S A M A N D M A R I LY N F O X
ATLAS WEEK
TheUNews
unewsonline.com
Vol. XCIV No. 23
2015
UNEWS
Connect with UNews
@TheUNews
SIMPLE STEPS: GLOBAL CHANGE STARTS WITH YOU
UNews makes travel plans
@TheUNews @TheUNewsSports @TheUNewsArts
Page 9 Thursday, April 9, 2015
A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1919
Minimum wage protest By CHAD MAXWELL Staff Writer
Bishop addresses race in the U.S. Catholicism, compassion and empathy in race relations
By PAUL BRUNKHORST Associate News Editor
On Wednesday, April 8, SLU’s Catholic studies program hosted Bishop Edward Braxton, bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, in the Center for Global Citizenship. Braxton, who is a nationally published commentator on Catholic theology and social issues in America – his works have been published in the Jesuit magazine “America” and in “Commonweal” magazine, to name a few – gave a talk entitled “The Racial Divide
“
in the United States.” It was “Catholic people, like otha presentation that sought to er Americans, have reacted examine the in a variety relationship of ways to between rathese deaths, Catholic people, cially divicourt decilike other Amerisive issues sions and cans, have re– the shootwidespread acted in a variety ing in Fergup r o t e s t s ,” of ways to thse son, grand Braxton deaths, court dejury decisaid. cisions, and widespread protests. sions across Bra xton, the country in discuss-Bishop Braxton, and police ing the reDiocese of Belliville profiling in lationship jurisdictions between the nationwide Catholic – and Catholicism in the Church and African-AmerUnited States. icans, posed a number of
Race and Expression in the wake of Ferguson
Symposium focuses on media coverage, use By TIM WILHELM News Editor
Beneath the vaulted wood ceilings of Pere Marquette Gallery, the Walter J. Ong, S. J., Center for Language, Culture and Media Studies, held a symposium on Race and Expression on Wednesday, April 8. The event incorporated faculty and students from the departments of American Studies, English, Political Science and African American Studies. It concluded with a keynote lec-
ture by Professor Houston Baker, a specialist in literary theory and criticism from Vanderbilt University. The Center derives its name from Walter Ong, a Jesuit professor who taught at SLU and who is best know for his 1982 work “Orality and Literacy.” The Center “fosters inquiry into works of the human intellect and imagination, and brings together members of the academic community for interdisciplinary analyses and discoveries,” according to its website.
“[Ong] is one of the most eminent scholars in the humanities in the history of SLU,” said Dr. Sara J. van den Berg, the Center’s director. “He believed that language structures consciousness … He’s of most interest to people who are studying electrical culture.” This belief in the relationship between language and consciousness, combined with the context of Ferguson and its aftershocks, framed the symposium. The day’s panels addressed how the black community used the
media and how the media represented it. “It was a topic we’d already been talking about on campus … After Pestello’s call for conversations on race around campus, it made sense,” said van den Berg. During the morning sessions (and one in the afternoon), graduate students in both American Studies and English, as well as African American Studies majors, See “Symposium” on Page 2
Campus Ministry dialogue on privilege and allyship Members of the Saint Louis University community, both students and faculty members, gathered in the Campus Ministry student lounge, on Tuesday evening to engage in dialogue about privilege and allyship. The coordinators of the event immediately established an environment of safe dialogue and acceptance before introducing the event’s questions. Senior students Roya Massoudnia and Ale Vázquez facilitated a variety of questions to encourage conversation about the recognition privilege and the accountability of allyship. Additional topics emerged from the
discussion. Students took theologians to further extime individually respondpand their response. ing to questions including: Within the 60 minutes What is privilege? How allotted for the event, a do we distance ourselves plethora of topics emerged from our including privilege? addressing How do we the privilege practice acof space, countable gender idenallyship? tification, Responses the matrix included of identihaving the ties and its privilege complexity, -Hank Ideker, to remove and the false oneself belief of a SLU senior from a situpost-racist/ ation when p o s t- s ex i s t desired, walking alone at society . The matrix of idennight without care and not tities speaks to the multitude having to work for opporof identities people hold. tunities. People spoke from For example, if someone is experience, but also refnot oppressed because of erenced philosophers and his or her gender, they may
“
These are [incredibly] necessary conversations to have.
