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The Cooper Point Journal (May 31, 2017)
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theCOOPERPOINT
J O U R N A L
The Evergreen State College Student Newspaper | May 31, 2017
STUDENT PROTESTS AGAINST RACISM
PROTESTTIMELINE
EVERGREENDEMANDS
STUDENTSONSTRIKE
5
6
12
THE EVENTS THAT LEAD TO THIS
WEEKS ACTIONS
A COMPLETE LIST OF DEMANDS
SUBMITTED BY STUDENT GROUPS
RESIDENT ADVISORS GO ON STRIKE
UNTIL DEMANDS ARE MET
STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Fe l i x C h ro m e
Managing Editor
Ja s m i n e Koz a k - G i l roy
C o mm u n i t y E d i t o r
Sylvie Chace
A r t s & C u lt u r e E d i t o r
Ru by L ove
Comics Editor
R i ve r G at e s
Distribution Manager
Jo e S u l l a m
Writers
Geo rgi e H i c ks
Ta r i Gun st one
CONTACT
O f f i ce
T h e E ve rg re e n S t at e C o l l e g e
CAB 332
2 7 0 0 E ve rg re e n P k w y N W
O l y m p i a , WA
N ew s
(360) 867-6213
cooperpointjournal@gmail.com
Business
(360) 867-6054
business@cooper pointjour nal.com
W ee k ly M ee t i n g
We d 4 t o 5 p. m .
Cover Art By
Sarah Gluck & Rae Lesinski
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© 2017 the Cooper Point Journal
02 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
HOW WE WORK
The Cooper Point Journal is produced by students at The Evergreen State College,
with funding from student fees and advertising from local businesses. The Journal
is published for free every other Wednesday during the school year and distributed
throughout the Olympia area. Our content is also available online at www.cooperpointjournal.com.
Our mission is to provide an outlet for student voices, and to inform and entertain
the Evergreen community and the Olympia-area more broadly, as well as to provide
a platform for students to learn about operating a news publication.
Our office is located on the third floor of the Campus Activities Building (CAB) at
The Evergreen State College in room 332 and we have open student meetings from
4 to 5 p.m every Wednesday.
WRITE FOR US
We accept submissions from any student at The Evergreen State College, and also
from former students, faculty, and staff. We also hire some students onto our staff,
who write articles for each issue and receive a learning stipend.
Have an exciting news topic? Know about some weird community happening? Enjoy
that new hardcore band? Come talk to us and write about it.
We will also consider submissions from non-Evergreen people, particularly if they
have special knowledge on the topic. We prioritize current student content first, followed by former students, faculty and staff, and then general community submissions.
Within that, we prioritize content related to Evergreen first, followed by Olympia, the
state of Washington, the Pacific Northwest, etc.
To submit an article, reach us at cooperpointjournal@gmail.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We want to hear from you! If you have an opinion on anything we’ve reported in the
paper, or goings-on in Olympia or at Evergreen, drop us a line with a paragraph or
two (100 - 300 words) for us to publish in the paper. Make sure to include your full
name, and your relationship to the college—are you a student, staff, graduate, community member, etc. We reserve the right to edit anything submitted to us before
publishing, but we’ll do our best to consult with you about any major changes. Thank
you!
News
EVERGREEN
PROTESTS
STUDENT PROTEST PROMPTS CHANGES TO ADDRESS RACISM
E
By Felix Chrome
vergreen President George Bridges held a meeting on Friday, May 26 to respond to student demands addressing
racism, anti-blackness, and police on campus. A series of protests that began Tuesday, May 22 increased pressure
on the administration, culminating in an occupation of the library building during which administrators were
blockaded in a room to listen to concerns of students.
A coalition of black students demanded the Evergreen Police be disarmed and
expansions in their facilities or
power be blocked; Evergreen
Police Officer Tim O’Dell be
suspended for his behavior
toward protesters earlier this
week; Weinstein be suspended
without pay; Andrea Seabert
Olsen, the Assistant to the
VP of Student Conduct, be
fired; sensitivity and cultural
competency training for all
faculty and staff; Changes to
the student conduct code must
have democratic student consent; the creation of an Equity Center; the coordinator
of Trans & Queer Center be
hired in a permanent full time
position; and the creation of a
permanent position dedicated
to supporting undocumented
students. Other groups of
students have also submitted
further demands that will be
responded to by the administration in the coming week.
Bridges complied with
many of these demands, but
said “I have no plan to disarm the police at the point”
and he would not fire anyone
or discuss any personnel matters based on student requests.
When these announcements
were made students expressed
frustration, saying that these
two issues most immediately
affect their safety on campus.
People were especially worried about Weinstein’s continued media crusade, saying students were a “mob” engaged in
a “witch hunt”, and going on
Tucker Carlson Tonight during the meeting with George
Bridges, falsely asserting that
students had taken over campus and threatened violence.
At the meeting students shared
that they had received death
threats and harassment due
to their portrayal in national
media.
Despite the media narrative
that has been woven in national press, recent protests are in
response to multiple incidents,
and the precipitated event
was not comments made by
Weinstein. Students disrupted
Weinstein’s class in relation to
allegedly racist comments he
made in multiple emails, but
protests had already begun
previous to this when students
were upset by a May 14 incident in which campus police
woke up, held, and questioned
two black students about an
argument with another student over alleged racism.
The steps Bridges did agree
to take include the creation of
an Equity and Multicultural
Center on campus; mandatory
anti-bias and cultural competency training for all faculty
and staff beginning Fall 2017;
the creation of a retention specialist position for supporting
undocumented students; and
increased budget for First Peoples’ Advising.
Bridges told the gathered
students “The status quo is
unacceptable” but “we don’t
know all the answers.” He
thanked them for their input,
and said he will continue meeting publicly and privately with
students in the next two weeks
to understand how to further
address concerns.
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 03
News
The protests were largely in reaction to an incident in which campus police held two Black students for questioning about an arguments over racism. RUBY LOVE.
