The Reporter

thurs nov-os http://stetson.edu/: SJL.JI ll_J__JLJLJL.__J_J_.JL_y issue tS/i volume a >.<_* ' __{?r*'^ ^''A *> 1*' pf(V,3».„A._f •« , ■ ' U% Saaa" ^AA^ A,. Sa^T FIRST ISSUE / C0MM0NSENSEINC.ORG Above, the photo on back cover of the Common Sense issue. Common Sense unable to find common ground Michael Riggs news writer Common Sense, a conserative magazine printed and distributed by Common Sense Inc., was in distribution for 12 hours before it came to the attention of Dean Espinosa and the university administration, who, after speaking with Erik Detlefsen and other members of the editorial staff, decided the magazine should be pulled from circulation due to the offensive nature of its content and its unauthorized distribution. Of primary concern was the self-reference to Common Sense as "a publication which addresses concerns and connects with the students of Stetson University," and the illegitimate use of the university's name mark on the back cover. Said Dean Espinosa: "It became the opinion of the University that this particular volume was depicted as be ing representative of the University's views." In addition to the name mark, Common Sense Incorporated also advertised its writer's contact information using school email addresses and the magazine's contact information with the school's physical address. This was not appropriate from the university's perspective, regardless of the magazine's role as a non-profit organization, because the magazine's management did not have the permission of Stetson's Publication Board. The issues of the magazine's operation under a seemingly false pretext were further exacerbated by its controversial back cover, which features a photograph of the bedroom window of Junior Ian Wasser. Wasser is an open homosexual and the president of Stetson's Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender organization, Kaleidoscope. He also flies the gay pride flag in his third story window. It is the picture of the flag that is the back cover of Common Sense, though it has been altered for the magazine with a question mark superimposed over the window and flag. The issue that arises out of this says Wasser, "[is] not the actual use of [the] flag, since it is displayed in an area that can be viewed by the general public, but that the message meant to be conveyed by its use is too vague." The actual meaning of the question mark and flag is-not covered in depth in the magazine's content, and Wasser feels that it was irresponsible of the magazine to post the picture and then not discuss it. "If it was meant to start a dialog, wouldn't it be prudent to make it clear what message they wanted to be broadcasted on the back cover of their magazine? Perhaps if they used a quote about Stetson's 'tra- See COMMON SENSE, 24 Softball team's Halloween costumes cause controversy Caroline Peterson news writer Halloween is the only day of the year where everyone gets to be someone else. Everyone wants to have that awesome costume that the whole school is talking about the next day. This year, the Stetson softball team dressed as the university's men's basketball team, and it definitely got them attention- negative attention, that is. However, to some people their costumes sent a discriminatory message towards the team and the university. To make their costumes accurate, many of the girls on the team painted their bodies black and really got into costume by borrowing jerseys from the team, putting their hair in cornrows, and using false gold teeth. Photos from the night, reportedly found by a university student on the Facebook, were referred to the website Tolerance.org, a website dedicated to educating about diversity and bringing issues to light. An article appeared on their homepage on November 4th entitled "Blackface costumes spark dialogue." lWe were not trying to be * "black people" in actions or dress. We were dressed as specific people and acting like ourselves. It was a Halloween costume that got misconstrued and torn apart over an exaggerated detail.' SOFTBALL TEAM statement to the Reporter Blackface, a style of theatrical makeup used in theatre over 200 years ago at the end ofthe 18th century. The actors used shoe polish, burnt cork, or greasepaint to make their skin black and adding exaggerated lips, woolly wigs, gloves, tails, and ragged clothes to caricature black characters in plays. The plays often viciously parodied black stereotypes and ridiculed the black people. This practice continued until the 20th century when attitudes about racism and ■ tolerance began to change. Today, blackface still persists in other parts of the world, as well as "yellowface" parodies of Asians