SUNY Plattsburgh’s independent student newspaper since 1997
FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2022
VOLUME 106 - ISSUE 7
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OLIVIA BOUSQUET/Cardinal Points
Comedian show canceled BY ALEKSANDRA SIDOROVA Staff Writer
The Student Association canceled the show of comedian K-von, the selfproclaimed “most famous half-Persian comedian in the world,” originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 5. The show was canceled due to an influx of student emails to the SA requesting it, alleging that K-von’s jokes are transphobic and racist. “We want to make clear that we do not tolerate transphobia or any other form of hate or discrimination,” the SA
posted on its Instagram page. It was the only comment SA gave on the situation apart from the announcement of the show’s cancellation. SA President Ahmed Metwaly did not respond to an email requesting an interview. “We thank everyone for the input and we apologize for not doing our due diligence,” the cancellation notice read. Students emailed the SA Saturday, March 26, after Andrew Shelak, a senior history major, posted a message from an anonymous follower on his Instagram meme account @burghys_sextape. The message criticized K-von’s
jokes about transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. “[K-von]’s transphobic and obviously racist,” the message read. “He doesn’t belong on our campus and it would be super helpful if you could get the word out.” K-von responded to the allegations. “Whether you found them funny or not; [the jokes] are not transphobic or racist in any way. (Even if they were, that’s protected speech according to SUNY policy),” K-von wrote in an email. K-von left comments on Shelak’s page the next day, calling him a “fake
account” with “fake likes” and “fake fans.” K-von said Shelak “launched into a number of attacks” and was “mounting a cancel effort,” as well as that Shelak’s page was “full of obscenities.” “[K-von] called me ‘phobic against Persians,’” Shelak said. “I don’t understand where that came from.” Shelak said Instagram logged him out of his meme account due to “suspicious activity” Wednesday, March 30. Shelak said he suspects hacking, but K-von said his team had no involvement in removing the account. COMEDY l A2
Pakistani students visit local schools BY LARAIB ASIM Staff Writer
Two students from Pakistan studying at SUNY Plattsburgh this semester went to Oak Elementary School to engage with a group of kids and there with the help of a presentation, talked about their culture March 25. The two presenters were Iman Ahmad, a Pakistani sophomore from Forman Christian College University based in the city of Lahore who majors in economics and Dua Saleem, a Pakistani junior from Dow University of Health Sciences based in the city of Karachi who majors in nutrition. Both the students took part in a competitive exchange program to be selected for the chance to study abroad for a semester in the United States. “I was excited because I enjoy public speaking and on top of that I was representing my country,” Saleem said. “[I decided] I will be spontaneous because it’s my country. We talked about the different provinces, cultures associated with our provinces and the religious diversity in Pakistan.” During the presentation, Saleem and Ahmad
Photo provided by Saravuth Vong International students smile after giving a presentation to children about Pakistani culture.
engaged the kids by asking them questions related to the different tourist attractions within Pakistan that the students found most appealing. From the second largest mountain peak K2 to the
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second largest salt mine in Asia, the kids eagerly listened to everything they said. Ahmad said she was nervous, yet excited at first. “We played a Pakistani National song and
danced to it together. We also prepared two Pakistani dishes called Biryani [a rice dish] and Sheer Khurma [a sweet dish],” she said. When parents came to collect their kids, one kid
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even asked for the recipe of biryani, which was heartwarming. The kids were taught how to make paper boats. This was inspired by the monsoon season that occurs annually in Pakistan. After the presentation
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was over, the kids tested their boats in small puddles outside the school and were happy when it turned out successful. “We offered them prizes that were souvenirs from Pakistan for answering questions at the end,” Ahmad said. “I was very surprised to see that the students remembered a lot of stuff from the presentation and they actively participated in the quiz session. To my amazement, a student even remembered the full name of Pakistan, which was very fulfilling.” Ellen Miller, the international student assistant at the Global Education Office (GEO) of SUNY Plattsburgh, was in charge of organizing the presentation given. Miller reached out to Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Plattsburgh who referred her to Oak Elementary School’s after school program. “I figured it would be nice to get them off campus to have a little bit more sense of the community outside of SUNY Plattsburgh,” Miller said. She praised Ahmad and Saleem for their efforts and their success in engaging the kids suggestion.
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