“
By KATHERINE KELLIHER Associate Arts Editor
be oppressed for their race, or if they are not oppressed for their race, they may be oppressed because of their sexuality. One key idea mentioned during the conversation was that allyship works on a spectrum and it means something different for everyone. Someone who acts as an oppressor can be oppressed, while those who are oppressed can also act as oppressors. Senior student Hank Ideker attended the event and provided a reflection on the discussion, “These are [incredibly] necessary conversations to have, conversations that aid in the See “Ally” on Page 3
questions to the people gathered in the CGC; what does the “racial divide” mean; are there points that we must acknowledge and agree upon; and are there really minority Americans and minority Catholics? Before addressing these questions, though, Braxton presented the crowd with a scenario. What if, he said, the situation of whites and blacks in the Catholic Church was reversed? What if the majority of people filling the pews were black and the angels and saints adorning the walls of churches
were not depicted as being of European descent? For Braxton, this empathy is at the heart of creating a more inclusive Church – and society. The racial divide, Braxton said, means that issues of race – prejudice, bias and ignorance – still exist in our country and the Church today. An example of this contemporary struggle can be seen, Braxton iterated, in the presidency of Barack See “Braxton” on Page 3
Women’s and Gender Studies gains Master’s Program, department status of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences as well as academic and With a handful of volunprofessional practices themteer faculty members and selves. It is time that we aca lot of perseverance, Saint knowledge and examine the Louis University’s women’s impact of gender in order to and gender studies program promote social equality.” began as women’s studies 34 Through the Departyears ago. These volunteers ment of Women’s and Gentook on additional work, der Studies, students will with no added compensainvestigate social problems tion, to start the program and possible resolutions by because they believed in engaging with communities the importance and value it through research, advocacy could bring. Having grown and service. significantly While since then, some may women’s think that Gender is an often and gender a degree in studies will unexamined factor women’s officially beand genin all human come a deder studies products and partment at does not SLU on July activities... help in the 1, 2015. “real world,” -Gretchen Arnold, What is Dr. Arnold interim chair even more believes exciting for o th e r w i s e . the program She says the is the recent new program will prepare addition of a new master’s students for doctorate prodegree program. The M.A. grams and professional caprogram provides multidisreers in teaching, research, ciplinary education about policy analytics and social social justice issues and prejustice. pare students for real-world In addition to five core leadership experience. classes, including an inFor Dr. Gretchen Arnold, ternship, students will also the interim chair of the dehave the opportunity to partment, this new program take elective courses from opens doors for many stua multitude of other studies dents and should be considincluding political science, ered. African-American “Gender is an often-unexamined factor in all huSee “WGS” on Page 3 man products and activities, including the subject matter By JACKIE STACHIW Staff Writer
“
“
See “Wages” on Page 2
Javier Muro de Nadal / Staff Photographer
Bishop: Edward Braxton discussed the relationship between the Catholic Church and the racial divide that he sees present in the United States.
“
On April 15, protests will commence throughout St. Louis, as well as in 190 cities in the U.S. and more than 40 other countries, in an attempt to increase the minimum wage given by large companies from $7.65 an hour to $15 and allow unionization without fear of retaliation for low-wage workers, which includes fast-food employees and adjunct faculty at universities, among other types of employment. The movement, dubbed Fight for $15 nationally and Show Me $15 in St. Louis, has resonated with 188 universities across the country, including SLU and Washington University, and they have all planned some form of direct action to be taken on the April 15. SLU students will host a speak out at the clock tower starting at 3:30 p.m. St. Louis was the third of 150 cities across the United States to join the movement and will witness a mass walkout and strike by many low-wage workers across the metropolitan area. The threat of a massive strike lead McDonald’s to issue a $1 an hour raise for 9,000 workers. Celina della Croce, a member of the Show Me $15, had the following to say