Lagniappe Lafayette thevermilion.com Vermilion UL Lafayette’s Student Newspaper Since 1904. June 22, 2016 / 22 jun 2016 The Summer Breakup: Columnist spills self out about beer, broken hearts pg. 9 Sun Belt: Conference adding title game starting in 2018 pg. 5 Gretchen Vanicor: The woman behind Geaux Vélo Bikeshare and The705 pg. 2 LGBT: GLASS reaches out to students, community in light of Orlando pg. 2 SOUL Camp team prepares for another summer of community service Kailey Broussard| [email protected]The Office of New Student Ori- entation is gearing up for SOUL Camp, an extended orientation transitional program that is supplementary to new student ori- entation. SOUL camp is composed of a variety of things including community service projects, educational speakers, social activities, interaction with upper- class student mentors and team building. Lead staff, Komeback Krewe (returning members) and student mentors make sure students leave camp prepared to be an en- gaged and active member of the Univer- sity of Louisiana at Lafayette campus. “On the first day students move in early and we do community service,” said Kyle Sarver, assistant director of the Office of New Student Orientation. “We do team bonding activities, students learn campus traditions and the history of the university and we teach diversity and inclusiveness as well.” Sarver said SOUL Camp not only teaches leadership and engagement, but the program also turns out high rates of successful students on campus. He not- ed that many students have benefited from attending a SOUL Camp session. “We do data and research and we have numbers to prove that students who attend SOUL Camp earn more credit hours with a higher GPA than students who don’t attend,” he said. With seven lead staff members, five Komeback Krewe, and 24 student mentors, there are plenty of people to teach new freshmen how to be successful students at UL Lafayette. Lee, who is a senior broadcaster and leader of staff Chris Gastinell [email protected]With the reopening of the Stu- dent Union and the Quad’s completion, new social spaces and forums are opening around The University of Louisiana at La- fayette; however, there are spots on cam- pus — whether apparent or not — that are not as widely known or are buried under the hype. Here are some of the spots you may have missed, whether you’re a first- time freshman or fifth-year senior. A. Hays Town Building Next to scenic spaces in Girard Park and the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Uni- versity Art Museum, the A. Hays Town Building is more than just a spot for cel- ebratory photographs. Consisting of 225,000 bricks from the original Martin Hall, cypress flooring from a New Orleans convent and French slate tiles that were originally on ballasts in sailing ships, the building is metaphori- cally the sum of Louisiana’s parts. Built by 1922 Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute alumnus A. Hays Town in 1967, the building’s design is a nod to the Her- mitage Plantation in Darrow, Louisiana. Alumni Center Grounds Sept. 11 Me- morial On Sept. 11, 2001, 1969 Univer- sity of Southwestern Louisiana alumnus and Vietnam War veteran Robert Hymel was working in the Pentagon when he and 124 other service workers were killed in an attack on the building by terrorists with a hijacked plane. In his honor, a limestone shard from the wreckage was donated by Stan- ley Martin-Felix Ducrest American Le- gion Post 69 commander Lester Guidry, who donated shards to other victims. The memorial is surrounded by benches and is close to a red-brick gazebo and natural pond. Roman Crane The fruit of UL Lafayette civil engineering students’ labor sits between Fletcher Hall and the Girard Park Circle Parking Garage. Installed in 2013, the crane was built for “Engineering the Im- possible,” a series on the Discovery Chan- nel that aired in 2010. Dupré Library Echo Circle This spot in front of the Edith Garland Dupré Library is a meeting point near the center of campus; however, it doubles as an acoustic anomaly if you are standing in the middle of the seating area. The trick is to find a time where foot traf- fic is low and to yell or stomp. The sound bounces off the curved benches and li- brary entryway. BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home An eco-friendly, award-winning home rests just outside Fletcher Hall and overlooks Girard Park. The minimalist, solar-powered habitat placed first in Mar- ket Viability and People’s Choice in the 2009 International Solar Decathlon Com- petition. Its accoutrements include a rainwater-catchment system, energy-effi- cient lighting fixtures and interchangeable Campus holds hidden gems in plain sight The statue of the first university president, holding an acorn commemorating his planting of oak trees in 1901, in front of Girard Hall. Photo by Haoua Amadou / The Vermilion SOUL continued on page 7 @ TheVermilion / TheVermilionUL @ TheVermilion VermilionUL WEIRD SPACES continued on page 7
Transcript
Lagniappe Lafayette
thevermilion.com
VermilionUL Lafayette’s Student Newspaper Since 1904.