A WEEK OF ACTION
By Georgie Hicks
M
onths of protest and community dissatisfaction came to head this week with a student led protest, specifically about empowering student voices, formed by the group behind #exposeevergreen gathered
the force of the student body, occupied the Daniel J. Evans Library Building, and brought a series of
demands directly to several key members of the Administration. Following a series of unsuccessful
conversations with different, divided portions of the Evergreen administration over the past several weeks and
years, they gathered, personally escorted and held President George Bridges, all of the Deans, the Vice President of Student Affairs Wendy Endress, a Board of Trustees representative, and the full teacher union bargaining team all in President George Bridges office for about five hours. The administration stayed in the room until
demands to address the problems of systemic racism and oppression faced by minority students were agreed
upon.
This measure was taken because previous attempts to make
changes to policy to support students of color and other underserved populations and promote
equity had been met with the
various sections of the administration blaming the college’s stagnancy and lack of action on other
areas of the administration, sending students through an endless
maze of meetings and conversations that all ended the same way:
with empty promises and no concrete actions. No force was used
to detain members involved in the
meeting, and everyone held in the
President’s office were provided
with food and water, with students
available to attend to any emerg-
ing needs, including medical care.
The building entrances were barricaded when it seemed as if police would be on the way soon.
When word got out that police
were not on the way, as Bridges’
had told the police to stand down
and they had locked themselves
in police services, White students
stopped guarding the doors.
The May 24 occupation followed two weeks of increased student activity around questions of
race and equity, ignited by a May
14 incident during which two
Black students were brought in
for questioning late at night and
held by campus police into the
early morning. These students
were not made aware that they
04 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
were not legally required to go
with the police and were escorted
to be questioned by their Resident Director. This incident culminated with the violation of the
Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act rights of the students
when their personal information
was accessed and their mother’s
were contacted the morning
after Mother’s Day around 2
a.m.Other factors included the
administration’s unwillingness to
address concerns about faculty’s
expressions of racist, sexist, and
transphobic beliefs, including
emails sent by faculty Bret Weinstein, who had been broadcasting
his dislike for new equity policies
and expressed feelings of being
discriminated against because he
is white on the all staff and faculty
email chain from fall quarter.
The conversation around
Weinstein’s emails came to a head
when the cops were called on a
group of students who disrupted
his class, demanding he apologize
and listen to their concerns, and
officer Timothy O’Dell aggressively shoved through a crowd of
students protesters.
Though Weinstein is one factor, many other concerns lead to
the the occupation, including the
drawn out discipline process of
two black disabled trans students
for their participation in nonviolent protests by Vice President of
Student Conduct Andrea Seabert
Olsen and lack of student input
in new student code of conduct
rules that would, among other
things, make any form of “disruptive” protest punishable.
The occupation began with a 1
p.m. meeting in the Library lobby,
with students moving out to Red
Square for a reading of a press
release written by organizing students which listed the mounting
concerns of marginalized students on campus including lack
of health and safety of PoC on
campus due to the mounting racial tension and racist emails from
faculty. A group of about twenty
students then filed upstairs to
president George Bridges’ office,
blocking any possible exits. Hundreds of students followed, filing
into the administration offices
chanting “Hey hey ho ho the racist teachers have got to go.”
Vice President Endress initially refused to meet with the
protesters and attempted to leave
without addressing the students’
concerns. Endress was encouraged to return and eventually
came around and was present for
the meeting in Bridges’ office for
the rest of the discussion. Students wanted VP Endress present because of an email she sent
regarding the two Black students
who were held by police services
late May14, that stated “by midnight the police determined that
there was no immediate threat.
[and] Some of the students were
offered alternative places to stay.
Some ‘no contact’ orders were
put in place. The staff in Student
Affairs continues to investigate
and consider what consequences
or restitution is appropriate.”
This information was false as
students were escorted by Resident Director Hanna Smith at
around 11:45 p.m. and held until
around 2 a.m. that morning.The
two students who were held and
questioned had restrictions put on
where they could go in the dorms
they live in, at one point they
were not allowed into their own
dorm rooms and were not offered
any resources in which to ensure
their safety after this harrowing
experience. VP Endress was also
involved in pressing charges on
two Black students for their participation in a series of protests
against the Administration’s lack
of action in supporting students
of color. One day prior to the
occupation, on May 23, Endress
had refused to apologize before
about 300 students and failed to
confirm that information in the
email she had sent out was false.
When she was asked whether
News
the information in the email was
factual she opted to say “to my
knowledge” and when asked to
apologize she said she “wanted
to apologize with integrity” and
that she “take[s] responsibility
for sending that email too soon”
to which she was met with disappointment from the students present, who knew that the day she
sent the email Endress had been
in implicit bias training and yet
still sent out an email that left students of color vulnerable.
While all this was happening, professor Bret Weinstein was
mocking protesters on Twitter
and on Facebook, saying, “If I
am hearing them correctly, they
are calling for me to be fired as
a racist. The fact that I am not
a racist makes this awkward.”
Weinstein had been the focus of
student attention for months after
he sent an email that called the
reversal of the day of absence
“a show of force and an act of
oppression in and of itself ”. For
this year’s event, as opposed to
previous years, a small amount of
white students, 200, were invited
to hold caucus and workshop off
campus and PoC were invited to
be present on the campus they
often don’t feel welcome on for
their own workshops. Weinstein
opposed this change, saying he
would not support the reversal
and that “you may assume I will
be on campus on the day of absence” and encouraged others to
do the same. Weinstein, and evolutionary biologist, then offered
to have “a discussion of race on
campus through a scientific/evolutionary lens.”
Weinstein also received infor-
mation from students who spied
in a closed Facebook group including a screenshot of a student’s
post offering names and faces of
students supporting weinstein for
PoC to know who to avoid for their
own personal safety. No threats of
doxxing or violence were made
by this student. Weinstein publically posted a screenshot of this
message from the closed group,
mocking the student saying, “This
is a small peak at what my students and I are dealing with. Evergreen is busy with other things
while certain people are targeted
for their beliefs.” As of May 25,
the student Weinstein reposted is
receiving death threats, threats
of sexual assault and is being harassed on Reddit, online sources
and directly to her phone by Neonazi groups and students who live
on campus due to Weinstein’s actions.
As the library occupation continued, a faculty meeting was interrupted and many faculty chose
to join the administrators meeting
with students. The full teacher
union bargaining team was present and agreed to bring any issue
up in the bargaining with the admin over the collective bargaining
agreement (CBA), as the current
CBA ends in August. When the
question of why racist professors could not be fired came up,
it was made clear the CBA and
the system of due process at this
school made it difficult to remove
teachers even when they have
committed clearly racist actions.
