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Volume CXXI, No. 15
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April 26, 2019
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Riggs Reflects as Her Presidency Draws to Close B y L izzie H obbs and M addie N eiman In spring of 2008, Janet Morgan Riggs was serving as the provost of Gettysburg College when she was approached by the chair of the Board of Trustees and asked to serve as the interim college president after the abrupt departure of her predecessor, President Katherine Will. “I was not really enthusiastic about that, frankly,” said President Riggs, referring to the idea of serving as interim president. “I didn’t think I was prepared for it…but he talked me into it.” She began as interim president on June 1, 2008, finding herself supremely interested in the work she was doing just a few months into her new position: “It just kind of grabbed my attention in a way I didn’t expect.” During her time as interim president, she had several people from the college community suggest that she submit her name for consideration for the nationwide presidential search. After some time considering the idea, realizing she had nothing to lose, and knowing how much she had enjoyed the work previously, she threw her hat into the ring and applied. The process was confidential, and Riggs recalled attending several off-campus meetings. Finally, she was brought to campus as a finalist, interviewed, and appointed to the presidency of
Gettysburg College. “I never aspired to be a college president,” Riggs explained. “This was not something I always thought I wanted to do. Well, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was younger. Once I was in a faculty position, I just figured that was going to be my career because I loved doing that. This was all kind of surprising to me -- but wonderful.” Her time as interim president helped her transition into the presidency tremendously, Riggs said, though she recalled being worried about the breadth of her perspective when taking the job, given that her entire career up until that point had been only at Gettysburg. “I knew the campus community already, so I spent a lot of time in my first year going out and talking to other college presidents -- trying to get a sense of how things were done at other institutions, what their challenges were, just trying to get a broader perspective,” President Riggs revealed. Chuckling, she remembered that, “I had a lot of meals with different college presidents.” The economic crash that occurred in the fall of 2008 took place during Riggs’ interim presidency, which she said greatly impacted her mindset when stepping into her official term as President. The financial challenges faced by the college, she admitted, have been a focus of her entire presidency: “Trying to sustain a really strong student experience, even in the face
Petition Circulating to Remove Wagner as Commencement Speaker
of some really significant financial challenges.” When asked what she was focused on when she began her presidency, Riggs explained that she had two focuses for the beginning of her time as president: resources and reputation. “I wanted to be sure that our reputation matched the quality of what we actually do here,” she said. “I always have felt that the quality of what we do here, the education we offer, is stronger than the reputation we have…I wanted to be sure that we had a strong enough resource base to support a really outstanding experience for our students.” As college president, Riggs found that the most rewarding part of her time in office has been “seeing the students come here as first year students and find their passions and their directions and their strengths.” Witnessing students go on to graduate and grow personally and professionally is part of the reason she began her career as an educator to begin with, and that mindset has only continued during her presidency. Of course, like any individual leaving office, Riggs reflected on what her presidency had accomplished at the college and stated, “There’s still so much improvement to be done.” Though, she says, the college has improved in terms of diversity and inclusion during her time as president, she sees room for growth in that realm, “an area
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where we made progress, but I wish we could do even more.” She admitted to having a list of “minor” projects she wishes she had been able to complete like renovation of Plank Gym into a global center and constructing a new building for the Sunderman Conservatory. “Don’t even get me started,” she chuckled, “there’s a lot of those little things.” In terms of the future of the college, President Riggs pointed out a few programs which she has loved to see grow and flourish during her time at Gettysburg, though claims no credit for their success. “The Eisenhower Institute,” she named as one of these programs. “I am very pleased with the way that program has developed…that program is doing really well.”
“Another program which I can take no credit for, but that I am just so fond of, is our conservatory program,” continued Riggs. “It has been fabulous to watch that develop into what it is today. I really look forward to seeing that program continue to blossom.” As for the students themselves, Riggs recalled having seen a great transformation in the population of Gettysburg students, in particular this current generation. President Riggs has seen Gettysburg s tudents become more passionate about what is happening in the world and “more willing to grapple with big problems.” She described Gettysburg students as “quite inspiring,” concluding that she “has such faith in all [Gettysburg students].” When asked about
her own plans after retirement, President Riggs explained that she plans to look to her husband for pointers: “He is a great model of retirement!” Her love for education has not ceased, and she sees herself getting involved in education-based volunteer work in the future, though she admitted to also looking forward to some time without a schedule in her first six months of retirement. “I wouldn’t have done this job anywhere else,” Riggs concluded. Her love of Gettysburg is what brought her into the presidency, rather than her desire for the position bringing her to Gettysburg. Riggs reflected that her presidency consisted of her “doing the best for Gettysburg” and working to help support and “facilitate other people’s great work.”
In total, 661 of the 2001 eligible voters participated in the election, which represents 33 percent turnout. This is the first year in recent memory that the actual vote totals were released; in recent years, only the winners were announced. At last week’s candidate forum, all five candidates expressed their support for releasing the full data, which current Vice President Patrick Custer ’19 then provided.
intimidation allegations that implicated current treasurer Haley Gluhanich ’19 and secretary Marisa Balanda ’21, who had sought the presidency and vice presidency respectively. (Balanda was permitted to run for secretary after losing the vice presidency, while Gluhanich was initially
McKenna centered his campaign on his
experience representing students in a variety of capacities both within and independent of Senate. He presently serves as co-chair of the Senate’s Academic Affairs Committee, which gives him a seat on the college’s Academic Policy and Programs Committee (APPC), and, last year, he served on the task force charged with developing a statement of institutional philosophy on freedom of expression. He also was the Senate Policy Committee Chair and Parliamentarian for the 2017-18 academic year, and, last spring, was involved in the executive board’s handling of voter
but juniors who had not gone previously had to attend the summer camp, which began in late June. This week in 1984, an exhibition of images of Abraham Lincoln in Schmucker art gallery was still taking place. Based on the book, The Lincoln Image by Holzer, Boritt, and Neely, which had been recently published, the exhibition featured sixty-four images of Lincoln. It illustrated how Lincoln’s image changed throughout his life, beginning as a relatively unknown Illinois
politician to a figure of national prominence. The book was praised as an important new angle on Lincoln, and the exhibition went on tour after it left the college in September of the same year. This week in 1999, students from college finished tutoring 3rd and 4th graders in R. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore. It was part of a program aiming to “plant the seeds” of the idea of higher education in public school students with high levels of poverty.
McKenna Elected Student Senate President, Lashendock Will Be VP
B y G auri M angala N ews E ditor On Tuesday morning, Apr. 23, Joshua Wagner ‘19 was announced to the senior class as the student Commencement speaker for this year. Later that morning, print-outs of an article Wagner had written for The Gettysburgian’s 2018 April Fools issue entitled “13 Places Safer than FIJI Basement on Friday Night: Number 11 will Shock You!” were pinned to bulletin boards on the first floor of Glatfelter Hall with a PostIt note attached reading “Your
Commencement Speaker.” Portions of the print-out were highlighted: “Safer than FIJI Basement,” “Joshua Wagner,” “6. OJ Simpson’s bedroom,” and “10. The extras’ dressing room on the Cosby Show.” Cassie Hays, Assistant Professor of Sociology, pinned up the articles after being forwarded the speaker announcement. She also went on to discuss the article in her “Race and Ethnicity” sociology course. Specifically, whether or not the fact that the article -Continued on next page-
B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor - in -C hief Patrick McKenna ’20, a political science and public policy double major who has served in Senate since his first year, has been elected the body’s 20192020 president. McKenna defeated Marisa Balanda ’21 and Hannah Dalzell ’20 by taking exactly 50 percent of the 644 votes cast. Political Science and International Affairs double major Jack Lashendock ’20 won the vice presidential election, defeating Rock Swartz ’22 by a 58 percent-42 percent margin.
Blasts from the past
This week in 1899, The Gettysburgian called on students to write a song for the annual college song contest. In years past, many students participated in writing heart-felt songs about the college, and the Gettysburgian urged students to take part once more. Students in 1899 seemed not as excited for the song writing contest, as the contest had been open beginning in March, and only a few students had submitted entries. The editors also stated the
top songs would end up in the Gettysburg College Song Book. After the May 15th deadline, the editor mentioned few people participated in the song contest that year, but there were many strong entries. This week in 1919, there w as a call to ROTC members to go to the six-week summer camp at Camp Lee, VA. They stated that men will leave the camp in their best possible shape after the “intensive and progressive” training they will go through. Any ROTC members could go,
These archived “blasts from the past” were compiled by copyeditor Shannon Zeltmann utilizing Special Collections in Musselman Library.
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More Senate Coverage on Page Four The Gettysburgian published some of the ideas these elementary school students had about college. One student talked about the many different classes and clubs one can be in. Another said you must work hard to get into college and you must read and do math well. A final student called Gettysburg “the greatest school in the world” and people should go to college.
THE GETTYSBURGIAN
NEWS Naming Principles Advisory Group Holds Listening Sessions Page 2
B y J ane F itzpatrick C ontributing W riter On Monday, Apr. 22, the Naming Principles Advisory Group, an ad-hoc committee that was created on the heels of Bob Garthwait’s resignation from the Board of Trustees after a photo of him wearing a Nazi uniform at a fraternity party came to light, held open forums in various locations throughout the day to hear from members of the campus community about their thoughts, concerns, and opinions in regards to the principles that should guide the college in naming buildings and programs. While Garthwait was the impetus for the creation of the committee, Trustee Richard Scheff, Chair of the Committee, emphasized in an email to the campus sent Apr. 9 that the group’s charge is to identify principles to “guide any re-naming controversies.” The listening sessions were conducted in an effort to gather input as the group, which is composed of Trustees, members of the faculty, administrators, and
students, prepares to make a policy recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Scheff said he expects to make that recommendation in time for the Board’s May meeting. In preparation for the meetings, the group distributed a survey that included questions pertaining to who should be involved in the naming process of programs and campus buildings and what the process of renaming a program or building should involve. In researching other institutional approaches to the matters, the group has found a common interest among educational institutions in implementing policies that are consistent with the institution’s current mission statement. For instance, Yale University was mentioned at one of the meetings on Monday as being an inspiration for how Gettysburg has begun its own process of creating a policy for naming and renaming programs and buildings. Yale renamed Calhoun College
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in 2017 after controversy stirred over Calhoun’s history of defending slavery was brought to light. The university encouraged dialogue from alumni, current students, and faculty alike before coming to this decision and forming its renaming policy, much like Gettysburg is currently working to do. The meetings held on Monday maintained the established goal of hearing from students, answering questions, and soliciting recommendations for the creation of Gettysburg College’s renaming policy. Some of the ideas taken into consideration included consulting the College’s historians on candidates for the naming of buildings and programs and providing historical backgrounds of the figures who are chosen for the honor. Concerns included the disconnect and misunderstandings of ideas and perspectives among older and younger generations and the trouble of social media spreading false information about current issues as well
as historical issues. “Monday’s sessions were informative and the Group appreciated the many thoughtful comments and observations of those who attended the listening sessions,” Scheff said in an email. “We hope that those who attended left with the same feeling. As we stated at the listening sessions, it is our expectation that the Board of Trustees will use the Group’s recommendations to formulate a Policy that addresses renaming situations.” “Speaking for myself,” Scheff added, “I have appreciated the opportunity to be involved in this process which has allowed me to meet many new people who care deeply about the College as I do. As a Trustee and alumnus, it gives me great pride to speak of Gettysburg and the work of this Group as one of the reasons why I feel that way.” Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Pontz contributed to this report.
College Plans Residence Hall Across from Jaeger Center B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor - in -C hief Gettysburg College officials are in the early stages of planning a new residence hall that would allow the college flexibility to renovate existing first-year halls that President Janet Morgan Riggs said at a March faculty meeting “are becoming a liability in terms of attracting students.” At that meeting, Riggs framed the issue as an “emerging priority” in which the Board of Trustees has taken interest. While the Board has not yet authorized new construction, the college is making plans for a new building that would most likely be on Lincoln Avenue across the street from the Jaeger Center in the current location of the Musselman Parking Lot. C o l l e g e spokesperson Jamie Yates said that the Board has authorized “infrastructure relocation and improvements that would facilitate future construction of a residence hall” and “preliminary planning that would position us to seek authorization to proceed.”
“While work on the infrastructure improvements will begin this summer,” Yates added, “visually students will not see much change over the next 12 months.” At a town hall meeting for college employees on Mar. 24, Riggs explained that the addition of a residence hall would allow the college to temporarily move students out of existing first-year residence halls to the new one while the existing ones are renovated. Upon completing renovations in one building, students would move back in, and another group of students would move into the new building. Ultimately, the addition of the hall will allow the college to reduce density in halls that, she said, are currently overcrowded. Dan Konstalid, Vice President of Finance and Administration, said that the college is aware that placing a residence hall in the current location of a parking lot would complicate an already challenging parking situation for students. “We are looking at options to replace that parking somewhere,” he said.
Hays: Wagner’s Article Indicative of ‘Rape Culture’
-Continued from page 1was a satirical list intended for humor was okay. “There’s many things we have that we consider to be satirical that we longer find to be acceptable -- blackface, for example, that’s satirical. That’s a satire. We no longer consider that to be acceptable,” said Hays. “We maybe don’t fire Governors of Virginia but we at least, you know, put them on notice. The Garthwait photo -- there’s another example of a photograph of someone dressed up imitating or as a character in a satirical TV show wearing this sort of Nazi regalia. And, certainly, I think a lot of students felt that satirical representation to be unacceptable. Is there a line for sexual assault? Is joking about sexual assault - for whom is it acceptable and for whom is it not? What does that say about one’s positionality and power? So that’s another thing that came up a lot in our class yesterday. Who gets to see this as abstract enough that it’s funny.” Hays met with Vice President of College Life and Dean of Students Julie Ramsey on Thursday as College Life found the posters regarding a potential violation of the Policy and Guidelines for Public Expression, Invited Speakers, and Distribution of Written Materials on Campus of the college. Section 3(d) a states, “Any postings must clearly identify the name of the organization or individual responsible for the posting. In addition, contact information for the organization or individual must be included. Specifically, a valid Gettysburg College email address or valid Gettysburg College group alias email must be clearly visible on the poster.” Hays has since put up more posters. “I mean these are his words right?,” she said. “And confronting somebody with their own words, not even on their private Facebook page - this is a public forum, it is meant to represent our college, it is meant to vetted by various levels. He put this out there, he thought this was funny, presumably. There are certainly students who have been walking through [Glatfelter] cackling about that and laughing about them... People get to have their reaction to it.”