June 22, 2016 / 22 jun 2016
The
Summer Breakup:Columnist spills self out about beer, broken hearts pg. 9
Sun Belt: Conference adding title game starting in 2018 pg. 5
The Office of New Student Ori-entation is gearing up for SOUL Camp, an extended orientation transitional program that is supplementary to new student ori-entation. SOUL camp is composed of a variety of things including community service projects, educational speakers, social activities, interaction with upper-class student mentors and team building. Lead staff, Komeback Krewe (returning members) and student mentors make sure students leave camp prepared to be an en-gaged and active member of the Univer-sity of Louisiana at Lafayette campus. “On the first day students move in early and we do community service,” said Kyle Sarver, assistant director of the Office of New Student Orientation. “We do team bonding activities, students learn campus traditions and the history of the university and we teach diversity and inclusiveness as well.” Sarver said SOUL Camp not only teaches leadership and engagement, but the program also turns out high rates of successful students on campus. He not-ed that many students have benefited from attending a SOUL Camp session. “We do data and research and we have numbers to prove that students who attend SOUL Camp earn more credit hours with a higher GPA than students who don’t attend,” he said. With seven lead staff members, five Komeback Krewe, and 24 student mentors, there are plenty of people to teach new freshmen how to be successful students at UL Lafayette. Lee, who is a senior broadcaster and leader of staff
With the reopening of the Stu-dent Union and the Quad’s completion, new social spaces and forums are opening around The University of Louisiana at La-fayette; however, there are spots on cam-pus — whether apparent or not — that are not as widely known or are buried under the hype. Here are some of the spots you may have missed, whether you’re a first-time freshman or fifth-year senior.
A. Hays Town Building Next to scenic spaces in Girard Park and the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Uni-versity Art Museum, the A. Hays Town Building is more than just a spot for cel-ebratory photographs.
Consisting of 225,000 bricks from the original Martin Hall, cypress flooring from a New Orleans convent and French slate tiles that were originally on ballasts in sailing ships, the building is metaphori-cally the sum of Louisiana’s parts. Built by 1922 Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute alumnus A. Hays Town in 1967, the building’s design is a nod to the Her-mitage Plantation in Darrow, Louisiana.
Alumni Center Grounds Sept. 11 Me-morial On Sept. 11, 2001, 1969 Univer-sity of Southwestern Louisiana alumnus and Vietnam War veteran Robert Hymel was working in the Pentagon when he and 124 other service workers were killed in
an attack on the building by terrorists with a hijacked plane. In his honor, a limestone shard from the wreckage was donated by Stan-ley Martin-Felix Ducrest American Le-gion Post 69 commander Lester Guidry, who donated shards to other victims.The memorial is surrounded by benches and is close to a red-brick gazebo and natural pond.
Roman Crane The fruit of UL Lafayette civil engineering students’ labor sits between Fletcher Hall and the Girard Park Circle Parking Garage. Installed in 2013, the crane was built for “Engineering the Im-possible,” a series on the Discovery Chan-nel that aired in 2010.
Dupré Library Echo Circle This spot in front of the Edith Garland Dupré Library is a meeting point near the center of campus; however, it doubles as an acoustic anomaly if you are standing in the middle of the seating area. The trick is to find a time where foot traf-fic is low and to yell or stomp. The sound bounces off the curved benches and li-brary entryway.
BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home An eco-friendly, award-winning home rests just outside Fletcher Hall and overlooks Girard Park. The minimalist, solar-powered habitat placed first in Mar-ket Viability and People’s Choice in the 2009 International Solar Decathlon Com-petition. Its accoutrements include a rainwater-catchment system, energy-effi-cient lighting fixtures and interchangeable
Campus holds hidden gems in plain sight
The statue of the first university president, holding an acorn commemorating his planting of oak trees in 1901, in front of Girard Hall.
