THE BG NEWS
PARTY AT THE REC
The Student Wellness Network hosted Monster Mash Thursday night, an event hosted to provide an alternative to alcohol use and to celebrate Halloween, checkout bgnews.com for photos and a story about the event.
ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
VOLUME 92, ISSUE 30
Event to raise awareness for street harassment Take Back The Night offers women chance to walk streets safely, build community, empowerment By Danae King Campus Editor
To Kelsey Klein, Take Back The Night is more than an event, it’s life-changing. “It’s something unusual that women don’t usually get to do,” Klein said. “Women don’t usually get to be out at night in large groups without being harassed.” The event is about raising awareness and speaking out against street harassment and date rape, said Carly Toepfer, president of Feminist Organization Raising Consciousness and Empowerment, which is hosting the event. “[These are] things that make women afraid to go out at night,” Toepfer said. Take Back The Night will take place Friday at 6 p.m. and it begins in the Union Ballroom, Klein said. Klein, a senior, will be attending the event for the third time this year. The event will show that women don’t like to be harassed at night, Klein said. “It shows that we’re not going to stand for it anymore,” she said. “We can talk on a personal level about sexual harassment and assault, but it’s very important to be visible about saying it’s not okay,” Klein said. “The group cohesiveness really helps get the message out.” Toepfer said some women may claim street harassment is a compliment, but she disagrees. “It’s not; it can be scary depending on what they’re saying to you,” she said. “It’s something that affects a lot of people.” The event will start with a rally in the Ballroom. At the rally, student organizations will set up tables and there will also be entertainment, Toepfer said. The participants will then march around campus and downtown, ending at the Women’s Center in Hanna Hall.
This year, there will be three rooms in the Women’s Center where people can speak out about their experiences, Toepfer said. In the past there have been one or two rooms, but this year there will be three: one for women, one for men and a gender neutral room. “They can go in and talk about how the night was,” Toepfer said. “It’s a pretty personal conversation between a bunch of us, everything is confidential.” The event is mostly to raise awareness, but it’s also for women. “It’s a chance for women to go out and rally and feel powerful for at least a little while and march as a group in solidarity,” Toepfer said. “[Street harassment] is something that takes agency away from women.” The event is also an opportunity to build community, Klein said. “Women may be aware it’s happening, but may not be aware it happens to women other than us,” she said. “College campuses are one of the biggest places where sexual harassment and assault happen. One in four college women are assaulted during their college career.” Junior and FORCE Community Outreach Chair Allie Lahey said she thinks these issues are especially important on campus and in Bowling Green. “There have been a lot of reports of sexual assault in the past few years here,” she said. “When I walk downtown at night I feel threatened, it can be intimidating. A lot of my friends have experienced street harassment in Bowling Green.” Lahey said she wants people to not only think about the issues Friday night, but all the time in their everyday life. Sexual assault and harassment are a big issue for people of college age, Klein said.
