SUNY Plattsburgh celebrates women

BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA

& Managing Editor

SUNY Plattsburgh celebrated International Women’s Day Wednesday, March 8, with presentations and talks centering women, guest speakers and students alike.

The Alumni Conference Room at Angell College Center welcomed Maria Holderman, a fourthgeneration teacher and a journalist who, in the 1990s, uncovered human trafficking in Romanian orphanages through more than 1,000 articles and 50 documentaries on the is- sue. Twenty years later, she wrote a book on her findings and experiences, called “Children of the Decree,” published in February last year.

The specific decree Holderman is referencing is Decree 770, passed in 1967 by the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, which abolished abortions and contraceptives with the goal of 2 million children being born. Born the same year, Holderman herself is part of the generation of “children of the decree.” The decree resulted in more than 10,000 women’s deaths, an increase in children being put up for adoption and human trafficking in orphanages.

Holderman investigated the disappearances of children in Romanian orphanages by posing as someone looking to adopt a child. After publishing her materials, Holderman faced lawsuits and death threats, causing her to leave Romania on a one-way trip to Vermont. Once her book was out, so many victims of the trafficking reached out to her that she will be publishing a second edition to include all the new details the testimonies revealed. She said the former minister of justice Valeriu Stoica and former president of Romania Emil Constantinescu, who served from 1996 to 2000, both remember her for her work, albeit by her pen name Dana Achim.

“Be the change you want to see,” Holderman said as part of her presentation. “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

Holderman’s work started with visiting prisons to rehabilitate incarcerated individuals and seek out underreported stories. Her first press campaign em- phasized the unfairness of a young woman having to serve a prison sentence of three and a half years for stealing food to feed her child, and eventually, Holderman was asked to personally bring the subject of her campaign home. Besides the impact one woman could make, Holderman spoke on the power of reading — her love for reading gave her the ability to think critically in a time of censorship and lack of information on the outside world.

Another event featuring women’s voices was

Fuerza: The BIPOC Stu- dent Union’s fourth annual Womxn Empowerment Panel focusing on leadership, allyship and sisterhood. Seven female students were chosen to be panelists for the event: Marileana Rodriguez, Abieyuwa Uzamere, Djeneba Sy, Angelina Rodriguez, Kaliyah Green, Alexa Santos and Phardia Desir. The panelists defined what womanhood means to them — confidence, support and being able to speak about their feelings and goals without backlash.

Feb. 26

A student living on-campus came by the University Police station to report that they had been contacted by someone they have a restraining order against.

March 4

Students in Wilson Hall got into an argument so heated that they all got no-contact orders.

Two males were reported arguing at Moffitt Hall. It turned out that one of them was an Uber driver who had not been paid for his services. The victim refuses to cooperate with UP on the investigation.