THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER FOR DRAKE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884
THE TIMES-DELPHIC WHAT’S
INSIDE
DES MOINES, IOWA • Thursday, November 5, 2009 • VOL. 128, NO. 14 • www.timesdelphic.com
FOOTBALL
LETTERS
DAY OF THE DEAD
MEN’S SOCCER
Drake beat PFL Champion Jacksonville Saturday en route to a 7-1 record.
Students weigh in on Senate’s decision to vote down the recycling bins.
¡Día de los Muertos! Drake language students celebrate the holiday.
A preview for the home game against MVC-rival Creighton.
PAGE 6 SPORTS
PAGE 3 OPINIONS
PAGE 4 & 5 FEATURES
PAGE 7 SPORTS
Senate votes down recycling motion
Drake Mag wins a Pacemaker Award is the highest honor given in collegiate journalism by MATT NELSON
Features Editor tdfeatures@drake.edu
photo illustration by SARAH ANDREWS | Photo Editor
EIGHT SIGNS were posted around campus to signify the eight recycling bins that Senate voted not to pay for last Thursday.
Drake administration decides to pay for eight additional bins HOW THEY VOTED
AYE
by MATT VASILOGAMBROS Editor-in-Chief times.delphic@drake.edu
by ERIKA SEVIGNY
Staff Writer erika.sevigny@drake.edu
Field, Koska, Krstulic, Miller, Valacheril
In front of an audience of nearly 40 student environmental advocates, Student Senate voted down a motion last Thursday to fund the purchase of eight additional recycling bins for academic buildings. Senator Jenny Koska introduced a motion to use $2,247.04 of Senate’s Reserve Fund to pay for eight stainless steel recycling bins. Only 12 have been purchased, using facilities funds, and placed around campus. The Senate Reserve Fund includes $30,000 of excess student activity fees from previous years. “We wanted to use the reserve fund for something proactive on campus,” Koska said. The eight bins would be placed in Meredith Hall, the Knapp Center, Medbury Honors Lounge, Cline Hall, Olmsted Center Breezeway and lower Olmsted.
NAY Cooper, Singh, Boggess, Carroll, Coe, Dick, Groetken, Gudmundson, Haas, Hutcheson, Larson, Lewandowski, Menendez, Olszewski, Wang, Yu
ABSTAIN Tucker, Urick, Whitmer
CHECK THE TD ONLINE FOR AN UPDATE ON THE SENATE-HOSTED TOWN HALL MEETING
WHY ASK SENATE FOR THE MONEY? Mark Chambers, general manager of facility services, said Facilities exhausted the money allotted to its environmental budget for the year. The money went toward the 12 new recycling bins and renovations to accommodate new dumpsters for single-stream recycling. Koska’s motion asked for the funding to pur-
chase the remaining bins, recommended by facilities, “on an assessment of student traffic and waste accumulation.” “The offer that was made was a good-faith offer,” Chambers said. “We didn’t ask them for the money. We were thinking of something that would help in our sustainability effort and it was brought up as an idea of how to spend their money.” Student observers at Thursday’s meeting urged Senate to pass the motion. They asked senators to be mindful of their roles as representatives of Drake students and alluded to past problems with transparency and accountability. “I know that a lot of you said in your campaign platforms that you want to become accountable as a senate,” sophomore Justine Ahle said. “This is your chance.” Senior Zac Bales-Henry, one of the leaders fighting for the bins, called on Senate to live up to its responsibility to the student body. “You have the ability to fundamentally change this campus,” he said. “You don’t understand the scope of your ability. You are the leadership. Take a stand.” WHY DID SENATE DENY THE FUNDING? Senators responded to the students’ comments by thanking them for their attendance and input. However, they explained that the funding of the new bins was not in the best in-
SEE SENATE, PAGE 2
Pearson to lead discussion on the ‘race card’ by KENSIE SMITH
Copy Editor mackensie.smith@drake.edu
The bets are high, and in the next round you can pass or play the card. Which will you choose? Senior Brittanie Pearson is trying to educate students on the concepts of white privilege and race relations through “The Race Card: Who holds the privileged hand?” Pearson said the conference is a platform for students to evaluate how race influences societal relationships. It will be held this Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Drake Legal Clinic. “The race card” is an informal term referring to the use of one’s race to gain an advantage in a con-
