TMW 3/1/19

Meet founder John B. Davis Features, p.5

themacweekly.com

“As You Like It” plays at the Guthrie Arts, p.6

New year, new chef: Shish’s evolution Food and Drink, p.7

Macalester’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1914

Putting Palestine on the left’s agenda Opinion, p.7

Vol. 124, No. 5 March 1, 2019

Mac drivers exhausted by snowfall

By ESTELLE TIMAR-WILCOX Staff Writer In the midst of a record-setting month of snowfall, Macalester students have struggled to keep up with frequently shifting snow plow routes and parking regulations.

Several students have ended up with tickets for parking in the wrong place at the wrong time around campus.

“I got a ticket during the last Saint Paul snow emergency and had to get my friends to help push my car out of the space so I could move it,” Conor McDermott-Mostoy ’22 said.

Em Hayward ’21 also got a ticket while parked on Summit Avenue. “[Keeping up with parking rules] was pretty difficult as there isn’t a plow sign on Summit,” Hayward said.

Not only do students struggle to keep up with when to move their cars, but it’s difficult to figure out where to move them. Parking lots, in addition to city streets, have hours set aside for snow clearing.

Street parking is a free-for-all during February’s consecutive snow emergencies. At Mac, many have gotten ticketed or towed for illegal parking. Photo by Summer Xu ’20.

Snow, cont. on page 3

No “one-size-fits-all” solution for undocumented students at Mac

By HANNAH GOLDFARB Staff Writer On Tuesday’s meeting, the Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) unanimously voted to pass a resolution aimed at addressing the needs of undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students at Macalester.

Seniors Andy Han ’19, Erika Aguilar ’19, Min Hee Cho ’19 and Channelle Ndagire ’19 co-authored the resolution and introduced it last week. It targets the offices of Admissions and Financial Aid, the Career Development Center (CDC), the Laurie Hamre Center for Health & Wellness, student programming and services and legal counsel for undocumented students.

The authors believe MCSG will help them further their goals and encourage the support of the student body.

“The idea is that if we have the backing of the student government—that is, the backing of the student body,” Han said. “It helps convince the decision-makers to take into consideration some of the proposals.”

Inspired by the rhetoric during the government shutdown in January, Han decided to take direct action to support Macalester’s undocumented and DACA students.

“Over winter break, there was the whole shutdown and one of the talking points was possibly creating a bipartisan compromise to help the DREAMERS, referring to the students with DACA status,” Han said. “That got me thinking: how are DACA students being supported at Macalester? What can I do, as someone who is not undocumented, to be an ally?”

Upon returning to campus, Han reached out to Aguilar, Cho and Ndagire, who he knew were passionate about supporting the undocumented student community.

While Han drew on two years of MCSG experience, the content of the resolution ultimately came from discussions that undocumented and DACA students have initiated since arriving on campus.

“It’s all been from conversations that [have happened] over the past few years, themes that just come up over and over again,” Cho said. “It’s simple things that college students need while they’re here—just more specific to the unique needs that

undocumented students have.”

Central to the proposal is the creation of a permanent staff position to support undocumented and DACA students. Currently, / program Coordinator for Student Success Cárol Mejía works with first-generation students, students of color and students who come from mixed-status families.

“These are all identities that are historically underrepresented on campus,” Mejía said. “My work is to make sure that the structures that exist are paying attention to the fact that things have been unintentionally designed for students from middleclass backgrounds and white students in particular.”

While these historically underrepresented identities share similarities, there are important distinctions. “[Undocumented and DACA students’] needs are immensely different from students that are here on visas [and] from domestic students of color that have any sort of legal status,” Mejía said. “Because each student has a different story, I find that there isn’t a one-size-fitsall solution for any programming relating to undocumented students.”

Although all four authors are

seniors, they hope that the formalized approach will continue to provoke institutional change after they graduate.

“By having a resolution—by bringing student government in—the role of supporting undocumented members of our community isn’t just the responsibility of three students, it’s all of our responsibility,” Han said. “By having a structure in place, it guarantees that even when we graduate, there are people here that care about those issues.”

Establishing a structure for undocumented and DACA students to access resources, both during and after their time at Macalester, was central to the motivation behind the resolution.

One undocumented student noted that life at Macalester without a visa can be a “very lonely experience.”

As not all undocumented students feel comfortable coming forward about their status, it can be a struggle to find those who have lived similar experiences. “Especially if you’re looking for resources that will help you, you don’t really know where to start,” they said.

Issues surrounding healthcare, internships, studying abroad and employment after Macalester can all

be difficult to navigate, especially for undocumented students.

“It is just simple things that college students need while they’re here, just more specific to the unique needs that undocumented students have,” Cho said. “Of course all students want to have information about finding jobs and internships, but the entire process is particular for undocumented students.”

“We’re working with the [Center for Study Away] to make sure that there are also resources for undocumented students and students of color who have completely different experiences abroad than white students do,” Mejía said.

The resolution strives to address the unique needs of undocumented and DACA students and get them any necessary support, ultimately lessening the burden on the student to navigate the tricky situation.

“We are paying attention to nuances of the experience without addressing them in a way that puts the burden on the student themselves, but again, makes sure the institution is taking responsibility for some of the things that exist that make spaces inaccessible to folks,” Mejía said.

•hgoldfar@macalester.edu

News

Page 2 • Mar. 1, 2019

The Mac Weekly

Lowe Lecture contextualizes Muslim activism and FBI suppression

By JEN KATZ & BARBARA KUZMA Managing Editor and Features Editor Members of the Macalester community braved the freezing wind this weekend to attend the annual Religious Studies department Lowe Lecture on the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 24. This year’s speaker was Dr. Sylvester Johnson, professor of religion and culture at Virginia Tech.

His lecture, entitled “State of Exception or Modus Operandi?

Religion, National Security, and the Racialization of Islam,” explored the history of the FBI’s use of surveillance and its effects on public perceptions of minority groups — namely, Muslims — in the United States.

Johnson explained that the FBI has surveilled and infiltrated minority groups that decry the government’s practices since its inception in 1908, but it intensified its efforts in the 1960s with the rise of religious and political activist groups such as the Nation of Islam.

The FBI recruited over 7,000 black people to infiltrate these activist groups to inform on “other blacks who were doing something that looked like it might be military activity,” Johnson said.

“What was militant activity?”

Johnson asked. “It was antiracism, it was condemnation of any kinds of systems of structural injustice. This was part of the FBI’s plan in order to destroy what the FBI at the time referred to as the ‘Negro Rebellion.’”

Due to immigration laws at the time, black people comprised the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the U.S. until the 1970s. Thus, Johnson argued, the FBI’s condemnations of Muslim activist groups also took on a racialized tone. He drew on FBI training manuals from the 1960s that called “a range of AfricanAmerican Muslim communities … the Muslim cult of Islam.”

Johnson recounted instances of the FBI violently suppressing Muslim activists in the 1960s, even killing unarmed civilians. The documents that refer to “national security,” he argued, meant “white nationalist security” in practice.

“People who are challenging the racism, who are challenging power structures that were destroying the lives of people, that were oppressing their efforts to create a more equitable set of outcomes, were classified as state enemies,” Johnson said.