Some of the posters hanging now have notes written on them, circling the part of the print out that says “April Fools’ special edition” saying things like “read more carefully. get a sense of humor.” and “what should we be angrier about, a JOKE article or rape culture on campus?” In regard to the notes, Hays commented, “The acceptance of this and the laughing of sexual assault is actually support for rape culture. This [article] itself is evidence of rape culture on this campus. I think that by laughing, by treating sexual assault as a joke, and then by also saying that ‘it’s as scary as all these black and brown people around the world, let’s demonize some black men, some scary black men’ that itself sort of supports rape culture on this campus. This is not an article critical of rape culture. This is actually an article supportive of rape culture.” In response to the resurfacing of the article, Wagner said, “By printing the article in the Opinions Section, I was hoping to start a dialog about what we were doing to stop sexual assault at Gettysburg College. I in no way meant to trivialized the matter. In tackling this problem, I think that we should use all of the rhetorical tools at our disposal including satire.” Emma Stejbach ‘19, who was an unsuccessful nominee to be the commencement speaker, remembered the article from its publication last year. Two weeks after the publication, Stejbach, who was at the time president of the Panhellenic Council, Colin Kowalski, thenpresident of the Interfraternity Council, co-authored a response opinion entitled “Not a Laughing Matter: Greek Life’s Perspective on Sexual Assault Awareness.” In the piece, the pair wrote about the efforts of Greek organizations on Gettysburg’s campus to improve student safety, especially during April, Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Stejbach recalled to The Gettysburgian, “When it initially came out, Colin and I were both not only in charge of both the governing bodies, but we worked in the OSAGL [Office of Student Activities
and Greek Life] office, so we were very aware of the way that it impacted people. For Colin, just being closer to fraternity life, [he] was very concerned with potentially painting an incorrect narrative about fraternities. I was more concerned with what it means for rhetoric like that to go unchecked.” Stejbach went on, “When we had reached out to him to [say] ‘if you want to come and express your concerns, if you have a valid concern about student safety, why don’t you come talk to us.’ And those emails, to the best of my knowledge, were not answered.” When Stejbach heard that Wagner was up for speaker, she reached out to Director of OSAGL Jonathan Allen. “I said, ‘Heard this is the commencement speaker. Just so you know, there will be reactions if this goes through.’ I sent the link. ... I became involved because I had voiced that concern to Jon and found out five days later that he decided that he was not going to share that information.” Olivia Lanctot, President of the Class of 2019 and member of the committee that selected Wagner, spoke about the students of the committee’s discomfort with being in the dark. “The committee and I were not aware of this article prior to voting,” Lanctot said. “A student came forward to voice their concern to the administration prior to announcement. However, the administration withheld the student concern from the selection committee. The vote for the student speaker was a tie, and the administrators involved broke the tie and selected Josh as the speaker.” Allen suggested that this year’s selection process was the same as in year’s past and that he did nothing out of the ordinary. “I cannot stress enough that this year’s process, with the exception of the written speech review and the addition of more student representatives, followed the same established process that has been used for years,” he said. “Regarding the concerns that students feel I withheld information, I don’t believe this to be true. I do believe I acted appropriately and in accordance with our process.
The article in question has been part of the public domain, through print and online distribution, for over a year. While I was aware of it when it was published, by the time our selection process started I would not have been able to recall most of the content or the author if someone had asked me. It was only after the committee had voted to nominate Joshua Wagner that I was reminded of the article.” A f t e r t h e announcement of Wagner’s selection, a petition circulated by Stejbach has been disseminated via a variety of email aliases around campus, called “Petition to Replace the 2019 Student Commencement Speaker.” The preamble of the of the petition reads: “Josh Wagner was recently named the 2019 student commencement speaker. He authored an article in the Gettysburgian last year that used sexual and domestic violence as punchlines for an April Fools’ Joke article. When given multiple opportunities to express concerns about sexual assault on campus, provide a clarifying statement, apologize to those affected, or retract the article, he chose not to. Student concerns about this article, which were raised with the administration, were withheld from the voting committee during the selection process for commencement speaker. Many students, including some members of the voting committee, are concerned about valorizing someone as a representative of the Class of 2019 who promotes this problematic discourse around sexual and domestic violence on campus. Signing this petition indicates your support for the committee to replace the speaker.” The petition calls for signatures from students, faculty, administration, parents, support staff, and alumni. As of 8:00 pm on Thursday, April 25, Stejbach said the petition has received 272 signatures. Stejbach did not reveal the names of the creators of the petition, but provided The Gettysburgian with a comment from them. “There have been comments from mostly students, but also parents and alumni,” she said. “It ranges from being personally affected as victims of sexual/domestic
(Photo Gauri Mangala/The Gettysburgian) violence, to the administration selection process, the only not doing enough about this, to factors taken into account were feeling as though Josh is not a the speech and its delivery,” he said. “The committee neither good representative.” Wagner said that collected resumes from the none of the petitioners have candidates nor asked for contacted him directly about any submissions to any oncampus publications. To be the article. “The petition seems clear, neither the Class of misdirected to me,” said 2019 officers nor the greater Wagner. “The organizers selection committee endorse have not reached out to me the Gettysburgian article concerning the article, but I in question, nor the use of hope that they know that I do sexual assault as a punchline. take sexual assault seriously. If However, we take pride in our they had a petition that tasked conduction of the selection the administration to stop process and therefore stand by sexual assault at Gettysburg, the results of it.” He added, I would be the first to sign it. “Following a discussion with As an advocate against sexual administrators, we have found assault, I am saddened that they are using me as a symbol that there has been backlash upon the announcement of of a broken system.” Allen added that the student Commencement circulating the article to the speaker before. Situations like selection committee would these in the past have proven have subjected Wagner to themselves to demonstrate heightened scrutiny that other the potential for personal growth and development at candidates had not received. “A review of publication, Gettysburg College and hope social media posts, or other that this situation can be a public forms of expression continuation of that.” For the college’s are not part of our selection part, Ramsey said in an email process,” said Allen. “As Thursday afternoon, “I met previously mentioned, the earlier today with the faculty candidates are judged on wellmember who reportedly put established criteria related to up the posters. She now has the speech they wrote and their ability to deliver it. To judge a copy of the policy and I Josh with additional criteria have encouraged her to that other candidates were comply with the spirit of the not held to is fundamentally policy. I have also met with the sponsor of the petition, unfair.” Todd Sammis, Secretary of the senior class officers and the Class of 2019, voiced to the selected Commencement The Gettysburgian a need for speaker to encourage them to a better process of selecting come together for productive dialogue around these class speaker. “ T h r o u g h t h e concerns.”
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Faculty Meeting News and Notes: April 18, 2019 B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor - in -C hief
After spending the entirety of its second consecutive meeting discussing the proposal, the Gettysburg College faculty seemed poised for a vote on whether to approve a motion from the Management Department to add a dual major in Business to the college curriculum Thursday afternoon. Instead, the faculty parliamentarian raised a question of procedure and a motion came from the floor to postpone the vote, and the faculty voted 7958-1 to delay voting until the faculty’s final meeting on May 2, which is typically reserved for valedictories in honor of retiring faculty members.
Discussion of Business Major Changes from Original Proposal Professors Heather Odle-Dusseau and Bennett Bruce, Chair and PreBusiness Advisor in the Management Department respectively, opened the meeting by outlining changes to the structure and oversight of the proposed major based on concerns raised at the April 4 faculty meeting. Specifically, the declaration period for the second major would be in the spring of students’ sophomore year rather than the fall, allowing more time for students to determine their first major since the business major applications would require a plan to connect business to the primary major. Additionally, Odle-Dusseau announced that the program would be supported by a Cross-Disciplinary Business Advisory Committee composed of faculty from across the college “to discuss ideas for integrating the dual Business major into other majors,” she said in a subsequent email. Odle-Dusseau and Bruce also emphasized their argument that this program would be distinctive from what is offered at other colleges in that it contains a “critical action-learning” component that will require students to study abroad, complete an internship, or participate in community service and that the program will embrace
critical theory, which Bruce said is uncommon if not unprecedented at the undergraduate level. “No one does this — that I know of — at the undergraduate level,” Bruce said. The other primary announcement was that grade point average would not be the sole determining factor in admitting students to the program. Although the original proposal called for a minimum GPA of 3.0, the Academic Program and Policy Committee (APPC) rejected that plan, and OdleDusseau said at the meeting that the department would use a more holistic process to assess applications. “We certainly don’t want to create a system that would benefit some students over others relative to their background or their race or ethnicity, and so we want to be very careful about that,” she said. “Anyone would be able to apply for this program.” She said that reviewing the rationale students provide for connecting business to their first major and assessing their performance in business-related courses would, in addition to overall grades, weigh heavily in admitting the 60 students annually that the program could serve. Support from President’s Council
Before opening the floor to discussion, President Janet Morgan Riggs provided a few of her thoughts as president on the proposal, noting that she has heard apprehension from some faculty members that their departments will lose positions to support the hiring of the two new tenuretrack faculty members Provost Chris Zappe says the proposed program would require as well as any future expansion. “It’s not in anyone’s interest to pull lines from departments that need lines,” Riggs said. Zappe will continue to assess enrollment trends and students’ disciplinary interest to allocate tenuretrack faculty positions where they are needed, she added. Riggs also said that she anticipates two potential funding sources for the program: new fundraising,
which she said cannot begin in earnest until the faculty approves the concept, and allocating money from the college’s year-end surplus, which is a decision that rests with the Board of Trustees, but that she imagines will be on the table if the proposal is approved by the Board’s May meeting. Riggs shared that she has heard from some faculty members who feel this proposal had been rushed to the floor, and she said that one reason to proceed now is to give staff two full summers to work on the program before its proposed start in the fall of 2020, noting that if approval is delayed to the fall, the program may not be able to begin until the following year. She then turned to Vice President of Educational and Enrollment Services Barbara Fritze to make the case for moving quickly from a student recruitment perspective. “From the enrollment team’s perspective, this is absolutely critical for us to compete in a very, very competitive marketplace,” Fritze said, going on to note that “every one of our competitors” has a business program. If the college cannot continue the conversation with families of prospective students potentially interested in studying business, it could hurt enrollment in the longer term as the number of college-going students decreases, she added. Faculty Discussion
Several members of the faculty including Thompson Professor of Environmental Studies Randy Wilson, Associate Professor of English McKinley Melton, and Graeff Professor of English Literature Suzanne Flynn probed the distinction between Business and the Management Department’s current major in Organization & Management Studies (OMS), including questions as to whether pairing OMS and Business was a pairing of two distinct majors (as Bruce had previously described Management as one of three legs of education in the broader field of Business) or whether OMS should merely be a track or concentration in a broader Business major that could be offered out of
the existing department. Bruce noted that he could make a case that Economics and Business are as closely related as OMS and Business and that, in his view, either would be a worthwhile pairing given the differences in what each field encapsulates. Flynn, who framed her comments in the context of having spent the previous week in advising appointments with firstyear students, said that she worries about the number of requirements and hurdles that double majors place on students at the expense of them pursuing their genuine intellectual interests. “With this one in particular, my fear is we’re going to get a lot of OMS/ Business dual majors or Econ/Business dual majors, and that’s 20 plus courses, and then you throw in the Gettysburg Curriculum courses that are not going to be fulfilled by either of those majors, and you’re up to 26 or 27. And, before you know it, our students are not really getting a liberal arts education. We’re really tying their hands, so that’s my first concern.” she said, elaborating that her objection is not to dual majors themselves, but that they are structured such that they automatically entail taking at least 20 courses. Particularly in the case of business, which she imagines is a major that parents will pressure their children to take, she said that she worries this proposal will eliminate the possibility for students to pursue passions for fields that have no overlap such as anthropology or philosophy. Odle-Dusseau responded that the proposal, as designed, is “very intentional” about making connections with other departments in which students may have interests. Professor and Chair of Economics John Cadigan spoke on behalf of the Faculty Finance Committee, which he also chairs, to state its support for the program based on its potential for increased applications and enrollment, while Professor of Psychology Brian Meier spoke on behalf of APPC to state that his committee voted not to support the major as a committee cosponsor to the Management Department’s motion based
on the proposal that was presented to his committee several weeks ago. Cadigan added, in response to Flynn, that he finds the notion that studying economics, OMS, or business is not part of a liberal arts education “deeply offensive.” “The idea that the study of business and economics cannot be done in a way that focuses on interdisciplinary thinking, appropriate communication, the ability to write, the ability to problem solve in a wide variety of contexts — these are skill sets that business leaders have to have, and they’re skills that our students need,” he said. Two other concerns during the discussion came from Associate Professor of Physics Kurt Andresen and Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology Amy Evrard. Andresen noted that the first year is often the hardest for students in the natural sciences (including physics), and he worried that students from underrepresented minorities, who, he said, tend to struggle more early in their academic careers before coming around later on, and who also, he imagines, might generally be more interested in a Business dual major, but would be at a disadvantage in the application process their sophomore year based on those early grades. He also expressed concern that the number of courses in some Bachelor of Science degrees would make it impossible to complete that degree and a Business major along with the Gettysburg Curriculum requirements. Bruce responded that he has not seen too many students from the natural sciences completing the Business minor, so he is not sure whether to be overly concerned about a large number of students wanting but being unable to complete a second major. OdleDusseau again emphasized that the application review would be holistic and take into account some of the factors Andresen mentioned. Evrard expressed that she felt this proposal had been “rushed” to the floor without enough information about the availability of electives or core courses in departments
besides Management, noting that Economics, for example, is chronically understaffed but would be a core course in this new major, and that, although her department proposed a new course that could be an elective in Business, it would probably run only every other year and would accommodate a maximum of eight Business majors at a time, which would not do much to put a dent in the elective requirements of up to 120 Business majors that would need to fill numerous elective requirements. Odle-Dusseau acknowledged the concerns but said that she was excited that more than 20 proposals for new elective courses came as part of a call for submissions earlier in the semester. No Vote Taken Shortly after 5:00 p.m., the end time for faculty meetings, Riggs sought to hold the vote the Faculty Council had scheduled on the motion, but Parliamentarian Kevin Wilson, Professor of Psychology, questioned whether the changes in the proposal from the last meeting meant that the Management Department had effectively introduced a new motion. Ultimately, he determined that it did not, but, before a vote on the proposal could be held, Randy Wilson moved to postpone the vote until the faculty’s final meeting. The motion passed 79-58 with one abstention.
