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Show WEDNESDAY, M 4 - DIXIESUNNEIAIS.COM - - mon's Iniernailonal , , , , , celebrate inclusi , , , 111 ,,,,.......s 11 lay ki,,i,--- ,A, , t ( )4.. (.. .,, , r nil. exclusion i , . 1 r , BY VALERIE DE , 0 LA , valeriedelaoDSU , , , From t what originated in i ' '''' -- 7:-- - '--- 1910,In temational Women's , r 4 I I t ' iL .A.- , r , ,) economic, cultural and political achievements of women. On March 8, the world celebrated International Women's Day, which was tailored I -,. 7 I to pressing for progress movement dedicated to pressing forward and progressing i, , f , , i ' t gender parity. As a female college student soon to be going out into the workforce, I am glad to see that we are taking strides toward establishing gender , i , , t t I 1 Ah "1144,'-- - , F Dz, p r9 E t z z or.. V ? - i parity. 1 , i i Though our ancestors have provided us with voting rights, and many firsts in history, there is still so much future generations of women can did it take so long to grant African women this right? It is outrageous that African women were withheld from this civil right for as long as accomplish. they were. The Vote Being granted the liberty to vote is a big deal and up until 1920, women were not allowed this. During the women's suffrage movement, women were able to get a lot of things done. Those of which included the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. While the women's suffrage movement gained white women popularity, it left African women out of the picture. Not only did these African women have their right to vote withheld from them because of their sexes, but because of LETTERS their races too. I can understand why men were allowed to vote years TO before women could, but why THE EDITOR --- - - , - f 1111 social, ! V ( LDay l, Sojourner Truth, an African-Americ- finally gained the right to do 45 years after so in 1965 white women were granted this right. an abolitionist and women's rights activist, spoke at the Address to the First Annual Meeting of the American Equal Rights Association and argued that giving African men the right to vote without affording African women the same right only promoted African men's dominance. Truth then went on to say: "There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before." After fighting for their right to vote, African women were Trans Women As an LGBTQ ally, I completely agree with the belief that tans women should be celebrated on International Women's Day. With how much the LGBTQ tommunity has accomplished, it's silly that people would even consider leaving trans women out. Simone de Beauvoir, a female philosopher and writer, wrote in her book, "The Second Sex," that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." Women are women in every aspect. And though Beauvoir's book was written over six decades ago, it is still relevant today. Take Gabrielle Bouchard, for example. She is the first trans president of the Fédéra tion des femmes du Québec, a feminist organization which has lobbied for women's rights for over half a century. When she was voted into office, she was faced with the argument that trans women couldn't possibly understand what it is like to be a woman. She challenged those who opposed her coming into office and is doing an outstanding job in her position. Denise Balkissoon, a weekly Opinion columnist for The Globe and Mail said, being a woman is a social category and a personal, political idenit's not shared by tification female genitawith everyone to those not and lia, whose bodies mark them as male, or otherwise. off-limi- ts itPressForProgress Now, more than ever, there has been a strong not just for everybody women, to press forward and call-to-acti- progress gender parity. As a women living in the digital age, it is amazing to see how much activists can accomplish through social media. The trending hashtag, PressForProgress, is being seen as the theme for International Women's Day this year, According to the World Economic Fomm's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report, equal pay is over two cent away. While this may seem like long time away, the good is that across the world wont a are making positive strides toward crushing the parity day by day. For example, when the USA Women's Hockey team adopted the BeBoldForChange theme to their brand, they were supported by fans. It was when they went on to rally for equal pay and boycotted the national finals when they received further support from fans and other teams playing in the finals. ilk..,-- EDITORIAL Send letters to the editor to DixieSundixiaedu. Letters to the editor are accepted and may be published in the newspaper andor dixiesunnews.com. The guidelines for letters are as follows: ,; Student journalism SUN NEWS STAFF BY DIXIE Submissions should be no longer than 250 words and must be Writers must include name, phone number and email address. Students should also include year in school, hometown and well-writte- n. major. Letters are subject to editing for length, style and grammar.. Letters consisting of inaccurate, libelous or highly offensive content will not be published. Letters should be submit- - ted to dixiesundixie.edu in the body of the email, not an attachment. Letters become property of Dixie Sun News and may be published in any format. 