Sustainability director revamps Lafayette one tree at a time
Working as the director of sustainability at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Gretchen Vanicor exercises her savoir faire by creating sustainability programs on campus such as Geaux Vélo Bikeshare and local park restoration projects with The705. The705 is an organization that focuses on developing Lafayette and its members. ReCover Acadiana, a branch of The705, is an initiative that focuses on beautification and “blight remediation” projects in and around Lafayette. “The705 has been incredible in getting (ReCover Acadiana) started, and it’s really all about trying to facilitate projects such as the one we’re really getting involved in, improving public parks,” Vanicor explained. “They’re very vital and necessary to the quality of life for Lafayette, especially some of these smaller neighborhood parks that most people don’t even know exist. “They’re important to the people who live in those communities and to the kids who have a safe, fun place to go do something after school. That’s important,” she continued. Vanicor, 32, applied for the director of sustainability position at her alma mater, but developed cold feet while going into the application process. “I must’ve read the qualifications 100 times,” she said laughing. “I prepared my résumé and had a letter from Jeff, my professor, who recommended me for it, and still almost just didn’t turn it in
For Giving Love, Acceptance, Safety and Support, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s organization for support and outreach for LGBT individuals, June 12 was a day of upset, anger and eventual outreach. Around 2 a.m., 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando. Of the more than 300 people in the nightclub, 49 were killed and 53 were injured. However, the massa-cre, GLASS President Nick Saloom said, affected more than the family and friends directly involved. “There’s no doubt that some of the members in our club felt targeted be-cause it was an LGBT-friendly nightclub and they didn’t know where to turn to,” he said. Saloom said UL Lafayette Student Health Services and multiple counseling centers around the city and state contacted him with information. GLASS, in turn, reached out to club alumni, current members and incoming freshmen who they met at orientation via email, Facebook and GroupMe to inform them of the attack and to offer help. “We’re not Florida,” Saloom stated. “We aren’t the victims, but it’s still important to consider everyone’s perspec-tive and input and know that it’s affect-ing people this far from the scene, and it affects people from across the nation.”GLASS executives are discussing either dedicating the club’s annual drag show to the shooting victims or holding a candle-light vigil similar to the Transgender Day of Awareness. However, they’re doing so in a state with residents who helped garner
Louisiana the record for highest overall general derogatory language in Tweets, according to an Abodo.com graphic. The Bayou State was also one of 13 states that did not legalize same-sex marriage until the Supreme Court ruling on June 26, 2015, as well as one of 11 that has signed on to a suit against President Barack Obama regarding gender-neutral restrooms. Rolling Stone rated Louisiana as the fourth-worst state for LGBT indi-viduals in 2014 for its approval rating of marriage equality, the ability of Louisiana businesses to fire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and resistance to change. Although Louisiana is in the middle of the Bible Belt, the region in the U.S. that tends to be more religion-based and conservative, Saloom said South Louisiana is more accepting than North Louisiana. “Louisiana definitely hasn’t developed the openness that you’ll see in the East Coast or West Coast and having it be so mainstream, but we’re on the right path,” he said. “There’s so many resources that you can get involved with to find sup-port within the LGBT community.” Saloom noted the Acadiana Gay Men’s Wellness Center, Acadiana Cares and Louisiana Trans Advocates as resources. Richard Bravo, a sociology pro-fessor at UL Lafayette, said transitions to equality have historically taken decades,
GLASScontinued on page 7
because this is such a far-fetched idea that I could get this position. The opportunity presented itself, I didn’t think I was going to come into it, but I really knew I would regret it if I didn’t at least turn the application in.” After an arduous six-month application process, Vanicor, living in Houston at the time, was selected for director and moved with her son, John Thomas, who was at the time eight months old. Her husband soon rejoined his family. “We didn’t quite know how that was going to work out for his job,” she said. “I took a leap of faith. I got the job, and it’s been pretty amazing. He actually stayed living in Houston for the first six months. He’d drive to Houston on Monday morning and drive back on Friday afternoon. It was worth it.” In January 2014, when Vanicor started as director, she began her work on major projects on campus, one being Fête de la Terre, UL Lafayette’s annual Earth Day event. She also planted over 600 trees in Lafayette public parks over the last two years and introduced the university to Geaux Vélo Bikeshare, a bike-rental program for students. “We’ve been doing lots of park rehab projects,” Vanicor said. “We’ve been doing some of them strictly through 705 or we facilitate them through service
VANICORcontinued on page 8
Photo by Devin Cochran / The Vermilion
3THE VERMILIONApril 27, 2016
THE VERMILIONP.O. Box 44813 Lafayette, LA 70504-4813
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A University of Louisiana at Lafayette student in Bittle Hall reported her wallet stolen. The student said she had last seen her wallet around 11 a.m. Thursday. The pink wallet included her Cajun Card, two debit cards and her Louisiana driver’s license.
June 15
The men’s bathroom on the Mezzanine floor in the Conference Center was reported damaged; however, police found no property damage upon arrival.
June 16
A UL Lafayette student reported a conversation held with another subject on social media app Yik Yak regarding concealed carry. The suspect had mentioned carrying a concealed weapon on UL Lafayette’s campus for seven years. A non-university juvenile female had a seizure at Bourgeois Hall. She was treated on site and later brought to Women and Children’s Hospital. She was at Bourgeois Hall for UL Lafayette’s Girls Teen Basketball Camp.
June 17
A complainant reported a student possibly being followed by a subject in Doucet Hall. Police notified Joey Pons, associate director of Public Safety and Risk Management, of a shattered left door at UL Lafayette’s Athletic Complex main entrance. The shattered window was reported damaged by a grounds worker who was weed-eating grass. An elderly subject suffered a minor head injury during a wedding reception at the Student Union Ballroom. June 18
A subject, who was not sup-posed to be allowed access to the building, was escorted from Fletcher Hall after accompany-ing a UL Lafayette student into the building.