CANDLELIGHT REMEMBRANCE
Friday, October 26, 2012
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Some University students, faculty favor filtration systems over bottled water By Amber Petkosek Reporter
Water filtration systems are becoming increasingly popular among some students. Nick Hennessy, University sustainability coordinator, said some students are choosing to use water filters because they are a more affordable option. There is a very apparent cost difference between filtered water and bottled water, Hennessy said. “If you drink a minimum of eight glasses of water a day, the cost with a Brita filter would be 49 cents per year, not including the cost of the filters,” Hennessy said. “The same amount of water in bottles would be $1,500 for the year.” Some students choose to use filtration systems because they are more affordable, said Rachel Weber, chief operating officer of Net Impact. Net Impact is a campus organization whose goal is to make the world, campus and individuals more environmentally conscious, according to its website. “I would like to think it’s because they want to be green, but it’s probably just because it’s cheaper,” Weber said. Environmental concerns are another reason some people choose water filtration systems over bottled water. Hennessy uses a filtration system because of the environmental benefits. “I use a Brita pitcher,” Hennessy said. “It is more environmentally friendly.” Petroleum is used to create water bottles, and there is no proper way to dispose of petroleum, Hennessy said. “1.7 million barrels of oil are used annually to make water bottles,” he said. “The energy from the water
bottles could fuel 100,000 cars for a year.” Only 25 percent of water bottles are properly recycled, Hennessy said. Water quality may be a concern for students as well when it comes to making the decision between a bottle or a filtration system. “There is not much difference in quality of water, but there is a difference in regulation,” Hennessy said. Water is regulated by different agencies, he said. “The FDA, also known as the Food and Drug Administration, regulates bottled water,” he said. “The EPA, also known as the Environmental Protection Agency, regulates tap water.” Different agencies have different policies dealing with regulation, Hennessy said. “The FDA is not required to disclose the information that they find about their water,” Hennessy said. “The EPA is required to release all of the information they discover.” Another concern with water bottles is the possibility of harmful chemicals in the plastic, he said. “The bottle may not be BPA free,” he said. “So you could have some other concerns for your health besides what may be in your water.” Some students use water filters because they are uncertain of the water in their area. “I use it because I don’t know what’s in the tap water,” said freshman Samantha Meder. Convenience also often plays a large role in some students choice to use water bottles, Hennessy said. “On campus the more convenient option is to grab a water bottle,” Hennessy said. “It’s easy to pick one up. Especially if you’re on a meal plan, there are places to buy water at every turn.”
Lecturer speaks on LGBT history, human rights
Julie Haught addresses struggle of LGBT individuals to attain recognition in mainstream culture By Emily Gordon Reporter
RYAN BARKAN | THE BG NEWS
A CANDLELIGHT vigil was hosted in the Union Oval Thursday night in memory of Roderick Bartlett, a student who died this past week.
CREATIVE COSTUMES Students are taking the creation of their Halloween costumes into their own hands and making them. Check out The Pulse to find out the most popular ideas. | PAGE 3
Students interested in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues filled Union 207 Thursday night for an event titled LGBT: A Queer History. The lecture explored the history of LGBT groups fighting for recognition in the United States. The struggle to attain recognition is not just between the LGBT groups and mainstream culture, said speaker Julie Haught, but also with other advocacy groups. Haught, senior lecturer for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the department of English, said her goal for the night’s lecture was “to complicate the notion of a singular history.” “I think where I wanted to highlight was, if indeed we have efforts for human rights, but people are excluded ... what I’d ask rhetorically is, so is that person then not human?” she said. Haught included some YouTube vid-
eos of documentaries, which interviewed LGBT people who worked with advocacy groups in the mid-20th century and highlighted the problems they faced. One interviewee mentioned she worked with the National Organization for Women, and they ultimately kicked her out for being a lesbian. Haught explained the white, middle class feminists of NOW thought the presence of lesbians in the group were “a threat to the goals of women’s rights.” Haught was invited to speak by Delta Lambda Phi, which sponsored the lecture. Kyle Shupe, a member of Delta Lambda Phi, organized the lecture and said the idea came from his wish for the fraternity to learn more about the community. “I think of it as a form of activism and education is my favorite form of activism, so every so often the fraternity tries to sponsor events like this and just educate the population,” he said. Haught agreed that it is important to
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give lectures such as this due to the time we are living in. “We’re seeing major efforts to grant LGBT people in the US full civil rights,” she said. “[We need to] keep pressing.” Senior Samantha Stromquist said she supported what Haught said. “It’s good to start that movement to tell stories that haven’t been told before,” she said. Stromquist said she personally identifies as bisexual, and appreciated the part of the lecture that described bisexual exclusion in the LGBT community. “It’s not as understood. If something doesn’t fit into the binary, it’s easier to just pretend things don’t exist than to alter your perception [of them].” Haught said issues like these are why it is so important to get people to listen when LGBT people tell their stories. “I want people to know that every story matters,” she said. “Everyone deserves a history.”
WHAT ARE YOU DRESSING UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN? “I’m going to be a lumberjack.” Edward Vaughn Freshman, Political Science