To justify their classification of Muslim activist groups as hate groups, the FBI claimed that they taught a hatred of white people and condemned the white

race. According to Johnson, this was a willful misinterpretation.

“What [black activist groups] taught was that whites were actually complicit in a long history of atrocities against nonwhite peoples, and this was particularly true with black people,” Johnson said. “[They taught that] this was not some kind of accident, that it was deliberate, it was institutionalized, it was collective and it was the worst thing that had happened to blacks.”

These perceptions of Muslims and Muslim activists persist to this day. Johnson examined present-day guidelines from the Department of Homeland Security condemning “radicalization.”

According to Johnson, assuming that radicalization is negative implicitly condemns the activism of radical Muslims, Christians and Jews such as Muhammad Ali, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

“They introduced unsettling notions of justice that were not mainstream. It was very radical in that way, but, in according to how they’re using it here, being radical must mean something negative, something bad,” Johnson said.

By using this definition of radicalization, the FBI continues to justify their surveillance of Muslim communities, especially those that are predominantly communities of color.

“There is probably no mosque now in the United States that is not infiltrated by the FBI and police departments that work together,” Johnson said. “They surveil, they record conversations, they video people, they cultivate informants throughout those communities — not just in the mosques, but in the neighborhoods. And if you are, for example, collecting money to help indigent families and poor families, that is a form of radicalization according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“If you continue this activity, you can end up incarcerated, being prosecuted and brought up on charges of terrorism,” Johnson continued, “because this is what has actually happened to community, after community, after community throughout this country for years.”

Per Lowe Lecture tradition, students asked the first questions during the Q&A following Johnson’s talk. The session was conversational, with Johnson welcoming contributions from students in related fields of study.

Endowed by the Dayton family, the Lowe Lectureship is meant “to further ecumenical understanding and discussion both within the Christian tradition and in relation to other religious traditions.”

The topics of the lectures vary greatly from year to year. Last year’s

Lowe Lecture featured Macalester alumna and Assistant Professor of American Christianity at Duke University Kate Bowler ’02 returned to campus in November 2017 to discuss “The (Prosperity) Gospel According to Donald Trump.”

Religious Studies major Tess Mueller ’20 attended both Bowler’s lecture and this year’s lecture.

“I loved the lecture last year, and I loved the lecture this year too. I think there were really, really important, valuable lessons I learned about how Islam was racialized and how it was targeted.”

“I had a hard time following [this lecture] sometimes because it was really broad,” Mueller continued. “But I think that was a good thing [because] he went into so much context and history of how the national security system in the U.S. has interpreted Islam.”

But even more than Johnson’s lecture itself, Mueller enjoyed the discussion that followed.

“That might be my favorite part: being able to talk with really, really intelligent scholars about the work they’re doing … outside of a classroom setting,” she said.

• jkatz4@macalester.edu • bkuzma@macalester.edu

: Financial Code updated, more mannequins for Mac First Aid

By LINDSAY WEBER Web Editor This week, MCSG’s Legislative Body (LB) unanimously voted to pass two resolutions and one budget proposal.

The first resolution was introduced at last week’s meeting by seniors Andy Han ‘19, Erika Aguilez ’19, Min Hee Cho ’19 and Channelle Ndagire ’19. The resolution aims to address the needs of undocumented students at Macalester and requested the support of the LB in order to accelerate the process of putting their proposal in front of the Board of Trustees.

The other resolution unanimously

passed by the LB was to revise the Financial Code as introduced in last week’s meeting. The revisions included requiring student orgs to meet with FAC liaisons regarding budget requests, decreasing the amount of rollover funds Program Board receives and listing The Mac Weekly and WMCN Radio’s budget within the Financial Code.

Following the successful passing of these two resolutions, the LB moved on to hear updates from the chair of each committee, a new MCSG initiative.

“In an effort to increase communication, we will try to do [committee updates] every week,” MCSG President Malik Mays ’19 said.

During the Financial Affairs

Committee (FAC) announcements, Committee Chair Taneeya Rele ’19 introduced a budget request from Mac First Aid. The org is requesting $9,022.50 from the Capital Fund to buy two more adult mannequins and three baby mannequins for CPR training use.

Student Organization Committee (SOC) and Mac First Aid member Jason Kohn ’20 commented on the request.

“Starting next year … I’m hoping to budget to provide CPR free of charge on campus to students, and so, with that, we’re expecting an increase in attendance in our classes and want to be able to have mannequins to provide that,” Kohn said.

Rele reminded the LB that the

Capital Fund is at a balance of $54,198.68. According to the MCSG Financial Code, the Capital Fund is used to fund MCSG assets that will last three years or more. Each year, 10 dollars of each student activity fee paid are allocated to the Capital Fund.

The LB voted unanimously to pass the budget request, excluding Kohn, who abstained from voting.

Mays then recapped a meeting between Executive Board and Academic Affairs Committee member Ryan Perez ’20 and Kohn regarding their Equity and Inclusion Board proposal, which was discussed in last week’s meeting.

Mays announced that their current plan to move forward with

the Board is to draft a constitutional amendment that makes the Equity and Inclusion Board a permanent part of MCSG. This would require an official referendum that would coincide with the issue-based officer and class representative election occurring later in the semester.

“The plan will be to have a rough draft [of the amendment] in to the whole LB about three weeks out,” Mays said.

Perez and Kohn are currently working on a draft of the amendment. In the meantime, the LB is forming an ad hoc committee to advance a plan for the Equity and Inclusion Board.

• lweber1@macalester.edu

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The Mac Weekly

News

March 1, 2018 • Page 3

t

“Run As You Are,” VoteRunLead advises female candidates

By MORGAN DOHERTY Web Editor As she addressed the crowd assembled in downtown Minneapolis for the Electing More Women event, Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota Jeanne Massey smiled.

“What a wonderful group of mostly women,” she said.

The gathering—which included remarks from Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a keynote address from VoteRunLead’s founder and CEO Erin Vilardi and a panel of women in office, alumnae of VoteRunLead’s training program— took place on Sunday at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. VoteRunLead and FairVote Minnesota hosted the event.

Vilardi founded VoteRunLead in 2014 as an inclusive program that would train women to run for office—and win. With a curriculum written by women currently serving in office, VoteRunLead has trained over 33,000 women in campaigning and governance, including budget management, fundraising and gaining the confidence to lead.

According to Vilardi, the organization has been recognized as the most diverse and inclusive candidate training program in the nation. Alumnae of VoteRunLead include Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and State Representative Brenda Lopez, the first Latina elected to the Georgia State Assembly.

FairVote Minnesota is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that advocates for ranked choice voting, a system in which voters arrange the candidates in order of preference.

Massey opened the event with brief remarks on the importance of

ranked choice voting, highlighting the success of last year’s election in Maine, the first state to use ranked choice voting state-wide. She also noted some of the accomplishments of FairVote Minnesota, including the adoption of ranked choice voting in the St. Louis Park neighborhood. “[Ranked choice voting] is the reform of our generation, and we have the power to make it happen here in Minnesota and across the nation,” Massey said. “Under ranked choice voting we are seeing higher turnout, less divisive campaigns, more diversity of candidates and, most importantly, leaders elected with a majority, not just a mere plurality.”