In Other News The only other item on the docket at the meeting was an announcement from Associate Professor and Chair of Mathematics Ben Kennedy that a Presidential Transition Planning Committee charged with helping to acclimate incoming President Robert Iuliano to campus has been convened and includes three faculty members: Kennedy, Associate Professor and Chair of History Scott Hancock, and Professor of Political Science Caroline Hartzell. Iuliano’s inauguration will be a multiday event in the fall held September 27-30, 2019.
Second Annual Peace Lambda Chi Alpha Third and Justice Week Annual Ruck March B y N icole D e J acimo S taff W riter
This past week, Gettysburg College held its second annual Peace and Justice Week hosted by the Peace and Justice Studies Program. The week commenced at the Peace Pole on Monday, Apr. 8. Students, faculty and members of the Gettysburg College community shared their “hopes and wishes for peace and justice in the world” to set an inspirational tone for the rest of the week. The Peace and Justice Week was started last year by Qiqi Mei ‘18 who is currently working towards her Master’s Degree at Columbia. She heard of other colleges hosting their own Peace and Justice Week, and was inspired to start a new Gettysburg tradition. “The Peace and Justice Minor,” head of Peace and Justice Studies Professor Hakim Williams said, “may be the only minor here that requires students to plan an event.” These events
throughout the year raise awareness about injustice, and teach students and faculty how to encourage peace and justice not only at Gettysburg, but around the world throughout students’ lives. Emma Dorshimer ‘19 and Christina Noto ’19, President and VicePresident of the Peace and Justice Student Council respectively, put in a tremendous amount of work to ensure the success of this week. Noto said that it was nice to see larger turnouts this year but hopes to see the week-long event gain popularity with each year. They kept a few of the same events from the first year, such as the Education For Social Change Panel and the Peace Party, but the pair is “always dreaming up new ideas to keep it relevant,” said Dorshimer. After days of panels, speakers, and training sessions, the week ended where it began, at the Peace Pole to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Emily Silverstein’s
murder. Alumni and students came out before the commemoration to decorate the area around the pole with colorful works of chalk and a large bouquet of yellow flowers—a color Emily often wore with pride as a member of Amnesty International. She promoted peace and worked on many projects to inspire justice on campus. Her legacy lives on as a justice warrior and proud Gettysburgian. The Peace and Justice Week was co-sponsered by Amnesty International, the departments of Philosophy; Religious Studies; Women and Sexuality Studies; Political Science; Africana Studies; Economics; Music Education; Education; Interdisciplinary Studies, the offices of Multicultural Education; the Provost; Diversity and Inclusion; Student Life, the Panhellenic Council, LGBTQA A d v o c a c y a n d Education, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Lambdi Chi Alpha at the Ruck March (Photo courtesy of Lambda Chi Alpha) B y C harlie W illiamson S ports E ditor This past Saturday, April 6, Lambda Chi Alpha held its third annual Ruck March philanthropy event. The event was co-sponsored by Alpha Tau Omega, Phi Delta Theta, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon and featured 65 people running, walking, or even running with their dog the 2.4 miles. For the first time, a Lambda team won the event, taking home the $250 gift card. The team consisted of Caleb Parker ’19—who won the event overall with a time just under 15 minutes—Orrin Wilson ’20, Skyeler McCully ’19, Harrison Rottman ’20, and Christian Whitsel ’21. The SAE team came in second place led by Mike DeLeo ’19, who also ran with his dog, Belly, and came in third place overall. The Ruck March
historically benefits an organization that helps retired or injured army veterans. This year, the event benefitted the TruBar Foundation, which is committed to building a Veteran’s Village to benefit homeless veterans. Many ROTC cadets also attended the march to show their support and the national anthem was played before runners took their marks. Parker set the pace out of the gate and was followed closely by several SAE members, including DeLeo and his dog. However, at the halfway point, Parker quickly pulled away from the pack and finished comfortably ahead of everyone else. “To both Lambda and I, it is important to help people who demonstrated their service and sacrifice and benefit our community as a whole,” said Kurtis Grey ’21, the Philanthropy Chair
for Lambda, who is also a member of Gettysburg’s ROTC program. Grey stressed that doing philanthropy for the community also functions as a way of uniting the campus around a common cause. “Allowing a large portion of the Greek community to come together for a great cause is important because it allows for a better connection between Greek and non-Greek life, along with the organizations as a whole,” said Grey. Overall, the event raised over $1,700 for the TruBar organization; Lambda is excited to run the event again next spring. Editor’s Note: The author is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha. (-G. Mangala)
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Student Senate Elects Executive Board. Arbaugh Breaks Silence on Bias in Senate. B y G auri M angala and G arrett A dams At the Monday, April 22 meeting, Student Senate ran its technocratic elections, along with running through a myriad of new business in the longest meeting of the year. Anna Perry discusses their experience with another Gettysburg student on Get Acquainted Day (Photo Mary Frasier/The Gettysburgian)
Students Hold ‘Ask Me’ Demonstration on Get Acquainted Day B y G auri M angala N ews E ditor During Get Acquainted Day (GAD), Saturday, Apr. 13, a group of students stood on campus outside of Servo and all throughout the pathway of the tours holding signs stating “Ask me about the Gettysburg Experience” with specific statements of their personal experience, like being a woman in the economics department or being a transgender student on campus. The students handed out pamphlets with the mission statement and demands of the protest. Read the pamphlet below. Students also held petitions to sign and have gotten signatures both from current and prospective students. Anna Perry ’21, who held a sign saying “Ask me about the trans experience at Gettysburg,” said “I’m protesting the false narrative that GAD day gives to prospective students. When I came here on GAD day as a prospective student, I thought that I was going to be coming into a welcoming community and that’s why I chose to attend this college over other colleges and then I got here, and it was a completely different story. Narratives like mine are excluded from GAD day and its unfair to marginalize students who are weighing their option s. So, that’s the main reason. I’m also here because I created
a list of demands that I stand very passionately by that are based on my personal experiences and observations from bias reports, from inadequate representation in faculty and administration, and from unfair hiring practices. ” In addition to the tour pathway, students were also stationed around Stine Lake and other main pathways in the center of campus, sharing their experiences. The group plans to take their demands to the college and ask for a more diverse and inclusive Gettysburg. Vanessa Martinez ’19, the media liaison for the group, said, “We’re coming all together just for different things. We see that Get Acquainted Day is the day where Gettysburg College talks a lot about different programs for diversity and things going on and really promotes these programs, but at the same time these programs are not as robust as they could be. So right here we are together, to really speak about our experiences that aren’t necessarily talked about or are part of the marketing. Just really getting to tell students like ‘hey here we are and here we are speaking about our own experiences, and we want you to know about these experiences — not because we don’t want you to come here, but because we want you to be informed about what exactly is happening on campus and how we
A pamphlet distributed by protesting students
exactly feel about it.’ We’re encouraging students to be a part of this if they decide to come here and also for them to know they have a community here. They have a community that although were all different and we all have diverse experiences but we can all come together in this moment to really speak about the need to highlight these experiences and the need to really encourage these experiences through the different demands that we are making.” Dean of Students Julie Ramsey said in an email, “Students are raising some important issues that reflect their experience on campus and doing so in a respectful manner that engages fellow students as well as prospective students and parents.” She added, “Of course, I wish that students didn’t experience frustration with the college, but I deeply respect their desire to express their concerns and their ideas for changes they want to see happen. My sense is that students feel that we listen to their concerns, but things don’t always change as quickly as they would like. I hope that we can continue the conversation with them about their concerns and keep working to address them as directly as possible.” Staff Writer & Director of Photography Mary Frasier contributed to this report.
Technocratic Election Forums Giacomo Coppola ‘22 and Jackie Crowley ‘20 sat for the treasurer forum. Among the questions, Mangala asked the pair if they had noticed microaggressions within the Budget Management Committee (BMC) and within Senate as a whole. Later on, senators Alex Xie ‘20 and Erik Cabrera ‘21 asked Coppola and Crowley to expand on what they considered to be a microaggression. Coppola defined a microaggression as “the way we interact on a dayto-day basis… one of them can be asking questions or making statements that are subtly-racially-charged. I don’t know if I want to repeat one, but I’ve heard people say… ‘Oh you’re really pretty for --’ whatever. I think that’s one of the most terrible ones.” He went on to posit that people who aren’t targeted by microaggressions don’t tend to understand them for what they are and that more work needs to be done to talk about these issues. Crowley vaguely spoke about her experiences feeling uncomfortable in BMC, stating “I know personally one time my freshman year something was said that made me uncomfortable. And it was kind of hard to stand up for myself but I’m glad I did. I think that because I was in that situation I know how it important it is for someone to feel welcome [in BMC].” This was followed by the forum for the Secretary questions, Katherine Cramer ‘21 and Syd Quan ‘22 both ran. Katherine is currently abroad during the process and sent in a short video detailing why she felt she could fit into the position. Syd Quan sat alone in front of the Senate and was asked by Mangala how her time as the Public Relations Chair for Senate could benefit her. She referred to her promotion of the Senate Instagram and her work on the servo suggestion table. Courtney Cholewa ‘22 ran unopposed for clubs liaison. She stated that as an executive board that it is important both for the leaders to be approachable, but also for them to go out of their way to ask their constituents what they need from Senate. Shane Carley ‘22 ran unopposed for Parliamentarian. He was asked how he would ensure that constitutional amendments would be made “thoughtfully and carefully.” He stated, “You have to approach it in a way that we see how it would impact people from all angles.” At the end of his questioning he presented a printout of the 27 page constitution in response to playful jests from vice-president-elect Jack Lashendock ‘20 and secretary Marisa Balanda ‘21. After questions, the forum ended with voting slips being handed
out to senators and affinity leaders for a secret ballot style election. Carley and Cholewa won Coppola beat out Crowley 16 to 5, and Quan led Cramer 15 to 6. Budget Requests The following clubs were allotted budget requests: - EMS Club was allotted $591.96 for fanny packs for students to carry in case of emergencies. - BSU was allotted $1,492 for Lawn Jawn and a Spring Fest party. - Amnesty International was allotted $111.97 for a reimbursement for the flags placed on Stine Lake, depicting the number of gun-related deaths in the United States. Student Senate Endowment Fund Proposal President Nick Arbaugh ‘20 presented a Senate Endowment fund alongside John Allen, Director of the Office of Student Activities and Greek Life. The endowment would be made of money of the rollover account and would create an endowment to be used to supplement student leadership d ev elo p men ts an d o f f campus opportunities, as well as create an annual Janet Morgan Riggs Student Leadership Scholarship. A Gettysburg College endowment must have at least $30,000. The directive would call for $20,000 to be taken from the rollover account and the remaining $10,000 would be tentatively fundraised, however any money not donated would be also taken from the rollover account. Before senators could approve the directive, Arbaugh was informed that the body had lost quorum and therefore could not presently vote on the directive, and that the votes to approve the budget requests were moot. Arbaugh chose to appoint Syd Quan as a senator, and the body hastily reapproved the budgets and voted in support of the Senate Endowment Fund. A previously tabled constitutional amendment was once again tabled in the interest of time with no conversation. New Club Recognition Gettysburg Life Witness, a new club that considers itself to be a ‘pro-life’ organization came for recognition. “The mission of Gettysburg College Life Witness is to establish an active pro-life culture among the members of our community by educating our peers on life issues and actively promoting the dignity of life for all persons from conception to natural death,” said president Alyssa Chapman ’22. She clarified that the club was “not just like an anti-abortion club” and wishes to discuss a range of issues affecting the dignity of life, including racism and the death penalty. The club is not affiliated with any religious organizations or political parties. It does, however, intend to reach out to religious, political, a n d c u l t u r al g r o u p s to participate in conversation regarding these right-tolife matters. During the ensuing
conversation, those present questioned what exactly the club would do. Some remained confused as to whether or not the club was anti-abortion. Chapman explained that the club would volunteer in town, specifically mentioning Survivors, Inc. People questioned the impetus for the club to volunteer at the shelter if it was a pro-life club, to which Chapman responded that the goal is to make sure that women know all of their options. S e n a t o r Alexandros EconomouGarcia ’22 requested for the club to wait for recognition and restructure “in order to make the club a bit more open to students,” specifically those who might not be comfortable with being a part of prolife/anti-abortion club. Chapman stressed the need for continuity among their executive board members, as written in the club’s constitution, and said that they had no plans to change anything at this time. After much discussion, the club was recognized with 10-5, with five abstentions. After the meeting, Arbaugh was critical of the treatment that Chapman received. Alluding to the numerous times that members of the Senate have decried microaggressions and existence of bias within the organization, Arbaugh said that he considered this to be a real example of that bias. “We’ve seen a lot of talk about bias in Senate this year,” he said. “I think that was a perfect example of it.” Most recently, Arbaugh spoke about his apparent silence on the matter on The Gettysburgian’s podcast On Target, “It’s not my place to sit and argue with people about their concerns… I cannot sit there and, you know, yell back ‘It’s not true’ or ‘You’re wrong’ or push back against that because then it looks like, you know, I’m pushing — I’m repressing that sort of talk — I’m pushing back against it too hard… I’m taking it out on marginalized communities and stuff like that.” He went on to discuss that he is aware that people were unhappy with his presidency because of his conservative image, but he maintained that his politics have never entered the Senate floor.
Opinion Regarding Servo Posters
Towards the end of the lengthy meeting, an opinion stating that the ‘Eat to Excel’ posters in Servo with humanlike figures made out of fruit and vegetables should be removed because they are “highly disturbing and unsettling,” according to the document. The opinion was not adopted. The new executive board will be installed at the next and last Student Senate meeting of the 2018-19 academic year, on Monday, April 29.