Cynthia Kennedy, faculty and
bargaining team member, stated
her issues with the CBA and how
it has been used to protect rac-
ists herself saying, “…when my
colleague was saying some thing
that were racist, what was decided was that he wasn’t actually
breaking anything in the CBA.
so there wasn’t anything that we
could do.” she continued by saying “I didn’t think that [The Current CBA] was working and I really really see what ya’ll [students]
are bringing up as complaints as
real complaints and I don’t know
if there is a system that can work
with it right now.” “I am willing to
work to help talk about that [as a
bargaining member], but I don’t
see that what we have is working.”
At this point other Faculty
started speaking up about their
experiences trying to combat racism. Teachers who had been here
for 15, 20, 30 years were said,
they’ve gone through the current
process, and it doesn’t work, that
the system is broken.
Finally Bridges agreed to work
on the demands. Around 5:30
students and administrators came
to an agreement and the occupation was ended. Bridges was given
two days to meet demands and he
promised if any demand could
not be met he would outline exactly why it could not be met in an
announcement Friday.
Students warned George that,
“If you’re not transparent we
will be back” to which George
responded “I want you to come
back even if I am transparent,
either way I want you to come
back.”
News of the protests have been shared heavily on social media. RICKY OSBORNE.
A YEAR OF EVENTS
By Jasmine Kozak-Gilroy
Recent protests were a response to tensions that
have been mounting through the entire academic
year. Here is a summary of some of the events that
lead to student action—
September 21
Student Protest at Convocation
Two student protesters took the stage during a question and answer session with the invited speaker holding a sign that said, “Evergreen cashes diversity checks but doesn’t care about blacks”.
President George Bridges interrupted the students, thanked them
for vocalizing their concerns, and said that they would have more
time to speak on issues of race on campus after the Q & A ended,
a promise that was never realized.
November 18
Bret Weinstein Sends Email about Equity Action Plan
In the first major email thread of the year, Weinstein sent an
email criticizing the Equity Council’s Strategic Equity Plan to
the entire Staff and Faculty email list saying, “From what I have
read, I do not believe this proposal will function to the net benefit
of Evergreen’s students of color, in the present, or in the future.”
His email sparked discussion and critique of his positions by staff
and faculty of color and allies, which was met by more emails by
Weinstein and supporters.
January 11
Protest at Swearing In Ceremony of New Chief of Police
A group of students, including the two students that took the
stage at convocation, brought noisemakers to the swearing in ceremony of Evergreen State College Chief of Police Stacy Brown,
taking the microphone from Wendy Endress, the Vice President
of Student Affairs, and chanting “Fuck cops”. This incident
launched an investigation and prosecution of these two students,
threatening suspension for the allegedly violent action of taking
the microphone from Endress.
March 15
Weinstein Sends Email Regarding Day of Absence
Bret Weinstein sends out email protesting new configuration of
Day of Absence/ Day of Presence, bringing on more controversy and many, many more emails.
May 14
Black Students Detained By Police
A week of internet conversations and drama culminating with
one student calling the campus police of two Black students, alleging that they had threatened him. His call led to both students
being led out of their dorms at about 11:45 p.m. by their Resident Directors to be questioned by the police.
May 15
Students Discuss Questions of Racial Profiling with VP/
VP of Equity Candidate
Students co opted the planned conversation with the first of
three Vice President/Vice Provost of Equity and Diversity candidates to talk about recent events and the history of racism and
administrative stagnancy on campus.
Continued on page seven.
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 05
Community
Protesting students discussed what changes could be made to address their disssatifaction with Evergreen. RICKY OSBORNE.
M
STUDENTS DEMAND CHANGE
ultiple Coilitions of POC students delivered demands to George Bridges and other members of the
administration. We suspect they will cotinue to grow and change as this story progresses. Here are the
current demands that came out of last week’s events—
We demand that no changes to
The Student Code of Conduct be
made without democratic student
consent. We demand consent as
distinct and separate from input in
the process of revising the codes
that govern us. The coalition of
black students and students of
color that are submitting these
demands will nominate 5 black
students to inhabit a Student
Code of Conduct Task Force by
the end of Spring Quarter 2017.
The Student Code of Conduct
task force will be an autonomous
body from the office of Student
Affairs, will employ a consensus
based decision making process,
and will have ratifying and veto
power over all revisions to the
student code of conduct. The office of Student Affairs will submit
revisions of the Student Code of
Conduct to the Task Force and
will not implement those revisions
until the Task Force gives their
written approval. The task force
will do no labor other than review
changes presented and say yes or
no. The students placed on that
task force will each be paid a sti-
pend of $500 a quarter until the
Student Code of Conduct is approved. We demand that no one
is charged with a student code
of conduct violation until these
revisions are finalized. No one is
charged for the demonstrations
of the past two weeks beginning
May 14th.
We demand that Officer Timothy O’Dell be fired and (Suspended during the investigation)
suspended without pay while
an investigation takes place. We
demand Officer O’Dell be fired
if he is guilty of using excessive force and aggression when
responding to student protesting. When responding to the call
made by Brett Weinstein, O’Dell
did not ask questions. O’Dell
started violently pushing through
students who were trying to protect black students. O’Dell was
asked to stopped and students
expressed that they weren’t dangerous. O’Dell refused to listen.
O’dell continued to knock students over in attempt to reach the
black students. O’Dell was targeting people of color.
06 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
We demand the immediate
firing of Andrea Seabert Olsen,
the Assistant to the VP for Student Conduct, from all Evergreen
State College Positions. We request that no transfer happen but
a complete removal. Seabert Olsen has shown a consistent often
violent flaw in judgement when
it pertains to the needs and safety
of Black students, other students
of color, Trans students, students
with disabilities, students who
have experienced sexual assault.
Seabert Olsen has been given an
ample amount of time to educate
herself about the needs of more
marginalized students and has
failed to show evidence of effort
or effectiveness. We believe that
at this point there is no way for
Andrea Seabert Olsen to redeem
herself as her reputation directly
influences her ability to do her
job. The students who are in the
most danger in the current climate and culture of both the Evergreen campus and the United
States do not view Seabert Olsen
as a safe person to seek help from.