Minnesota State Senator Patricia Torres Ray (DFL) spoke next. Torres Ray spoke about representation in local and federal governance in the time before VoteRunLead.

“Those were very lonely times,” Torres Ray said.

An immigrant woman of color herself, Torres Ray said that the creation of VoteRunLead helped ease the loneliness. For Torres Ray, the inclusive vision of the organization was most important.

Flanagan, who spoke next, also addressed the importance of inclusion and representation in politics. She recounted the feeling of working alongside Rep. Deb Haaland (DNM) and Rep. Sharice Davids (DKS), the first two Native women elected to Congress.

“I remember walking up to Congresswoman Davids’ office… suddenly, I felt like I was twelve years old again, walking into this office where there was someone who looked like me.”

Flanagan said that being Lieutenant Governor has special significance to her, as someone who benefitted from

VoteRunLead CEO Erin Vilardi. Photo by Morgan Doherty ’21.

VoteRunLead CEO Erin Vilardi addresses panel of VoteRunLead almunae. Photo by Morgan Doherty ’21.

many of the assistance programs she now helps direct.

“I grew up in the great community of St. Louis Park, but my mom was able to move us there because we had a housing voucher,” she said. “We also needed public programs like the child care assistance program, SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], which back in the day we called food stamps.

“I tell [my] story because those investments in me, in my family, I get to pay that back and pay that forward now in public service,” she continued.

Flanagan also spoke about attending the State of the Union as a guest of Senator Tina Smith (D-MN).

“I’ll be a typical Minnesotan and say it was interesting,” Flanagan said, pausing for laughter.

“The most powerful part of it was walking in and seeing all of these women who looked like the country, sitting on the House floor,” she said.

The keynote address, delivered

by Vilardi, was full of detail regarding women’s leadership and representation in the government.

Outfitted in black leather pants and a t-shirt with an American flag lipstick print, Vilardi shared statistics demonstrating VoteRunLead’s continued success.

Since the 2016 election, the organization has trained over 14,000 women to run for office. 21 of the 61

women currently in the Minnesota State legislature are alumnae of VoteRunLead.

Vilardi attributes the recent success of VoteRunLead to their new slogan: Run As You Are. The organization encourages women to run as their authentic selves, not what they think a female politician should be.

“It’s not only a message that we know works, it’s a methodology … If you’re running as you are, you’re not turning into a political robot that has a very direct way of ‘looking’ like a female politician,” Vilardi said.

Vilardi also pinpointed a threestep plan to increase representation in governance, which begins with training women to run for office.

The second aspect involves changing the popular culture so that it is more reflective of the diversity of the country.

“When women see other women in positions of power and when we see film and television that looks like us and girls have a President Barbie to play with, young girls actually see themselves differently,” Vilardi said.

The final aspect of Vilardi’s plan consists of structural reforms, including ranked choice voting.

“More women win in a ranked choice voting system. 36 percent of cities with ranked choice voting have women mayors. The national average for large cities is 23 percent.”

Vilardi closed her speech with an appeal for intersectional, feminist leadership.

“When I talk about women’s leadership… I’m talking about an inclusive, equity-based group of women who have a diversity of thought, who come from different countries, who are representative of our communities.”

The afternoon concluded with a panel of elected women involved with VoteRunLead, including State Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL), Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando (DFL), and Minneapolis City Council member Linea Palmisano (DFL), all alumnae of the organization’s training programs.

“We are in a very long history of designed exclusion,” Fernando said of lack of representation of women, particularly queer women and women of color. “So you elect politicians like me to go in there and redesign it.”

For Fernando, who is one of two women of color currently serving as Hennepin County Commissioners, the importance of diverse female representation is clear.

“When we are physically in the room, we are noticing different things and we are asking different questions.”

• mdoherty@macalester.ed

Frequent snow emergencies cause parking pandemonium Snow, cont. from pg. 1 Keeping track of these hours and parking restrictions has been tricky for Mac students.

“It’s been stressful,” McDermottMostoy said. “I have to make sure to check whenever snow is expected to make sure I’m not going to get ticketed or snowed in on Summit, or towed from a Mac parking lot.”

Some students have found ways to avoid dealing with the plow routes altogether.

“I have zero knowledge of the

night/day plow routes and rules, so I find it more comfortable to park… in the Jwall lot… where I know it won’t be towed overnight as long as I move it every few days,” Lidija Namike ’21 said.

McDermott-Mostoy mentioned that he has parked at the airport instead of leaving his car on campus when going away for the weekend to avoid accidentally leaving his car in the wrong lot.

Assistant Vice President of Facilities Nathan Lief said the facilities crew has noticed some problems with parking around

campus this year.

“We’ve had some issues with cars not being moved when we need to plow lots and being left overnight in our lots where overnight parking is not allowed,” Lief wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly.

According to Lief, though, this isn’t a new problem and it isn’t unique to snow emergencies. “[The parking situation is] no worse than any other year,” he wrote.

Even though the problem isn’t new, the snow does make it slightly more urgent.

“The large amount of snow we’ve gotten makes it more critical that cars get moved in a timely manner to allow parking lots to be plowed so they can be kept safe,” Lief wrote.

Students have a number of options for keeping track of plow routes and parking hours. Signs on Macalester Street and other city streets around campus list the plow route times, and snow emergencies and parking information is often announced in the Mac Daily or by email.

“Facilities or security sent me

emails each time they need the lot emptied for plowing,” Namike said.

There’s also an app—“Saint Paul Winter Snow Parking”—that outlines plow routes and explains where street parking is allowed or prohibited.

With more snow projected for this week and next week, students may need to keep an eye on updates to parking rules to avoid tickets and getting in the way of plows.

• etimarwi@macalester.edu

News

March 1, 2018 • Page 4

The Mac Weekly

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Trustees consider FFM’s divestment proposal

By MARGARET MORAN Associate News Editor On a years-long mission to divest Macalester from private oil and gas partnerships, Fossil Free Mac (FFM) saw their proposal make it to the Board of Trustees last week.

The Board of Trustees met in Palm Springs, CA last week for their biennial spring retreat. FFM submitted both the fall 2017 proposal for Macalester to divest its endowment from private oil and gas partnerships as well as an addendum with follow-up responses to frequently asked questions. The Board spent a significant amount of time reviewing it during the retreat.

“The trustees are taking the proposal incredibly seriously,” Student Liaison to the Board of Trustees Calvin Dretske ’19 wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly. “It is their hope that with additional time to consider the proposal, they are able to come to a decision that allows Macalester to help mitigate the effects of climate change, while simultaneously upholding the college’s mission.”

Although FFM’s proposal made it to the members of the Board only last week, it was originally written in fall 2017.

“We wrote the original proposal for the Social Responsibility Committee [SRC], which is a campus committee composed of faculty, staff, and students that is convened on an adhoc basis to address (broadly) issues of social responsibility on campus,” FFM core member Hannah Shumway ’19 wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly.

“The Board of Trustees had requested that we go through the SRC before our proposal could be forwarded to the Board,” Shumway continued. “We sent the proposal to the SRC in November 2017 and presented to them and answered their questions in January 2018. Later in the Spring of 2018, we learned that

the [SRC], in response to our proposal and presentation, had decided to wholeheartedly endorse our proposal and recommend it to President [Brian] Rosenberg and the Board of Trustees.”

