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VOLUME 51 ISSUE 21 1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
Students share varying thoughts on U.S. involvement in Libya supported us.” However, not everyone is in agreeStaff Writer ment that U.S. troops should be in Dangerous outbreaks of revolts Libya at all. Senior Tom Knief said, in Libya continue to challenge the “America needs to retreat out of Libya. government and kill protesters as well Our forces and country have nothing as innocent bystanders. Civilians fill to gain from overthrowing Qaddafi the streets and blood trickles down and much to lose. As we continue to the alleys. President Obama has now assault Muslim nations, the United ordered American troops to patrol a no States accrues a reputation for hatred fly zone in conjunction with NATO to of the Islamic religion and its people. stop the forces of Colonel Muammar Whether true or not, the U.S. doesn’t Qaddafi who are slaughtering their need any more bad pubown people. The licity in the world’s eyes.” Libyan governBut regardless of U.S. ment has cut off assistance or interfersupplies includence, should the people ing water, food of Libya keep retaliating and electricity against their government? from many cities. “I think that the Libyan The White House people should keep up insists that the their revolution. If this American interrevolution succeeds, it vention is strictly can change the face of -Justin Marshall, sophomore to protect civila country that has been ians, but there is a ruled by a dictator for the strong urge from last 40-some odd years,” many countries to also get Qaddafi out Knivsland said. of power and out of Libya. Qaddafi promised “rivers of blood” Although the troublesome fighting upon any rebels that intended to stand is happening some thousands of miles in his way. “I think they have to keep away, the effects of the civil war ripple retaliating because if they give up, across the globe. The people of Libya Qaddafi will do everything he can to and the freedom they are fighting for is make those ‘rivers of blood’ real. Also on the minds of many CFHS students, if they aren’t willing to fight for their including sophomore Justin Marshall. freedom, why should we [fight for it],” “I find it really inspiring that these Dix said. people are willing to stand up for what There has also been speculation of they believe in and are willing to die Qaddafi attacking the United States for those beliefs.” out of anger from the U.S. troops However, some students are consupporting his oppositions. “I don’t sidering whether being in Libya is rethink Qaddafi is a threat currently due ally worth it. “I think that at this point, to all the problems he has right now the U.S. has reason to intervene in Libin his own country, but if he were to ya. Human rights are being violated, reunite Libya under his control, I think and though we can’t intervene in every he would want revenge, and he has the crisis and force our values on people, power to get something done,” Dix the widespread international support said. and the support of most Libyan people Even after the setbacks and second makes this acceptable to me,” sophoguessing, many remain convinced more Isak Knivsland said. that Libya and its people have a right Dix said it is important to first to freedom. “What the people want is determine that the Libyans are willing what Libya wants. Whether the U.S. to fight this battle for independence. “I needs to engage themselves is another think we should be similar to how the story, but the citizens can and should French handled [the U.S. revolution]. oust their oppressors. Every man has They had us prove that we were willthe right to freedom, and the libyans ing to fight for our independence, then are expressing theirs,” Knief said.
Maya Amjadi
“I find it really inspiring that these people are willing to stand up for what they believe in”
Darby Sheehan photo
Junior Ben Bonwell cheers after making a shot in last Monday’s Donkey Ball game. The event raised $2,000 for a new gym floor.
Students develop group to tackle discrimination, stereotyping Sara Gabriele Editor-in-chief
We’ve all heard the name tags: East is filled with gangsters, West with irresponsible partiers and Cedar Falls with stuck up preps. Whether or not we choose to let them influence us, these inter-school stereotypes may seem inescapable. But two CFHS students, tired of hearing such silly gossip, have decided to create a project to dispel the harmful rumors. “We were sick of hearing about discrimination and decided we actually wanted to do something about it,” senior Muhammad Shehata said. After attending one of many conferences on diversity and racism, Shehata and sophomore Austin Mennen decided to join with students from the other district schools to form a group called Nisest. The group is purely student run and consists of over 40 students from the four main district schools: Cedar Falls High School, West High, East High and Columbus. The group’s long term mission is to “unify our community by taking action to break down barriers and promote open mindedness,” and their first task is to work on dispelling the stereotypes that exist between the high schools.
“It is important to help eliminate this problem because some day we will be going to school, working and living in a community with people who didn’t just go to our high school,” Mennen said. To tackle the challenge, the group is working with professional filmmakers to create a 30-minute video that will address the issue in a variety of ways; it will feature parodies of the stereotypes to showcase how ridiculous the beliefs can be, and it will include interviews with both current students and recent graduates. Shehata said he hopes that, through raising awareness, the video will help promote positive thinking among students. “Although the movie doesn’t specify any specific measures to help stop stereotyping, we hope that it will help raise awareness about the amount of discrimination going on and encourage students to realize how their actions can affect other people,” Shehata said. Nisest plans to show the movie during DEAR before the end of the school year. For more information regarding Nisest, contact Shehata at muhammadshehata@yahoo.com.