June 19 A subject who had been previ-ously banned from UL Lafay-ette’s campus was arrested and charged with entry/remaining after being forbidden. The sub-ject was found at Girard Park and had tried to escape through UL Lafayette’s Alumni Center and the Paul and Lulu Hilliard Art Museum.
June 22, 2016
THE VERMILION4 April 27, 2016
Depictions of LouisianaJanuary 2 – august 20
Kate cLarK: Mysterious presenceMay 28 – august 27
creoLe WorLDJune 10 – august 20
Free admission for students, faculty, and staff
710 east st. Mary Boulevard 337-482-0811Closed on sunday & Mondayhilliardmuseum.org@hilliardmuseum
The Sun Belt conference announced the addition of a conference championship game for the 2018 season on June 8 after Sun Belt presidents, chancellors and athletic directors unanimously approved the motion at the Shannon Room in the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel. The decision means the conference will no longer have to split a conference title like in 2013 with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Arkansas State. “We are excited about the Sun Belt Conference championship game,” said Louisiana-Lafayette head football coach Mark Hudspeth. “The champion-ship game will add even more excitement and exposure to already one of the most competitive conferences in the country. It will also allow the conference to name a true champion.” Despite the championship game being approved, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said there is still plenty of work to be done.
“We still have some work to do on the mechanics of the championship game, similar to the BIG 12 announcement last week,” Benson said. “Those decisions will most likely be made later this fall in terms of format of the championship game itself.” When Commissioner Benson joined the Sun Belt four years ago, he said his goal was to get the conference to a point where the Sun Belt could have a title game, which at the time would require a 12-team conference per NCAA rules. Since then, Texas State, Georgia State, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Idaho, New Mexico State and most recently Coastal Carolina joined the conference. Benson said the addition of these teams centered around his goal of adding a conference game. The NCAA later reduced the requirement to have a title game to 10 teams. Benson said the conference would have been eligible to hold a conference tournament next season but with Idaho and New Mexico State dropping from the Sun Belt in 2017 and Coastal Carolina’s postseason eligibility beginning in 2018, the decision was made to wait until the
“new era of Sun Belt football.” Benson also said the conference won’t be engaging in any more conference realignment in the foreseeable future. “The 10 football-playing members is the right number for the Sun Belt,” Benson said. “It now allows us to shrink our boundaries and to really maximize the geography.” With 10 football-playing schools, Benson and his colleagues have yet to decide on whether the conference will be split into two five-team divisions based on location, or stay with 10 teams in one large division. If it were a 10-team one-division, Benson said it would require a full round robin schedule that would result in nine conference games for each team. Because teams ultimately make their schedules years in advance, this would require scheduling changes for some teams. If the conference is split into two five-team divisions, it would still require each team to play the four division opponents and either four or all five
Sun Belt conference to add title game in 2018
A trio of players from the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team earned postseason honors following the 2016 baseball season: sophomore right-handed pitcher Dylan Moore; sophomore left-handed pitcher Gunner Leger; and senior outfielder Kyle Clement. Dylan Moore earned the most with three awards. Moore was named on the American Baseball Coaches Association South-Central All-Region Second Team, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana First Team and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-American Second Team. Kyle Clement earned two awards, being mentioned on the ABCA South-Central All-Region Second Team and the LSWA All-Louisiana First Team.Gunner Leger earned the ABCA South-Central Second Team. The Cajuns have had 49 players honored on the ABCA South-Central team and at least one player on the LSWA All-Louisiana team in all but one season since Robichaux took over in 1995. Moore is the fifth Cajuns player to be announced on the NCBWA All-American team since its introduction 19 years ago. Head baseball coach Tony Robichaux said in a statement that the three players were deserving of the awards. “All three of these guys have worked hard to get where they are at,” Robichaux said. “This is another example of the game paying you back for your hard work and effort. I’m really glad for those three to be honored for what they
Three Cajun baseball players win awardsDerek VanAllen [email protected]
Photo by Karley Nugent / The Vermilion
SUN BELTcontinued on page 6
June 22, 2016
THE VERMILION6 April 27, 2016
The Major League Baseball Draft announced the names of three Ragin’ Cajun baseball players and two incoming Cajuns recruits on June 11. Reagan Bazar, a junior right-handed pitcher, was the first of the bunch taken in the 17th round by the San Francisco Giants. Bazar was the only Cajuns underclassman drafted, and the only Louisiana-Lafayette player with remaining eligibility to leave via the MLB Draft. Senior second baseman Stefan Trosclair and senior right-handed pitcher Eric Carter were both drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 20th and 26th rounds, respectively. The Cajuns’ head baseball coach Tony Robichaux said he was proud of his players getting drafted. “These guys grew up since playing tee ball with the dream of one day being drafted,” Robichaux said in a statement. “It took a lot of hard work and effort to get to this point. I’m sure it’s a great feeling for them to see their names come up in the draft. I’m proud of all of them for putting in the work and effort to get to this point. “This is good for our program to see a group of guys come in and develop
and then get drafted. We want our players to play through us and not just to us.” The Cajuns recruiting class also saw a bit of action on Saturday, with two signees being drafted. Outfielder Todd Lott of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and catcher Handsome Monica, a transfer from the University
Three Cajuns baseball players and two recruits drafted in MLB draft
June 22, 2016
of Arizona, was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. Both Lott and Monica announced via Twitter they will turn down the opportunity to play in the MLB to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and play baseball for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Robichaux had high praise for both players in previous statements made. Lott was the lone player drafted out of high school from the Cajuns. Robichaux said in November that he was impressed by Lott’s hitting. “Todd is the best hitter we saw this summer anywhere in the country,” Robichaux said. “He has an advanced approach with very clean mechanics and big power.” In his statement Robichaux said Monica could be a potentially huge addition for the Cajuns as catcher. “Monica is another very physical player who also brings some D-I experience after spending a year in the Arizona program,” Robichaux said. “He flashes tremendous power at the plate with an advanced understanding of a hitting approach. He’s a rock solid receiver and blocker who possesses strong leadership qualities that will only make a pitching staff that much better. He was a player that was highly recruited both out of high school and junior college.”