While the Board has yet to directly review FFM’s proposal, their efforts have already helped shape the conversation around socially responsible investing at Macalester.

“The Board of Trustees had already convened a socially responsible investing working group in response to our efforts,” Shumway wrote.

“The College had not previously had any socially responsible investing policy, and the Board didn’t have a framework through which they felt that they could accurately judge our proposal for a moratorium on private oil and gas partnerships.”

The Board passed a final version of this socially responsible investing framework in late 2018, and FFM’s proposal and the SRC’s recommendation made it onto the Board’s agenda at their retreat this last weekend.

Recently, in an effort to heighten the appeal of their proposal, FFM began exploring new strategies to win the Board over.

On Feb. 5, three students from FFM attended the weekly Macalester College Student Government meeting to discuss a potential campus-wide referendum.

The referendum would have been sent to students via email and have asked them to either endorse, not endorse or abstain from endorsing their proposal to divest from private oil and gas partnerships. The idea was devised after Middlebury College used the same divestment strategy in 2018 and successfully divested in January 2019.

However, FFM recently stated that they are no longer planning to sponsor a referendum.

“We had heard...that the student support was not going to be the

Political science professor Althea Sircar in her office. Photo by Rebecca Edwards ’21.

Online Exclusive: Professor Sircar leads “Equity, Justice, & Difference” with IGC deciding factor—that they were really concerned about the financial implications of our proposal more than they were concerned about student support,” FFM member Emma Harrison ’21 said. “So we had sort of transitioned to generating faculty and staff support and talking about alumni.

The Mac Moment fundraising campaign, which officially began its public phase last fall, became a new focus of FFM’s attention.

“We know that there are a lot of alumni who cite the lack of divestment as a reason that they don’t donate to the endowment, so we thought that they might care.”

FFM members were also concerned about the credibility of the responses they would receive from the student body if they were to sponsor a referendum.

“Something that [President Brian Rosenberg] has voiced to us several times is that even if we did get a lot [of] this student support or [a] vote

... people wouldn’t be thinking it through in a nuanced way or with an informed lens,” Harrison said.

But the current student body ultimately has little control over the immediate financial direction of the college.

“If this were a referendum on the student activity fee, saying we want to raise it or we want to lower it or we want to allocate a certain percentage to this type of involvement or activity, etc., [then] that’s something that the student body has agency over,” MCSG Advisor and Associate Dean of Students Andrew Wells said.

“The referendum [by] Fossil Free Mac is something that no matter how passionate you are … it’s the Board of Trustees that direct the investment officer in how he’s going to lead the investments,” he continued.

Wells believes that these matters require patience. He said the level of engagement shown by the Board thus far demonstrates their interest in the issue.

“They read it and they wrote back with questions,” he said. “They’re thinking about it and engaging with it.”

“We continue to believe that divestment is the most impactful way that Macalester can work to alleviate the harm that the fossil fuel industry has wrought on indigenous sovereignty, clean water, and marginalized communities,” Shumway wrote. “We hope that the Board can come to a consensus that while there are other ways of tackling the externalities of investing in oil and gas infrastructure.

“Any action without divestment would be counterproductive, as Macalester would still actively perpetuate and profit from the climate crisis.”

• mmoran1@macalester.edu

Features

The Mac Weekly

March 1, 2019 • Page 5

First year at Mac: second semester brings new challenges

By KATIE WOODHOUSE Staff Writer Between plummeting temperatures and new friends, schedules and professors, the transition from fall to spring semester often brings unexpected change for Macalester students – changes that are especially felt by the first year class. After spending four months acclimating to their first college classes and routines, these students have to start over with significantly less structured support.

For example, for the first time since arriving at Macalester, the class of 2022’s schedules no longer include a First Year Course (FYC).

Clare Mazack ’22 estimates that she met about half of her closest friends through her FYC. “Having an FYC was just a really natural way to get to know people.

I feel like if we didn’t live together, I probably still would have made friends with some of them, but it would have been harder,” Mazack said. “Now that it’s ended, it’s definitely different, but, in a way, I don’t even really feel like the class has stopped because I still spend so much time with all of those people.

We’re still hanging out and doing homework together, even if it’s for different classes.”

Mazack’s experience isn’t shared by all of her peers. “I’m drifting away from some people I had [met] in my FYC. Even though we live together, we don’t have the common bond of that class to keep us held together,” Osamede Egharevba ’22 said. She recalls

friendships and become more involved in her extracurricular activities; Chromactics and MCSG. “In the beginning of the last semester, I didn’t really feel comfortable in either of [the activities] because you’re forced into this group of people you don’t really know. But now that it’s second semester I feel like we all have gotten closer to one another,”

Otherwise, Bjork’s transition into second semester has been relatively easy. “Coming back to school felt like coming home,” he said. “I didn’t feel nervous or anything; it felt really natural to be back. It felt strange going to my parents’ house for break, but not weird at all to come back to Mac.” Mazack and Egharevba both admit there are elements of fall

“But now, there’s this idea that you’re supposed to get the hang of things on your own... I feel like people expect you to have things put together when you don’t necessarily have it all figured out yet.”

Osamede Eghharevba ’22 on adjusting to college norms.

connecting with members of her FYC last semester over shared homework assignments, but not having much else in common with them. “I feel like when you don’t really have a strong bond with someone, and the only thing that’s holding you together is an FYC, it’s not something that’s going to last beyond that class,” she said.

Despite feeling some distance from her FYC, transitioning into spring semester has allowed Egharevba to deepen other

she said.

Other first years have taken the spring semester as an opportunity to find new ways to get involved on campus. Nikolai Bjork ’22 decided to quit jazz band and join Macalester’s jazz combos program at the beginning of spring semester. “I’ve realized that the second semester is a good time to reevaluate my commitments,” Bjork said. “I’ve switched up a lot of my extracurriculars, which has been a lot of fun.”

semester they miss. “There’s something really cool about starting your first semester of college – all the buildings were new, the people were new; it’s just so exciting and fun,” Mazack said. “Now that novelty is sort of wearing off.”

Egharevba observed that many professors and mentors are less inclined to check in with the first year students now than they were at the beginning of the year. “When you’re first coming into college fall semester, it feels like people are

more aware. People ask more about how you’re doing when you’re just coming,” she said.

“But now, there’s this idea that you’re supposed to get the hang of things on your own,” Egharevba continued. “I feel like people expect you to have things put together when you don’t necessarily have it all figured out yet.”

Despite these changes, Mazack is enjoying this semester more than the last. “I think [that] for a lot of fall semester, a lot of energy was expended worrying about who you spend your time with – just trying to meet people and make friends and figure out what’s going on,” she said.

“But now it’s established. It’s less about starting those friendships and more about deepening them and feeling secure about them. It’s fun having friends who you know are gonna be your friends for a long time, and it’s fun feeling like you recognize people and know your way around. I’m more established with the school and the people I’m spending time with,” Mazack said.

“It feels really good.”