We demand no expansion of
police facilities or services at any
point in the future. We demand
that police services sell all of their
lethal and less than lethal weapons
and donate the money to manifestation of demands enumerated
here. This demand entails that at
no point in the planning stages
of any expansion of campus facilities should plans be articulated
or students, staff, administrators,
faculty, or contractors be paid
to work on plans to provide increased office space, increased
surveillance technology, or more
or expanded holding cells to Police Services. We demand for the
institution to create a student collective to develop and implement
alternative to policing.
We demand mandatory sensitivity and cultural competency
training for faculty, staff, administrators, and student employees. Hire the Aorta Collective or
a comparable anti-oppression
training collective to develop a
plan for mandatory trainings for
all Faculty, staff, and student employees. We demand anonymous
evaluation forms for students to
evaluate all faculty.
We demand the creation of an
Equity Center in the 4th floor of
the Library Building. We demand
a remodel that will accommodate
students and have movable walls
for caucusing spaces. This Equity
Center must be fully staffed and
must have an assistant director,
innovative program coordinator,
case manager and student advisors. We demand that Equity
Center have it’s own budget and
be connected to the new VP/ VP
for Equity and Inclusion.
We demand for the coordinator of the Trans & Queer Center
to be permanently hired full time.
Currently, they are temporarily
hired and their contract ends in
June.
We demand the creation of
a permanent position that will
support undocumented students.
This position will have a budget that will create scholarships,
housing, and protections.
We demand that the video created for Day of Absence and Day
of Presence that was stolen by
white supremacists and edited to
expose and ridicule the students
and staff be taken down by the
administration this Friday.
We demand Bret Weinstein be
suspended immediately without
pay but all students receive full
credit.
We demand an official statement on each of these demands
from George Bridges that is divided up into 10 sections on this
Friday May 26th, 2017.
We demand that no changes to
The Student Code of Conduct be
made without democratic student
consent.
We demand that Officer Timothy O’Dell be fired and suspended without pay while an investigation takes place.
We demand the immediate
firing of Andrea Seabert Olsen,
the Assistant to the VP for Student Conduct, from all Evergreen
State College positions.
We demand the immediate
disarming of Police Services and
no expansion of police facilities
or services at any point in the future.
We demand mandatory sensitivity and cultural competency
training for faculty, staff, administrators, and student employees.
We demand the creation of an
Equity Center
We demand for the coordinator of the Trans & Queer Center
to be permanently hired full time.
We demand the creation of a
position that will support undocumented students.
Community
Time line continued from page five.
May 19
George Bridges Hosts Conversation About Race, Met
with Call from Students to Boycott Event
On May 18 Wendy Endress sent out an email that included false
information about the students who had been detained by the
campus police, lauding the accomplishments of the administration in the pursuit of equity, and inviting students to a forum hosted by George Bridges to discuss the questions of race brought up
in the previous week. Students, fed up with the administrations
pattern of inaction and self congratulatory rhetoric, called for a
boycott of the event in a press release, positioning the actions of
students within a decades long history of inaction and explaining, “We have already voiced our experiences over this year and
Wendy and George have made it obvious they don’t care about
how recent events are affecting the student body. They are making an effort to diminish our voices and take control of a situation they refused to acknowledge until it began to tarnish their
reputation.”
May 23
Students Confront Weinstein
In the morning of May 23, students disrupt Weinstein’s class
to discuss emails, with some individual students declaring that
they believed that Weinstein should be fired. The campus police
were called, and they in turn called the County Sheriff’s office
for backup. When the cops arrived, student protesters formed
a protective ring around the students of color conversing with
Weinstein. This ring of students was ripped apart by Officer
Timothy O’Dell when he shoved through protesters, injuring
two students.
Meeting Held By George Bridges to Discuss the
Morning’s Events and Student Complaints
At 4 p.m., Bridges met with students to discuss the actions of
O’Dell, complaints about Weinstein, and other student safety
concerns. The meeting was attended by Bridges, Endress, and
Brown. Weinstein was in the crowd of community members who
gathered. Students took over the meeting, which was planned
as an event moderated by members of the administration, to
discuss concerns, ask questions, and make demands of the administration.
May 24
Students Barricade Library, Occupy Building, and Meet
with Administrators
Students gathered at 1 p.m. for a rally before flooding inside to
George Bridges’ office, blocking exits and, over the course of
several hours, barricading the main library entrance, gathering
Deans, the entire collective bargaining team for the United Faculty of Evergreen union, and hosting a meeting centered around
student concerns and demands, moderated and managed by the
students themselves. Students presented Bridges with a list of
demands, requesting that they be addressed by 5 p.m. Friday
May 26.
May 26
George Bridges Addresses Demands
Bridges set a meeting in the Longhouse at 5 p.m. to address the
demands made by students, during which he fielded criticism
for a stark refusal to disarm the police and, for the most part, repeating patterns of talking instead of acting, implying that many
things are out of his control.
Meet Your 2017
Graduation Speakers
T
By Sylvie Chase
he graduating class of 2017’s commencement ceremony will be held on Red Square
on Friday, June 16 at 1 p.m. Commencement is an open event for anyone who wishes to celebrate the graduating class of students. A myriad of speakers will be present
for this years ceremony, featuring guest speaker Jaime Mendez, an anchor and reporter for Noticias Univision Seattle, faculty speaker Anne Fischel, and three student speakers, Eder Humberto Nunez Dieguez, Kadazia Allen-Perry, and Jesi Richardson-Chapin.
Jaime Mendez
Originally from Colombia, Jaime Méndez is an anchor/reporter
for Noticias Univision Seattle,
KUNS-TV 51, the first regional
Spanish language newscast in the
Pacific Northwest. He also coanchors a Sounders FC highlight
show and is the Spanish TV playby-play announcer for Sounders
FC games of Major League Soccer. A popular personality among
the Spanish-speaking community,
he graduated from Evergreen in
1995 with a focus on Political Sciences and Communications. He
got his start in broadcasting at Evergreen’s KAOS community radio
station where he launched his own
two-hour program featuring talk,
music and guest appearances in
both Spanish and English. After
graduation, Méndez returned to
Colombia for a short time before
moving to Miami, where he was
hired by Caracol Radio, a major
Colombian station with a huge
presence in south Florida. “It was
such a great experience to work
with people who really know what
they’re doing and view their work
as community service,” he says.
