Loyola University • New Orleans • Volume 101 • Issue 06 • March 10, 2023
THE MAROON For a greater Loyola
Students fight for news literacy By Patrick Hamilton pthamilt@my.loyno.edu
Morgan Love looks through handmade clothing by artist China Dix at the “BLACK IS ART” showcase on Feb. 28th. The showcase was one of ten events of The Reunion. Maleigh Crespo/The Maroon
Imani McGowan and Bria Permenter smile at Lemon Pepper’s yellow party on March 2. Lemon Pepper is invite-only and based on academics and campus involvement. Maleigh Crespo/The Maroon
Von LaRae and Ann Leyla Surena pose for the A La Mode fashion show on March 1. The show was the sixth event of the week-long series. Sophia Maxim/The Maroon
The Reunion works to celebrate and amplify the Black community on campus By Maleigh Crespo macrespo@my.loyno.edu
Psychology sophomore Morgan Love said she feels Black spaces are limited being a Black student at Loyola, a predominantly white institution. “It is extremely important and vital to cater to our students, our Black students,” she said. This is the mission that seniors Robert Morrison III and Destiny Sanders had when they set out to create the week-long series event titled, The Reunion, held Feb. 28 through March 4 to celebrate Black culture. Sanders said they wanted to highlight Black history & culture at Loyola because even as a PWI, it’s incredibly diverse compared to other small colleges. “We have a lot of minorities on campus. And it’s very evident,” she said. After getting their start in creating
Black experiences through the Student Government Association, Morrison and Sanders said they realized they needed to create spaces for the Black community outside of SGA. “We wanted to amplify the Black experience through organizations that have worked really hard on this campus to create space for themselves,” Morrison said. The seven-day project had ten events hosted by different Black student organizations, including the Black Student Union, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Lemon Pepper, A La Mode, L.O.V.E., Caribbean and African Student Association, and the Loyola chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. History senior and Lemon Pepper director of operations Faith Hogg said that a lot of times in the world, in society, and sometimes, on our campus, it can feel like Black voices are often overlooked.
Three years ago, Hogg started the one-night-only art exhibit and showcase “BLACK IS ART” to highlight Black artists on campus. This year, the event was hosted under the collection of events in The Reunion. “It’s something that highlights Black artists, but it’s a space that is welcome and open to everybody,” Hogg said. “You can experience their world and hear their voices and give agency to Black people, but it’s for everybody to experience.” Neuroscience sophomore Ashleigh Laws said having Black spaces on campus is important because you know that when someone’s coming to support you, they’re coming to support you, and not just because you’re in a white space that you’re allowed to be in.
See REUNION, page 2
NEWS 2 | CRIME MAP 3 | PUZZLES 4 | WORLDVIEW 5 | LIFE & TIMES 6 | SPORTS 9 | EDITORIAL 10 | OPINION 11
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Students from Loyola’s Bateman team are wrapping up a year-long campaign in which they have been fighting disinformation and educating students across campus about the importance of news literacy. Every semester the Bateman team goes head-to-head in a national competition with schools across the country to promote a predetermined campaign through unique, tactful, and clever strategies that will make the largest impact in their communities. The competition’s sponsor will then use the strategies from the most successful campaigns to support their own missions. This year the News Literacy Campaign, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization focused on educating students on real news, was the competition’s sponsor. Alexis Parrino, a public relations junior who was part of the campaign this year, said the team started working on the campaign in November, working through the holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mardi Gras, to ensure their campaign is something they could be proud of. “Our team has been working to host educational and fun events, posting on various social media platforms with helpful infographics, interviewing industry professionals, researching topics about and related to misinformation, and tabling to help spread awareness,” Parrino said. Loyola’s Bateman team plans to submit their own plan book to the News Literacy Project, containing the team’s most successful strategies and ideas, according to Parrino. “The effects of disinformation on students are bigger than we think. Students are the ones that will keep the world turning in the future and if they aren’t able to differentiate what is true from what is fake, it can create chaos,” said mass communication sophomore Julia Bueno, who is also working on the campaign. Bueno said it’s important for students to know how they can find credible sources and avoid those that aren’t. Otherwise, she said, it will become difficult to distinguish opinion from fact. And fake news has been on the rise. The amount of fake news identified by independent fact-checkers from 2019 to 2020 almost doubled. And in 2022, disinformation efforts pushing anti-vaccination falsehoods, election fraud allegations, and economic conspiracies about inflation and gas prices gained enormous traction. “Teens and adults need to be aware of how bad things can get if we start trusting any sources we find. It will destroy our democracy and increase problems amongst those who believe it and spread it,” Bueno said. Political science professor Sean Cain gave a presentation about the importance of news literacy at one of the Bateman team’s events and discussed the important role news-literate students have in protecting democratic institutions.
See LITERACY, page 2
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