• kwoodhou@macalester.edu

Founder John B. Davis: wearing bow ties and avoiding bankruptcy

By GRACIE ELLSWORTH Associate Features Editor Macalester College, to its community members today, may be represented by any number of things from multiculturalism to polar vortexes to cheesy eggs. Yet Macalester owes its identity to years of experiences and countless students, faculty members and administrators who have collectively shaped the college into the school we know so well today.

Starting last year, The Mac Weekly seeks to highlight some of the most influential figures of Macalester history to whom we can attribute our modern day college experience to. This year we travel back fifty or so years to Macalester College of the 1970s and 1980s, a school led at the time by John B. Davis Jr., former

Macalester president and one the schools official founders.

Born in 1921 to a Massachusetts based family which placed a strong value on education, John B. Davis Jr. was a lover of the arts and didn’t easily escape notice.

He was known for his trademark look of a smart bow-tie as well as his often surprising directness and honesty. From an undergraduate degree at the University of New Hampshire, Davis went on to receive a doctorate in education at Harvard University and later made his way to Minnesota where he served as a school superintendent.

To Macalester College especially though, Davis was, as the Pioneer Press explained in his obituary, “the man to get your institution back on track.” After Macalester’s single donor during the mid-1950s, Dewitt Wallace, stopped giving money to the school due its irresponsible budgeting,

John B. Davis Jr. stepped up to the school’s presidency position.

Davis, who at the time had only eight years of experience with the Minnesota school system, found himself leading a college nearly 2 million dollars in debt and with little structure to its spending. Yet, soon after taking the position, any doubt of Davis’s ability as a president of a higher-education institution was quickly dismissed.

After strengthening Macalester’s staff, Davis worked on organizing the college’s budget--tackling its deep debt and finally persuading Wallace to return to his generous donations.

Davis served as Macalester president until 1984 and left Macalester with a secure financial plan and reliable administration.

Today, he is remembered in the broader Twin Cities community for his direction of a previously struggling St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as well as the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis.

Of his remarkable rescue of Macalester from financial collapse, Davis often remarked that he shared responsibility for his success with other school leaders and institutional changes.

Yet, as President Brian Rosenberg noted in his homage to the former leader after Davis’s death in 2011, “while John may not have been sufficient on his own to reshape the institution, he was indisputably necessary.”

Former President John B. Davis Jr. served as president of Macalester from 1975-1984. He is now a Macalester founder. Photos courtesy of Macalester archives.

It is safe to say that, without Interested in learning more the efforts of former President about the founders? Check out John B. Davis Jr, Macalester themacweekly.com to read more might not be the college we know about the founders! today. We can attribute, in part, each remarkable experience of • gellswor@macalester.edu our college life to the school’s history which shaped and created Macalester College.

Arts

Page 6 • Mar. 1 , 2019

The Mac Weekly

“As You Like It” plays at the Guthrie

By JEN KATZ Managing Editor Over the four centuries since Shakespeare’s plays were first performed, artists continue to find new insights into the original texts, interpreting and reinterpreting the classic plots for new generations of audiences. This is the beauty of Shakespeare: stories so specific yet so universal that we cannot help but find ways to see ourselves in them.

In her reinterpretation of the Shakespearean romantic comedy “As You Like It” at the Guthrie Theater’s Wurtele Thrust Stage in Minneapolis, Chicago-based director Lavina Jadhwani emphasizes a theme that is urgent to audiences today: the power of communities rooted in love and justice in the face of authoritarian cruelty.

The urban court where the action begins is the antithesis of a loving, just community; it’s a world of haves and have-nots, of luxury only for the elite. Oliver (Luis Vega), a nobleman, lashes out in jealousy against his younger brother Orlando (Jesse Bhamrah) by withholding his rightful inheritance. Orlando’s luck changes after a chance encounter with Rosalind (Meghan Kreidler), the daughter of the banished former Duke. The lights turn a dim, dreamy pink and a sound cue clarifies that the two fall in love at first sight.

The former Duke’s brother, the cruel usurper Duke Frederick (Chris Thorn), allows Rosalind to stay at the request of his daughter Celia (Andrea San Miguel), but grows fearful of the people’s love for her and banishes her.

Both Oliver and Duke Frederick

focus their energy on maintaining power, for fear that there is not enough to go around. Scenic designer Junghyun Georgia Lee illustrates this paranoid opulence through simple but lavish sets: neatly trimmed shrubbery reveals the elite’s stranglehold on control, while a massive marquee sign reading ‘FIGHT’ that descends from the ceiling before a wrestling match shows the new Duke’s gaudy taste.

No longer welcome at the court, Rosalind and Orlando flee separately to the Forest of Arden.

Celia defies her father to follow Rosalind into banishment, and the two take up disguises; Rosalind as a young man named Ganymede and Celia as his sister Aliena.

Meanwhile, Orlando wanders Arden, lovesick for Rosalind after the briefest of meetings. The two meet again, but Orlando falls for Rosalind’s disguise. “Ganymede” offers to tutor Orlando in the art of courtship, and from behind her mask, Rosalind gleefully flirts with Orlando without consequences that might be present at court.

The restraints of gender expression are nowhere to be found in Jadhwani’s forest. Angela Timberman plays the brooding, philosophical Jaques, a role usually played by a man. Jadhwani chose to portray Jaques as a non-binary character who uses they/them pronouns. The traditionally-male role of Touchstone also gains new depth through the casting of Sarah Agnew, who transforms the clown into an androgynous, extravagantly- dressed jokester.

The casting choices subtly alter the characters, giving Jaques’ railing against the world a more political

bend and making Touchstone’s dirty jokes and romance with farm girl Audrey (Marika Proctor) transgressive rather than offensive.

In Arden, the characters push the normative bounds of gender in ways beyond their casting, too.

Rosalind moves comfortably in her new disguise, an outfit of heavy-duty jeans, a cowboy hat and flannel stolen straight from the set of Brokeback Mountain. She adopts a cowboy’s swagger — hands in pockets and shoulders loose — and a cowboy’s plainspoken honesty that would have put her life in danger at court.

Orlando, too, is freer in his expression in Arden than at court.

He plasters every tree in the forest with his (terrible) love poems for Rosalind, and in a moment of brilliant comedic timing, a tome of his poetry falls from the sky with of “Looney Tunes” anvilstyle thud. His love is soppy, vulnerable, gushing and decidedly un-masculine. Bhamrah’s puppydog love is as affecting and relatable just as much as it is ridiculous.

But Arden’s freedom comes with a chilling price. Unlike the idyllic forests from most interpretations of “As You Like It,” Jadhwani’s Arden will be familiar to anyone braving the frosty Minnesota winter. Jadhwani interprets the lyrics that Shakespeare wrote for the play’s songs literally: characters wrap themselves in blankets and gather around fires to escape Arden’s “bitter sky,” “winter and rough weather.” The songs, reimagined as folksy ballads by musical collective Broken Chord, also reveal the darker sentiments underlying the playful comedy: “Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly,” one song goes.

The trauma of familial rejection and expulsion from court remains present in a quiet, yet persistent whisper throughout this production, a choice that enriches the show.

This is a romantic comedy, though, so the characters heal from their trauma through the magical, all-powerful force of love.