(Editor’s Note: I moderated the forum that this article mentions. I did not, however, write any of the portions of the story that involve me, and final editorial control was exercised by Benjamin Pontz, editor-in-chief. -G. Mangala)
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Kenneth L. Smoke Colloquium: Psychological Studies of Makeup EI Lecture: Climate Change
B y C ameron D’A mica S taff W riter Dr. Richard Russell, Associate Professor of Psychology, delivered a lecture titled “Psychological Studies of Makeup” for the final Kenneth L. Smoke Colloquium of the semester on Monday, Apr. 15 in Bowen Auditorium. Professor Russell lectured on human behavior pertaining to self-adornment, which is widespread and can take many forms, most notably the practice of facial cosmetics. He presented evidence developing an account of how and why makeup works in increasing attractiveness. The lecture was specifically focused on makeup worn by women, but he offered to answer questions pertaining to men and makeup. Russell described controlled experiments that find that faces wearing makeup are consistently found more attractive. He specifically discussed how facial attractiveness is enhanced through the use of makeup, as he presented evidence that there is significant agreement of adults in many cultures finding similar qualities attractive. He explained that sexual dimorphism, age, and health are related to beauty. Russell said, “Male faces more masculine are considered
more attractive, and female faces with more feminine traits are considered more attractive.” Similarly, faces that look younger and healthier are also perceived as more attractive, along with faces that have features that are more similar to the average population. Features being symmetrical is also a factor, but it is less significant. Russell’s lecture focused on age and sexual dimorphism. He explained how women are around three percent lighter than men, which is consistent across different racial groups. He says that there is more contrast between female facial features than male facial features. He replicated experiments that find that “females have greater ‘facial contrast’ than males, and sex difference is found in eyes alone and lips alone.” “I propose that makeup increases attractiveness through the accentuation of these visual factors of beauty, and that the accentuation of attractiveness is one of the key functions of makeup, along with providing visual clues to identity,” Russell explained. Russell presented photographs that explain his findings and ideas he spoke about in his lecture. The final portion of the lecture was a question and answer session with the audience.
Spinelli Will S e r v e a s Commencement S p e a k e r B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor - in -C hief Jerry Spinelli ’63, the famed children’s author of titles including the Newbery Award-winning Maniac Magee, will deliver the keynote address at the Class of 2019’s graduation ceremony in May. Spinelli has written more than 30 books that have been published in 40 languages, and an adaptation of his 2000 book Stargirl will be released as a Disney movie in 2020. It is that book that is the “absolute favorite” of Miranda Rose Lieberman ’19, who said she was beyond excited when she heard he would be the speaker at her commencement. “It had a really profound impact on my childhood, so when I discovered he attended Gettysburg it made it that
much more special when it was announced that he would be speaking because he has that connection to the school,” she said. “I can’t wait to hear what words of wisdom he’ll have for our class, especially considering he was once a graduate here himself.” Another member of the Class of 2019, Daisy Sullivan, suggested Spinelli to college officials after reading Crash last summer. Quoted in a release on the college’s website, Sullivan said, “I’m so excited to learn that he will be our speaker because our generation grew up reading his books. They reflect a type of wisdom that my peers and I could really benefit from as we gear up to enter the ‘real world.’” W h i l e Commencement speakers typically receive honorary degrees, Spinelli was already awarded one in 2005.
and Income Inequality B y P hoebe D oscher A ssistant N ews E ditor
Dr. Charles Griffiths ‘86 and Mr. Charlie Cray presented on Tuesday, Apr. 16 as part of an Eisenhower Institute event on the imminent threat of climate change and its disproportionately negative impact on communities with low incomes. Griffiths, a Senior Economist for the Environmental Protection Agency and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University and Cray, a senior research specialist at Greenpeace USA, split the presentation based on their respective specialties, but were both in agreement about the harsh detriment of climate change on the world. Griffiths centered his portion of the presentation around the charge question: “How does climate change affect minority and low-income groups in the U.S.?” He tracked impacts from multiple approaches, including the effects of climate on disease and climate policy, overall tracking income distribution in the U.S. to prove the point. The economist found no clear pattern of income distribution based on climate change; poorer areas are not universally found to be at a higher risk of the effects of climate change. He did, however, track the minority population and find a cluster of these groups in central and northern parts of the country; he contended that we still cannot simply question the impact, due to some heterogeneity at the country level. Griffiths referred to a comprehensive paper that tracks the distribution of environmental damages and evaluates exposure between the rich and poor, determining which are more or less exposed. Researchers found marginal damages at the conclusion of their study. T w o m o r e important categories that Griffiths considered were damage function and vulnerability. He defined damage function as the level of exposure to environmental conditions and a vector of socioeconomic attributes that affect exposure, and defined vulnerability as the propensity to generate harm. Vulnerability, he noted, depends on a number of factors including baseline health, avoidance behavior, and
defensive instruments. Griffiths then made reference to heterogeneity on marginal damages by quantifying the exposure from a graphical standpoint, creating a non-linear damage function. He noted the cross-sectional patterns in climate exposure, primarily tracking heat exposure in hotter or drier areas on on poorer populations. He cited the history of tropical cyclones and tornadoes in mid-latitude, middleincome areas due to the temperature and pressure gradient. He claimed that future rates of high temperatures and rainfall are generally distributed evenly on an international level although the poor are more likely to be exposed to temperature extremes. Then, Griffiths m e n t i o n e d t h e heterogeneous marginal damages from climate change, including factors like access to technology. He cited the nonlinear damage function again, where factors such as crop yields, mortality, energy demand, and labor supply get increasingly worse overtime. He estimated the economic damage from climate change in the U.S. and representative concentration pathways, including CO2 emission trajectories that come with increased temperature overtime. Griffiths gave examples of dose response functions in elements such as projected mortality, energy expenditures, highrisk labor, property crime, violent crime, coastal flooding, and finally total direct damage. He noted the expected future damages– both increases and decreases–around the country. Griffiths then handed the presentation over to Cray, who continued the conversation by discussing climate change and income inequality from the point of view as an activist with an anecdotal lens. Cray recalled living in Chicago in 1995 during a deadly heat wave. He remembers high rates of asthma in the community, especially urban minority groups who lived near coalfired power plants and suffered firsthand from the pollution. He transitioned into discussion of deadly, extreme weather events that are increasingly becoming more intense as a result of climate
change. He noted that no one is exempt from the consequences of climate change, especially as it shifts into the areas of politics, economics, and overall lifestyle. Cray mentioned the best way to find a solution to these multifaceted consequences: “We need a stronger understanding of synergistic impacts to deal with things more rationally.” Cray also discussed the increase in violence and tension as a result of cognitive deficit caused by climate change. Some areas that are directly affected by climate change may be more susceptible to terrorism; in fact, a drought in Syria in 2006 was a contributing factor to the Civil War and migration. In the same realm of migration, Cray made reference to the expected double in number of already 70 million migrants around the world by the year 2050 due to climate change. The United States has recently seen the harsh toll of a climate changecaused natural disaster in the wake of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico; the territory is still in debt and
suffers from debilitated energy systems. Cray brought the conversation back to the local level by examining the unequal impacts of those who live on either end of the the Mariner East Pipeline in Pennsylvania. He mentioned that climate change will become a profitable business for insurance companies. Those who are less protected will suffer without proper aid to rebuild their communities and protect themselves from public health problems caused by untreated mold or contaminated water. Throughout the presentation, Cray reinforced the claim that there is no debate behind the seriousness of climate change and the importance of timely remediation. He asserted that the Green New Deal confirmed the reality of climate change, and now we all must do our parts to save the Earth. “Climate deniers are no longer standing on that ever-thinning shard of ice that is called climate denial,” Cray said, “We are standing on solid ground to tell generations to get out of the way while we [millennials] lead.”
Senate Will Fund Menstrual Care Products B y G auri M angala N ews E ditor
The Monday, April 15 meeting of Student Senate officially announced the outcomes of the presidential and vice presidential elections for the Executive Board 201920: Patrick McKenna ’20 and Jack Lashendock ’20 will serve as president and vice president, respectively. Vice President Pat Custer ’19 announced that petitions and Google forms for senator, class office, and technocratic executive positions are due Wednesday, April 17. Secretary Marisa Balanda announced that the Gettysburg News Network has been derecognized as a Senate club. A constitutional amendment stating that absences may be excused at the discretion of the
Senate Executive board and clarifying language regarding eligibility to run for executive positions was tabled. A b u d g e t request for $7,500 to fund 25 vending units of menstrual care products was allotted. Senator Nadine Snyder ’21 voiced concerns that the college should be paying for the machines. Public Relations chair Syd Quan ’22 and College Life Advisory Committee Chair Rock Swartz ’22 presented about the suggestions that they had received during their “Servo Suggestion table.” To view the full presentation, watch The Gettysburgian livestream. During student concerns, Melanie Pangol ’21 urged president-elect McKenna to sit down with her to discuss the issues of micro-aggressions in Student Senate, to which McKenna agreed.
DPS Crime Log April 10, 2019 (Wednesday) -All Other Offenses: Harassment at Schmucker Hall; Open - Under Investigation by Department of Public Safety (DPS) -All Other Offenses: Defiant Trespass at Eddie Plank Gym; Closed - Referred to Gettysburg Bureau Police (GPD) April 14, 2019 (Sunday) -Drug Abuse Violation: Possession: Marijuana/ Possession of Drug Paraphernalia; Closed - Referred to Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities (SRR) April 15, 2019 (Monday) -Sexual Assault/Rape at Unknown Campus Location; Closed - Referred to Title IX Director, Campus Security Authority Report - No Additional Details April 16, 2019 (Tuesday) -Drug Abuse Violation: Possession: Marijuana/
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia at Musselman Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia at Apple Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR
April 18, 2019 (Thursday) -Sex Offenses: Fondling, Assault, Other Assaults - Not aggravated Harassment - Stalking at Schmucker Hall; Closed - Referred to Title IX Director -Sex Offenses: Fondling, Assault, Other Assaults - Not aggravated Harassment - Stalking
April 20, 2019 (Saturday) -Drug Abuse Violation: Possession: Marijuana/ Possession of Drug Paraphernalia at Hanson Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR
April 19, 2019 (Friday) -Drug Abuse Violations: Possession: Marijuana/Liquor Laws: Underage Possession at Colonial Hall; Closed Referred to SRR -Larceny/Theft of Sign from Parking Lot at Constitution Lot; Closed - No Suspects or Witnesses -Drug Abuse Violations: Possession of Marijuana/ Possession of Drug Paraphernalia at Stine Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR -Drug Abuse Violations: Possession of Marijuana/
April 22, 2019 (Monday) -Liquor Laws: Underage Consumption at Paul Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR, RA/RC Report -Liquor Laws: Underage Possession at Rice Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR, RA/RC Report -Liquor Laws: Underage Consumption at Hanson Hall; Closed - Referred to SRR, RA/RC Report -Liquor Laws: False Identification Card at PublicClery: Carlisle Street 300 Block; Closed - Referred to SRR Compiled by Kaley Michael, Staff Writer
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New Club Holds Panel on Inequality in the United States B y N icole D e J acimo S taff W riter Last Thursday night in Mara Auditorium, a new club called The Half That’s Never Been Told held an introductory event entitled “Addressing American Inequality and An Introduction to a New Academic and Philanthropic Club.” President Tristan Chen ‘20 and then-Vice President David A. Roskos ‘20, who is now the club’s Community Service Coordinator, hosted the first club meeting, which was cosponsored by Phi Gamma Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Chen, diversity chair of Phi Gamma Delta, said he hoped to spark conversation between Greek life and the cultural clubs on Gettysburg’s campus. He ended up comparing himself to Emmett Till, offending the room. During the lecture, Chen expressed his experience with racism in the United States. While telling the story of an instance of a group of white men calling out the n-word in his direction, Chen stated, “And in that moment I felt like Emmett Till.” Many people in the room immediately raised their hands to object, including the club’s advisor, Dr. Scott Hancock, Chair of the History department and Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies. In a subsequent email to The Gettysburgian, Chen said that he did not intend to “compare my experience to Emmett till [sic]. I just wanted to share my experience encountering racist Trump confederates and wanted to make people aware that racism still exists and is a major problem in this country.” The floor then opened up and students shared a microphone to address the club’s intentions, Chen, and other students in attendance. Students asked why no women or representatives of the cultural groups with whom the club wants
to connect were on the executive board. Others were upset at Chen for making the comparison to Emmett Till and trying to speak for the black community and other communities that he is not a part of. A few students, however, defended Chen, including Lloyd Williams ’22 and Brian Brady ’20, both of whom contended that Chen’s intentions were good, and improvements will be made to the club. A few more hands raised and voices called out, but Chen pushed forward, and the meeting continued. He talked about injustice in America towards all people of color and members of the LGBTQ community, and the brutality of American colonization. Williams reached out to The Gettysburgian to show his support and said, “I’m a freshman African-American first gen student who attended the meeting… I want to say that I’m very happy to see an attempt to connect the two groups who have more in common than they think. I appreciate Tristan’s vision to bring the two demographics together for a collective gain.” Brady, a Phi Gamma Delta brother, also supported Chen and said, “We need to continually develop how we structure discussion with the help of BSU, LASA, and other multicultural groups to make our meetings as productive as possible.” Brady did agree that the first meeting was a rough start, but he has hope for the future. Later that night, after Chen’s lecture of America’s injustice, Roskos spoke on the philanthropic goals for the club. He began by stating, “As someone who is not a person of color, I cannot speak for the minority groups on campus and cannot speak to their experiences. I am here to learn, encourage conversation between groups on campus, and promote philanthropy.” He then outlined the club’s mission. Chen had originally presented the club to Student Senate as an academic and philanthropic
organization and did not mention his or the club’s affiliation with the Greek community. Currently, the group is raising money for ThriveDC, an organization fighting the hunger crisis and homelessness in DC. Their first mission of active philanthropy is to sort food cans at a food bank in Mechanicsburg, PA. Multiple students expressed their confusion and concern about the disconnect between Chen and Roskos speeches. One general sentiment that several students in attendance addressed was how the food drive and Chen’s thoughts were aligning into one organization. Later that night, Hancock sent an email to a few hundred students through the email aliases of the Office of Multicultural Engagement (OME), Black Student Union (BSU), and Latin American Student Association (LASA), apologizing for not advising Chen to speak and listen to those organizations beforehand. He said, “I need to ask for your forgiveness on two counts: for contributing to this kind of problem (which costs you time, mental effort, and emotional energy) by not intervening sooner with this club, and
for not apologizing to you all this evening as well… I am deeply sorry.” He also congratulated every student who stood up and spoke that night. “You … were simultaneously brilliant and considerate.” Originally, after the event, Chen told The Gettysburgian that “The night went exactly as I planned, and I am very happy to have started the conversation.” Later, Chen sent an email to The Gettysburgian that said, “After receiving the constructive criticism last night, I realize that there is a lot I still have to learn. Despite my experiences with discrimination, I am not Black, and I have no idea what it truly means to be Black. I have much to learn and I should have from the start communicated with multicultural groups on the campus. I do not want to be discouraged or demoralized by this, rather I want to use it as a learning experience. The outcome of the event last night motivated me to work harder and it motivates me to work with BSU, OME, and LASA. It is clear that there is a division on campus. I am looking forward to working with these organizations throughout the rest of the
objectives, along with ease of adoption; - and, merchandise that continues to reflect our greater Gettysburg College brand, including Bullets logo apparel and gifts for alumni, family, and friends.” Barnes & Noble operates more than 700 college stores nationwide. Janelle Wertzberger, Assistant Dean and Director of Scholarly Communications at Musselman Library, which has been working on textbook affordability for the past five years as textbook prices have increased by more than 200% since 1997, expressed concerns about how the new contract with Barnes & Noble will impact the college’s ongoing efforts to promote affordability and the use of open educational resources. “The larger library community is cautious when for-profit enterprises like Barnes & Noble claim to value affordability for their nonprofit clients,” Wertzberger said. “Sometimes contracts contain clauses which thwart those very goals. We have heard from colleagues at other schools with B&N
bookstores. They shared boilerplate B&N contracts that limit how faculty can access and disseminate open textbooks to their students. Of course, we would like to prevent negative impacts like this at Gettysburg.” C o l l e g e spokesperson Jamie Yates did not offer a specific figure as to how much the college expected to net from outsourcing the store’s operation, but she reiterated that market forces necessitated seriously considering Barnes & Noble’s proposal. “[D]isruption in market has led to decreases in sales and operating margins while at the same time, staffing and support costs increase from year to year,” she said. “As a result, net returns have been on the decline. Barnes and Noble made a compelling offer that was thoughtfully deliberated by the College and will be financially advantageous to the institution.” A working group has been meeting to discuss the store’s future and considered at least one other offer, a source familiar with the deliberations said.