“I’ve brought that way of thinking
to my work in Seattle. It’s important to let the immigrant community know what services are available.”
Jaime and his news team have
built relationships with local politicians, as well as the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
and the King County Sheriff’s
office, collaborating on anti-gang
programs and other outreach to
the Spanish-speaking community.
Méndez also takes advantage of
the connections of their sister station KOMO news when covering
particular stories relevant to his
audience.
Anne Fischel
Anne Fischel joined the Evergreen faculty in 1989 after teaching at Hampshire College in Am-
herst, Massachusetts. Anne is a
documentary filmmaker whose
teaching has focused on nonfiction
media production, media theory,
and community studies. She has
enjoyed and benefited from teaching collaborations with colleagues
in environmental studies, political
economy, public health, anthropology, Middle East studies, animation, education, African-American
studies, Native American studies
and feminist studies. Anne has
been active in college governance,
and most recently, served on the
Agenda Committee which oversees and facilitates faculty deliberation and input into policy decisions. She was a co-founder of the
Sustainability and Justice planning
unit, an interdisciplinary group of
faculty who share a common focus on extending student learning
through community-based work
and collaboration. She is also a
member of the Undocumented
Students Task Force, one of several
groups working to support undocumented students at Evergreen.
Anne helped to co-found
Strengthening Sanctuary, a local
organization working to expand
and protect the safety and security
of immigrant residents of Thurston County. Anne’s own films
include Lewis County: Hope and
Struggle, which documents the history and current struggles of workers in nearby Lewis County, and
Under the Stack, a documentary
about the environmental impacts
of mining and smelting in three
Southwestern communities.
Eder Humberto Nunez Diéguez
Eder was born in Mexico migrating to Oregon with his family at the age of 10. He attended
both the University of Oregon and
Troy University before transferring
to Evergreen Fall of 2011. A father of two, he served 10 years in
the United States Army deploying
multiple times. Through volunteer
work at CIELO, an integral Latino
education center in Olympia, he
has realized his passion for community building, service and outreach and hopes to continue pursuing this passion after graduation.
Kadazia Allen-Perry
Kadazia graduated high school
from Tacoma School of the Arts.
She attended Pacific Lutheran
University before transferring to
Evergreen in the Fall of 2014.
While at Evergreen, Kadazia focused on visual arts and communications exploring different elements of identity centered on the
African American experience in
filmmaking. This past year, she
started her own production company, Fro On Fleek Productions,
and premiered her first feature
length film, Chronic Means Forever. After graduation, Kadazia
intends to pursue independent
filmmaking full time and, eventually, pursue a master’s degree in
producing and filmmaking.
Jesi Richardson-Chapin
Jesi entered Evergreen Fall
2013 graduating with a Bachelor
of Arts degree in 2015 the same
year her daughter received her
Master in Teaching degree from
Evergreen. Prior to entering Evergreen, Jesi held positions in law
enforcement, corrections, school
resources and community grant
coordination. Currently, she is the
Program Coordinator for Homeland Security Region 3, coordinating training and exercises for emergency responders in a 5-county
region. She enrolled in the Master
in Public Administration program
in order to influence “policies and
procedures that create a culture of
equality and safety for our most
vulnerable citizens.” This year she
is receiving her Master in Public
Administration degree along with
her son, James, who is receiving
his Bachelor of Arts degree. Jesi is
also a mother of six.
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 07
Arts & Culture
&
UP
COMING
WED. MAY 31
Evergreen State College
CRC 117. 4pm. Free.
Self Defense Workshop
Obsidian
414 4th Ave E. 9pm. $5
Transfx, Merchandise, B Boys, Oh
Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave W. 9pm.
Vomity 134 with Erin Ingle
THUR. JUNE 1
Rythm & Rye
311 Capitol Way N. 9pm.
Hotcabi, Extra Measures
Obsidian
414 4th Ave E. 9pm. 21+
Wizzerd, Sower, Turian
FRI. JUNE 2
Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave W. 6:30pm. All Ages. $5
The Tattoos and THC Tour with Bryan
Torch and The Aviator Experience
Eagles Hall
805 4th Ave E. 8pm. All Ages. $5
Young Pioneers Release Show
Rythm & Rye
311 Capitol Way N. 8pm. $15. 21+
Giants in the Trees, Dancehall
Queen, C Average
SAT. JUNE 3
Heritage Park
330 5th Ave SW. 10am.
Witches March
Olympia Center
222 Columbia St NW. 11am-4pm. Free.
Olympia Comics Fest: Cartoonists
Expo
Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave W. 7pm. All Ages.
Slug Christ, Nobodies, Crimewave
Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave W. 10pm. $5. 21+
Dark Palms, Psychotic Reaction, Ron
Hexagon
SUN. JUNE 4
Orca Books
509 4th Ave E. 2pm.
Book Club: The New Jim Crow
Le Voyeur
404 4th Ave W. 9pm.
Flames of Durga, The Snubs,
Dancehall Queen
= Staff Recommended
cover artist
B R E A N N A
S W A Y Z E
08 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
Arts & Culture
STUFF 2 DO
By Tari Gunstone & Sylvie Chace
FRIDAY 6/2-SATURDAY 6/3
OLYMPIA COMICS FESTIVAL
Timberland Library - 313 8th Ave SE // Olympia Center - 222 Columbia St NW //
Capitol Theater - 206 Fifth Ave // Danger Room - 201 Fourth Ave. W.
All events free except for the stage show ($6)
The Northwest’s longest-running alternative comics event converges this weekend
in Olympia where direct connection between comic creators and readers is cultivated
through cartoonists’ expo, panel discussions, author and illustrator signings, and a stage
show featuring comedy skits, interview, music, and slideshows. This year’s guests of honor
include Emil Ferris, Simon Hanselmann and Peter Kuper.
Emil Ferris is new to the comic scene with her first graphic novel at age 55, My Favorite
Thing is Monsters, being hailed as a stylistic tour de force. Its protagonist is a 10 year old
girl of Mexican, Irish, and Cherokee ancestry who obsesses over monsters to the extent of
constantly picturing herself as a werewolf girl. The story explores the fictional world of
monsters and the monsters that dwell within each of us. Ferris imagined the story while
fighting partial paralysis from contracting West Nile Virus, in which she duct-taped a quill
to her hand so she could draw in the hospital, slowly finishing Monsters over six years of
dedication.