Orlando saves his brother’s life after an offstage encounter with a lion, and Oliver is transformed by the strength of this display of brotherly love. When Celia asks if he is the cruel elder brother who abused Orlando, he responds: “‘Twas I, but ‘tis not I.” Love is a transformative, cleansing energy that dismantles Oliver and remakes him in his gentle brother’s image.

If you weren’t lucky enough to land a spot on the Program Boardsponsored trip to see “As You Like It,” you’ll have to decide if a trek to the Guthrie is worth it. Student tickets start at $28 and only get more expensive from there. Between the catchy, delightful music and a cast full

of talented comedic actors, longtime Shakespeare lovers and those just looking for a fun outing will find something to enjoy in Jadhwani’s production. San Miguel in particular stands out, stealing scenes in which she should be a sidekick. Both her delivery and her physical comedy drew belly laughs from the crowd.

Critics have often called As You Like It’s ending fantastical, even by the standards of a Shakespearean comedy: too many loose ends are tied up too quickly to allow a neat quadruple wedding. But if the viewer can suspend their disbelief, the play invites them to escape for an afternoon into a magical place where freedom is hard-won and love — love between siblings, romantic love, queer love — has the power to free us and transform us. Jadhwani’s interpretation asks the viewer: why let it be fantasy? Why not brave the cold winter winds to make community out of love wherever you may be?

•jkatz4@macalester.edu

Photo courtesy of the Guthrie Theater.

Five reasons to see “Five Ways In” at the Walker

By FELIPE FERNANDEZ Staff Writer “Five Ways In: Themes from the Collection,” opened Feb. 14, 2019 and will remain on view through Sept. 19, 2021 in Galleries four, five and six of the Walker Art Center. Here are my five reasons to see “Five Ways.”

1. For the context: Andy Warhol said he didn’t expect to be paid for the time he spent thinking, because he knew his thinking time wasn’t worth anything. Let me assure you: he was joking. The American public took this, like everything Andy Warhol ever said – the value of celebrity to mass production, art, the type of burger he liked – too literally.

The new Walker exhibit “Five Ways In” (in which Warhol’s work among others’ is displayed) tries to get the general public to think about modern and contemporary art in the Walker’s collection by allowing them points of entry in the form of accessible narratives: Outside (Landscape), Inside (Interior Scene), Self (Portraiture), Everyday (Still Life) and Everything (Abstraction).

2. For the range: The exhibit contains over 100 works by established late-career, acclaimed

mid-career and historically significant artists. It would be disrespectful to make a laundry list of names that scholars have dedicated their entire lives to writing about and working on, but seeing as it is necessary to drop names in order to convince you: Georgia O’Keeffe, John Baldessari, Yoko Ono, Sherrie Levine, David Hammons, Beauford Delaney, Helen Frankenthaler, Cindy Sherman, Willem de Kooning, Kerry James Marshall, Edward Hopper, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Glenn Ligon, Catherine Opie, Lorna Simpson, Joan Mitchell, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and many more.

3. For yourself: The most striking thing that generally occurs is meeting people in museums who do not care about the visual arts, an apathy that may stem from a lack of formal education, or a besieging by a series of vicious stereotypes propagated against contemporary art by hackneyed television writers. Where most people are enthusiastically concerned about developments in technology and science, a blank stare comes over most people when discussing John Baldessari or Vija Celmins. It is not only a confirmation of vulgarity, but a sin against curiosity that most of the American public can, to this day,

walk into a gallery or museum of modern and contemporary art and have their first reaction to a work be “I could do that.” Well, sometimes the point is that you could have done it, Karen, if you had been born 60 years ago. Most of the time, if you were to try, you could not do it. Joan Mitchell’s “Posted” (1966) comes to mind, a wall-to-wall explosion of Monet-esque color, or Sylvia Plimack Mangold’s “Carbon Night” (1970), where the artist appears to have taped a painting of the night sky onto a black canvas which, upon further inspection, is actually a taped over canvas creating the illusion of having an image taped at the center. However, you could have made Sherrie Levine’s “Fountain” (1997), and this one, in fact, I encourage you to recreate.

4.

For the magnificent convenience (no hyperbole): One of the best museum collections of contemporary art in the United States is only a few miles away.

Some of this work is being shown for the first time in more than a decade — as is the case with George Segal’s “The Diner” (1964-66), a Pop Art era full-body casting scene that alludes to Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” (1942). “Five Ways In,” beyond an exhibit, is a golden

opportunity to learn about art in an approachable context. Spending anywhere between 30 minutes to two hours in the exhibition will give any attendant an initiation to some of the most important threads of conversation within contemporary art. What’s more, it will make sense to anyone who tries to understand.

5. For the joy of art: I generally encourage people who don’t like art to go to museums to run through the galleries. Not only in reference to the scene in “Bande à part” where Fran, Arthur and Odile run arm in arm and beat the world record for fastest time running through the Louvre, but also because it is in the spirit of some of the works: say, Glenn Ligon’s “Malcolm X (version 1) #1” (2000), a work that came out of the study of children crayoning over the face of the 60’s intellectual, or David Hammons’ “Phat Free” (1997), in which the artist kicks an empty trash can through the streets of New York.

It is in embracing the creative energy inherent in the original creation of the works of art that one can learn to appreciate most contemporary work.

If you are looking for a more sensory-stimulating experience, try the first visible artwork in the show: Alexa Horochowski’s “Cochacuyo” (2014), an intense black-and-white

video installation that makes what seems to be seaweed abstract. Words cannot do it justice. “Soundscapes,” a collaboration between the Walker Art Center and Los Angeles-based sound designer Joseph Fraioli, encourages the viewer to put on headphones and re-experience a work of art through visual and soundinterpretation. Five works in the exhibition have this setup, including Caroline Kent’s “Further and Farther than one Expects” (2015), from her ongoing series of black-background abstract paintings. It provides a new way to explore Kent’s cryptic language of abstract figures hanging in the space beyond the Kármán line (the defined border between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space; a point of departure for Kent), a multidisciplinary collaboration which is consistent with some other exhibitions of her work.

If none of these five ways draw you in now, you can try attending at a later date, as the works in the collection will be rotating over the next two years, offering fresh alternative dialogues to the ones in display at the moment. The exhibit is $10 with your student ID and free on Thursday nights.

• ffernand@macalester.edu

Food

The Mac Weekly

and

Drink

March 1, 2019 • Page 7

Farro Stew

Shish: Don’t call it a comeback

By BEN WHITE Contributing Writer I’ve been hanging out at Shish for two years now. It’s a Macalester institution—my go-to spot when Café Mac is just not cutting it. Sometimes the food has been great, sometimes not, but I’ve always been loyal. So you can imagine my surprise when I got back to Macalester last fall and Shish looked a little different. Then at the beginning of this year, when I heard they had hired Iron Chef winner Brandon Randolph as their new head chef, I had to go and check things out.

The first thing I noticed walking through the door of this ‘new’ Shish was the attention to detail. Along with owner Leo Judeh, Randolph is running a tight ship. The bulky condiment stations and bland décor have been updated with more convenient seating and a stylish, new theme. Its big windows flood the space with light during the day, and at night, the hanging lamps create a nice ambience inside. Walking into Shish is like walking into an art gallery. But not to worry, with a clock in the middle of the restaurant reading “Time to Eat” it still hasn’t lost that Shish charm.

