The Vermont Cynic MARCH 20, 2018
VOL. 134 – ISSUE 24
VTCYNIC.COM
Students protest gun rights rally Joey Waldinger Assistant News Editor Sawyer Loftus Staff Writer Gun advocates had just started their rally in support of the right to bear arms when a group of protesters in the back stood up, turned their backs on the crowd and walked out. Turning Point USA and the Young Americans for Liberty, conservative youth groups with chapters on campus, held a joint rally March 8 in the Ira Allen Chapel. The rally came less than a month after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at his high school in Parkland, Florida. A group of students protested the discussion standing silently and holding candles in the falling snow. High-profile gun advocates like State Representative Patrick Brennan and William Moore, firearms policy adviser for the Vermont Tradition Coalition, spoke for the Second Amendment, saying there are better ways to reduce gun violence than by restricting access to weapons. “Other than a few misguided people misusing those rights, I think our gun rights are just where they should be,” Brennan said. Junior Alec Collins, a protest organizer, disagreed. “Their viewpoint kills people,” he said. On the campaign trail, Governor Phil Scott promised not to introduce any gun control measures, but recently supported a bill that allows police to take weapons from people deemed dangerous, according
to a Feb. 25 Burlington Free Press article. A nationwide youth-led political movement began after Parkland students appealed to the Florida statehouse, prompting students across the country to follow suit. “Change on the national level is going to take a big push. We’re happy to do our small part tonight,” Collins said. Others, like Eddie Cutler, president of Gun Owners of Vermont, a non-partisan progun advocacy organization, were angered by this change in the political landscape, and by Scott’s endorsement of the bill. “When he came out with those statements, he didn’t contact us,” Cutler said. “He could have contacted us first.” Rather than push a political agenda, protesters were motivated to honor the lives lost from gun violence and
ensure that rally organizers addressed the opposition, said junior Scarlett Moore, protest organizers and a UVM leader of the International Socialist Organization. First-year Jace Laquerre, chief organizer of the rally, was glad to see the protesters and wished that they engaged in the conversation, he said. “For those of you that are here that disagree with our speakers, thank you for coming,” Laquerre said. “We do want to hear from you.” None of the protesters spoke at the rally. Moore said that there is no movement on campus aimed at fighting loose gun regulations. “Because of all the gun violence toward people of color, at this moment in time it is more important to focus on racial justice,” said first-year Eden Harari, secretary of the Inter-
OLIVER POMAZI/The Vermont Cynic Above: A gun advocate, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, listens to a speaker at a joint rally held by Turning Point USA and the Young Americans for Liberty March 8 in the Ira Allen Chapel. Below: Sophomore Mary Robideau and fellow protestors stand silently outside the Ira Allen Chapel March 8. sectional Feminist Collective. Despite the lack of political action, Harari considers gun violence on campus a threat.
“After every single shooting, I’m worried,” she said.
Program board requests further SGA funds Ben Elfland Senior Staff Writer
The students behind UVM’s on campus entertainment may have to start looking for a new source of funding for SpringFest. SGA is reconsidering the $50,000 in annual funding it has supplied to UVM’s Program Board for their yearly SpringFest event, SGA president Chris Petrillo said. The temporary funding deal began five years ago as a startup cost when UPB separated SGA, Petrillo said. With the deal due up for review this year, Petrillo has concerns about whether or not UPB should continue to receive SGA funding, he said. SGA gives UPB a $50,000 grant toward any aspect of SpringFest they choose, he said. “They say that money goes all to talent—we don’t know, we haven’t seen the budget.” Part of the reconsideration is deciding whether funding for UPB events is part of SGA’s responsibilities as outlined in
BEN ELFLAND/The Vermont Cynic UPB holds a trivia night Feb. 21 in Brennan’s. The $50,000 annual funding to UPB for their annual SpringFest event is being reconsidered by the SGA. the SGA constitution, Petrillo said. “We’re deciding if it makes sense for us to be funding SpringFest under UPB, which is an entirely different University entity,” he said. Because UPB receives a majority of its funding
directly from the University, they are not held to the same regulations imposed on most SGA-funded clubs. SGA doesn’t entirely know where UPB’s funding comes from, Petrillo said. “We asked UPB where they get their funding, and their
chair, a full-time staff member, told us he’d get back to us, which is a little bit concerning,” Petrillo said. The staff member, Matt Hayes, UPB coordinator of campus programs, is new this year and is still acquainting himself with the program, said
sophomore Taylor Magda, a member of the UPB concert committee. There is only one member on the UPB team who has been involved the past four years, Magda said. UPB has been in touch with schools similar in size to UVM to assess alternative sources of funding that may be able to improve SpringFest, she said. Senior Jack Hockman, another member of the concert committee, said funding issues have negatively impacted the quality of artists UPB has been able to get for the concert. “The majority of these other schools do source their funding from their respective SGAs,” Hockman said. SpringFest costs UPB a substantial sum of money and thus far there is no replacement for SGA’s supplemental funding that could keep it running at the same level, Magda said. The discussion has been put on hiatus until at least after spring break, Magda said. Once a funding document is finalized, the general senate body will vote on it.