'Dixie Sun News encourages a lively discussion on its website among its readers. Dixie Sun News does not edit comments. However, an editor will not post any comments that are libelous or vulgar. DixieSunNews News outlets have a longstanding tradition of acting as a check and balance for governing bodies. At The Dixie Sun News, our goal is to inform the public of the goings-o- n at Dixie State University, find the truth and report it accurately, fairly and in a timely manner. A campus news team is an essential piece of any university. So, we were rightly concerned at the beginning of the month when, with only a few hours notice, we were told the Student Fee Allocation Committee, which comprises primarily members of student government, had made the decision to halve our funding in coming semesters and that they'd be presenting such at the Truth in Tuition meeting that day. We could use stronger words. Emotions ran high at the Dixie Sun when we received the news. Some of us were worried about the future of the campus newspaper, some were saddened by the prospect of being unable to do what we do at our best, and all of us were angry at what we see as a mishandling of the process. We were given functionally no time to defend ourselves; the committee had very little real idea of how our organization functions; there was no hard data in favor of their proposition, and the timing of it all reeked of some form of reprisal for reporting verifiable truth. Shortly before the Truth in Tuition meeting, seven students on the staff were denied funding from the student senate for a professional conference. This is a conference that representatives of the Dixie Sun attends annually, and they have had no trouble in the past receiving a portion of funding for the trip from the senate. With these two events happening in such rapid succession, we are left wondering about support for the Dixie Sun on campus. We'd love to give student government the benefit of the - u- ii4der doubt here and assume this entire thing is just poor timing and even poorer communication, but such an assumption leads to equally concerning questions about the competence of those involved with the committee. We're happy to report that the committee's decision to halve pur funding was reversed the following day, stating that more information was required to make such a decision and we would be up for review again in the coming year. While we are grateful to be able to continue reporting the news as we have done in the past, we are worried the importance of campus news doesn't seem to resonate with our governing body. A word on fees would be helpful. Every semester, students pay fees that support various organizations on campus. The Dixie Sun receives from every student to operate, pay scholarships, print the newspaper, produce the broadcast and use our various equipment and programs that attack at make news reporting in the modem age doable. Student fees have increased regularly in past semesters. We get by on this fee and have not requested any increases in the last 15 years. Halving it to a paltry 50 cents per student would put us in a world of trouble and limit our capacity to bring you the news. Troubling to us is the fact other organizations received increases to the their budgets that were not requested. We respect and admire these organizations, but are unsure why their value and validity is a higher priority than our own. The entire thing feels mishandled and done without proper process. Our worry is if we have no protections from such action in the future, then who does? Could the student government decide that your favorite club or organization isn't valuable enough to the university and cut your funding without notice? What are their bylaws on this? Student Body President Ezra Hainswoith said student government is revising policies based on what happened, DSU ;4 but we still don't know how student government was operating in the first place. Why did the senate decide to have us front our own money to travel and learn at a professional development conference when they have stated to us that their purpose is to fund such? When we reached out and asked for clarification, we were given explanations that aren't consistent with policy or weren't responded to at all. We feel it is our responsibility to bring these issues to the knowledge of the campus at large. There is either a breakdown in communication within our governing body or outright antagonism directed at your local news source. We want everyone on campus to know that we serve an essential function, and we will be unable to do our jobs as well without proper funding. Our reason for doing what we do is you, reader. Without an audience, the news has little meaning. We're grateful for your patronage and interest. We do it all for you, and we beg for your support in coming semesters. F',46,er,v1 |