April 18, 2018

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Founded 1876 daily since 1892 online since 1998

Wednesday April 18, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 45

{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } Stay engaged! Twitter: @princetonian Facebook: The Daily Princetonian YouTube: The Daily Princetonian Instagram: @dailyprincetonian IN TOWN

NJ Division of Investment divests of automatic weapons manufacturers By Linh Nguyen Staff Writer

COURTESY OF JIM BOWEN

The Department of Treasury’s Division of Investment voted to sell all its holdings with Vista Outdoor.

Autism Awareness Month panelists discuss disability By Hector Afonso Cruz Contributor

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, panelists gathered at Frist Campus Center on Tuesday, April 17, to discuss the stigma surrounding people who fall on the autistic spectrum and to celebrate differences in people with disabilities. Panelists included Isabel Ruehl ’20, who is working on an ongoing project about autism as a Bogle Civic Service Fellow and who grew up with an autistic older brother; Erin Raffety, a lecturer at Princeton Theological Seminary and former Princeton professor who taught the writing seminar course WRI 182: Disability and Difference; and Amy and Sam Pickett, a retired FBI agent and her 22-year-old son who was diagnosed with autism in early childhood. “In Princeton, the way we communicate is highly verbal,” said Raffety, when asked what she wishes people knew about autism. “But the neurodiversity movement emphasizes the diversity on how our brains work. We need

In Opinion

to be open to the diversity of the ways people communicate. Our assumption is that language is the best way to communicate, but I don’t think that that is true. Acknowledging nonverbal people is a way of showing them dignity and respect.” “It’s like picking from a bag of marbles,” said Raffety, answering a question on how to spread awareness on autism. “Many people have many different symptoms. Some people can communicate fully, some don’t have the physical ability to communicate. Some can speak a couple words, others can speak at all, but all people can understand, just some that can’t express.” The panelists agreed that emphasizing autistic individuals’ humanity is critical, even with their nonverbal idiosyncrasies as ways to communicate emotion. According to Pickett’s personal experiences, although autism is now a well-known disorder, it is only recently being rigorously researched. And New Jersey is home to incredible nonprofit instiSee AUTISM page 5

Guest contributor Christopher Umanzor urges students to vote YES on the Honor Committee Referendum, columnist Sabrina Sequeira suggests ways to combat bias from accents, and contributing columnist Hunter Campbell suggests improvements to room draw. PAGE 6

See AUTOMATIC page 2

ON CAMPUS

AVIVA KOHN :: THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN

Moore said, “Evangelicalism is associated more with Iowa caucuses than the Good News.”

South Baptist reverend argues US politics has altered evangelicalism By Aviva Kohn Staff Writer

On Tuesday, April 17, the prominent Southern Baptist Rev. Russell Moore lectured on the realities and perversions of evangelicalism in the modern United States. “Why would a secularized North American culture care about how a clergyman would restructure their family life?” asked Moore. “Why would such a culture

listen to a minister about how to succeed in life and business?” Moore is currently the eighth president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has also served as Dean of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has written numerous books. “God does not need the evangelical movement; the evangelical movement des-

Today on Campus 4:30 p.m.: Geoff Cook, CEO and co-founder of The Meet Group, will discuss his entrepreneurial journey and the promises and pitfalls of scaling a public company from New Hope. Friend Center Convocation Room

perately needs God,” Moore said. Moore explained that there is conflation between the evangelical church and politics in modern America. “So often in 2018 America, evangelicalism is associated more with Iowa caucuses than the good news of Jesus Christ,” Moore said. He defined evangelicalism as “the link of renewal and revival movements See REVEREND page 4

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ON CAMPUS

The New Jersey Department of Treasury’s Division of Investment announced on Thursday, March 29, that it had voted to sell all of its remaining holdings with Vista Outdoor, which produces semi-automatic rif les for civilian use. At the State Investment Council’s meeting in March, Division of Investment Director Chris McDonough confirmed that the Division sold the remaining holdings “based on the merits of the investment.” “After the tragedy in Parkland, we examined our holdings to identify companies which might be adversely financially impacted by a changing landscape as it relates to certain types of firearms,” said McDonough. “Vista Outdoor was the only holding we identified that manufactures semi-automatic or automatic weapons for civilian use.” The State Investment Council hopes to “explore further potential actions related to civilian firearm manufacturers and retailers” by taking advantage of New Jersey’s new Environment, Social, and Governance Subcommittee.

The Division of Investment is “one of the largest pension fund managers in the United States” and “supports the retirement plans of approximately 769,000 active and retired employees.” When contacted, Office of the Treasurer Director of Communications Jennifer Sciortino provided the PDF file of the Department of Treasury’s news release and declined to comment further. The Vista Outdoor representative whom The Daily Princetonian contacted also declined to comment. This state-level action is certainly in line with Princeton’s own views about the gun control debate. Princeton Councilman David E. Cohen stated in an email that the Town Council has “very recently taken formal action in the area of gun safety, and unanimously support[s] reasonable, common-sense restrictions on firearms ownership.” “Princeton Council, at our last meeting, passed a resolution supporting gun violence prevention legislation at the State level,” wrote Cohen. “Six bills were recently passed in the Assembly,

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