The Gettysburg College Bookstore (Photo courtesy Yates said that the savings for a bonus.” Barnes & Noble can Current bookstore achieve will come through employees will have the “economies of scale” rather opportunity to interview than decreasing employee with Barnes & Noble, but compensation or benefits, they will not be guaranteed though she acknowledged jobs. Although Riggs said t h a t e m p l o y e e s o f t h e in March that the college new store likely would would do its best to find not enjoy the full range other positions for any of benefits available to displaced employees, Yates college employees. emphasized that they will “Barnes and Noble go through the normal w i l l o f f e r c o m p e t i t i v e application process for salary and benefits however any open positions at the it is unlikely they will offer college. the same level of tuition “While the College benefits as the college w i l l a s s i s t e m p l o y e e s does,” Yates said. “Barnes impacted by the transition, and Noble employees will it was never the case that have an array of benefits the College would find that includes; medical, them another position on prescription, dental and campus,” she said. vision benefits. They will Presently, Yates also have access to life said the college has no insurance coverage fully plans to outsource other paid by Barnes and Noble, areas of campus operations, some would even qualify but that it would endeavor
Tristan Chen gets club recognized by Student Senate (Screengrab from April 1 Student Senate meeting) semester and to create a more diverse/inclusive environment here at Gettysburg College. That is really all I want diversity and inclusion. I am very excited because I believe there is potential here.” Chen also sent out an apology to students, asking them to “Please exclude Crawford Oswald, Austin Roskos, and SAE from the event. Their intention was to be involved with philanthropic work and community service only, not to be involved in the educational panel.” He went on to apologize for offending the members of the audience, saying “I should have contacted and worked with multicultural [sic] groups here on campus first, before trying to address such an issue. I should have contacted and worked with Professor Hancock beforehand. It was not my place to try and talk about such issues. My intention was only to bring people together.” Roskos sat down with The Gettysburgian the day after the event to explain his plans to help recalibrate the club. He said, “I wasn’t aware of what he [Chen] would say and know that neither of us has the right to speak about others experiences which is why I am stepping
down as vice-president to be the community service coordinator. I believe someone who can speak for our minority groups should have leadership and that person is not me.” Many students still feel conflicted over the club’s intentions and how they plan on proceeding. For a while, a multitude of students and clubs have talked about integrating cultural clubs more and making a connection with different types of organizations on campus. Many became frustrated when now suddenly, there was an intersectional club that would give Greek life the credit and not the cultural groups who have been pursuing this issue such as the “Let’s Talk About It” series, which seeks to “bridge gaps between clubs, get new perspectives, and provide a safe space for open dialogue, much-needed conversations, and freethinking,” its advertising materials say. Quyn Israel ’20, who attended Thursday’s event, addressed this issue and said, “I think we need to hold all groups accountable for why our clubs are not intersectional right now and continue this conversation that was started tonight.”
Barnes & Noble To Take Over College Bookstore B y B enjamin P ontz E ditor - in -C hief Barnes & Noble will operate the Gettysburg College Store beginning in late May, Gettysburg’s Vice President of Finance & Administration Dan Konstalid announced in a campus-wide email Tuesday. At a faculty meeting in March, College President Janet Morgan Riggs said, “We cannot continue to provide affordable course materials and excellent service without losing money.” At the time, she suggested it was likely the college would decide to outsource the operation of the store by the end of her tenure in June. Konstalid called Barnes & Noble an “industry leader in campus bookstore operation” who would help the college meet goals including: - “affordable in-store and online course materials for students; -open educational resources (OER) and OERbased digital courseware; faculty assistance in identifying course materials that meet their desired student learning
of Gettysburg College) to practice good financial stewardship and, as such, will continue to “assess operations from time to time to ensure they are still offering cost-effective, high-quality service.” The college has outsourced mail room, copying machine management, and some print services to Ricoh and, for a time, dining services were managed by a company called “Servomation.” The name “Servo” stuck, but, a 1981 report in The Gettysburgian found that when a student group took over operation of the Bullet Hole based on findings from a sevenyear study in its previous operation, the students ran it more efficiently than the company with whom the college had previously contracted for service.
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NEWS Friday, April 26, 2019
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McKenna Pulls 50 Percent of Vote -Continued from page 1barred from running for other positions after being stripped of the presidency; she was later appointed treasurer.) During the candidate forum, McKenna conceded that the executive board’s communication was poor, but that he stands by how the situation was handled. He denied being in possession of any knowledge about voting totals when he encouraged Gluhanich, whose campaign he supported, to “go hard” in pursuing votes, which, she said, was what motivated her to knock on people’s doors to ask them to vote. McKenna was not immediately available to comment on the election results. After learning
of the election results, Balanda posted a picture of herself and Swartz at a Sigma Chi fraternity event with the caption: “you’re welcome for the new laundry machines and free tampons… good luck without us,” the latter part of which is a reference to Senate’s work to provide free menstrual care products in college restrooms. In a subsequent statement, she told The Gettysburgian she does not plan to stay involved with Senate moving forward. “Of course, I am disappointed with the outcome of the election, but I am remaining positive,” her statement read. “I feel proud of the contributions I have made to Gettysburg College Student Senate over the past two years. I
still believe that there is work to do in these personal focus areas I championed. I feel strongly that the constitution, the election process in general, and the overall manner in which student government should function must be addressed, and I will offer support and advice to those individuals who want to improve the organization to actually serve the entire student body. As much as I care about Student Senate, I will not be seeking another position. My vision – and the specific plans I had hoped to execute to achieve those goals I set – do not align with those of the president-elect. Therefore, I plan to direct my energies elsewhere.” For her part, Dalzell said she is “kind of
relieved” she did not win as she wants to be able to enjoy her senior year free of nonacademic obligations. “I don’t think I’ll stay in Senate next year, but I don’t think that’s a definite answer,” she said. I’d like to focus on myself, and I might tell myself that I won’t do anything related to student government, but somehow I always end up getting roped into things.” “Regardless of what I decide to do,” she added, “I’ll definitely try to cheer people up as often as I can.” Vice Presidential Election Results Lashendock said last week that he was wellpositioned to serve as vice president because of his
“innate leadership ability.” He expressed a desire to make Senate work “for all Gettysburgians,” and he cited his work on the Senate Opinions Committee and with Model UN as evidence of his aptitude to lead. This is his first leadership position in Senate. After learning of his victory, he said he looked forward to working with McKenna, and he acknowledged the contributions of the candidates who did not win. “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve every Gettysburgian and am thankful to the voters for putting their trust in me,” he said. “Now, the real work begins. My main priorities will be to improve our Senate and fulfill the promises I made to the student body. Our next steps are clear: to
make Senate work for all and to create a space where important compromises can be made with the input from all aspects of our diverse campus community.” Swartz suggested that he will continue to stay involved in Senate despite losing the election. Presently, he serves as a senator and Chair of the College Life Advisory Committee. He said last week that he hoped to retain the latter position even if he was elected vice president. On Monday evening, Swartz added, “I am glad that the student body elected two very qualified candidates in Pat and Jack, and I am looking forwards to working closely with them as I continue my senate career over my next 3 years at Gettysburg.”
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Get Acquainted Day: Student Highlights B y T hea T oocheck S taff W riter Each spring, Gettysburg College hosts a Get Acquainted Day for accepted and newly enrolled students. Hundreds of prospective students and family members bustle around campus, enjoying the atmosphere of the college. On Saturday, April 13, the future class of 2023 and their families had a busy schedule with activities ranging from an exposition for clubs and services in the morning to academic presentations and a reception for accepted students in the afternoon. Each visiting student sported a nametag, some featuring an orange sticker. This orange dot indicated that the wearer has already committed to attending the college next year. Six of these students were asked why they chose Gettysburg and what they are most excited for in the coming year. Here’s what they had to say: Allie Acero from Oceanside, New York first became interested in Gettysburg through a friend who is a current student, but her attitude towards the college changed once she saw campus: “After I visited
it for the first time I actually just fell in love with the place. It’s so pretty and everyone’s so friendly.” A student from Baltimore, Maryland named Anderson Gray thought Gettysburg would be the perfect fit for their academic interests but also thought they would find a home in the community, “When I was looking for colleges, I wanted something that obviously needed music because I’m doing vocal performance, a community that was so welcoming, and the downtown area is perfect.” Elizabeth Bishop, originally from Syracuse, New York, echoed Gray’s sentiments on the welcoming community at Gettysburg, “I decided to commit because of all the opportunities Gettysburg offers and the sense of community that we have when we’re here. I’m excited to meet new people from different places and hear different perspectives and get new experiences that I wouldn’t get in my state.” Even students who live closer to Gettysburg, like Jake Wymard from York, PA, look forward to immersing themselves in the campus life and becoming a part of the community, “It is close to home, which is important to
me, and I love the campus, and I thought the academics were perfect—it just fits me very well. I think the community here is exciting; everybody seems very close. I’m looking forward to meeting my new friends and sort of just getting on campus and enjoying the activities here.” Rocco Rodrigues from East Hanover, New Jersey is excited to take advantage of the clubs and activities at Gettysburg “I went to the club fair today, and every single table I wanted to go back to, I felt that I wanted to be a part of everything I can the next four years.” Students have already made connections with staff and are ready for the academics and sports, like Solomon Neuhaus from Plattsburg, New York: “I am playing basketball here next year, and Coach B.J. Dunne is the new coach this year, and he really helped swing me in the right direction towards Gettysburg. I’m just really excited to further my academic and athletic career here at Gettysburg.” On Get Acquainted Day, accepted students ultimately found a sense of community and a plethora of experiences awaiting them at Gettysburg.
Faculty Spotlight: Charlotte Werbe B y P hoebe D oscher A ssistant N ews E ditor A new face on campus, but already a strong impact on student life, Professor Charlotte Werbe, Assistant Professor in the French Department and Affiliate Professor to Judaic Studies, came to Gettysburg at the start of the 2018-2019 term at the tail end of earning her doctorate degree from Princeton University. Werbe currently teaches French language courses, from elementary FREN 104 to intermediate 202, and a senior seminar focusing on representations of violence in French and Francophone comics. The French aficionado has taken on a unique path with academic interests stemming farther than simply the French language. In fact, she developed the course Contemporary French and Francophone Cinema (FREN 320) to meld her interests of cinema studies and the French language. The FREN 320 course, offered next in the fall of 2019, focuses on marginalization in contemporary films as well as cinema analyzation techniques regarding historical context, critical context, and the formal features of film. Werbe has an individualized perspective on forms of media and storytelling in both the contemporary world and throughout history. She has an extensive background in the studies of cinema, media, genocide, memory, comics and Holocaust literature, which provide her with sweeping insight on various topics. The professor narrowed down her studies after discovering her passion for French while studying abroad in Paris during junior year of her undergrad at Mount Holyoke College. A
Switzerland native, Werbe’s first language was French, but she intended to major in economics in college. Later, she learned that a degree in the Humanities offered her not only a steady job but also an opportunity to pursue her passion and chose to focus on French. Werbe continued to pursue French while earning her masters degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her PhD at Princeton. Werbe advises students to hone in on areas that fulfill them, even areas that may not appear practical. She finds there is no better place than a Humanities classroom to learn basic life skills of writing and thinking critically. “With Humanities, you can do it all,” Werbe remarked, “Do what you love. It’s cliche, but it’s true.” Werbe has narrowed her interest in media, including cinema, comics, and literature, to specific studies such as Holocaust testimonies; but her distinct studies have informed her analysis of storytelling as a whole. She commented on how historical forms of media significantly influence the present: “Whenever we read or think about [media], we’re not examining the present context. The present plays a role on how the narratives are created.” Social media has become another nuance to Werbe’s studies; she closely analyzes social media in terms of cinema and the use of multiple mediums in contemporary society. An active scholar, Werbe has taken initiative to organize events and write pieces that promote understanding of storytelling aspects of the world. For instance, she organized a roundtable regarding Rwandan genocide to analyze representation of large-scale violence and the public’s
interpretation thereof. She has written articles for journals and studied various pieces including X-Men, Mickey au Camp de Gurs, and the cinematographic techniques used in Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. Aside from academic pursuits, Werbe takes part in some guilty pleasures that correspond with her cinematic interests. She enjoys watching award-winning Cannes Film Festival pieces and reality TV, and may even write a book regarding the TV genre someday. Otherwise, she is skilled in ski racing, plays the cello, and is a fan of karaoke. Werbe also spends time reveling in everyday encounters with Gettysburg students. She finds that the student body is socially active, positive, and respectful with professors in a classroom setting. “I love the students so much,” she said. “Of all the places I’ve taught, I think the students here are exceptional--not only academically. Students here are conscientious and sensitive” Some students in particular have already garnered close connections with Werbe; one student recently asked her to be their advisor and “made her week,” while another student, who was considering transferring, built a close connection with Werbe and ultimately decided to stay at Gettysburg and major in French. When planning for the future, Werbe hopes to continue to engage with Gettysburg students for fresh insight and innovative ideas related to her work. She plans to publish books that will appeal to the general public rather than solely the community of academics, and work with students on independent research projects in the Humanities, such as the Kolbe Fellows Program for interdisciplinary facultymentored summer research.
