4.6.17 by Iowa State Daily

Greek councils respond to Vespers ceremony By Nik.Heftman @iowastatedaily.com Reactions to the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) award recipients at Sunday night’s Vespers Greek ceremony have left members of the Iowa State greek and non-greek communities in search of a culture change. Throughout the ceremony, members of the Iowa State greek

community booed award recipients from organizations within MGC and the NPHC, according to a statement released by Rachel Ramirez, president of the Multicultural Greek Council, and Billy Boulden, assistant dean of students and director of Greek Affairs. The statements also said that audience members made racial slurs to individuals sitting around them. Others mocked the traditional “calls” of the organizations. Boulden and Ramirez sent emails

to their respective organizations Monday night to address said reactions. “I want you all to know that you and your organizations are valued and respected within our Greek Community,” Ramirez stated in an email address to the MGC and NPHC, “and that I, and our other three council presidents are doing all that we can to address the situation through immediate action.” Ramirez’s email said that the incident had been reported to the

Office of Equal Opportunity and to the Climate Campus Response Team “so that an investigation into the incident may be launched.” The email also stated that the presidents of IFC and CPC will be “moving forward with their council judicial processes to hold these specific chapters responsible.” Boulden also expressed disdain for the actions of those who participated in the reactions, saying the behavior was not acceptable in an email addressed to all of the

greek councils. “While I understand that for some it may have been the first time you have heard a call from a greek organization, your ignorance is not an excuse,” Boulden said. Ramirez said that she and the president of the NPHC planned a meeting with Multicultural Student Affairs on Tuesday to discuss how they will proceed. The MGC held a general assembly meeting Wednesday night. Boulden was to attend the meeting, according to the email.

REFLECTING ON ONE YEAR StuGov continues to seek diversity across all positions

STICKING TO PROMISES 24/7 LIBRARY Staudt and West campaigned on a 24/7 library during Dead Week and Finals Week. The 24/7 library was first enacted in the spring 2016 and continued on in fall 2016 as well.

By Danielle.Gehr @iowastatedaily.com

as the new president and vice president Thursday, Staudt will say goodbye after leading the student body through what he described as a controversial year. “Overall, it’s been a challenging year,” Staudt said. “We’ve had a lot of controversies just campus-wide, whether that be President Leath’s plane scandal or the issues around the election ... I think it has been a real challenge.” Among the controversies, Staudt and West have accomplished all of their main promises from their presidential campaigning over a year ago. This included implementing a new dead week policy, starting a town hall and working with legislators to get a medical amnesty bill passed. West led the battle to amend the old dead week policy, eventually getting it passed through Faculty Senate in February. Dead Week, the week before Finals Week

Maria Archevald was concerned about her cultural background when she first was seated as a Student Government senator. Archevald, who was born in Puerto Rico, also carries an accent. With time, her concern shifted. She grew tired of “sitting in between two men Wednesday after Wednesday.” Serving as a senator this past academic year, Archevald was one of seven female senators – there are 34 in total. According to the Student Government website, six out of the 23 executive positions and three out of the nine members of the judicial branch are women. After the election and start of the new session, there are now 13 female senators out of 37. She recalled one heated debate that dragged on which caused her to object to an extension of five minutes to the debate at hand. The response to that was a 10-minute extension that she objected to again. Her objection was then called disrespectful by a fellow senator. “I replied to that, ‘I don’t think the objection is disrespectful,’” Archevald said. “’What I think is disrespectful is the fact that we’re wasting time’ and I guess that was perceived as an aggressive tone.” What struck her was that she felt that if it were a white woman, this fellow senator wouldn’t have called her aggressive. If it were a white man, no one would have even thought that he was aggressive. Archevald also brought up what she regards as “man spreading.” She noticed that as a woman sits, she must think about how her legs are positioned, while a man will sit with his legs wide open with out being judged. “No one’s going to look at a man talking or a male senator talking and say, ‘Wow, his legs are really spread out,’” Archevald said. So how does Iowa State’s undergraduate enrollment statistics pale in comparison to the male-to-female ration of Student Government? According to Iowa State’s fall 2016 enrollment statistics, 43 percent of undergraduates identified as female. But in

REFLECTION p8

DIVERSITY p8

MEDICAL AMNESTY A campaign platform Iowa State Student Government President Cole Staudt ran on last spring may be seeing completion soon after getting approved in the Iowa Senate in March.

MENTAL HEALTH Student Government partnered with administration to help launch a Crisis Text Line at Iowa State and also threw support toward a mental health fee for students.

DEAD WEEK REFORM Faculty Senate passed a new Dead Week policy that would prohibit quizzes and exams on the Thursday and Friday of Dead Week. The policy was proposed by Staudt and West.

PRINTING CREDITS In fall of 2016, ISU students printed 1,118,137 fewer sheets than in fall of 2015, according to Staudt, who worked to standardize printing credits with West.

Emily Blobaum/Iowa State Daily

Cole Staudt and Cody West implemented a Dead Week policy and worked with legislators to pass a medical amnesty bill.

Pleased with accomplishments, Staudt hands reins over to West By Alli.Weaver @iowastatedaily.com and Danielle.Gehr @iowastatedaily.com

Feeling that he and Vice President Cody West accomplished all that they had promised, Student Government President Cole Staudt is ready to move on. But the long hours and loss of sleep were all worth it to him. What he and West did gain, however, were skills to lead the masses as well as a better view of how the world works. “Everyone has their own agenda and desires for community whether you are university administration, you are faculty or students,” Staudt said. “Everyone has their own ideas and how do you get those ideas to work together.” As West and Cody Smith are inaugurated

StuGov welcomes new officials By Alli.Weaver @iowastatedaily.com The Campanile Room of the Memorial Union buzzed with the sound of conversation, sparking relationships, both old and new, among incumbents and newly appointed Student Government officials Wednesday. Entering into the first session with the new administration and with the school year ending, Student Government discussed several outgoing efforts including the medical amnesty bill, proposed by Student Government President Cole Staudt. The medical amnesty bill is still in the Iowa House of Representatives after it passed through the Senate in March, according to an update by Vice president-elect Cody Smith on behalf of Staudt. The bill must be voted on and

passed through the Iowa House before it is signed by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. If this process is completed, the bill will grant legal protection for students who are involved in a medical emergency due to alcohol consumption even if they are underage. Staudt said he and presidentelect Cody West were absent from Wednesday’s StuGov meeting due to lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill on behalf of all Big 12 students on a number of issues. They met with Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley Grassley and Joni Ernst on Wednesday to discuss Iowa State Student Government’s stance on the subjects. These issues include “sexual assault prevention, the higher education fund, and others“ according to Cody Smith’s update at the start of the meeting. With a list of officials to elect

during the meeting, and the expansion of several committees, Smith introduced himself to new members and called the meeting to order for the first time. The entirety of the Senate, whether new or old, was sworn in, and open legislative, executive and committee leadership positions were discussed and filled. All candidates for each position were given the opportunity to present themselves and their qualifications for the position, followed by questions from other senators to help influence voting decisions. Other orders of business were the expansion of the University Affairs Committee and the Public Relations Committee, adding four positions to the UAC and three positions to the PR Committee.

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