versation or debate. O.J. Simpson, Naomi Campbell and even President Obama have been accused of using race to their advantage. Conversely, the white population in America has access to opportunities not available to other races. Pearson asks, “Who holds the privileged hand?” Attendees will be asked to analyze the possibility that there are inherent societal norms and practices that exclusively benefit one race of people. Pearson said she saw a need for a forum on Drake’s campus to discuss the issue of race. What began as a personal endeavor soon turned into a project for her Honor’s program capstone. “I was introduced to white privilege by Professor Harvey in Liberation Theology (class),”
Pearson said. She said she began to notice a variety of seemingly race-related arrests and the use of race as a descriptor of suspected criminals involved in crimes in the Drake neighborhood. “Race tensions seem to be rising on campus and no one wanted to talk about it,” Pearson said. The conference will offer a series of activities to address modern conceptions of race. Round table discussion groups of students and faculty will allow for open conversation of these topics. Workshop sessions will address the social construction of race and provide tools to combat institutionalized racial hierarchies. Pearson said the highlight of the conference is keynote speaker
Peggy McIntosh. The author is the associate director of the Wellesley Center for Women at Wellesley College in Boston, Mass. McIntosh’s lecture will focus on her 1988 essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Many scholars consider the article a timeless example of how race can impact societal position. “Peggy is a recognized name in academia and among the top five recognized speakers over white privilege, so she seemed like a logical choice,” Pearson said. Pearson said that raising money to sponsor the speaker was a challenge in organizing the event. Pearson reached out to campus or-
Writers, editors and designers of Drake Magazine have a new reason to be proud. The publication won the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Pacemaker Award Saturday, beating out schools across the country to claim the national prize. In addition, Drake University graduate Brittainey Sieren placed third in the magazine spread design category and senior Danny Akright received an honorable mention in the feature photography category for his image of a bulldog in a bathtub, published in last year’s Relays Edition of The Times-Delphic. “The Pacemaker Award is the most prestigious award in student publishing,” said Lori Blachford, the chair of magazine journalism, in a Drake University press release. “To receive recognition as an outstanding magazine of the year from (ACP) is a real honor.” The staff of San Francisco’s “Wired” magazine judged Drake Magazine on art, photography, graphics, content, layout and design, overall concept or theme and quality of writing and edition. The periodical is written entirely by undergraduate students. “I loved working on Drake Magazine,” said Tara Richards, a senior magazine major who served as the publication’s editorin-chief last year. “The whole staff was extremely dedicated to the project, and we gave our all to make sure the publication was the best it could be.” Kathleen Richardson, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said she was thrilled about the award. “This is a national award that puts the Drake student magazine at the top of the pack for student publications,” Richardson said in the press release. “Almost all of the other finalists were from bigger schools.” Blachford said that one of Drake Magazine’s biggest assets is that it offers students the chance to gain real-life experience in magazine production. “They start each semester with a collection of blank pages and make all the decisions required to arrive at the end of the semester with a magazine that represents their best work,” Blachford said in the press release. The Drake University publication THINK was also nominated as a Pacemaker finalist in the category of Online-only/ Broadcast/Magazine/Yearbook. THINK is produced by the News/Internet Journalism senior capstone class.
DRAKE AWARDS DRAKE MAGAZINE Pacemaker, Magazines
BRITTAINEY SIEREN Third Place, Magazine Spread
THINK MAGAZINE Pacemaker Finalist, Online
DANNY AKRIGHT
SEE RACE, PAGE 2
Hon. Mention, Feature Photo