Tuesday, February 16, 2010
www.msureporter.com
Minnesota State University, Mankato
‘WORDS CAN MOVE AND SHAKE ME’ Andy Hanson plans a program that puts ‘sticks and stones’ myth to rest NICOLE SMITH
editor in chief
Sticks and stones may break bones, but Andy Hanson isn’t combating inanimate objects from playground chants. He’s making a case for the power of words. Hanson knows how much they can hurt and he wants to give Minnesota State students the opportunity to overcome any damage they have caused. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can move and shake me,” begins his promotional video for the aptly named program he is in the early stages of planning. After consoling a friend wale agboola • msu reporter who was called “fat” by
Andy Hanson knows how much words can hurt and created the ‘Sticks and Stones’ program to promoste positivity.
someone who initially said it as a joke, he realized how much words can bring a person down, regardless of the context they may come from. “We all go through it,” said Hanson, the art education student at MSU. “People have all this potential that really isn’t being used because others are holding them back in the most absurd way.” Name-calling is one of the many ways people are held back by the words of others and it is something that Jessica Flatequal sees students cope with regularly as the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center on campus. “For every gay student who
Words / page 6
Permission to speak
Minnesota State staff reacts to Obama’s decision to repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ ADAM PULCHINSKI
staff writer
index
In his State of the Union address to Congress in January, President Barack Obama set forth many initiatives he wanted to accomplish in the coming months and years. One of those initiatives was to repeal the “don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the United States military. The policy, which was later amended to include “don’t pursue,” was a law adopted in 1993 regarding homosexual persons serving in the military. Simply stated, it means that a gay man or woman may be discharged from the armed services for Editorial...................................4 Variety......................................9 Sports....................................12 Classifieds.............................15 .................................................
“homosexual conduct.” At the time the law was adopted, it was seen as a compromise between those who wanted to continue with a ban of homosexuals in the military and President Bill Clinton, who wanted to repeal an outright ban. Since the State of the Union, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was going to create a highlevel commission to answer practical questions if the ban was to be repealed and to develop a plan for safely incorporating openly gay military personnel into the ranks of the nation’s armed forces. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen recently spoke to the Senate Armed Services
“
Whatever the decision is, the Army will follow the law as it always has.”
— Lt. Col. Joel Stephenson, MSU ROTC
Committee. “Speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” said Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the committee.
Permission / page 2
dannie higginbotham • msu reporter
Minnesota State celebrates the Lunar New Year Photo story, page 3
SEE WHY MANKATO GETS THE MOVIES IT DOES, PAGE 9