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News
September18, 2018
Professor talks immigration Presentation focuses on use of term “illegal” ALBERT IVORY Staff Writer @Intellectu_Al
An on-campus presentation, titled “Brown-Skinned Outlaws: The Rhetorical Move to Criminalize Immigrants,” focused on an extension of previous research on the use of the term “illegal” as it applies to immigrants. An on-campus presentation, titled “Brown-Skinned Outlaws: The Rhetorical Move to Criminalize Immigrants,” focused on an extension of previous research on the use of the term “illegal” as it applies to immigrants. The event was presented by Jennifer Potter, an associate professor and chair of the Communication Studies Department. This past Wednesday, The Office of Inclusion and Institutional Equity sponsored the Multiculturalism in Action Brown Bag Series in the College of Liberal Arts. Candice Aston, an assistant professor from the psychology department and one of the coordinators of the event, said that the series “is an opportunity for faculty members to present knowledge with the community on studies that they have researched.” Potter provided some history on her work and how the public discourse have discussed immigration and the term “illegal.” She displayed a project timeline on the study which included some important dates such as the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and
Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. There were subsequent protests of that legislation by pro-immigrant rights groups. The protest was successful and the bill never passed in the Senate. The phrase “no human being is illegal” was coined and popularized in protest language. Potter studied this significant protest for her work and completed her dissertation in 2008. Then in 2010, there was a “Drop the I-Word” campaign, which was vamped by pro-immigrant rights groups to combat using the term “illegal” to describe undocumented immigrants. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that was launched by former President Barack Obama in 2012 was mentioned as well to introduce ways to handle people that have been in the United States for a long time. “We were still moving in the same direction in how we understood undocumented immigration from a rhetorical perspective, in terms of public discourse,” Potter said. 2015 was started talking about building a wall on the US-Mexican border and attaching it to illegal immigration and how it was significant due to his national presence. Potter then quoted Chief Justice Earl Warren “citizenship is man’s most basic right because it is nothing less than the right to have rights.” This, she said, was the premise for her research. Potter wanted to know
Albert Ivory/ The Towerlight
Associate Professor Jennifer Potter discussed the use of “illegal” to describe immigrants during the Brown Bag Series on Wednesday.
“how we made rhetorical language choices about who belong and who didn’t belong.” Potter also discussed Michael Calvin McGhee’s framework for ideographs, which explains the correlation of words for rhetorical and ideological contexts. The words she used to apply this theory are “illegal” as the ideograph and “immigrant.” How the word is discussed in a particular way in a collective is how it’s thought of in a particular way. Other examples of ideographs are equality, heritage, life, liberty, choice, and war on terror. During her study, Potter looked through Washington Post articles that range from Jan. 1, 2000 to Dec. 31, 2007 and studied the changes of the term “illegal.” In the mid-2000s, Potter noticed people use the term “illegals” instead of “illegal immigrants” to describe undocumented immigrants, making the adjective “illegal” into a noun. Media outlets afterwards were using “undocumented immigrants” when that was pointed out. The primary way in which the phrase “illegal immigrants” was used was to describe an influx or infestation, coming from Mexico, Latinx, brown-skinned, Mexicans, criminals, and potential or actual terrorists. Potter also looked through Trump and other politicians’ tweets, White House documents, and speeches. She paid attention to a June 24 tweet from Trump in particular that relates to the children separated from their families. “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents…Our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting on line for years! Immigration must be based on merit - we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!” Potter pointed out that the nativist rhetoric and reasoning that those who don’t come “legally” doesn’t have the right of due process, meaning the Fifth Amendment wouldn’t apply. - To read the rest of this article online, visit thetowerlight.com.
TU removes straws, trays SOPHIA BATES Staff Writer @sbrookebates
Towson University has removed straws across campus and removed trays from three dining halls this year part of the campus efforts to be more environmentally efficient. According to Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Daniel Slattery, the change started with the Chartwells team. “Chartwells operations team asked me that we consider both of these conservation efforts as they were being asked to do the same at other accounts,” Slattery said. “Since the University is committed to such initiatives and regularly seeks areas where we can be more sustainable, compost more, conserve more, recycle more and remove items from the waste stream, it seemed to make sense.” Some students are reacting positively to this change. “I think this is amazing,” junior Kristina Lopez said. “I’m a big supporter of trying to keep the environment cleaner, healthier, and safer for people and animals.” The change is projected to lead to a reduction in water usage in dish rooms as well as plastic going into our waste stream, according to Slattery. Slattery added that trays were
removed from Newell Dining nearly two years ago and the university felt it was necessary to make the change in the other two halls too. “Not having to run trays through the dish machines saves water, not having trays to pile food that may go uneaten will reduce food waste,” Slattery said. For sophomore Joshua Diaz, straws do not seem like the core issue of environmental stability. “I think it would only help a little bit,” Diaz said. “I don’t believe that they [straws] are the main source of pollution for colleges and the world.” Slattery brought up the “gostrawless” campaign that’s working across the nation currently. The campaign started in the Northwest and has generated a lot of national interest lately, according to Slattery. “The state of California had made it a priority, as has Starbucks, and locally- Greene Turtle,” he said. “An estimated 500 million straws are discarded annually in the U.S alone, many of which end up in our ocean waters.” Lopez brought up the discomfort that students may feel asking for a straw. “It will probably be a little unusual to hear someone ask you if you want a straw,” Lopez said. Slattery hopes that discomfort doesn’t affect how students view the change. - To read the rest of this article online, visit thetowerlight.com.
Mary-Ellen Davis/ The Towerlight
TU has removed straws and trays from various dining areas on campus. Metal straws have become an alternative for some.