Simon Hanselmann is best known for Megg, Mogg, And Owl which chronicles the
lifestyle of a witch and her cat who deal with their depression and various addictions. He
identifies as a “flesh-swaddled skeleton” who regularly cross-dresses, including the time he
wore a beautiful white wedding dress while marrying comics. Yes, he literally married a a
stack of comic books in 2014.
Peter Kuper just won the Eisner award for his most recent graphic novel, Ruins, and
is famous for many of his contributions to the comic and illustration world including Spy
vs. Spy and World War III, the comic anthology magazine that arose in critique of the
right-wing conservatism that permeated the social and political state of the country after
the election of Ronald Reagan. With its anti-establishment beat, it sounds like the perfect
read for today’s current climate.
One of the panel discussions will be: Resist Through Making Comics, which Kuper
and the other guests will likely have great insight to share (11:30 at the cartoonists’ expo).
The event kicks off Friday night with a preview at the Olympia Timberland Library
starting at 6:30. Saturday features the cartoonists’ expo and panel discussions from 11 am
- 4 pm at the Olympia Center, and the stage show from 5-7 at Capitol Theater with guest
of honor book signing following at The Danger Room until 8:30.
.
SLUG CHRIST.
SATURDAY 6/3
SLUG CHRIST LIVE AT LE VOYEUR
Le Voyeur- 404 4th Ave E. All Ages. 7pm.
Musician and rapper Slug Christ comes to Le Voyeur along with other talent such as
Nobodies, Crimewave, and Virginia Slim. Signed by Awful Records, Slug Christ comes
from Atlanta, Georgia where they’ve produced a debut album, Crucifixion of Rapper
Extraordinaire. This show is hosted by Le Voyeur and CapCity Hip-Hop. The facebook
event page states that you need tickets to attend the event, which are being sold for $13
at Le Voyeur. The page has also posted an after party/show event at O’Malleys on the
westside at 11pm featuring Nacho Picasso, this after party will be 21+. This is sure to be a
night filled with beats, dancing, and much more, so be ready for a show to blow you away!’
SUNDAY 6/4
BOOK CLUB ON THE NEW JIM CROW
Orca Books - 509 E 4th Ave. 2pm.
The Black Alliance of Thurston County and Orca Books are hosting the last of a
three part series book club covering Michelle Alexander’s important read, The New Jim
Crow; Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. If you missed the first two, but
have read the book and want to analyze it with fellow community members, Sunday’s
discussion will cover the last two two chapters (5 & 6). Enjoy discussion, refreshments, free
parking, and 10% off if you purchase The New Jim Crow from Orca.
SUNDAY 6/11
THE ARTERY: COMMUNITY EMPOWERED
PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL
Capitol Theater - 206 5th Ave. 6:30 p.m. All ages.
A diverse gathering of Puget Sound artists will gather to present mixed-media performances including spoken word, experimental dance, film, storytelling, and music. The
DAIPAN butoh collective from Seattle will perform their choreographed dance piece
Stone Silence from the Japanese dance theater tradition in which the dancers traditionally
wear white body makeup and express haunting imagery through slow, hyper-controlled
movements. Many other acts are scheduled including Olympia poet and master of ceremonies, Lennée Reid, will share a multimedia poetry and movement expression, Summoning Oshun. Reid told Oly Arts that, “I think The ARTery will bring much needed
attention to the intercultural aspects of local performance art.”
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 09
Arts & Culture
Students install their final show in the Evergreen Gallery. JASMINE KOZAK-GILROY.
End of Quarter Shows
EVERGREEN’S FINEST ART STUDENTS SHOW
OFF THEIR WORK
by Ruby Love
S
pring quarter is almost over, programs are wrapping up their coursework,
and many students and faculty are working together to put on final shows and
performances to showcase their hard work this year. We found a few for you
to check out! One of our favorite things is touring around the school at the end of
each quarter to check out the work our fellow students have poured their hearts and
souls into; spring quarter is particularly great for this as many students are graduating, or wrapping up year-long projects. Here’s our list, come support Greener artists!
This spring, Evergreen Gallery
is hosting “Emergence: Practice and
Process”, which is the “culmination
of interdisciplinary research and creative inquiry in the visual arts.” The
exhibit features the work of students
in the program “CultureLab”, and
will include a diverse range of mediums from printmaking to animation. The exhibit opens at Evergreen
Gallery on Thursday, June 1, from
5-7pm. There is also a screening
as part of the exhibit, in the COM
Building Recital Hall, Tuesday, June
13 at 7pm.
The program “East and West:
Sanskrit and Greek Dance and Theatre” will be having their final performance on June 1 at 7pm in SEM
II D4107.
Okay, so, this isn’t technically
art, but hey… science is an art! Science students will be putting on a
“Science Carnival” where they will
present their academic work in the
sciences. Art people, go and support
your science buds! The “Science
Carnival” will take place in the Lab
I lobby on Friday, June 2 from 10am
to 3pm and it’s free.
This next one is off-campus!
Greeners Kaia Spiliotes Fornes and
Selina Bell are hosting an opening
reception for their joint photography
show. The show will be up one night
only, so it’s worth the trek downtown.
They’ve promised food, too! The
opening reception will be at Olympia Knitting Mills Artist Collective (508 Legion Way in downtown
Olympia) on June 3 from 5-7pm.
The program “India: Dance and
Culture” is performing “An Evening
of Odissi Dance” as part of the
conclusion of their program work.
According to the program’s description, “Odissi, one of the major classical dances of India, combines both
complex rhythmic patterns and expressive mime.” The performance
will be in the COM Building Recitxal Hall on June 3 at 7pm.
The Evergreen Singers are holding a performance called “Two Centuries of Freedom Songs” as part of
the finish of their quarter. The performance will be in the COM Building Recital Hall on Sunday June 4 at
7:30pm.
Students of the program “As Real
As Rain: The Blues and American
Culture” will be performing music
10 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
as part of their program. Their performance takes place in the COM
Building Recital Hall on June 8 at
7:30pm.
