News
Sanctuary Campus?
Nabiha Khan, StaffWriter
Since Trump’s
presidency began, we have
been hearing a lot more about
“ICE raids,” but many of us
have yet to understand what
that really is. ICE stands
for the US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and
these government officials often
visit neighborhoods as well
as colleges and universities
to perform illegal warrantless
searches to find specific
undocumented immigrants and
deport them. Many claim that
although ICE says that they
come at random they actually
target communities with known
amounts of immigrants. Other
than this being a type of racial
profiling many Immigrants are
unaware of their rights, and are
easily taken into custody. Those
that have family members
taken say that the government
officials abuse them once taken
into custody.
When Obama was
president he created DACA
(Delayed Action for Childhood
Arrivals) through an executive
order, which allowed young
undocumented immigrants
known as Dreamers a way to
work and go to school but not
a path to citizenship which is
ideally what the Immigrants
wanted. Now that ICE raids
are becoming more frequent
at colleges, colleges should
protect their students and
make sure they feel safe and
supported on campus.
A sophomore at Meredith
says, “I don’t think Meredith
is handling the situation the
way i would hope they would.
It is not that I am necessarily
asking for a sanctuary campus
because I understand why the
school cannot simply make that
decision because there are
many steps that must be taken.
I think the problem is that I do
not feel supported. The school
has not stepped up and said
they have our back; instead, we
keep receiving generic emails
about the counseling center.
Professors and staff have been
supportive but Meredith as a
school has not.”
Many students have
brought up the idea of turning
Meredith into a sanctuary
campus. A sanctuary campus
essentially adopts policies that
will protect undocumented
students. Now is the time
for colleges to to show their
support and take a stand on
this issue in order to better
protect their students and
provide them with a sense of
community and safety.
Black History Month 2017 - Student Perspectives
Sarah Kiser, Associate Editor
The Black History Time
line was located in the lobby
of the Carlyle Campbell Library
for this entire month. Created
by past Meredith students, the
timeline shows Black History at
Meredith until 2006. Students
are currently working to update
the timeline up to 2016.
Jasmine Williams is the
president of Meredith’s Black
Student Union, and this Black
History Month she was eager
to see all of their hard come
to fruition. “So much planning
and thought went into all of our
events that it was very reward
ing to see them happen and fall
into place,” said Williams. She
was pleased that “all of them
had a great turnout with diverse
backgrounds of students in at
tendance.”
The Black History time
line, Williams said, “was one
of her favorite” events of this
year’s celebration of Black His
tory month. BSU designed it
and it featured letters, as well as
pictures and clippings from the
College’s archives. “It is actually
quite amazing to see how things
have changed over the years for
Blacks on this campus” said Wil
liams.
BSU held many events to
celebrate Black History Month
themed around “Still Like Air,
We Rise; Uplift and Unity the
Black Community.” Events in
cluded “Cheerwine and design,”
a showing of the film “The 13th,”
a Black Excellence Dinner, and
a 4-part “Black History and Spiri
tuality Series” Of messages giv
en in Wednesday’s Chapel. For
Williams one of the elements of
BHM is “educat[ing] the Mere
dith community about Black cul
ture, history, and current strug
gles.”
Bruklyn Miller, a senior
at Meredith, is a member of
BSU but she was not available
to attend BSU’s events. She
wanted to go to “Cheerwine and
design”as well as “Treat Yo Self
Night” which focused on mental
health in the Black community
and was cosponsored by Na
tional Alliance for Mental Illness.
Miller said “everything was well
attended except for the talent
show” which was postponed be
cause there were not enough
performers. The #YouNamelt
talent show will be held at a later
date. BSU encourages students
to sign up to showcase any tal
ent whatsoever.
Meredith Sophomore
Jenyane Robinson takes a na
tionwide perspective. She ex
pressed disappointment “that
people forgot it [was] Black His
tory Month.” She said “I feel that
with everything going on in the
world today, people forgot it was
Black History Month. Because
of this, I decided to do my Black
Girl Magic bulletin board. Febru
ary is seen as a month of love,
American heart month, peo
ple are focused on our current
leader, and there are a plethora
of other things going on. In all
honesty, there should not be a
need for Black History Month
because Black people should
be celebrated everyday just like
other races. However, this is the
America we live in...”
Just like the Black His
tory timeline, time moves on
and change will continue to
happened generations after us.
Thinking beyond just this Feb
ruary, Williams hopes “for BSU
in the future ...that it still has a
presence on campus, for as long
as Meredith is present. BSU cre
ates a safe space for Black stu
dents but also strives to share
Black culture and promote
awareness across campus.”
Safe, Not Sorry
Emma Gomes, Staff Writer
We all have fears, some
come and go, while others follow
us through our entire lifetime. It
is a worldwide truth that wom
en are subject to higher rates
of sexual violence in both pub
lic and private spaces. In these
cases, our fears can help protect
us.
Imagine walking to your
car after a late shift, and feeling
as though someone is watching
you. We’ve all been there. That
wave of unease usually kicks in,
and your mind begins to plot out
every possible escape strategy
in case someone really is watch
ing you.
Although pepper spray,
personal alarms, and tasers
were created to protect us in
these situations, we still hear
spine-chilling stories of helpless
women being attacked in ev
eryday situations. Sure pepper
spray is useful, but there’s one
valuable skill all women can gain
that won’t involve digging to the
bottom of your purse.
Meredith’s Sports Sci
ence Association (SSA) paired
up with Anna Huff, Junior at
Meredith College, to organize a
self-defense workshop in hopes
of spreading awareness and
helping Angels feel safer on and
off campus. “It’s important for
women our age to gain this type
of knowledge because it will im
prove their confidence and it is
something they can carry into
the real world,” says Huff.
Melissa Palmer, class
of ‘99, instructed the first self-
defense workshop on February
6th, 2017. A total of 12 students
attended, reporting that it was a
success. Anna Huff shares that
the girls who attended said “this
workshop was a fun way to con
quer a fear in the back of their
heads.”
The Sports Science As
sociation (SSA) and Student
Government Association (SGA)
are currently working to collect
data on whether students would
attend another self-defense
workshop in the future. If there is
a workshop down the line, both
organizations hope to publicize
and promote it for a greater turn
out.
As young college women,
we are targets of violence, and it
is important that we are equipped
to protect ourselves in any situ
ation. These self-defense work
shops are making safety a prior
ity within our campus. If you’re
interested in attending, contact
the head directors of SGA and
SSA.