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SGA to fund inaugural pride festival
BY NICOLE ZIEGE
HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
The Student Government Association approved funding for the Inaugural Bowling Green Pride Festival after some debate during its meeting on Tuesday. Bill 9-17-F was brought before the Senate and proposed funding $250 from the Senate Discretionary fund for the Bowling Green Pride Festival on Oct. 21, hosted by the Bowling Green Fairness group. The Executive Discretionary fund will also match another $250 for a total of $500 to be given to the pride festival. SGA will be named a “Green Sponsor,” according to the bill, in which SGA’s name and logo will appear on festival t-shirts and the festival’s website. SGA will also have a tabling space at the festival. Senator Lucas Knight and Chief of Staff Conner Hounshell, co-authors of the bill, spoke in favor of the bill. “It’s not really a controversial bill,” Hounshell said. “We’re here to represent all students.” In their separate speeches in favor of the bill, the co-authors each said Bowling Green has been “terrible” at promoting equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Knight said Bowling Green’s city Commissioner failure to pass the Fairness Ordinance is an example of the city’s lack of promotion for equal rights for the LGBTQ community. The Fairness Ordinance would provide legal protection for the LGBTQ community against discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. “I have supported this concept for the past three years and will continue to do so,” Knight said. In his speech, Hounshell called the event “a celebration of identity.” “We will really be improving WKU,” he said. There was debate over the necessity of SGA to be financially involved in the pride festival. Senator Jordan Tackett called the bill “somewhat controversial” and asked the Senate if the event was worth the Senate’s
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As she explains to a family friend on the phone Lizbeth tears up, “I just want people to understand that we are not criminals, we have to have a clean record.” SHABAN ATHUMAN /HERALD
American Dreamer
Student left uncertain of future by administrative decision to end DACA BY EMMA AUSTIN HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
O
n Tuesday afternoon, an AT&T customer came into the store on Campbell Lane and was greeted by an 18-year-old employee named Lizbeth. As she helped the customer, he started talking about his support of Trump’s recent decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program referred to as DACA, which protects immigrant youth from deportation. Lizbeth didn’t say anything in response to the customer but continued to assist him. However, before he left, Lizbeth stopped him and asked if she could have a few more minutes of his time. When he sat down again, she asked if he was happy with the service she’d given him. He said yes, she was helpful, and he wished her luck in school.
Then, Lizbeth mentioned their earlier conversation and told him she was a DACA recipient. She talked about how she was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when she was 4 years old. “I told him, ‘Here I am. I’m going to school. I’m going to work. Am I someone you don’t want in this country?’,” Lizbeth said. “He said, ‘You deserve to be here. I’m so sorry,’ and he tried to give me a hug.’” Lizbeth told him she didn’t need the comfort or the apology. She just needed his support. Before he left, he sent an email to his senator in support of the DREAM Act. Lizbeth is one of nearly 800,000 young immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents without documentation who have been protected from deportation by DACA. The program was created in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama by
executive to give young immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children a chance to stay in the country to work or study. After Lizbeth was born in Mexico, she experienced severe health problems related to asthma, and her parents began the visa process so she could get the better healthcare she needed in the U.S. For four years, Lizbeth said, her parents put every effort and nearly $10,000 toward getting a visa, but they got nothing. Her brother, who was 9 at the time, was starting to get into trouble, and Lizbeth was still sick, so their parents made the decision to come to the U.S. without the paperwork. “They sacrificed absolutely everything to get us over here,” Lizbeth said. Lizbeth’s brother, José, graduat-
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‘Salons’ focuses on incarcerated men, songwriting BY EMILY DELETTER HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU Faculty and students gathered Tuesday to attend the “Second Tuesday Salons,” a monthly event which allows faculty, staff, students and community members to gather and discuss “complex contemporary issues.” The September salon was hosted by new WKU faculty member Catherine Wilson. Wilson, an assistant professor of music education, gave a presentation titled “If You Listen, I’ll Tell You How I Feel: Incarcerated Men Expressing Emotion Through Songwriting.” Wilson gave her presentation, which included many examples of songs that prisoners wrote under her guidance. A question and answer session with members in the audi-
ence followed her talk. The presentation was based on a 2013 fellowship Wilson completed with the University of Iowa, in partnership with the prison choir at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, a medium-security prison in Coralville, Iowa. There were 22 participants in her research, including incarcerated men ranging in age from 18 to 72. Wilson said most of the men she worked with were in prison under charges of drugs and alcohol. Wilson said during her presentation that one of the biggest things she experienced during her research was the overwhelming power of music. “Music heals people from the inside,” Wilson said in her presentation. “Writing songs helps people break down the unmanageable, horrific events into manageable chunks.” While conducting the prison choir
and working directly with incarcerated men during her research, Wilson said she learned a great deal about the prison system. “I think one of the biggest misconceptions about prisoners is that they’re all violent,” Wilson said. “They’re mostly people who have done something bad, but they’re not necessarily bad people.” Wilson was first connected with the prisoners through helping conduct the prison choir. A prisoner approached her with a poem and suggested turning it into a song. Wilson began a songwriting workshop, which still is still active at the prison. “The satisfaction that people find with music is the most surprising thing I learned teaching songwriting,” Wilson said. “It’s crazy powerful what some of the men were able to express through their writing.” Wilson is not currently teaching
her research to her music education classes, but said she is hopeful to incorporate it in the near future. She is also interested in starting a group for songwriters, where people could “come together to write, sing, and casually record songs.” Marshall County freshman Chloe Waggoner first heard about Wilson’s presentation through her communication class. She said she was attracted to the event because she was interested in learning more about the prison system. “I assumed at first that most prisoners were very closed off,” Waggoner said. “But hearing how they opened up through songs and built confidence reminded me that they’re people too.”
Reporter Emily DeLetter can be reached at 270-745-6011 or emily. deletter304@topper.wku.edu.