Brown and White Vol. 134 no. 9

              The Brown and White Vol. 134 No. 9
Friday, March 2, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
FACULTY SPEAK UP
By KLAUDIA JAZWINSKA
Editor in Chief
In an overwhelming vote, Lehigh
University faculty have decided
to move forward with present-ing
a motion to rescind President
Donald Trump’s honorary degree
to the board of trustees.
Of the 357 faculty members who
participated, 83 percent voted in
support of the motion, 14 percent
voted against it and 3 percent
chose to abstain.
Only assistant, associate and
full professors were eligible to
vote, giving 472 faculty mem-bers
the option to participate.
Professors of practice, lecturers,
instructors and adjunct profes-sors
were not able to vote.
Doug Mahoney, the chair of the
faculty steering committee, said
the vote was an example of fac-ulty
members using the universi-ty’s
processes and procedures to
advance their perspective.
“The faculty spoke, and I think
spoke rather strongly, in terms
of the number of faculty par-ticipating
and the overwhelming
support of the motion as written,”
he said.
Mahoney said the results of the
faculty’s electronic vote will be
conveyed to the board of trustees.
Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons
President Donald Trump approaches the podium during a campaign rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on June 8, 2016, in Phoenix,
Arizona. Eighty-three percent of participating Lehigh faculty voted in support of the motion to rescind President Donald Trump’s honorary
degree from Lehigh.
From there, it is up to board mem-bers
to determine when and how
best to proceed with the motion.
Last year, they voted to take
“no action” on a 30,000-signature
petition regarding the matter.
Ziad Munson, an associate pro-fessor
of sociology, previously told
The Brown and White the motion
is important because, regardless
of the board’s ultimate decision,
the faculty’s position will become
part of university record.
“It will be part of the permanent
history of Lehigh,” Mahoney said.
In a Feb. 27 referendum, Student
Senate also announced its support
of the motion and requested a
written explanation should the
board of trustees choose not to
vote in its favor.
By AMBER PARVAIZ
B&W Staff
Phillips Armstrong, the Lehigh
County executive, signed new pro-tective
administration to improve
LGBTQ+ rights in the Lehigh
County on Feb. 14.
Armstrong won the execu-tive
race for Lehigh County in
November 2017 and, as county
executive, he oversees all busi-ness,
political and social activity
in the region.
He said the new administration
will maintain the national outlaw
on discrimination based on gen-der,
race, nationality and political
affiliation but explicitly extends
the right to LGBTQ+ communi-ties
by protecting them in the
workplace.
Armstrong’s goal in signing the
administration was to protect all
identities.
“I want all people — all busi-nesses,
all religions, all cultures
— I want everybody to know that
they are welcome, they are safe
and they will be treated equally in
the Lehigh County,” he said.
Amy Zanelli, the Lehigh Valley
commissioner, said such adminis- See LGBTQ+ Page 2
83 percent of voters want to revoke honorary degree
Lehigh County bans LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination
tration was crucial for her partici-pant
advocacy during Armstrong’s
campaign.
“I had met with (Armstrong),
and we made an agreement early
on to extend LGBTQ+ protective
rights,” Zanelli said. “The signing
of this administration was the
fastest way to do it and reach all
platforms and incentives.”
Zanelli is the first openly gay
commissioner to run and take
office in the Lehigh County.
Throughout her campaign, she
faced many challenges within her
own community.
“I simply wasn’t ‘gay’ enough
for them because I didn’t fit the
stereotype,” Zanelli said.
This stereotyping served as a
catalyst. It led Zanelli to approach
Armstrong and push for the new
provision.
Armstrong and Zanelli said
they are determined to see
Pennsylvania’s discrimination
laws change. The state has only
adopted the national anti-dis-crimination
law, which does not
extend rights to LGTBQ+ citizens. Annie Henry/B&W Staff
An LGBTQ+ flag hangs in the window of a building in Allentown. In February, Phillips
Armstrong, the Lehigh County executive, signed new protective administration for LGBTQ
rights in the workplace.