Phoebe Doscher ‘22 attended the Clubs and Services Fair at Get Acquainted Day as a representative of the choir (Photo courtesy of Ethan Fielding)
Dodging the Bullet: GAD Experience Comes Full Circle B y P hoebe D oscher
A ssistant N ews E ditor The entirety of my first year at Gettysburg has been a series of gratifying experiences, but the moment I truly realized I had made the most of my year and become immersed on campus was this year’s Get Acquainted Day, when I was first-year instead of a prospective student. At the same time last year, I remember strolling through campus, basking in the sunlight and feeling completely overstimulated by the hubbub of campus tours, the crowded Clubs and Services Exposition, and my imminent entrance into college life. I attended the Theatre Arts and English department panels, an overexcited prospective major in both categories. I even signed up for the email aliases for the Owl and Nightingale Players and Student Musical Theatre. The night of Get Acquainted Day, my family and I attended the Mainstage play, A Map of Virtue, to get a sense of the opportunities in theatre. Back then, I had a vague idea of my future interests and opportunities for involvement on campus; but, I could not have predicted that I would end up where I
am today, at the end of these transformative eight months. On the weekend of Get Acquainted Day this year, I was in the Mainstage, Everybody, and worked behind the scenes throughout the day, encouraging students to sign up for aliases for clubs and activities. The morning of the accepted students day, I woke up genuinely excited to speak to prospective students about their futures at Gettysburg. I geared up, creating a slideshow and printing out testimonies for the choir booth at the Clubs and Services Exposition, while thinking through my experiences in the theatre department for my talk on the panel. Once I left my dorm for the day and began conversing with prospective students, I felt a tinge of nostalgia and an excitement to entice future students to join clubs and activities that have molded my incredible first year. One student in particular was standing by the Sunderman Conservatory of Music booth, so I approached, thinking he was interested in joining. He was not, but I could feel he was overwhelmed by the various clubs and commotion around him, so I began to have a conversation
about his interests from high school and why he chose to come to Gettysburg. We only talked for a few minutes, but at the end of the conversation, he thanked me for talking and for giving him a better idea of the Gettysburg experience. One of the topics we discussed was the overall theme of kindness at Gettysburg. I’ve been here long enough to know that students, faculty, and staff truly care about one another, but even he had picked up on Gettysburg’s unique personability. Overall, the past year has been a blur of busy days and fond memories. I remember Get Acquainted Day 2018 like it was yesterday, and now this year’s accepted students day has already come and gone. I can’t wait to continue my Gettysburg journey and discover even more transformative experiences and connections in the next three years and beyond. Editor’s Note: This article is part of the 2018-19 edition of our series “Dodging the Bullet: The First Year Journal,” in which The Gettysburgian‘s staff members from the Class of 2022 share stories, reflections, and perspective on their first year experience. (-M. Neiman)
Dodging the Bullet: Reflecting on the End of First Year B y T aylor -J o R usso S taff W riter As my first-year comes to a close and with my final Dodging the Bullet piece, I find myself reflecting on all the transformative moments I have had at Gettysburg thus far. I cannot narrow down my experience to one moment or even one event, so I will instead discuss the most meaningful experiences I have had in a broader format. I realized when I was looking back on all of my favorite experiences, they all were from the opportunities I have gotten involved with thus far. So, in a listicle, I will briefly discuss in no particular order each of the organizations and clubs I am involved with and the impact that they have had on my life: The Center for Public
Service (CPS) It all started with GIV Day. I volunteered a lot in high school and knew I was going to continue throughout my life, so GIV Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to garner a relationship with CPS. After that day and the EXPO, I learned about the programs I wanted to join and I signed up, making no excuses otherwise. I will be a Program Coordinator next year and am so excited to take my passion for service into a leadership role. CPS has made me realize my privilege, made me a better community member, but most of all has shown me support. My advice: do something bigger than yourself; CPS makes that easy. The Office of M u l t i c u l t u r a l Engagement (OME)
My first job on campus started with an office assistant position at OME. When I applied and got the job, never did I ever expect the impact that office and the staff would have on me. Growing up in a diverse place, Gettysburg came with an adjustment and OME was that ally to help that adjustment. From the events they sponsor to the consistent welcoming environment, they have made me feel important everyday and have shown me ways to better connect with all members of the community. My advice: spend time learning about differences, OME teaches you to embrace it. Admissions As a new tour guide and ambassador, -Continued on next page-
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First-Year Talks Advice & Experiences -Continued from previous page-
a position I have wanted since high school, I have learned so much in such a short period of time. From communication skills to putting stress behind me and giving my all to visiting families, I have gained so much from Admissions regarding professional and life lessons. But they have also always proven to brighten my days and put a smile on my face whether that be from other student workers or the counselors themselves. My advice: remember where you came from and help others through it, we wouldn’t be where we are without Admissions. Her Campus Her Campus is a writing and social media feminist club on campus, that has shown me the ins and outs to advertising, promoting, and supporting a national organization. I hold a secretary position which has also helped my communications skills and jump-started my path to leadership on campus. The organization promotes a supportive atmosphere while emphasizing women’s roles in college spaces. My advice: join organizations that support the values that you believe in. Honor Commission While this organization tends to hold a lot of stigmas in particular being the campus “snitches,” I have learned the most about myself and my response to others through them. Being a part of the Honor Commission has taught me that I see the best in others and realize that everyone makes mistakes. It has also shown me the importance of the Honor Code as it is what promotes the respect and trust that allows the campus to be safe enough to leave our stuff everywhere. My advice: don’t shy away from opportunities based on other’s opinions. The Eisenhower Institute While I am not interested in pursuing a public policy or political science major or minor, I am interested in pressing issues that affect all of us. I decided to apply to the Women and Leadership program this year, and while I will do a larger reflection piece about it
for the news section later, I will say this has taught me the most about myself, others, life, and has given me the best support group I could’ve ever imagined. My advice: don’t shy away from opportunities based on labels that don’t exactly align with your interests. The Gettysburgian Last but not least, The Gettysburgian. Not only have I gotten to exercise my love for writing, but I have been able to do it in a flexible and comfortable space. I have found myself happier than ever before in an academic environment and I feel that part of it is down to the amount of reflection I have been able to do. The Gettysburgian has forced me to reflect and communicate my opinions and thoughts, which I ultimately believe has made me more grateful. My advice: reflect often and flesh out your thoughts, it relieves so much stress. While I will be continuing with all of these activities and am hoping to add more to this list during my next three years, these organizations are what made my first-year as special and as meaningful as it was. At the end of the day, the campus has so much to offer and as long as you get involved, there is no reason to not feel as enlightened and transformed as I do. These organizations have taught me a lot about life, professions, but mostly myself. I have grown in so many ways for the better and I expect to continue to do so. I hope to gain more leadership roles as I continue to make my Gettysburg experience as great as it has been. To all incoming first-years or even current students that feel that they are missing something, get involved. It teaches you more than you can even imagine. My advice: take control of your journey. Editor’s Note: This article is part of the 2018-19 edition of our series “Dodging the Bullet: The First Year Journal,” in which The Gettysburgian‘s staff members from the Class of 2022 share stories, reflections, and perspective on their first year experience. (-M. Neiman)
Students danced to 80s music and had fun at the second annual Queer Prom (Photo courtesy of Lindsey Ukishima ’20)
Outerspace Hosts 2nd Annual Queer Prom B y P hoebe D oscher A ssistant N ews E ditor Food, dancing, and ‘80s-themed outfits were all themes of this year’s Queer Prom, sponsored by Outerspace. Along with support from the Office of LGBTQA+ Advocacy and Education, Outerspace hosted around 75 attendees in the Attic on Friday, April 12 for the second annual event. The students cycled in and out throughout the night, some taking advantage of the joint outer-space and ‘80s-themed photo booth area, while others broke it down on the dance floor. The event had a
host provider and a wide array of food from wings to cookies and brownies. Clad in retro outfits, students jammed out on the dance floor to ‘80s hits compiled by Mara Smeltzer ‘21. Prom Royalty were also crowned, with creative categories including Lowkey Party Animal; Funky-Fresh Moves; Gnarly Costume, Dude; Dynamic Duo; and Life of the Party. Outerspace raised around $50 towards the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania by creating stickers to go along with the event. According to Lindsey Ukishima ‘21, Outerspace hopes
to develop a relationship with the Center in the coming years and considers this donation fundraiser a step towards building that connection. Ukishima also commented on the importance of Queer Prom for the Gettysburg community: “It provides students the opportunity to have the prom they want. For a lot of students in the LGBT+ community, they were unable to attend prom wearing what they wanted to wear or go to prom with who they wanted to go with. Queer Prom gives them this opportunity. We wanted it to be a safe space for
people to just come, have fun, and be themselves.” Although the attendance for last year’s prom was higher, perhaps attributed to the weather, Ukishima is hopeful for success in the coming years with the annual prom, which will continue to be “bigger and better.” Outerspace will be hosting more events this semester, including a Pride Paint night, co-sponsored by the Women’s Center and the LGBTQA+ Center on Wednesday, April 24. Students could come together and paint t-shirts to show their pride.
Musselman Updates: Summer Reading & End of Semester B y M usselman L ibrary Summer Reading Launch Party Musselman Library invites you to join us Thursday, May 2nd from 11-1 p.m. on the library patio (rain location: main floor) for the release of the 2019 installment of You’ve Gotta Read This! This summer reading booklet compiles books and films recommended by Gettysburg College faculty, staff, and administrators. At the party, you can pick up your copy hot off the presses, scope out some of the titles in the booklet that will be on hand, and learn about how you can access
Musselman Library’s ebook collection from any vacation destination. Light refreshments will be provided. We hope to see you there to celebrate the 17th year of You’ve Gotta Read This! and to have a little fun before finals week! End of Semester and Finals Week Updates As the academic year is rapidly coming to a close, here is a friendly reminder of what is available at Musselman Library to help make your last week of classes and Finals Week productive and, hopefully, a little less stressful. Research Help:
There are friendly librarians, interns, and Peer Research Mentors standing by at Research Help Desk, ready to assist you with your research or citation questions. We will even help you find a book on the shelf. Stop by the desk in person, email ask@gettysburg. edu, text 717-473-4532, or use the chat on the library ASK page. Extended Hours: Starting Friday, May 3, the library will be open even longer! Friday, the library will stay open until 11:00 p.m., and then will open early on Saturday, May 4 at 8 a.m. The doors will not close until Saturday, May 11 at 5 p.m. Enjoy full 24/7
access during Finals Week. Finals Study Break: On Monday, May 6, the semi-annual Finals Study Break will be taking place from 5-7 p.m. Stop by the library’s front patio to enjoy popsicles and decorate flower pots to take home! If it rains, we will have the event in Room 018 on the ground floor of the library. Take some time to de-stress and have fun. Final Reminders: All borrowed library materials (including Interlibrary Loan) are due back on or before Friday, May 10. Good luck with your finals!
Editorial Staff The Gettysburgian Editor-in-Chief, Benjamin Pontz ‘20
News Editor, Gauri Mangala ‘21
Assistant News Editor, Phoebe Doscher ‘22
Managing Opinions Editor, Josh Wagner ‘19
Sports Editor, Charlie Williamson ‘19
Arts & Entertainment Editor, Katherine Lentz ‘20
Lead Copyeditor, Lauren Hand ‘20
Copyeditors, Jessica Greenman ‘20 Joseph Maguschak ‘22 Emma Love ‘22 Cameron D’Amica ‘22
Director of Photography, Mary Frasier ‘21
Advisor, Tom Barstow
Features Editor, Maddie Neiman ‘21
THE GETTYSBURGIAN
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Page 10
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Friday, April 26, 2019
That Controversial ‘GoT’ Scene R e v i e w : Y A W D A O R B is Actually Super Important B y J ackie M c M ahon S taff W riter
Everybody who knows me knows I’m obsessed with “Game of Thrones,” and considering how many times I’ve overheard people discussing “GoT” in Servo lately it seems a lot of other people here love the show too. But there are two major problems I’ve always had with “GoT”: its depiction of sexual violence and lack of racial diversity. It left a bad taste in my mouth when the very white Daenerys Targaryen freed the slaves of Essos, who were all depicted as people of color when slavery in the show’s source material is not a racially based system – as much as Dany’s heart was in the right place, the show turned this moment into an act of white saviorhood. Back in season five, “Game of Thrones” became embroiled in controversy when it took an even more significant detour from the books, having Sansa Stark lose her virginity when she is raped by the sadistic Ramsay Bolton on their wedding night. The framing of the scene also drew criticism, as the camera focused on Sansa’s childhood acquaintance Theon, which some said made the moment about his pain and not hers. Not to say that these things still don’t bother me, but watching “Game of Thrones’s” final season (currently airing on Sunday nights on HBO), I’ve been satisfied to see that these problems I have are being addressed. Two scenes between Unsullied leader Grey Worm and translator Missandei – played by Jacob Anderson and Nathalie Emmanuel, two of the show’s only non-white cast members – depicted the icy reception they received upon arriving in the North, where their status as black former slaves born in a foreign land makes them a target for racism and xenophobia. Though Grey Worm and Missandei are loyal to Daenerys, the characters agree that after the war is over, they cannot remain in Westeros, where they will
always be treated as outsiders due to the color of their skin. It was nice to finally see the show address the issue of race, though I fear Grey Worm and Missandei will not receive the happy ending they crave. I was also pleasantly surprised to see a love scene which depicted female agency and control. The night before the battle of Winterfell, in which many of our favorite characters will undoubtedly lose their lives, Arya Stark – the tomboyish lord’s daughter turned vengeful assassin, and my favorite character of them all – goes to her friend Gendry and asks him to have sex with her, so that she does not have to die a virgin. The scene is tasteful as far as “GoT” sex scenes go, with mutual consent and minimal nudity. Whereas Daenerys and Sansa were both raped their first times, Arya loses her virginity on her own terms, to someone who respects her. It’s, in my opinion, a great moment for the character, who is struggling to reconnect with her humanity after dedicating her life to revenge since she was 12 years old. So imagine my surprise when people all over the Internet were mad about it. On Twitter, people expressed their discomfort watching Arya strip down – her actress Maisie Williams was 12 when cast in 2009, and some said that watching Arya lose her virginity was like watching a little sister have sex. This is understandable, but in my opinion it is not fair to infantilize the now 22-year-old Williams, who is an adult woman with bodily autonomy. In “Entertainment Weekly,” Williams expressed that the writers let her decide how much to show in the scene, and her co-star Joe Dempsie stated that while it was awkward for him to film a love scene with someone he’s known since she was underage, he did not want to patronize Williams in any way. (Dempsie is ten years Williams’s senior, but their characters have an age difference of about four years, and there have been pairings on “GoT” with much
larger age differences before.) The Arya-Gendry scene is without a doubt the healthiest loss of virginity scene any female character on “GoT” has ever had. Why is it that viewers are more troubled watching an 18-yearold woman have consensual sex than become an assassin, or commit mass murder? Is it because this scene did not provide male viewers with the sexual gratification they’ve come to expect? Too often love scenes in media are depicted for the male gaze. We need our media to teach young women that the choice to have sex should be their own, and that their sexuality should make them feel empowered, not powerless. Considering all Arya’s character has been through, I think this scene was a crucial step in her struggle to allow herself to be emotionally vulnerable again. Another part of the scene that I think has been overlooked is how Arya gives Gendry his own agency – by telling him to take his own clothes off, she’s giving him the chance to proceed or back out. This is incredibly important considering his character survived a sexual assault. Back in season three, Gendry was seduced by the sorceress Melisandre in an attempt to use him for a blood sacrifice, and while he was a willing participant at first, by the end he was clearly no longer consenting. This is another sexual assault that did not appear in George R.R. Martin’s books (seeing a trend here?), but no one seems to talk about this scene because of how our society belittles female-on-male sexual violence. Men have the right to say no to sex as much as women do, and consent can be withdrawn at any time during the act. Ultimately, while I do not expect “Game of Thrones” to ever become the bastion of social justice, I think this season’s address of racism, xenophobia, and female sexuality are welcome changes, and all vital moments in the arcs of the characters involved.
