THE
BLUE &GRAY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON STUDENT NEWSPAPER
February 16, 2017
VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 15
PRESS
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE
Swastika found on bulletin board outside of Lee Hall
Vulgar message found on campus
KELLY EMMRICH Life Editor
Ahad Shahid / Twitter Page
This aggressive message was found by Ahad Shahid and his friend on a bulletin board outside of Lee Hall.
BSA organizing a large group to attend “March for Science” KATYLYN BIDDLE Staff Writer
Due to recent events involving environmental protection, scientists and students alike have been coming together to form a “March for Science” to raise awareness for issues such as climate change and scientific integrity. Inspired by the Women’s March, which took place the day after President
ers to attend while also informing them of the issues. “I consider this a show by the American scientific community that science and facts cannot be silenced,” said a senior biology major and president of the BSA Kit Qualls. After gaining immense momentum, the march opened itself up to everyone. They renamed the event the “March for Science” to make sure everyone felt in-
“I think the unifying message of this march will be that the facts are facts, they must be shared and they should be used to inform decisions that impact everyone in the United States and set examples for the world.”
UMW 2017 Commencement Speakers
John D. Burrow
Deputy assistant secretary of the Navy
-Kit Qualls Trump’s inauguration, the scientists’ march on Washington is meant to be a non-partisan march to make the scientific community heard. The University of Mary Washington’s own Biological Student Association plans on attending the march and hopes to encourage oth-
IN THIS
ISSUE
1922
cluded. According to the website for the march, MarchforScience.org, the idea behind the march is from “the mischaracterization of science as a partisan
•SCIENCE MARCH | 10
Edward L. Ayers former president of the University of Richmond
University of Mary Washington junior Ahad Shahid and friend Chad Mundie were walking past Lee Hall after watching the film “Moana” on the evening of Feb. 5, when they found a handwritten Swastika on the bulletin board in Front of Madison Hall. In addition to the drawing there was a note at the bottom of the sheet reading “Attention fa**ots!! We could live next door.” Shahid took a picture of the sign, posted the photo on his twitter account and tagged a UMW twitter account. On the following Monday, Shahid went in for a meeting with Dean Rucker regarding his tweet and overall concerns for campus safety. Shahid left the meeting feeling unsatisfied and unsure about the future of campus safety. “The administration is not saying anything from my perspective because they are worried about saying something anti-Trump,” Shahid said. “This isn’t an anti-Trump thing, though. This is an anti-Nazi thing. It’s anti-Semitic trash and they need to address that.” Both Shahid and Mundie live in Framar House, an international living building. One of the goals of Framar is to educate the campus on worldwide issues, and it plays an integral role in providing cultural programming to the UMW community. When they showed the other residents the sign, many of them felt scared. “They felt upset, scared, angry. Different ways,” Shahid said. Other Virginia public universities have had similar instances. Late last September, there was an article titled “Epidemic of Racist Incidents” in the publication “Inside Higher Education.” Allan Groves, the dean of University of Virginia made a statement shortly after that laid out different strategies for safety on campus. “Racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic slurs do not originate in a vacuum,” Groves writes. “They are a product of learned behavior and, unfortunately, ingrained bias against difference. If we are to rid this community of such ugliness, we each must start with an honest look in the mirror.” One of the strategies that UVA uses to increase campus security is using the anonymous online report site, www. virginia.edu/justreportit/bias. Reports are shared directly with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. In the letter, Groves addresses the fact that the Z society, a secret society at UVA had several fliers on grounds that depicted them endorsing Donald Trump
•NAZI MESSAGE | 2
LEGACY DESTROYED
SATURDAY SATIRE
Ty Cobb’s career obliterated by media misrepresentation
SNL political sketches satirize current events
Spring sports set to begin 2017 campaigns at UMW
LIFE | 6
VIEWPOINTS | 5
SPORTS | 12
SPRING FEVER