and "redface" parodies of Native Americans, although the practice is scarce in the U.S. today. This is most likely one of the reasons that many people, like the girls softball team, are unaware of the racial and societal implications of their actions. Reportedly the softball team was required to remove all the photos of the night from the internet and participate in workshops about diversity and tolerance. See HALLOWEEN COSTUME, 24 T0LERANCE.ORG Softball team members dressed in basketball jerseys to portray the Stetson's Men's Basketball team. Temporary fixes are to the consistent mo \ university s soluti< roblem on campus KRYSTAL PRYOR / THE REPORTER Water leaks in campus dorms and Commons cause mold in the ceilings. SeanBarth NEWS WRITER With 1,521 students living in the residence halls around Stetson's Campus there has been concern recently about the safety of the students who reside in Stetson facilities. This concern stems from the growing concern of mold being reported in the buildings. There has been mold problems reported in almost all Stetson residence halls, and with that comes the fear of health problems. One building that seems to have a recurring problem with mold is Stetson Hall. This results the building not being able to provide a centralized air conditioning due to the age of the building. Because the building was built without taking air conditioning into account, there are individual a/c units in every room. However this leaves the building vulnerable to mold because there is no ventilation in the building. There is also problems being reported in the fraternity houses on campus, but as Mark Hauser, the Associate Director of Residential life, explained, "The problem in the fraternity houses comes from the air conditioning vents in each room. There is a drip pan beneath each vent but the drip pans aren't working and end up causing there to be a build up of condensa tion." In both residence halls students • feel that opening their windows will help the situation by allowing fresh air into their rooms, but unfortunately opening windows can make the problem worse by allowing more humidity into the room. As Kelsey Donegan, a senior fine arts major and the Stetson Hall Director, explained, "the school is doing frequent checks of the air and are planning extensive renovations during Christmas break, and I imagine the trend would continue." Dean Espinosa also talked about the future of Stetson Hall, "Right now we are trying to improve for the short term, I don't know when but eventually the plans are for Stetson Hall to be razed." Short-term fixes do not sit well with most students however and many see this as the cause for the many problems around campus. Former Director of Residential Life Dana Copes said in an interview with a Reporter staff member recently, "Facilities and grounds do the very best job they can with the small staff they have and the small budget they have. They do not get enough money to upkeep things the way they should or to staff areas the way they should be staffed. We would then get complaints from parents or someone would finally call the health department - and that is when facilities would receive money to put in to an area." Students maintain the idea that parents are the ones who actually crack the whip moving on projects as Donegan says, "there are always going to be people who complain, but parents do definitely get the ball going." As for the actual risks that the mold may pose Dr. Michele Skelton, the" integrative health sciences chair said, "mold can manifest itself in an allergic reaction. People who haven't had allergic or asthma problems before could have one when coming in contact with mold spores." "Mold is a fungus that lives off moisture and needs an organic food source. I don't think we are facing any serious health risk," said Skelton. Apparently students around campus are still afraid of the amount of mold in buildings. "No one has reported being sick but people are afraid. With the actions being taken people should be reassured that the situation is being* looked at," said Donegan. Contact Sean Barth at w. barth@stetson. edu. Thursday's Forecast: Mostly Cloudy. High 72 Low 51 ••"'A;r- -"SBa. ™, EpTj^SwSwpjJSKffi""* CALENDAR 3B NEWS 2A CROSSWORD 2B NEWSMAKERS 3A HISTORY 2B OPINIONS 4A HOROSCOPE 2B RUMINATIONS 2B LIFE IB MOVIE REVIEW 3B METRO REPORT 2A STUDENT GOVERNMENT 3A MOVIE LISTINGS 3B What's Your Ipod? Movie Review I pods, ipods, and more ipods! Samantha Lange reports on music at your fingertips. PAGE 1B Movie critic Blair Townley writes how the sky falls in "Chicken Little." PAGE 3B Basketball Spotlight Men and women basketball teams outlook. . PAGE 1C