the davidsonian
March 29, 2017 Vol. 112 Issue 17
The Independent Student Newspaper of Davidson College since 1914
Inside NEWS PCC community members discuss dissatisfaction with national survey 2 Davidson student-reporter shares her Pulitzer-funded summer experience 3 LIVING DAVIDSON News Editors Steffaney Wood and Olivia Daniels interview Quinn XCII 4 PERSPECTIVES YAF co-founders (L to R) Kenny Xu and Haley Hamblin hosted Bay Buchanan (C) as a speaker last semester. Photo courtesy of Kenny Xu
Young Americans for Freedom Expands Opportunities for Conservative Students on Campus LAURA DUNNAGAN Senior Staff Writer
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ne year after receiving their charter, members of Davidson College’s Young Americans for Freedom—better known as YAF—are celebrating their progress as a student organization. This organization seeks to promote conservatism and add to the political discourse on campus. YAF is not affiliated with any political party or specific candidate; rather, it is an ideological, issue-based organization that encourages participation from students who have a wide range of opinions. Since gaining its charter, YAF has been advocating for the inclusion of conservatism in what some argue is a largely liberal dialogue at Davidson. “We’re trying to bring awareness to the idea that there’s another perspective on campus,” says Haley Hamblin ‘19, one of the co-founders of YAF. “I think often that Davidson, as evidenced by the student groups, the speakers brought in,
and by the academic departments, is left-leaning. We’re trying to show that there is another side and to provide a space for students to organize and have a space where they can discuss these things and figure out where they stand and how other opinions fit into that.” As YAF is not affiliated with a political party, their meetings, discussions, and events focus on the conservative ideology and how it can be interpreted through specific issues and policies. Hamblin comments that particularly after the election, YAF leadership had to be strict in differentiating between ideological conservatism and how conservatism is portrayed in the larger realm of politics. “We have a lot of conversations within the organization about what conservatism looks like and how it manifests itself in certain policies, and we all have different opinions about that,” comments Hamblin. “But it was difficult to separate conservatism from Trump. One thing I struggle with being more right-leaning is that a lot of people assume conservatism equals republicanism equals Trump, and that’s definitely not true.”
Kenny Xu ‘19, the other co-founder of YAF, states that the group has grown dramatically since the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Xu says that this growth in membership and large turnout to YAF-sponsored events has emboldened members to speak out and demonstrate the diversity of conservative opinions on campus. “YAF is trying to promote all conservative voices,” says Xu. “You can be libertarian conservative, religious conservative, nationalist conservative—we have all of them in YAF. That’s something we pride ourselves on. We have conservatives of all stripes who want a place where they can be in a community with other conservatives and can be active and expressive in their beliefs.” Additionally, Hamblin noted that conservatism, like all other political ideologies, can be assumed to be one broad consensus, and due to the small number of conservatives on campus, this
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Kayla Edwards '20 discusses her intentions for the future of the perspectives section 3 Liu Volpe '17 reveals her transracial adoption story 5 YOWL Police Chief Sigler plans one last heist with the old gang 6 Early blooming of trees freaks out ENV professors teaching outdoor classes 6 SPORTS Jonathan Swann '18 profiles senior star point guard Jack Gibbs '17 7
2016-2017 Sustainability Co-op Members Focus on Social Justice COLLEEN KARLOVICH Staff Writer
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ecently, the Sustainability Co-op on campus has undergone much revitalization. Created in 2008, this living space was originally known as the “Eco-House.” It began when a team of students and Dr. Annie Merrill, a professor of English and environmental studies, decided to create a space on campus with a clear, environmental intentionality. Over time, the faculty advisor became Dr. Fuji Lozada, a professor of anthropology and environmental studies. The ideal of an intentional living space focusing on environmental activism and advocacy has shifted over time. Today, the living space is quite different from what was envisioned in 2008. One of the biggest changes to the Eco-House was Davidson’s shift to a mandatory meal plan. Lozada explains the challenge: “When people were forced to have meal plans, that changed the way of cooperative living because so much was built around the communal dinners, all the stuff, all the drama associated with keeping a kitchen clean and that all disappeared.” As the community members of the EcoHouse adapted to continue their mission, the
students and administration decided to reinvigorate the intentional living community with a new name: the Sustainability Co-op. Sustainability encompasses three forms of engagement: social, environmental, and economic, and each comes with reactionary challenges. Yancey Fouche, Davidson’s new Director of Sustainability, describes the challenges, “So our planet has very clear capacity and thresholds beyond which we cannot extend or else we are really going to start affecting these things: the social foundations or those kinds of elements more closely associated with social justice such as reliance, voice, gender, equity, income, disparities.” By renaming the Sustainability Co-op, the team of students residing there can live intentionally with an expanded focus, rather than a sole focus on the environment. At the beginning of every school year, the new community of students, who have to apply to live in the house, sits down to create a mission of intentional community. This year, group members spoke about how they should emphasize inclusivity in their intentions.
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This year's Sustainability Co-op residents have centered their mission around inclusivity and social justice projects. Photo courtesy of Jon White