Friday, November 17, 2023
Hate on Campus
Students report recurring traumatic incidents Bella Casey News and Lifestyle Assistant Editor
“It was just like we were just stuck staring at each other. And then, we snapped back
Racial slurs echoed into the night as a truck full of men screamed at Kandyce Lewis. She wasn’t surprised. Happened before. The image of the familiar gray truck was ingrained in her mind. She knew two white men would be sitting in the front of the truck, and one white man would be sitting in the backseat. Across campus, students of marginalized communities know the gray truck. They know not to walk alone at night. They know the men will laugh as they speed away. They know they would be targeted for the color of their skin, their sexuality, their gender or their weight. “They’ve been doing it for a couple of years now,” said Malese Pete, who the men in the truck targeted. “It
to reality, like, ‘Wow, that really just happened.”
Diamond Russell Okstate Stand United Treasurer could go back to late 2021 and early 2022.” Pete, Lewis and Diamond Russell left Okstate Stand United’s Table Talk together Monday night at Edmon Low Library. Pete and Russell are executive members of Okstate Stand United and described the night as a success. The room inside the library overflowed with students. A panel of multicultural figures and OSU President
Dr. Kayse Shrum sat at the front of the room, eager to discuss diversity and answer questions. Pete, Lewis and Russell said they left the event in high spirits. They laughed and discussed the event. Students wanted to discuss diversity and wanted to get involved with multicultural organizations. “It was a good event where we all come together and talk with each
other, and then it’s immediately slightly ruined by hate,” Lewis said. As the three women left the library and crossed the street behind the Noble Research Center, the gray truck drove past them, the men inside spewing racial slurs and curse words. The women wanted only to walk to their cars. “So what about us walking or sitting or breathing makes (the men in the truck) so angry?” Pete said. As the truck raced away from Pete, Lewis and Russell, it then approached Jeremiah Moore. Moore said goodbye to the three women after the Table Talk and walked home, which was on the opposite side of campus from where the women parked. He walked down North Monroe Street with a group of friends. Three men in a gray truck yelled racial slurs and insulted him, targeting his weight. Moore wasn’t surprised. Happened before. See Hate on 3A
Multicultural community supports SGA bill promoting inclusivity Luisa Clausen Editor-in-Chief
Courtesy of Taylor Kelner Taylor Kelner is a full-time student at OSU while owning three businesses.
Student entrepreneurs at OSU defy odds juggling businesses, school Ashton Miller Staff Reporter
ten two weeks before they were due, and we have a news article due next week and I already have half of it done.” Kelner has a media business, a boutique and a magna Taylor Kelner started her wave company. Out of the three first business at 15 years old, businesses, and schoolwork, the then another one at 16, then media business she started at another one at 18. 15, Top Hand Media, takes preAs a full-time student with three businesses, Kelner, a cedence if she had to choose. “I will never give up my junior in ag communication, is media business,” Kelner said. successful at her time manage“When I come home at the end ment skills. Balancing work, of the day, it’s something that school and social life can be tricky to manage, but Kelne said doesn’t drain me to do. It’s very she has figured out how to make structured and I know what I have to do to make it happen.” it work. The work itself is reward“I work ahead on my ing for Kelner, and the relationschoolwork when anything opens,” Kelner said. “One of my ships made along the way are another factor that keeps her writing classes has five news articles. I had two of them writ- motivated to maintain her media business.
What’s Inside
Embracing the uncomfortable: OSU multicultural figures discuss diversity
“I just have a really good client base, and they’re not something that I want to let go of,” Kelner said. A year after starting her media business, Kelner started her boutique, Branded TK. Through the boutique Kelner has made connections with other business owners and put together Cowgirl Market. Cowgirl Market provides small businesses the opportunity to sell their products in person while OSU’s Rodeo Team hosts the Cowboy Stampede. “I saw a need for people to sell things in person and I figured that if we could get enough vendors in one spot then people would come,” Kelner said. “ When we unlocked the doors at 4:45, people started flooding in, so it was really nice to see.” See Businesses on 4A
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When Sonika Poudel invited her new American friends to support her as the Miss International, only one person showed up. Poudel left her family and friends in Nepal to pursue her masters in the U.S. She expected the experience to be challenging, what she didn’t expect was to have to fight for a place at OSU. “ It’s a tough reality, but it made me realize that the interest in different cultures is more of an individual inclination rather than a trait linked to nationality or student status,” Poudel said. The Student Government Association passed a bill requiring all senators to attend one multicultural general body meeting or one multicultural event per semester of any organization. Christian Jimenez and Azariah Lang, SGA senators, worked on the bill for a few months. After presenting for the first time, the bill did not pass. SGA senators wanted Jimenez and Lang to accommodate certain things on the bill. Initially, the bill stated that if senators did not attend
one multicultural event a semester, they would receive one senate absence. Jimenez and Lang adapted the bill without taking away its intent. When it was time to decide, 11 students from different multicultural groups showed up to support the bill. Poudel was one of them. “As an international student and Miss International, being present was crucial for me,” Poudel said. “I felt a duty to represent and advocate for the international community. SGA holds significant importance at OSU, and the passage of this bill would undoubtedly convey to international and multicultural students that their contributions, programs, and events are highly valued.” Jimenez said the support the multicultural community showed them was a stepping stone to mend relationships between SGA and the multicultural community. “We can start working together and make campus more inclusive to everyone,” Jimenez said. Kandyce Lewis, a sophomore at OSU, attended the meeting as Lang’s guest. Lewis said it was a last-minute decision after she learned the previous bill had not passed. See Bill on 4A
Luisa Clausen Sonika Poudel, a masters student from Nepal, have a speech in front of SGA senators to advocate for the importance of inclusivity. Poudel is OSU Miss International.
Study break: Noon concert series plays at library
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Trevino: Now would have been a great time for Arland Bruce IV at OSU
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