The program “The Play’s the
Thing: Study of Theatre and Drama” is performing multiple one-act
plays during week ten of the quarter.
Each performance is actually two
plays, one right after the other, each
lasting about thirty minutes. Performances will take place in the COM
Building Experimental Theater:
June 8 at 8pm, June 9 and 8pm, and
June 10 at 2pm and 8pm. Tickets are
free for students!
The program “Mediaworks”
will be having a screening for their
final projects, “From Our Minds to
Yours”. The screening will take place
in the COM Building Recital Hall
on June 14 at 6pm. Tickets are free!
Last but not least, the program
Art/Work has mysteriously told us
that they will be having a final show
at some date and some time, somewhere in Olympia, and has instructed our readers to “stay tuned for flyers around campus.”
Young Pioneers
“High Again”
By Ruby Love
During a staff meeting a couple weeks back, our lovely staff
liaison/boss lady/office mom Aevee came up to me holding
a mysterious cardboard box with my name scrawled on it.
“Someone dropped this off for you,” she said, and I opened
it feeling like a dang celebrity. Inside was a note from K Records founder Calvin Johnson and an LP: (one of K Records’
bands) the Young Pioneers’ debut album High Again. I gave
it a listen (okay, like four or five listens) and have included my
thoughts below.
Washington band Young Pioneers started off over twenty five
years ago, the brainchild of Evergreen grads, and served as “mentors to [Calvin Johnson’s] band
Beat Happening”. Johnson says,
“We often played shows together,
and Beat Happening recorded our
first record in their rehearsal space
using their drums and amplifiers.”
Young Pioneers, though, never
formally released a record of their
own. The band split up in 1987,
and its members went on to work
on other projects. Young Pioneers’
guitarist, Brad Sweek, played with
Kathleen Hanna’s Viva Knievel,
and singer/guitarist Chris Pugh
founded the band Swallow, an early
grunge act which had a few releases
on Sub Pop.
Three of the four original members got back together in 2015, reforming the band to write and record their first official album. That
album, High Again, was recorded
at K Records’ Dub Narcotic Studios in Olympia and has its official
release on June 9 of this year.
The album kicks off with “Twin
Ice Caves”, which sounds like the
soundtrack Olympia punks wish
was playing when they walked
down 4th Ave. The songs are angsty and rough around the edges,
due to the all-analog recording.
The roughness purely intentional,
and highly crafted; the band’s technical skill is obvious, and their songwriting avoids the eye-roll-worthy
melodrama of some of Olympia’s
younger punk acts.
Listening to these songs brought
me back to my teenage years. This
album sounds like the coolest version of the Pacific Northwest - the
version that exists in the minds of
seventeen year olds stuck in small
midwestern towns (I know this, I
was one). It sounds like the Olympia that Olympia wishes it still was.
If you want to catch the album
live, Young Pioneers are playing an
album release show on Friday June
2 at the Eagles Hall (508 4th Ave.
E.) in downtown Olympia. They
will be joined by Spider & the Webs
and Evergreen students Lindsay
Vanderpool and Penny Henzel.
The all ages show goes from 8 p.m.
to 11p.m. and the cover is five dollars.
Letters & Opinion
A sign spotted at the library ocupation. RUBY LOVE.
The Truth about the
Evergreen Protests
D
By Jacqueline Littleton
r. Bret Weinstein of the Evergreen State College shared this headline on twitter: “The Shrieking Mob of Students Confronted the Professor for Opposing
Racism.” The mob of students in question were protesting what they see as
problems with the culture of The Evergreen State College at large; administrators punitively targeting people of color, recent campus police brutality against people
of color — especially black students — and changes to some of the school’s legal codes
which would affect students’ right to demonstrate. The word racism has lost all meaning if those students were proponents of racism, protesting Weinstein’s opposition.
Weinstein’s ability to center
the narrative of student protest
around himself is indicative of his
power, and is another example of
the historically proven tendency of
white men in positions of power
to victimize themselves. In recent
days he has added the support of
infamous atheist Sam Harris, Sean
Lennon, Bill O’Reilly’s protege
Tucker Carlson, and Ashley Rae
(@communism_kills on twitter) to
his numbers.
By his own account, Weinstein
is a progressive. He opposes what
he calls “the regressive left,” which
we can assume is exemplified by
the student protesters, and he has
tweets upon tweets expounding this
view. What is not present on his
twitter feed is any written support
for trans people, for people of color,
for the disabled or the working class.
When he appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on FOX News on May
26, he spoke only about himself
and how recent events had affected
him. As he has self described as
the most ardent anti-racist around,
Weinstein could have taken this interview as an opportunity to debate
Carlson on his decision to blame
the recent Manchester attacks on
the entire religion of Islam or his
penchant for labeling all black activists as thugs.
Progressive cred notwithstanding, Weinstein put the Evergreen
student body at risk by publicizing
the protest in such a dishonest and
unflattering way. The faces, names
and phone numbers of student
organizers were published online
on subreddits dedicated to harassing leftists and people of color. A
swastika was spray-painted on the
side of a seminar building the day
after the protest. Students living in
Olympia have been routinely harassed by Weinstein’s sympathizers
who show up to on and off-campus housing to threaten violence
and shout racial slurs at students.
These are all directly the fault of
Weinstein’s self-martyrdom and his
control of a narrative that does not
belong to him.
Some clarification is necessary.
Weinstein claims the on-campus
protests from May 14 to current day
are all about him and his contributions to the staff and faculty email.
The email he has highlighted is one
where he voices opposition to the
annual school event, claiming the
Day of Absence/Day of Presence
is one which oppressively segregated white people. The structure of
DoA/DoP has been the same at Evergreen every year since the 1970s,
inspired by a play of the same
name by Douglas Turner Ward.
This 3 day long event has consisted
of optional workshops for people of
color who share cultural practices
with each other, resistance tactics
against racism, and workshops for
white people to do anti-racist work
from a white perspective. Both
groups come together in the following days and share what they have
learned to build a stronger and
more conscious multiracial learning environment for all. In previous
years, the workshops for people of
color were held off-campus (hence
the “absence” in the title), but this
year the administrative organizers
chose to hold the workshops for
white people off-campus instead.
The presence day functioned the
same. Weinstein stated that because
the structure had reversed, and now
called for the absence of white participants, it was a “show of force,
and an act of oppression in itself.”