opponents from the other division. Benson said the main disadvan-tage of splitting the conference into two five-team divisions is that the two best teams may not play against each other. One decision that has been made, Benson said, is that the location of the title game will initially be at the site of either a division winner or the highest-rated team in the Sun Belt rather than a neutral site. “We have great fan bases,” Ben-son said. “We have some great facilities within the Sun Belt that we think could, and would, showcase Sun Belt football. So I think in the early stages, the route that we will take will be on one of our campuses. Again (we can’t) predict or speculate five or seven years into it, but right now I think we can expect that it will be on one of our
campuses.” For now, Benson said Sun Belt representatives would attend and try to learn from other conference title games to help make the premiere of the Sun Belt conference title game a spectacle for at-tendees. “We have two full years, but that doesn’t mean we won’t start really putting together plans,” Benson said. “We want this and expect the inaugural game in 2018 will truly be a showcase type of an event.”
SUN BELTcontinued from page 5
7THE VERMILIONApril 27, 2016June 22, 2016
building structure, which allows residents to expand or contract. Passersby can look into the house and get a glimpse of the compact home, complete with a functioning kitchen, table and living room area. A picture of the award-winning team who constructed the house is framed and hanging on the wall.
Oak Trees Martin Hall visitors are greeted by a series of oaks planted by Edwin Ste-phens, the first Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute president, in 1901. The Century Oaks are only a few live oak trees located throughout campus. Their swoop-ing branches accent sidewalks and streets.
The first university president’s statue Standing in front of Martin Hall is the first university president Edwin Ste-phens, Ph.D., with an oak seedling in his right hand and a fleur-de-lis on his ascot. Stephens planted the Century Oaks at the beginning of the 20th century. Like the university, the oaks grew in size and spread. Under Stephens, the university curriculum expanded, and the president also directed building con-struction. By his retirement in 1938, the university began granting bachelor’s de-grees. Stephens also began the Live Oak Society, which has catalogued more than 7,000 trees across 400 states. The status was erected in 2014 by local artist Patrick Miller.
Pillars of Progress The space at the corner of Rex Street and St. Mary Boulevard looks like it could be a bus stop — however, this spot stands in place of the restaurant where the university’s first African-American stu-dents often gathered. The pillars represent the courage, faith, justice and knowledge of those who filed suit against the univer-sity and enrolled amid a time of violence and fear surrounding integration. In 1954, Clara Dell Constan-tine, Shirley Taylor, Charles Vincent and Martha Conway filed a suit against SLI when they were prohibited from enrolling. Constantine v. SLI was part of an NAACP campaign to incite integration across the U.S. Two years later, Christiana Smith be-came SLI’s first black graduate. Erected in 2004, the pillars immortalize the first African-American students to enroll and graduate from the university.
Gaines Center stained glass The third floor of the library is where words louder than a faint whisper cease and history speaks. This floor con-tains UL Lafayette public documents, Ca-jun music and culture and the work of the university’s writer-in-residence emeritus, Ernest J. Gaines. The center dedicated to him is an international center for Gaines-related scholarship and work, according to the Er-nest Gaines Center website. The gateway from the third-floor quiet zone to Gaines’s lifeblood is a door encompassed by a stained-glass depiction of Louisiana. The depiction of the state’s landscapes was cre-ated by artist Karen Bourque, and behind it lies a myriad of Louisiana history.
