in Iowa can stop by the auditor’s office at 120 2nd Ave to register and vote. On the first day of early voting, NextGen Climate held an event to encourage young voters to not only vote early but to also vote with the environment in mind. Two Drake students, sophomore Josh Hughes and junior Jordan Sabine, spoke at the event. “It is a really great organization,” Sabine said. “I think environment is such an essential issue that millennials
feel really strongly about compared to other generations. We’re going to be here for a really long time. And our parents and grandparents won’t be here for as long. But we really understand… that we need to make sure that it’s a sustainable planet.” Sabine is currently managing Nate Boulton’s Iowa Senate campaign and previously worked on Martin O’Malley’s caucus campaign. In her mind, millennials could change the course of this election. Yet that impact can only be felt if the youngest voters actually cast a ballot. “We can make a huge difference in this election if we actually vote, which is going to be the kicker,” Sabine said, “because young people don’t often vote, unfortunately.” 18 to 29-year-olds have had the lowest turn-out in most elections. In 2012, 45 percent of this age range took to the polling locations while 72 percent of 65-year-olds
and older voted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is why NextGen focuses on young voters. “NextGen is involved with that, activating young people to get out and vote for people that are going to be supporting renewable energy solutions,” Hughes said. Millenials outnumber baby boomers for the first time this election cycle, as reported by the U.S. Census bureau. Early voting is an important component to the election cycle. Hughes explained that checking off early voters from registration lists allows campaigns to focus on getting last-minute voters to the polls come Election Day. According to Hughes, everyone should be engaged in politics. “It should be important to so many young people just because the choices that are made by legislators, by the president, by governors affect our lives in innumerable ways and ways that we don’t even realize,” Hughes said.
Both Hughes and Sabine advised Drake students to register to vote in Iowa. “I think that’s a really cool way to make a really big impact because Iowa is such a swing state right now,” Sabine said. “Your vote will count so much more here than in Illinois which is going to be democratic or Washington where Hillary Clinton is going to be elected.” All Drake students are able to register to vote in Iowa because they have an address in the state. Voters in Iowa must be a U.S. citizen and 18 years of age by Election Day. They will also need to record one of the following on the registration form: Iowa driver’s license number, Iowa nonoperator ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
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CAMPUS NEWS
Title IX program educates students Jessica Lynk Editor-in-Chief jessica.lynk@drake.edu @jessmlynk On Pomerantz Stage last Wednesday, Title IX coordinator Katie Overberg asked around 20 Drake students why they thought students at Drake did not feel comfortable reporting sexual assault. Students threw out reasons: survivors of sexual assault did not know if an incident constituted as worth reporting or a survivor not trusting the university. One student even brought up the fact that alcohol could be involved, deterring a survivor on the basis of fear or getting blamed for an incident. “We want to change that here at Drake,” Overberg said. “We want them to know that it is okay to come forward, that they are going to be supported, that they are going to be believed and we are going to treat them well.” Title IX is a federal law that says that students “are protected from sex-based discrimination, harassment, or violence, whether it occurs on or off campus,” according to Drake’s Title IX website. This requires Drake to respond to and prohibit any sexual harassment or violence. Overberg started at Drake after a Title IX complaint was filed through the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in October 2014. Since then, Overberg has been overseeing Drake’s policies to make sure all Title IX procedures are being met. One student is trying to change the climate at Drake by holding an educational series titled, “Know your Title IX.” The first installment of the series was held last Wednesday and covered what reporting sexual assault looked like from a Drake standpoint.
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