Brown and White Vol. 123 no. 6

              Vol. 123 No. 6
Friday, September 28, 2012
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Player of the Week:
Ani Nahapetian
Page 16
ONLINE
‘Like’ us
on Facebook
facebook.com
Oleanna’s
opening night
Page 7
LIFESTYLE
Marchers speak out against sexual violence
By JACKIE LYONS
This year Lehigh will no longer provide stu­dents with complimentary copies of The New York Times at various locations around campus. This service was sponsored for the past two years by the Provost Office, the Office of In­ternational Affairs, the College of Arts and Sci­ences and the Dean of Students Office.
“Though the paper is complimentary to stu­dents, it’s actually fairly expensive,” said Patrick Farrell, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “We did not receive a request to con­sider this year.”
According to Jack Lule, chair of the journal­ism department, it would cost between $8,000 and $10,000 to distribute the newspapers around the campus.
“We are not talking a lot of money here,” Lule said.
“I knew they offered the papers, but I per­sonally never read it,” said Lauren Kraft,’13. “I would just read the stories online if I wanted to.”
“Students can get the news online without the university’s help,” Lule said. “But what does that say to students? Keeping up with the news is something to do on your own time? It’s not an important part of your education? I think Le­high can find the money to fund this program.”
Some students, such as Alyssa Gutjahr, ’13, frequently used the complimentary papers.
“My class used to give current event quiz­zes based on the front page of The New York Times,” Gutjahr said. “I used to read the ones in the building a lot before that class, but that would no longer be an option.”
Whether the school will provide the papers in future years depends on the cost, partner agreements and the impact of spending money on this service as opposed to other demands for funding in departments and the Provost Office, Farrell said.
“I think the reading of newspapers remains an important part of education and an impor­tant part of democratic life,” Lule said. “I know the university has many priorities, but provid­ing students with newspapers is a relatively inexpensive but invaluable addition to their education.”
“As far as I know there has been no feedback indicating students preferred to read the paper as opposed to reading the Times online or other papers online,” Farrell said. “Papers are avail­able in the libraries.”
However, according to Lule, year after year the newspapers have always disappeared, which shows the value of providing the papers.
“Students took them to class, to the library, to the dining hall, back to the dormitory,” Lule said.
“I think it’s important for the school to sup­ply papers because otherwise students won’t go out of their way to read them, but they might if it’s readily available,” Gutjahr said.
Lehigh previously participated in The New
B&W photos by LISA KONG
TOP: Lehigh students rally in Centennial II before the take back the night march began. BOTTOM LEFT: Students sit outside Sayre Park Lodge after the march and listen to students speak out against sexual abuse. BOTTOM RIGHT: A poster with a daunting statistic about sexual assault on college campuses.
By JOHANA BHUIYAN
An unparalleled showing of students marched together in silence on Thurs­day night from Centennial II to the front of Sayre Park Lodge for Take Back the Night.
People came to the event, organized by Break the Silence, to seek solace and to support their friends, family and loved ones in speaking out about their past experiences with sexual violence.
The speak-out began with a speech by keynote speaker and professor of psychology at Lehigh, Michael Gill, who said he was surprised by the turnout.
“I’d also like to say wow, this is an impressive crowd,” Gill said. “I try to be civically engaged in my life; I find it’s hard to get more than 25 people, so I’m very pleased to see so many people here showing their support and solidar­ity. I’m also very happy to see a lot of males here which is a good sign, I think, for the possibility for cultural change because males and females both have a role to play in cases of sexual assault.”
Gill then went over various situa­tions and factors that can contribute to the likelihood of a sexually aggressive situation.
“The one factor, as they say the 20-ton elephant in the room, is the role of alcohol,” Gill said. “What is a wise approach to alcohol policy that will ad­dress its role in sexual assault? I don’t claim to have the answer, but I think it’s something people need to think about and consider.”
Gill then discussed the cultural prac­tices within different societies, specifi­cally at Lehigh.
“Another factor that has been known to distinguish rape-prone from rape-free cultures is the presence of practices that involve male control over females,” he said.
Gill mentioned how one of his stu­dents explained to him the practice of males controlling gender ratios at Le­high parties.
Admins cut funding for free NY Times
See SILENCE Page 2