WEIRD SPACEScontinued from page 1
GLASScontinued from page 2
if not years, for minority groups to gain acceptance and tolerance. “Even if we pass LGBT legisla-tion into effect to protect their civil liber-ties, there’s still gonna be issues,” Bravo said. “The thing that hasn’t changed is beliefs about it, and that’s a long, hard road. That doesn’t change overnight. That takes sometimes decades — centuries, even.” In addition to Obama’s execu-tive order regarding bathroom rules, Loui-siana Gov. John Bel Edwards passed an anti-discrimination order that will protect LGBT individuals against state employ-ment discrimination and rescinded former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s religious freedom order. “It’s a very rudimentary topic,” said Bravo. “The things that are going on in the LGBT community are nothing new. It’s just prejudice in a different way to-wards different groups that don’t conform to mainstream cultural expectations. “There’s gonna be issues because what hasn’t changed is people’s beliefs about it,” he continued. “That’s a long, hard road. That doesn’t happen overnight; that takes sometimes decades — centuries, even — before people come to terms with that.” Saloom agreed. “You’ll hear a lot of, ‘why do gay people in the LGBTQ+ community need a whole month to celebrate what-ever it is?’ and it’s not a celebration ... It almost serves as a checkpoint throughout the year,” he said. “Look at where we were last year; (what) we’ve done this past year; we’re getting closer to an equal
status, which is what we want — not to be a separate entity. It’s not to have gay rights; it’s to have human rights.” Whether the shooting was a hate crime against the LGBT community or a terrorist attack against the U.S., Saloom said neither are relevant when considering the fallout of the attack. “Regardless of whether it was aimed at the LGBT community or not, it definitely left a lasting impact … espe-cially it being during Pride Month,” he said. Mateen was known by his fami-ly and friends for racist and sexist remarks as well as domestic abuse. Shortly before entering the nightclub, he called 911 and declared his actions are in the name of ISIS. His father told multiple sources that Mateen became enraged after seeing a gay couple kiss in public. “That could have easily have been someone passing by the nightclub that we were frequenting and opened fire at us,” Saloom lamented. Asked about what allies can do in light of the shooting, Saloom said they can do what GLASS has already done — outreach. “Reach out to someone you know if they’re within the LGBT com-munity because you never know how their mindset or their mentality is affected by these types of events,” he said.
development of SOUL Camp, said he enjoys the camaraderie the organization has to offer. “The best part of being on staff is seeing the staff grow as mentors and grow closer. This is my third year within the organiza-tion, and I am now on lead staff. My job is to train the (students) and to see them in action with campers will be a great experi-ence,” said Lee. Frederic said the organization received a surplus of applications, which allowed a more selective process. “This year, we had over 190 ap-plications turned in for the student men-tor role, and we only choose 24. That’s less than 13 percent of applicants made it, which means these are some of the bright-est, most caring and best mentors on our campus,” said Frederic. New students interested in at-tending SOUL Camp 2016 must register for an orientation session. Registration for SOUL Camp is limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis.
So, a man enters a nightclub, swears allegiance to terrorists and slaughters LGBT people. Two facts seem obvious. First, this is an attack on LGBT people, and second, Omar Mateen was ultimately attracted to an extremist religious ideology. It’s an ugly shooting, with the highest body count (in a mass shooting in the United States) so far and a web of hot-button issues. Anti-LGBT feelings are clearly behind the shooting. Conservative religious people are likely to condemn LGBT equality, and pastors have celebrated the murders, saying, “The tragedy is … that he didn’t finish the job!” We’re currently debating which bathrooms trans people can use, and some believe trans people are dangers to others. Yet, here a terrorist murdered LGBT people. The idea that gay people are predators is a myth, but the threats they face are very real. We cannot ignore that. But we also can’t ignore that he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Although ISIS likely did not direct his attack, they were happy to claim it. Despite being born in America, he felt more kinship with his Afghani roots. Perhaps other reasons will emerge later despite his death, but the effect of fundamentalist ideology collided with his preexisting hatreds. The ugly truth is that love doesn’t always win. We can easily succumb to fear and hatred of all Muslims. Yet, it is possible to fight Islamic terror abroad and prevent radicalization at home while not demonizing the Muslims who are part of our everyday lives (look at the celebrations for Muhammad Ali). It doesn’t help to
overlook how few mass shootings are committed by Muslims. The catch is that the American far-right and ISIS have similar worldviews. They both view the world as “Us vs Them” with no gray areas, wherein the West and Islam are in a life-or-death struggle. ISIS wants Muslims to feel unwanted in the West, because then they’ll turn to ISIS for protection. Presidential candidate Donald Trump is a gift to ISIS, embodying the sins they accuse us of. Then there’s the issue of gun laws — a debate where we’ve lost all common sense. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is literally banned by law from researching gun violence. Is this rational? How can you have a logical argument when you aren’t allowed to gather data? The data we do have suggests states with tougher laws generally have fewer gun deaths (see Alaska vs Hawaii). The Boston Marathon bombing killed six people — imagine how many more deaths we would’ve seen if they had used guns. There’s no single aspect we can point to and say, “This is the solution!” This story involves gun rights and access, gay rights, attitudes toward Muslims and fighting terrorism. The screaming matches that play out in Congress and arguing online do nothing to solve any of this. Even the idea of “thoughts and prayers” is losing acceptance, as it’s clear that praying after shootings does nothing to prevent the next one. Can we fight ISIS, decrease mass shootings and increase acceptance of LGBT people — all without tearing this country apart? I’m more and more skeptical.