Speaking of time to eat, the food at Shish has been on another level since Randolph joined the team. He has been working there for about a month, so, while the changes may be coming slowly, rest-assured they will be well worth the wait. During my interview with Randolph, I got to try the Moroccan beef stew, creamy chipotle chicken soup and the house cauliflower. I was even given the opportunity to try the new homemade red and green hot sauces—which will soon be on every table in the restaurant, replacing the random mismatch of commercial sauces.

The red sauce is loaded with flavor and packs a lot of heat in the finish

Brandon Randolph, the new chef, in front of the redesigned counter at Shish. Photo

by Lily Denehy ’22.

while the milder green sauce, with tomatillos and fresh herbs, really brightens up the dishes. Randolph said it right, “They are going to be great on everything.”

I’ve watched a lot of cooking shows so hopefully this doesn’t sound too cliché, but in each of these dishes you can really taste the individual ingredients. Everything is fresh thanks to Randolph’s emphasis on local ingredients. He holds that “[Minnesota] summers and springs and falls are some of the most gorgeous in the U.S. And also, [they] provide and make some of the best tomatoes in the U.S.” Moreover, Shish is doubling down on their sustainability efforts with compostable silverware and packages for to-go orders. Such an effort reflects Randolph’s willingness to listen to, interact with and adjust to the local community. “When I do make changes, I’m more so adhering to what [members of the community] want… versus just throwing them something that I think should be on the menu,” He added. “We’ve got a lot of hardworking, artistic and creative people here, and it definitely inspires you to want to be part of that.”

More than ever before, Shish now

seems committed to offering a truly authentic Mediterranean cuisine, while still incorporating the flavors of the Twin Cities. Among the food I tried, the Moroccan beef stew was startlingly good. Made with saffron rice, fried chickpeas, pickled onions and fresh mint, it takes “MiddleEastern flavors and spices with beefbrisket which is something that is very Minnesotan.” The same held true for the creamy chipotle chicken soup, which had a surprising amount of kick. My personal favorite dish, the house cauliflower, consisted of cauliflower florets boiled in turmeric saltwater, tossed in a spice blend of dill and paprika and served with those killer hot sauces. “It’s food that warms your soul.” I cannot stress enough the obvious care that went into the preparation of each of these dishes.

All the ingredients were clearly distinguishable from each other, while creating a distinctive Mediterranean flavor. Speaking on the owner Judeh’s Middle Eastern roots, Randolph says “He wants to show people his cuisine—what he grew up with. He wants a breakfast that makes him feel like he’s at home.”

This leads me to perhaps the

most exciting addition to Shish—a completely revamped breakfast menu. Shish has been serving breakfast for years, but most people (myself included) have overlooked it. Now when you think of Shish, think of breakfast. Quick, healthy and delicious breakfast. Some of the items that Randolph seemed most excited about were a version of avocado toast on fried pita, a kefta breakfast burger, grab-and-go overnight oats and a vegan benedict meal with house-made falafel, spinach, sumac, onions, fried eggplant and tahini.

Once again, Shish breakfast seeks to maintain an authentic Mediterranean flare with homey Midwestern flavors which Randolph so accurately captures with his cooking. Even their pancakes will now be spiced up with some cardamom, cinnamon, pine nut butter and spiced maple syrup. “It just adds a nice depth of flavor that kind of makes us stand out. They are still pancakes, like they are still really good, but now, they have a little more than your normal pancake,” Randolph remarked. With every item Shish is trying to set itself apart.

Shish is best described as unpretentious. In everything they are striving to put the customer and community first–whether it be attention to detail, interaction with local small businesses or one-hundred percent vegan and vegetarian options.

Randolph’s cooking is some of the best I’ve had and firmly places Shish as a culinary destination not only for the Macalester community but for the Twin Cities as a whole. The man did win Iron Chef, after all!

By ELLIE RUDNER Staff Writer 1 cup farro, rinsed 3 cups broth (or water and bouillon) 1 can beans 1/2 head of cabbage, sliced up 1/2 large onion 1 can diced tomatoes 1 can tomato paste 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 splash apple cider vinegar Pinch of salt Pinch of pepper 4-5 dashes cayenne pepper 2 dashes smoked paprika

Shish is located on 1668 Grand Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105 and is open from 7am-10pm on weekdays and 7am-10:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Slice up onions and cook them in oil for a few minutes then add garlic and cook for a few more. If you want to be extra thorough, put the cabbage stalk in to cook with the onions. After that’s been in there for a bit, put the cabbage in, add some salt and cover the pot for 7 minutes to let it steam. Toss in a splash of apple cider vinegar and stir. Then let it steam for 2 more minutes.

While the cabbage is steaming, toast your farro in a separate pot with some oil (this just makes it less puffy when cooked). You only need to toast it until it gets a bit darker in color.

Now that the cabbage is softened, add in the broth, beans, tomatoes and tomato paste, then the farro.

Toss in more salt, pepper, cayenne and smoked paprika. Let this cook for about 25 minutes, leaving the lid on or off depending on how liquidy you want it. The farro will be softened but still have some bite to it when it’s done.

• bwhite1@macalester.edu

• erudner1@macalester.edu

Opinion

Time for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to publicly endorse the BDS campaign

By JEWISH VOICES FOR PEACE AT MAC Two weeks ago, Representative Ilhan Omar’s tweets about Israel sparked a wildfire across the internet. Critics denounced her as anti-Semitic, while supporters of Palestinian human rights praised her for speaking out against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a deeply influential lobby group that seeks to secure and enhance the US-Israel alliance. With the recent controversy, it’s time for Omar’s fellow congresswoman, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to put her words of support for Palestinians into action and publicly endorse the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) international campaign. With her support, she’d stand by Representative Omar and show the U.S. political left that Palestine needs to be on their progressive agenda.

Why are Palestinians calling for Boycott Divestment, Sanctions? Since 1967, Israel has carried out a military occupation of Palestine.

In the West Bank, Israeli soldiers restrict freedom of movement, forcing Palestinians to pass through checkpoints and building a wall that separates Palestinians from their families. Bit by bit, the Israeli government steals Palestinian land inside the West Bank, demolishes homes and builds illegal Jewishonly settlements. Israel then subsidizes this segregated housing to Jewish Israelis as an incentive to encroach on Palestinian-owned land and displace Native people. Inside the West Bank, there are separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians, creating a structured

apartheid system. In the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian crisis turns bleaker still.

Since 2007, Israel has imposed a military blockade on Gaza. The siege has blocked millions of Gazans’ access to clean water, electricity, economic prosperity and quality

worked previously – boycotts of apartheid South Africa and Montgomery buses. For centuries, boycotts, divestment and sanctions have played crucial roles in social justice movements. Across the world, international allies have championed the BDS campaign.

“Her silence threatens to solidify a common misconception that Palestine is solely a ‘Muslim issue,’ as Tlaib and Omar, the only supporters of BDS in Congress, are both Muslim.” education. Palestinians living in Gaza are subject to routine Israeli bombings of their hospitals, homes and schools. Because of the siege, the United Nations declared that Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020. The siege on Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank are made possible by American military aid to Israel, which totals $38 billion over 10 years.