Review: DC’s ‘Shazam’ is Worth the Hype B y E than C annistra S taff W riter
“Shazam” tells the story of Billy Batson, a young orphan boy that is granted the powers of the Greek Gods. Billy is the chosen one of the wizard Shazam, the last remaining member of the council of wizards. Shazam gives Billy all of his powers such as super strength and speed. To access the wizard’s powers, Billy has to say the word “shazam.” At this time, Billy will turn into an adult and have all of the wizard’s powers. After Billy is anointed as the chosen one, he now has the responsibility to defeat the villain of the film, Dr. Sivana. Billy must stop Dr. Sivana from releasing the seven deadly sins upon the world. “Shazam” is a fun, light-hearted, family movie, that has good humor throughout. Most of the comedy in “Shazam” comes from the fact that when Billy uses his powers he takes on the form of an adult. The audience gets to see a 40-year-old man do things that a 15-year old-boy would do, which
provides some memorable comedic moments throughout the movie. One of the highlights of the film is the level of emotion that director David Sandberg brings to the movie. One of the main plot points of the film is that Billy Batson has to embrace his new foster family. Throughout the film, the audience sees Billy struggling to accept his new life. However, Billy eventually embraces his new family. One highlight of the family dynamic in “Shazam” is the relationship between Billy and his foster brother Freddy. This bond allows Billy to grow as a character and accept his new superhero persona. This relationship also serves as the backbone for the whole movie and for Billy’s character development. All of the actors cast in “Shazam” do an excellent job in their roles. Asher Angel plays Billy Batson and he has incredible range throughout the movie. Angel can go from lighthearted and funny, to very serious in the same scene. The form that Billy
takes when he transforms into Shazam is played by Zachary Levi. While Levi is 38-years-old, he is great at letting his inner child show. The audience can suspend disbelief throughout the film and believe they are watching a 15-year-old child on screen and not an adult man. The one problem with “Shazam” is the villain, Dr. Sivana. While Mark Strong gives a good performance as Sivana, the villain is very underused. Sivana is a one-note villain that does not grow as a character throughout the movie. However, Sivana does his job of forcing Billy to grow as a character very effectively. Sivana serves as a good rival to Billy and pushes him forward on his journey. “Shazam” is a great addition to the DC Universe. It is a fun film that also has a surprisingly large amount of heart. The family relationships throughout the film are great but the bond between Freddy and Billy is what makes this movie work. The only negative aspect ab ou t “S h azam ” i s t h e weak villain, Dr. Sivana.
B y K atherine S cott S taff W riter Who doesn’t love a big Broadway musical number? Well, how about 15 average sized Broadway musical numbers with a genderbent cast? YAWDAORB is a fundraising event put on by SMuT, Gettysburg’s student musical theatre club. This year, SMuT was raising money for a nonprofit organization called Broadway Cares, which raises money to support families affected by HIV/ AIDS and organizations that supply treatment to individuals affected. Every YAWDAORB has a theme that the director(s) pick to thematize the songs in the show around. For 2019, Nikki Mountanos ’19 and Jay Hauser ’19 chose the theme, Madness, so they included songs from a variety of musicals that revolve around emotions associated with Madness. But, here’s the catch: does the name YAWDAORB look familiar? Well, the name is actually “Broadway” spelled backwards, and for all performances, the roles are gender bent, giving the performers a chance to sing something that they normally would not have the chance to in a normal show. This means I was charmed with an (almost) all-male “Cell Block
Tango” from the show Chicago and an all-female version of “Agony” from Into the Woods, among many other incredible performances. All the music was transposed into the appropriate keys by Aaron Thompson who has also performed “Sonya Alone” from The Great Comet of 1812 and was the pianist for a majority of the show. For the numbers they were not in, Benjamin Kelly played instead, doing an equally wonderful job. The show began with a strong opener involving the whole cast, a number from A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder and I had the blessing of hearing the entire cast warn the audience about sitting in the first or second row, which just so happened to be where I was sitting. In that moment I was scared, but intrigued to find out if something would actually happen as a result from sitting in the forewarned second row. After a strong opening and beautiful solo from Casey Creagh ‘22, I was graced with an allfemale rendition of Pretty Women from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, performed by Hannah Kolarik ‘20 and Madison Cramer ‘21. Their voices blended perfectly together doing justice to the original voices of Todd and Judge Turpin, Len Cairou
and Edmund Lyndeck. Other notable performances were, of course, the Cellblock Tango with all the male cast members and Gauri Mangala ’21. Although, there was a little hiccup towards the end of the number, they were able to pull things back together to finish strong. Mangala also showed some talent of her own, by choreographing a tap number for the entire cast during Forget About the Boy from Thoroughly Modern Millie, the solo being sung by Joe Maguschak ’22. One of my personal favorite parts of the show was when Maguschak was lifted by his fellow cast members in a dramatic flair. Towards the end of the whole show, Jay Hauser ’19 gave a performance worthy of the warning to the first and second row. Singing a powerful solo from the show Company, Hauser came out with a wine glass and poured himself some water from an alcohol bottle. The first few times he raised it up, nothing much happened, but the sixth and seventh time, the second row almost got a surprise splash of water, but it was all in good fun. Overall, this year’s YAWDAORB was a success; I can’t wait to see what the creative minds in SMuT cook up for next year!
F e a t u r e d f i l m s i n G e t t y s b u r g Majestic Theater “Amazing Grace” 1 hour, 29 minutes – G This previously unreleased film directed by Oscar winner Sydney Pollack documents the live recording of Aretha Franklin’s “Amazing Grace” album at New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972. Friday - Saturday (4/26 - 4/27) - 4:15 PM and 7:15 PM Sunday (4/28) - 2:15 PM and 5:15 PM Monday (4/29) - 4:15 PM Tuesday - Thursday (4/30 - 5/2) - 4:15 PM and 7:15 PM “The Mustang” 1 hour, 36 minutes - R A violent convict is accepted into a selective rehabilitation program to train wild mustangs. Friday - Saturday (4/26 - 4/27) - 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM Sunday (4/28) - 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM Monday - Thursday (4/29 - 5/2) - 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM Gateway Theater FRIDAY APRIL 26TH THRU WEDNESDAY MAY 1ST **BARGAIN TUESDAY – ALL SEATS $5 – ADDITIONAL FEE FOR 3D** KINGDOM MEN RISING MONDAY APRIL 29TH 7:00
NR NO PASSES EVENT PRICING
AVENGERS: END GAME IN 2D (1:00) (1:30) (3:00) (5:00) 7:00 7:30 9:00 *NO 7:30 SHOW ON MONDAY
PG-13 NO PASSES
AVENGERS: END GAME IN 3D (2:00) 6:00 10:00
PG-13 NO PASSES
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (1:45) (4:45) 7:35 10:00
R
BREAKTHROUGH (1:15) (4:15) 7:15 9:55
PG-13
MISSING LINK FRI. & SAT. (1:40) SUN. –WEDS. (1:40) (4:40)
PG
SHAZAM! (1:00) (4:00) 7:00 9:55
PG-13
PET SEMATARY FRI. & SAT (4:30) SUN. – WEDS. 7:30 9:55
R
THE GETTYSBURGIAN
OPINIONS Page 11
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Friday, April 26, 2019
Note: The opinions published in this section are those of the individual writers and are in no way representative of the views of The Gettysburgian staff, The Gettysburgian or Gettysburg College.
Editorial: What We Know About Josh Wagner THE ISSUE: Joshua Wagner ‘19 was selected as the student speaker at this May’s Commencement exercises. Since that announcement was made, a group of students has begun to circulate a petition advocating Josh’s removal in light of an article he wrote as part of last spring’s April Fools edition for The Gettysburgian. The article -- titled “13 Places Safer than FIJI Basement on a Friday Night” -- includes several passages that the petition says “use sexual and domestic violence as punchlines.” OUR VIEW: Josh Wagner has served as Managing Opinions Editor of The Gettysburgian this year, Opinions Editor last spring, and a staff member since he arrived at Gettysburg College. We doubt that there is an organization that has been a greater beneficiary of Josh’s efforts than ours, and, as folks around campus may be receiving their first introduction to Josh based on an April Fools listicle he wrote last year, we wanted to take a moment to share what we know about Josh from our work with him at the organization. As a preface, we want to be clear that people have every right to find jokes tasteless or even offensive. While we are sure that minimizing the impact of sexual assault was not Josh’s intent in this article (quite the opposite, in fact, considering the context), survivors of sexual assault have every right to how they feel and what they conclude based on reading the article. What bothers us, however, is that a member of the faculty has brazenly violated the Campus Posting Policy by plastering an academic building with printouts of the article that have post-it notes affixed reading “YOUR COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER” in a clear effort to maximize shock value in impugning the character of someone that, until Thursday evening when he showed up at her office, she had never met. At a liberal arts college that prides itself on leaning into difficult conversations and approaching complex problems with intellectual rigor, this strikes us as a cheap shot unbecoming of
a faculty member that is supposed to lead those very conversations. With that, we wanted to take a moment to share a few of our thoughts on Josh’s character to be considered alongside the listicle that is now ubiquitous on campus. These thoughts arose organically -- without the involvement of Josh or anyone involved in reporting the news angle of this story -- and are based on our work with Josh over the past several years. Katherine Lentz ‘20, Arts & Entertainment Editor: I remember exactly when I found out Josh was going to be the Commencement speaker. It was on Wednesday night. Several editors were working in The Gettysburgian’s office, formatting the paper for the next print edition. Josh was sitting at one of the tables, and I happened to tune into the conversation while he was discussing his newly appointed position. I knew Josh was a kind person, super involved with the campus community, and just a generally affable guy. We’ve known each other for several years, and every time we so much as make eye contact on campus, he’s sure to ask me how my day’s going. So, I wasn’t surprised that he’d been chosen as Commencement speaker. However, the sheer gratitude he expressed while talking about his journey to this point was something I hadn’t heard before. Even while talking about how excited he was, he made sure to note that the first person he called was his brother, a Gettysburg College alumnus currently on a Fulbright in Brazil. He told his family next, not with a phone call or an email, but with flowers and a visit home. He shared that he and his brother are first generation college students. When he was growing up, and even through high school, college was not the expected outcome. The general expectation seemed to be that he would end up working on the farm. It was for this reason he wanted to tell his family in person; he knew how much it would mean to them, to his extended family, and to the community who helped him get here. It was abundantly clear that his
happiness over the position of Commencement speaker was in large part due to the gratitude he felt towards his family. Maddie Neiman ‘21, Features Editor: I have a deep appreciation and respect for Josh Wagner. Since I started on this editorial board in fall 2018 and met Josh for the first time, he has been nothing but kind to me. Over the past year, I’ve gotten to know him fairly well as both a colleague and a friend. He makes me laugh. We’ve shared eyerolls during editorial staff meetings. He does a great impression of JMR and, if possible, an even better one of Bernie Sanders. I can always count on him to smile and wave when he sees me around campus. Josh and I, along with other editors, have spent late nights together working on The Gettysburgian’s print issue every other week. You get to know a person pretty well when you’re both arranging a newspaper between 9 p.m. and the early hours of the morning. On at least one of these nights, when I was the last one in the office and it was nearing midnight, Josh (without me prompting him) locked our office door as he left to ensure that I would be safe while alone in the basement of Plank. At the time, I think I laughed off the idea of needing to be locked in, but it has always stuck with me as a testament to Josh’s good character and how much he cares about the people around him. I can’t fully express how much I’ll miss him when he graduates. My time on The Gettysburgian’s staff and as a student at this college will not be the same without him. It frustrates and disheartens me to see Josh targeted like this. I’m ashamed at how members of our campus community have jumped to sensationalize this story without considering Josh’s well-being or even attempting to speak to him before defaming his name. I do not believe that he deserve this, and I’m confident that, if people judged him off of more than a single year-old April Fools joke, they would be more
inclined to agree with me. Having said all of this, I am not a survivor of sexual assault and cannot speak to that perspective. I make no claim to understand the experience of sexual assault survivors, and I respect the right individuals have to take offense to this April Fools joke. Having read Josh’s article a few times, however, I think that the point of his piece was not to make light of sexual assault. Rather, his article draws attention to the presence of rape culture on this campus. If there is any conversation to be had from bringing up this article, it is not whether or not Josh Wagner would make a suitable Commencement speaker. (He would. I can’t imagine anyone else in the position.) Instead, we should be discussing the fact that sexual assault occurs often enough on this campus, particularly related to Greek life, that a joke could be made at all. I encourage you all to reconsider who (or what) you’re targeting. I hope that anyone hearing the rumors or bits of information circulating about Josh will take a few moments to evaluate the situation fully before jumping to a rash conclusion. I cannot (nor would I want to) tell you what to think or believe, but I can vouch for Josh Wagner as an incredibly decent and deserving individual, who, in my complete and honest opinion, does not deserve the treatment he has been subjected to over the past few days. Mary Frasier ‘21, Director of Photography: On April 1, 2018, the Gettysburgian published its annual “April Fools” edition in both print and online formats. The publication, which reached many of the same eyes as a petition earlier today, commented on fabricated and exaggerated normalities at Gettysburg College. Josh’s article, “13 Places Safer than FIJI Basement on Friday Night: Number 11 will Shock You!” alluded to the alleged frequent occurrence of sexual assault in the basement of Phi Gamma Delta. Josh’s article was not alone in its exaggerations; other
articles in the publication commented on Hanson Hall’s mold, soaring tuition prices, and problematic washing machines. Through this article, Josh was able to address the issue of sexual assault on campus that is often born out of underage drinking and Greek life. He did not use sexual assault and sexual violence as a punchline, he used a fraternity. I would like to bring to light the falsity and misconstruction of this petition and the email that distributed it and the potential harm it poses to a fellow student, friend, and coworker of mine. Josh Wagner is a kind, determined, and respectful human being. He never hesitates to ask if I need help with anything, whether it be for the newspaper or outside of it. Josh is the first one to extend a kind word when I am having a bad day and a joke to lift my spirits up again. Whenever I see him around campus, he always makes sure to say hello and ask me how my day is before continuing on to class or work. He is a lively and engaging peer who is not afraid to offer constructive criticism to make our newspaper better, but who is self aware enough to know when to back off. He has been of great support to many on The Gettysburgian staff through his roles as Managing Editor, Opinions Editor, and staff writer. Although I only met him and began working with him in the fall of 2018, a friendship developed quickly, as he is so easy to get along with. I am so thankful to call Josh one of my friends and it deeply hurts me to see him and his reputation misconstrued in this manner. In addition to his dedication to the newspaper, he is the Treasurer of Sceptical Chymists and participated in two Immersion Projects through the Center for Public Service. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in America. He is the Sergeant-at-Arms of Eta Sigma Phi, the national classics honors society, and President of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honors society. He is a recipient
of the Abraham Lincoln Scholarship, multiple Keystone Press Awards, and Muhlenberg First Year Student Prize. Josh was awarded the Herman Eilts Scholarship for studies at the American University in Cairo. He is also the recipient of the J. Andrew Marsh Memorial Award, the Senior Scholarship Award, and the Dean Frank B. Williams Memorial Prize, for citizenship, academic excellence, and leadership respectively. Josh was awarded the Outstanding College Chemistry Major award this spring and was chosen as a Fulbright Alternate for the Fulbright U.S. Student Award. He is a dedicated student who is extremely passionate about Gettysburg College and was rightfully named the 2019 Commencement speaker as a result of these attributes and accomplishments. T h e Gettysburgian’s staff, including Josh, does not take sexual assault or hate crimes lightly. The publication of his listicle sought to bring to light claims that surrounding what takes place in a fraternity’s basement. To deface the name of a peer through an email to almost the entire student body is extremely unprofessional and discredits the copious amount of hard work Josh has done for the college. The honor of Commencement speaker is awarded to a student that shows intelligence, poise, and an ability to represent the graduating class. Removing him from this position will do the graduating class of 2019 a great disservice and will unfairly tarnish his future. Going forward, I strongly advise those who organized this petition to question the events that occur in fraternity basements and ways to end rape culture before attacking someone who brings these issues and concerns to light.
