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Show OPINIONS VOL L ISSUE 18 www.uvureview.com JANUARY 10, 2011 Bill threatens outreach programs While affirmative action supports equality in the workplace, it also mandates funding for diversity projects like the Multicultural and Women's Centers on campus. By Agustin Diaz Opinions Writer hairman of the American Civil Rights Institute Ward Connerly leads conservative legislators in Utah on efforts to revive a bill seeking to ban outreach programs funded by the state for multicultural populations and women. The legislation shows frightening promise of being passed this next session. For a state-funded university like UVU, this could lead to the demise of desperately needed outreach programs utilized by students involved with the Women's Resource and Multicultural Centers. "To try and limit people who are already limited in resources and opportunity is tragic," said former student Bethany Womack. "Especially here in Utah where women and minorities have much to catch up on, the bill only serves as an obstacle to progression ." Opponents claim that affirmative action is an act of prejudice toward white males, creating a reverse discrimination. However, to make such arguments is to misunderstand the background and intention of affirmative action. Affirmative action was created during the intense racial tension that took place before and during the 1960's, which happened alongside heavily oppressive sentiments toward women. It is a policy formulated for opportunity and success to groups who have long faced opposition and intense hatred. Women and minorities of color share that experience and have benefited greatly from services that have encouraged education and professional development. Connerly's attempts to ban affirmative action policy and outreach funding have plenty of supporters, including main sponsor Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, whose ideology, clearly portrayed in a Dec. 3 article in The Salt Lake Tribune, strongly asserts that unqualified individuals do not deserve privilege based on gender or color and that such bills inspire a color blind sociality. Multicultural Director Gwen Anderson asserts that individuals would be better off with color-wise personalities rather than color-blind characters. The Multicultural Center of UVU provides numerous services and academic opportunities to students of different ethnicities and cultures. It is built on a central focus of aiding students of color and numerous cultures in a world that often ignores their perspectives and hurdles. According to Anderson, the whole community, especially children, benefit from being a part of a population that will be transformed into an educated and body of people. Nor is the purging women's outreach programs justified in any argument made by Connerly and Oda. These programs are very much needed, according to Peggy Passin, coordinator of the on-campus Women's Resource Center. "When I started in this division ... I thought very naively and thought, 'We don't have much domestic violence in Happy Valley,"' said Pasin. "But when I started to interview students, I was absolutely blown away with the number that said [they had experienced abuse]." Research from the Utah Department of Health's Violence and Injury Prevention Program estimated that close to 40,000 Utah women are physically abused by an intimate partner each year and further study has shown that about 11 Utah women die each year from domestic violence. Associate Director of the Multicultural Center, Brett Breton, speaks fervently of the difficulties that still plague women and minorities of color. "The issue," said Breton, "goes well beyond superficial understandings of affirmative action; it can and will, if passed, systematically undo whatever small gains have been observed to this point since the civil rights movement." Gilbert Cisneros/UVU Review Activities and events brought to campus by these programs, such as the Clothesline Project, will be lost if the anti-affirmative action bill passes. A writer's final words before graduating Gladis was a writer, the assistant news editor, and created and edited the Spanish section for the UVU Review. By Gladis Higginbotham News Writer started writing for I UVU Review in the News section in the spring Photo Illustration by Randy Neilson/UVU Review Besides writing, a lot of other work goes on to get a newspaper into the hands of readers. of 2007. I was working 40 hours a week at a local bank as an investment banker and had four classes. With weekly assignments, scheduling time for interviews, writing and editing, writing for News was a struggle. I can tell you, however, that the basic concepts I learned through writing for the Review were not taught in any of my theory classes. Being really engaged in your education truly pays off. There is so much going on in the newsroom with so many different people, but everyone is working toward the same goal. It is chaos; it is absolute hard work and very competitive, even in a school setting. Reliability is another important aspect when it comes to writing for the newspaper, so if you are writing for the paper, make sure you are reliable and get your story done on time. As a writer, you will rarely see everything that goes on behind the curtain, but if you become part of the staff of editors, you will experience what is like to be in that environment. I want to take you into the newsroom and give you a small perspective of what is going on in that little shared space, to bring you, the reader, the newspaper you are holding. Once assignments are given, writers have to interview for, write and edit their stories and send them to their section editors. Editors content-edit before sending stories to the copy editor to edit for AP style. When this draft is done, best writer, photographer, the editorial staff goes over designer, editor and overall, it for the final version. At who is the best at doing their the same time, photogra- job in the newsroom. So be phers and illustrators work prepared to do the best you on creating art for the sto- can. ries. Finally, the designers We take our assignments lay out the pages with the and work in the newsroom articles and photos, and the very seriously. We know laid-out pages are gone over this is the place to learn to again. Then it is sent out to be professional and want to the printing press and print- make sure our readers are ed. well-informed. Competition and diWhether you are a Comversity in the newsroom is munications student or not, what makes our paper very writing for the paper is a interesting. However, we unique experience that will could use more diversity teach you not only the theand less competition. We ory and the aesthetics of the have students from all over newspaper, but also work the nation and from other ethic, reliability, self control, countries, which adds to our how to work in groups and, paper. best of all, how to become Even though some won't the best you while engaging admit it, there are strong in your education. feelings about of who is the Letter to the Editor As a pedestrian walking from my car to the main buildings, I have noticed that I can't "legally" get to the library or LA building from the parking lot I use. There simply aren't any crosswalks there. In other words, jaywalking isn't really a choice - it's a necessity. Then again, as a driver trying to get to campus, I have also struggled because once you stop in front of a crosswalk during a busy time, you may end up being there upwards of five minutes because no pedestrians are willing to let you get through the crosswalk before they cross. I recognize there are issues for both the driver and the pedestrian (who are one and the same at some point). Infrastructure needs to change to accommodate the massive number of students driving and walking in the parking lots simultaneously. Crosswalks with lights are used effectively at BYU to prevent this type of problem, and I really don't see why UVU can't follow suit to prevent the frustration and fright that driving or walking on their campus invokes. -Laura Gilchrist Requirements uvu.review.opinions@gmail.com • Letters must be turned in on Wednesday by noon in order to be printed in the next issue. • We make no guarantee that letters will be printed. • Letters 300 words or less have a greater chance of being published - anything longer will be edited for content. • All letters become the property of UVU Review as soon as they are submitted. • Anonymous letters are only publishable when the safety or professional status of the author is in jeopardy. |