The BDS campaign rejects this Americanfunded oppression. The campaign calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions on all companies and institutions that profit from the violation of Palestinian human rights.

BDS issues three demands: for Israel to end its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands by dismantling the wall, to recognize the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality and to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, in compliance with international law. BDS is a way to hold Israel accountable for its actions, and it has adopted strategies that have

Fighting for freedom, justice and equality sound pretty American, right? But in the United States, only two U.S. representatives out of 435 have endorsed the BDS campaign: Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.

Palestine is becoming integral to the progressive agenda, so you’d think that another well-known democratic socialist would support the movement. Yet so far, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has kept uncharacteristically quiet about this justice issue. Her silence threatens to solidify a common misconception, that Palestine is solely a ‘Muslim issue,’ as Tlaib and Omar, the only supporters of BDS in Congress, are both Muslim. Without OcasioCortez’s endorsement, the American public will continue to see BDS and Palestinian human rights as solely problems that affect Muslims and won’t understand how BDS and Palestinian freedom intersect with US-

based liberation movements, like Black Lives Matter, Indigenous people’s rights to water and struggles against the border wall.

Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement would invite her progressive supporters to understand how Palestinian freedom, equality and justice already fit into their value systems. It would reach millions of young voters who don’t yet participate in the BDS campaign and who are unaware of the oppression of Palestinians, funded by our Americans’ taxes, which give Israel $10 million in military aid every single day.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez has a strong base with young voters that are passionate about justice and equity and her endorsement would raise awareness about BDS. If she endorsed the movement, she would stand in solidarity with the two congresswomen who have put their careers on the line because they have dared to care about Palestinian human rights. Her endorsement, coming days after Omar’s criticism of Israel that has come under fire, would awaken American consciousness of Palestinian oppression – the oppression that we are responsible for because we fund it. Progressives in America must understand the essential need for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement would radically reshape American politics and the American left.

Sports

The Mac Weekly

Mar. 1, 2019 • Page 8

THIS WEEK IN MAC SPORTS

Men’s Basketball collects AllMIAC Honors

• Jackson Henningfield ’21 was named to the All-MIAC second team.

• Wyatt Ferm ’19 was also named to the All-MIAC third team.

• Carl Salvino ’19 was honored as a part of the MIAC AllSportsmanship Team.

Women’s Basketball grabs All-MIAC Honors

• Justine Barraza ’21 was named to the MIAC All-Conference team.

• Addy Perkins ’19 was honored as a part of the MIAC AllSportsmanship Team.

Men’s Track and Field Women’s Tennis triumphs runs at the MIAC Indoor over Bethany Championships Lutheran • The Men’s team took 10th at the • On Friday, the Scots defeated the Bethany Lutheran Vikings 9-0, losing only three singles matches and two doubles matches in the contest.

• Laurel Hickey ’21, Natali Sorajja ’21, Emma Baker ’21 and Camilla Bendetti ’20 all won their singles matches 6-0, 6-0 without losing a single game.

• The Scots also swept the Vikings in doubles.

• On Sunday, the Scots fell to St. Catherine’s 8-1.

• Baker and Sorajja won their doubles match for the Scots lone win.

Men’s Tennis stays undefeated • On Sunday, the Scots won against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 6-3 and beat Bethany Lutheran College 7-2.

• Macalester won all singles matches against La Crosse; Sam Hochberger ’21, Jeffrey Jorgensen ’22 and Matt Yang ’19 all won in straight sets; Karsten Knutsen ’22, Ben White ’21 and Peter Willenborg ’19 pulled wins as well.

• Against Bethany Lutheran, George Steinke ’22, Alexander Poland ’22, Alexander Hamann ’22 and Allessandro Mauceri ’20 all won in straight sets.

MIAC Indoor Championships.

• Andrew Smith ’19 tied for second place in the high jump, earning him his third straight AllMIAC honor.

• J.J. Arimi ’21 finished fourth in the long jump.

• George Howe ’19 tied for fifth in pole vault; it was the fourth time he posted a personal best this season.

• David Palmer ’20 and Keegan Greaney ’21 finished in fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 600 meters.

• Palmer, Greaney, Edwin Reyes Herrera ’20 and Ryan Kinnucan ’22 ran to sixth place in the 4x400meter relay.

Women’s Track and Field competes at the MIAC Indoor Championships

• The Scots took 10th at the MIAC Indoor Championships Feb. 22-23.

• Phoebe Aguiar ’19 broke the MIAC all-time record in the 600 meters and also set the meet record in the 800 meters, winning both events.

• The 4x400-meter relay team of Alia Benedict ’19, Holly Ellingson ’19, Lily Schlieman ’20 and Aguiar finished fifth.

• Benedict finished fourth in the 1000 meters, followed by Ellingson in ninth.

• Schlieman ran a personal-best time in the 200 meters and placed ninth, as well as posting a seventh-place finish in the 400 meters.

• Brennan Drake ’22 and Estelle Timar-Wilcox ’22 finished the mile in 12th and 13th place, respectively.

Women’s Water Upcoming In Polo starts the Sports: Home events in BOLD season strong Friday, Mar. 1 • The Women’s Water Polo team finished the Macalester College Invite, hosted at Riley Pool, with a convincing 16-10 win against Monmouth College.

• The Scots started the tournament 0-3, facing tough competition from both the University of Redlands and Virginia Military Institute, whom they played twice.

• After falling 7-14 to VMI to begin the tournament, the team fought back to lose the next two games by a combined margin of only 6 goals.

• Courtney Overland ’19 had 28 cumulative saves over the weekend, and the Scots saw strong offensive performances from Lucille Moran ’19 and Oriano Galasso ’20, picking up sixteen and ten goals for the weekend, respectively.

Men’s Swim and Dive vs NCAA Diving Regional (Crawfordsville, IN) (5:00 PM CDT) Men’s Tennis vs Concordia College (Minn.) (White Bear Lake, MN) (6:30 PM) Women’s Tennis vs Concordia College (Minn.) (White Bear Lake, MN) (6:30 PM) Saturday, Mar. 2 Women’s Water Polo vs Austin College (Springfield, OH) (11:15 AM CST) Women’s Softball vs Knox College (Rochester, MN) (12:00 PM) Women’s Softball vs University of Northwestern (MN) (Rochester, MN) (2:00 PM) Men’s Swim and Dive vs NCAA Diving Regional (Crawfordsville, IN) (3:00 PM CDT) Women’s Water Polo vs Monmouth College (Springfield, OH) (5:00 PM CST) Sunday, Mar. 3 Women’s Softball vs Ripon College (Rochester, MN) (8:00 AM) Women’s Water Polo @ Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH) (8:15 AM CST) Women’s Softball vs Luther College (Rochester, MN) (10:00 AM) Women’s Water Polo vs Carthage College (Springfield, OH) (12:45 PM CST)

Numbers of the Week

16

Goals scored by Lucille Moran ’19 during the Macalester College Invite this past weekend

4

Thousandths of seconds separating David Palmer ’20 and Keegan Greaney ’21 in the 600 meters at the MIAC Championships

68

Three-pointers for Justine Barraza ’21 this season breaking the Women’s Basketball Team single-season record

5

The number of singles and doubles games lost by the Women’s Tennis team in their sweep of Bethany Lutheran