ColumnsSecular:Love doesn’t always win
June 22, 2016
projects like SoUL Camp, but it’s going in and painting the bathrooms, planting trees, just showing it some love. That way people know it’s taken care of.” The trees that have been planted with The705 and ReCover Acadiana are catalysts for UL Lafayette’s campus and the community in becoming greener.“Doing that sort of stuff is just good for your soul,” she continued. “A lot of the trees we plant, some of them are just to add visual interest; we plant a lot of redbuds and dogwoods. A lot of these are shade trees in parks that don’t have a lot of shade. They provide all the environmental benefits like reducing stormwater runoff and providing habitat for birds and bees, filtering our air — all the great things that trees do.” Kate Durio, director of marketing and events for Downtown Lafayette, said she’s enjoyed working with Vanicor, whom she calls her “partner-in-good.” “Gretchen and I got to know each other in 2013 as we served as co-chairs of the Philanthropy Committee for The705,” Durio said. “We immediately began working on a project together called The Library Wall that featured UL Lafayette student artwork on the fencing around the library renovations. “Gretchen is one of the smartest people I know, and she has great vision,” she continued. “She can see impacts of projects before they happen and determine what we need to do to make them work. She cares so much for her community and that is obvious in how much time, energy and love she puts into every project she tackles.” In 2007, Vanicor, along with 200 other students and professors, would spend the next two years and five months of her life designing, building and transporting the BeauSoleil home to Washington, D.C., for the Solar Decathlon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Vanicor, a native of Iota, served as project manager for the home and said this was a “moving moment” in her life that birthed her passion for sustainability and cleaner living. “That was sort of a transformational project for anyone who had a hand in it,” Vanicor said reflecting on her experience. “The entire concept of the home was about sustainable living. Along the way, we met incredible people who told us their stories about how they lived a more
sustainable life in every aspect— from the homes they lived in, how they conserved energy, how they reduced food waste, drove vehicles that were more fuel-efficient, rode their bikes more, just all of the different ways you can reduce your impact on the environment. “That became incredibly interesting to me,” she continued. “It certainly transformed the way I lived my life.” Vanicor earned her bachelor’s degree in management and marketing from McNeese State University in 2006 and, weeks later, enrolled at UL Lafayette to earn her bachelor’s and master’s in architecture. While studying business, Vanicor’s interest in sustainability began through her learning from a professor about businesses that were concerned with sustainability after the fall of Enron — a corporation that collapsed because of a scandal. “She really taught us about all these companies like Ben & Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee, TOMS shoes, and we did these case studies on businesses that devoted their business to not just making the highest profit, but to being socially responsible as well,” she explained. “So that really sort of changed my way of thinking how businesses should operate as well.” While living in Houston, Vanicor was self-employed, creating contracts and designs for architects. “I had a few local architects, residential designers who sent me their CAD (computer-aided design) work and I got to do a little bit of design work as well,” she said. “That’s what helped pay the bills. While I was there, we never sold our house (in Lafayette) because we thought if we did, we’d pull up all our roots. I also stayed involved with The705.” Like most people who get a taste of Lafayette, Vanicor traveled from Houston to the Hub City frequently and continued her involvement in The705.Vanicor said through her work she wants students, faculty, staff and the community to understand their impact in Lafayette. “My long-term goals here are for more students to become aware of their daily impacts and the long-term effects of them,” she said, aptly. “I hope students, faculty and staff who work here, live here, who learn here, have an understanding of how much energy we use on campus.”