their website, this department combines deep understanding in the liberal arts and sciences with solid experience in research, analysis, and clear communications. Some of the introductory courses are Introduction to Mass Communications, Beyond Google and Wikipedia: Finding and Evaluating Information Sources in the Digital Age, and Introduction to Digital Journalism. Each of these courses have a foundation of studying communications in today’s technological world. The program at Washington and Lee University has been met with much success. Recent graduates find that courses within their Journalism and Mass Communications major have demonstrated how modern technology can impact communication across a variety of different mediums. Students at Gettysburg also have
an appetite to study communications. Members of the Class of 2019 have commented that many of their courses touched on themes of effective communication, but desire a more specialized course offering. The power and relevance of social media make this a popular belief among many students who use social media to follow news, athletics, and personal entertainment. Gettysburg College is a prestigious liberal arts college that has achieved tremendous success by maintaining its identity. This is not to suggest that it should abandon its core principles when it comes to majors and minors. Rather, it needs to tweak its curriculum to account for changes in society, similar to other liberal arts colleges, like Washington and Lee University, and offer its students the best of all worlds.
-- Katherine Lentz, Arts & Entertainment Editor; Maddie Neiman, Features Editor; Mary Frasier, Director of Photography & Benjamin Pontz, Editor-in-Chief contributed to this editorial, which represents their collective opinion
Time to Communicate with the Changing Times By Nick Rollo
Guest Columnist Gettysburg College prides itself on its liberal arts education. Students engage in a rigorous curriculum focused on critical thinking, creativity, and informed action. This liberal arts standard has been the framework of the college’s outstanding majors and minors available to students, including some modifications, since the college was founded in 1832. However, times are changing and Gettysburg should change with them with regard to one specific area of study: Communications. Whereas liberal arts are the cornerstone of the college’s very sound academic philosophy, like any principle it needs to be viewed in the context of the current society. Specifically, the advancement of technology has struck an interest in today’s
prospective students, and social media is a key feature of this advancement. Prospective students are using social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to obtain news, keep up with cultural trends, and post statuses and pictures for their own enjoyment. From the classes offered, Gettysburg College’s liberal arts education teaches communications through traditional methods, such as writing and public speaking. These are timeless in their value and the college must never deviate from its high quality teaching of these skills. However, Gettysburg College must supplement these teachings with the more current methods, which may not be as respected in academia, but are critical to students who are seeking careers in the communications field. By not doing so, the college is putting itself at a
disadvantage in attracting prospective students. According to vice provost Jack Ryan, the administration views communication studies as a professional education, which does not fall under liberal arts. But, Ryan does see the benefits of offering this study. “Technology today has transformed communication into the digital medium of television, online columns, and podcasts,” said Ryan, Dean of Arts and Humanities. “Offering a communications major would be ideal for students interested in this field, but could be a difficult task.” Ryan believes that the most feasible plan for a communications major would be for a student to create it as an individualized major. This forces students to combine coursework and other experiences from at least two departments or fields with other experiences,
such as internships and off-campus study. The popularity of students declaring this major would decide whether it would become an official major. Gettysburg C o l l e g e ’ s Communications and Marketing Office currently offers student internship opportunities that would complement the communications skills developed in an individualized major. The internship program, which includes a variety of positions from writing to design to videography, provides students with practical, real-world experience helping to advance the brand of a top liberal arts college. Other liberal arts schools have taken a more hands-on approach by creating majors that study communications. For example, Washington and Lee University offers a Journalism and Mass Communications major. According to
THE GETTYSBURGIAN
SPORTS
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Friday, April 26, 2019
Golden State Warriors Predicted to be Bullet NBA Finals Champions Once Again Shot: By G arrett G laeser S taff Writer
The first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs is well underway as some teams have already secured their spots in the conference semi-finals. Note that all series are being written on as of April 23. Sam Sheldon (Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)
By Candace Means Staff Writer
L a s t Saturday, the Gettysburg Bullets placed second in the Mason-Dixon Invitational. J u n i o r Sam Sheldon had a particularly successful meet, finishing 2nd in the mile run in 4:31.34, five seconds behind senior Alex Petrecca. He also set a new personal record in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:02.35, good for 9th place overall. Sheldon has had a positive past at the MasonDixon Invitational. Last year, he placed 11th in the 800-meter run and set a thenseason-high time of 2:03:86. Sheldon is also a member of the Indoor Track team and Cross Country team. After this season, Sheldon has expressed that he is going to miss the seniors, who have had such a huge impact on his running career at Gettysburg. According to Sheldon, the seniors pushed him to run to the best of his ability and gave him the constructive criticism that he needed to excel his game. “My three years at Gettysburg have gone extremely fast,” said Sheldon, “but I’m really excited to start my senior season and see how the new freshmen and entire team are going to compete next year.” Although Sheldon will miss competing for the Bullets, he knows that will not stop him from leisurely runs in his hometown of Tully, New York. Sheldon and the Bullets are expected to have their next meet at Paul Kaiser Invitational on April 27.
Western Conference The Golden State Warriors, heavy favorites to three-peat the NBA Finals, are up 3-1 on the Los Angeles Clippers, who surprisingly tied the series 1-1 in Game 2 at Oracle Arena when the Warriors squandered a 31-point lead. Golden State followed up the embarrassment with two solid wins at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and hope to finish the series off on Wednesday, April 24. The fourth-seeded Houston Rockets looked like they were going to walk away with a sweep of the Utah Jazz with two blowout wins at home to start, followed by a tight victory in Utah. However, the Jazz stayed in the series by pulling off a Game 4 win 107-91. Like the Warriors, the Rockets will look to lock up the series on Wednesday back in Houston. Despite being a four seed, the Portland Trailblazers have surprised
Steph Curry and the Warriors are favored to the NBA Finals (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
the sports-media world by taking a 3-1 lead over the Russell Westbrook and Paul George led Oklahoma City Thunder. In the tightest of all the Western Conference playoff series, the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs have alternated wins and are locked in a 2-2 tie. If the trend continues, we will see a seven-game series with the winner being determined in Denver. Eastern Conference The top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks
flexed their muscles in a dominating sweep of the Detroit Pistons. The closest game was Game 3 when the Bucks won by a mere 16 points, 119-103. The Bucks have certainly proved their playoff doubters wrong so far, even after recording the most regular season wins in the NBA this year with 60. Like the Bucks, the Boston Celtics swept their first-round opponent, the Indiana Pacers. Unlike Milwaukee, Boston had to earn its four wins as their largest margin of victory was in Game 1, when they
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won 84-74. The date for Game 1 of the conference semifinals has yet to be announced. After dropping the first game of the series at home, the threeseeded Philadelphia 76ers have rattled off three consecutive wins and have the chance to close the series at home. No one expected the Brooklyn Nets to win a single game, but they have shown an ability to push this series to a sixth or even seventh game. The OrlandoToronto series has played
out nearly exactly like the Philadelphia-Brooklyn one, with the lower seeded team winning Game 1 and the higher seed winning the ensuing three. Toronto, known as “LeBronto” in years prior because of LeBron James’ success against the franchise in the post-season, no longer has that pressure on them with James on the LA Lakers this year. However, if they fail to beat the Magic up 3-1, the torment for the NBA’s lone Canadian team is sure to continue. If all the teams up 3-1 (or the higher seed in the case of Denver) win their respective first round series, the Conference Semi-finals would look like this: Golden State v. Houston, Portland v. Denver, Milwaukee v. Boston (already set), and Philadelphia v. Toronto. In the West, the Warriors/Rockets series would be a must-watch; however, the Portland/ Denver series could have the potential to be close. In the East, both series would be highly competitive as all four teams have a viable chance of reaching the Finals. If things go as the experts predict, the Warriors will be champions once again. They will, however, have to withstand many formidable opponents to complete the three-peat.
M e n ’ s L a c r o s s e P l a y s Strongest Game of the Year
Sophomore Jack Fletcher racked up 3 goals and 6 assists (Photo Courtesy of David Sinclair) B y B rody T ennant S taff W riter Two weeks ago, the Gettysburg College Men’s Lacrosse team turned in its largest victory over Haverford College in 17 years, winning 21-5. Sophomore Jack Fletcher and junior Brian Kolen combined for a total of 17 points. Kolen had four goals and four assists, tying his personal best for points. Fletcher outdid him by one point,
scoring three goals and six assists, both personal bests for him. Seniors Blake Gray, Jack Harvey, and first-year Elon Tuckman each scored two goals. The Bullets defense was also stellar during the game. The team caused 19 turnovers and five failed clears. Sophomore Andrew Horn caused three turnovers and junior Christian Atalese posted two turnovers and five
ground balls. Junior Mitch Wykoff tracked down eight ground balls, putting him at sixth on the all-time list, with 214. First-year goalie Scott Macmillan had 13 saves in 53 minutes of play. After going into halftime up 11-1, the Bullets quickly began to pull away. After the third quarter, the Bullets went on a 7-0 run to finish out the game up by 17 points. Gettysburg led in shots,
ground balls, and faceoff wins. Despite two big Centennial Conference wins, the Bullets dropped one spot to ninth in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches poll. Salisbury University took the top spot, earning all 22 firstplace votes. Rochester Institute of Technology and York (Pa) College took the second and third place spots, while Tufts University jumped up two spots to fourth. Wesleyan University, Amherst College, and Cabrini College took the three remaining spots above Gettysburg. In the most recent and final Coaches poll of the regular season, Gettysburg retained their ninth-place spot. The five teams in front of Gettysburg all kept their same spots, while the top three shuffled up. RIT took over the number one spot in the country, with York and Salisbury taking the next two spots, respectively. The Bullets final game of the regular season is this Saturday, April 27 at home against
Washington College. The Bullets entered this week tied for first in the Centennial College with Franklin & Marshall College, both teams owning a 5-1 conference record. USILA Rankings: 1. RIT (14 first place votes) 2. York (5) 3. Salisbury 4. Tufts (2) 5. Wesleyan 6. Amherst 7. Cabrini 8. Williams 9. Gettysburg 10. Stevens 11. Denison 12. Union 13. Ursinus 14. Bates 15. Dickinson 16. F&M 17. Washington & Lee 18. RPI 19. St. Lawrence 20. Lynchburg
This Weekend in Gettysburg College Sports: Saturday, April 27 Women’s Golf at Centennial Conference Tournament - TBA Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse vs. Washington College - 1 p.m. Softball vs. Washington College - 1 p.m. Men’s and Women’s Track & Field at Paul Kaiser Invitational - 8:30 a.m. Women’s Tennis vs. Ursinus College - 10:00 a.m. Men’s Tennis at Haverford College - 11:00 a.m. Baseball vs. Muhlenberg College (Senior Day) - 12 p.m.
To get the full spring 2019 athletic calendar Visit gettysburgsports.com