My summer began with heartbreak. I suppose that’s why it’s called summer “break” in the first place. In April 2015, I found myself head-over-heels for a girl who seemed far too comfortable making empty promises. Being the hopeless romantic I am, I held her to her every word. When in a relationship, I do this dreadful thing of putting all of me into my person. I pour myself into it — like a pitcher of beer into a frozen mug — all the way to the brim. After being chugged, rather than savored like I should be, I refilled her glass. Every. Single. Time. Until, of course, I emptied myself completely. After months of going through this “refilling” process, I began to dwindle down to nothing more than watered-down, bulls*** beer. Despite openly giving my all, I begged and pleaded for her to return the love. Even when she did, I was given half (if not less) than the love I deserved. She often said my expectations were too high or too cinematic, but I loved her the way I wanted to be loved. I loved her as if we were a movie with many, many climaxes. In the end, I realized she could not love me the way I needed. She could not love me at my worst; she did not even try. I endured a month of wanting to die
— one of the worst depressions of my life — and instead of reaching her hand out at my utmost time of need, she pulled it away. She closed and locked the door — she gave up on me. I fought for her without her asking because my definition of love includes the term unconditional. She loved me out of convenience for herself. Our demise itself was virtually my fault. I got tired of trying to pull passion out of her; I was mentally exhausted. Yet, I didn’t have the courage to end our tainted relationship. I chose her every day for 409 days because I believed she wanted me as badly as I wanted her. Boy, was I a fool to believe such a fantasy. The first day of summer consisted of far too much celebratory alcohol and a party to start the summer. We started the party with high hopes to make unforgettable memories. Honestly, though, many of my memories are only in photographic evidence, as well as a few sizzling in my brain. One of the only memories of that night is one that ended my relationship for good.
Editor’s note: Part two of Theriot’s column will be availale in The Vermilion’s July 13 issue.
In light of Brock Turner plagu-ing my social media newsfeed, I’ve had a lot of negative feelings come up that I’ve spent so long trying to hide — not from myself, but from the public — because the Brock Turners of this world make it uncomfortable for people who have been what I — and so many other people — have been through, to talk about our expe-riences. Four years ago I was raped (ex-actly four years ago to the day, actually). I remember that when I was fi-nally able to get myself away from that situation, the one thought that screamed in my head was, “Act normal. No one can know about this,” as though I had done something wrong. As I was going through what was the worst day of my life, in the back of my mind, I knew people would look at me differently if they knew. Some people would think I was damaged; some people would think I was somehow ask-ing for it. People would have far too many opinions and not enough sympathy in their hearts. Society has definitely changed and warmed up to survivors since 2012, but not by much. Last year, I finally started forcing myself to talk about it, and the reactions I got were truly a mixed bag. Some loved ones encouraged me and said it didn’t make me less valuable at all, but
I should probably not spread it around. Some people I thought were friends simply reacted with, “Lol, yeah, so has every other girl, apparently.” Despite that person’s attempt to diminish my experience, I unfortunately did find out how many women have been raped — many of whom never mentioned it until someone else told them their story. And at this point, maybe the recent events have pushed me to my limit, but I feel like the silence has gone on for long enough. You may read this and think, “What’s she talking about? all I see on Facebook are sappy articles about rape culture,” but that’s not what I’m talking about. If I got robbed tomorrow, I would post a Facebook status about it. If someone I knew got murdered, I’d share a picture of us in remembrance; but that simply was not the case when I got sexually assaulted. I’ve written and shared countless articles about it, but before this article, I have nev-er outright stated “I have been raped.” To whomever reads this and shares my experiences, the world may not be ready for you to casually talk about your assault, and it may not be ready for you to get over it. But you are not alone. My email is available through The Vermil-ion, and I encourage you to talk to me.
Feminism: Stand up to Brock Turners Summer (heart)break part 1:
watered-down BS beer
THE VERMILION10 April 27, 2016
SOUNDING OFF
Raeilon SemereVisual Arts
Senior “To a certain extent, yes, for protection–but I would make sure that there is like a thorough
background research on the person buying the weapon.”
Chouaid HudaPetroleum Engineering
Sophomore “No, because why would they need that? To
kill each other?”
Matt TurnerEconomics
Senior“No, I think they should have access to maybe
handguns–maybe a shotgun or rifles if you want to go hunting; not automatic weapons
because those are more for killing people rather than self defense.”
Should people have access to military-grade weapons?
Kim TarabaBusiness Administration
Graduate School“ No, i own guns but there is no situation that
would call for a non-military citizen to have an assault rifle in my opinion.”
Erik AragonCriminal Justice
Senior “I do believe in our right to bear arms because I
own weapons, too, and I’m in the military. So go through a thorough background check as every
person should who buys firearms.”
Kenzy LeBlancMechanical Engineering
Senior“No, I believe that people are inherently bad
and that we have laws in place to avoid the
misuse of such weapons.
Photos by Haoua Amadou / The Vermilion
June 22, 2016
11THE VERMILIONApril 27, 2016
Lafayette is Orlando StrongOn June 14, the Lafayette community gathered in Parc Sans
Souci to show its support for the 49 victims killed in the Pulse Club massacare on June 12. Univeristy of Louisiana at Lafayette communications professor and LGBT ally, Lindsey Hobbs showed her support in a speech with other speakers
and musicians at the evenings event.Photos by: Eden Abraham
Cajun CandidsJune 22, 2016
THE VERMILION12 April 27, 2016
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