I took the liberty of speaking
to some white Evergreen students
who were enrolled at the time of
the 2017 DoA/DoP. One student
reminded me that, like always, the
Day of Absence was optional and
required students to pre-enroll to
attend. She did not feel forced or
oppressed but made the autonomous decision to participate in the
day’s events. Another white student
did not enroll because of conflicting
commitments, and only participated in the Day of Presence activities.
He stated that there was no sense
of obligation to attend, nor did
he feel forced or oppressed. Many
other white students echoed these
sentiments including those who did
not attend simply because they did
not want to. Since these events were
for the students, one has to wonder
where Weinstein imagined this oppression if it did not happen to any
of the white students who he feels
were affected.
Weinstein is within his rights as
an academic and an American to
voice his opinions, no matter how
wrong. The fact remains that these
were not private emails. He voiced
these opinions in a public email
forum which all faculty and staff,
including student staff, could view
and that should signify he was open
to the possibility of dissent from the
student body. As the livestream videos of the 30 minute protest shows,
dissent happened, but the videos
also offer proof of Weinstein’s dishonesty. Of all the protests and
actions which have taken place on
campus over the past two weeks,
only around fifty minutes were dedicated to Weinstein and those fifty
minutes were not exclusively about
his one email. In reality, there was
an ongoing email debate between
staff, faculty and Weinstein about
his tendency to place himself in issues he is uneducated on. At some
point, they debated the existence of
racism in the sciences, which many
of Weinstein’s allies thought was
nonexistent. The people of color
and allies who read the emails saw
this as documentation of Weinstein’s ignorance and inability to
understand the needs of students
of color. Even more, they saw it
as proof of The Evergreen State
College’s failure to do proper bias
training with faculty and another
piece of evidence that Evergreen
does not support its diverse student
body.
Among this evidence is the track
record of the Evergreen residential
director who has incompetently
handled multiple cases involving
issues of sexual and physical assault, racism, and harassment. On
May 14, that residential director
pulled two black students out of
their rooms at 11:30PM in response
to a non-black student’s complaint
about aggression. They were told
that they had been requested at Police Services and were kept there till
1:30AM with little information as to
why they were called, while the student who made the complaint was
allowed to stay at home. Around
the time of the 2016 election decision, there was a student action on
campus. Two disabled black trans
femmes were the only people targeted for charges, despite the large
and diverse amount of people present. It is the combination of these
events, along with many others
including Weinstein’s emails, that
create a culture at Evergreen that
many students find unsafe.
The protests, which began on
May 14, are the culmination of
this, of years of documented and
undocumented racist aggressions
both from and within the institution
of Evergreen. Weinstein centering
himself is not only dishonest, but
contributes directly to the culture
of hostility that students protested.
Attached below is the most recent
list of student demands, which was
the purpose of the demonstration
on May 24. Almost none of which
refer to Weinstein, and the call for
Weinstein to be suspended has since
been retracted.
If Weinstein is truly the antiracist he claims to be, we ask him
to take this opportunity to learn
from the student body which pays
his salary. What he is doing now is
antithetical to his purported goal.
Weaponizing the publicity he has
gained from Trump supporters,
FOX News fans and self-ordained
“rationalists” against protesters
is only making students of color
more unsafe. The horde of powerful media figures and their followers that Weinstein has directed at us
distracts from the changes we are
calling for from our education environment.
In light of these facts, we have
come to the conclusion that Weinstein is using the student action of
the past two weeks for his own gain.
He intends to use the protests to
make a point about what he feels
is wrong with campus culture and
the left. We ask that he find a way
to make this point that does not put
young black, brown and other marginalized people at risk.
As voices of this student body
which often go unheard, we call on
Bret Weinstein to take a seat and we
call on The Evergreen State College to step up.
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 11
Letters & Opinion
Some of the RAs on strike. Photo Credit RAFT.
Resident Assistants
On Strike!
O
12 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
By Resident Assistants Fighting for Tommorow
On Friday, May 26 at 7 p.m. a group of Resident Assistants
of The Evergreen State College went on strike as the group
RAFT (Resident Assistants Fighting for Tomorrow).
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 a group
of Resident Assistants (RAs) submitted
a list of demands as the group RAFT,
just before noon to offices on the third
floor of ‘A’ dorm. The demands were
delivered to the Residential and Dining
Professional staff (ProStaff) including
Resident Directors (RDs), Associate Director (AD), and Director of RAD. The
strike was initiated after the ProStaff of
RAD did not meet the first deadline detailed in the list of demands. The first
deadline stated that the RAFTies would
need to receive “written and signed confirmation that all personnel listed in the
preface to these demands have read and
agree to have conversations regarding
these issues.”
The time was specified through an
email exchange with the Director of
RAD as 5pm. The director called a white
member of RAFT to ask to meet oneon-one to discuss concerns. RAFTies
found this contact choice notable, given
that half of the RAFT negotiation team
are People of Color (PoC). The contacted RAFT member refused, and after
contacting others in the group, several
RAFTies attended this meeting. The
deadline was extended from 5:00pm to
7:00pm to accommodate complaints
about full workloads from the professional staff, and changed from requiring
written confirmation and signatures to
requiring email confirmation from all
except the one Resident Director (RD)
on vacation at the time. This negotiated
deadline was not met. At 7:03 p.m. the
RAFTies submitted an email stating
that the strike had begun.
The list of demands was prompted by
RAs experiencing and recognizing inequities, injustices and clear discrimination coming from the ProStaff and other
campus administration over the years.
Specifically, the list includes points on
limiting RA involvement with the police,
bringing Student Wellness Services to
lower campus, RA working conditions,
and ProStaff accountability measures.
The full demands can be read on RAFT
social media, listed at the bottom.
RAFTies are still engaging in their
communities by participating in student-based groups like Community
Watch (CW), ensuring residents have access to support services on campus, and
maintaining interpersonal relationships
with residents. The first round of negotiations will be taking place on Tuesday,
May 30, at 1 p.m., on the 2nd floor of
‘A’ dorm.
To read the full list of demands, or for
more information, visit RAFT on Facebook and Twitter at @evergreenRAFT
Letters & Opinion
Evergreen police partake in a training exercise with other local police departments. SHAUNA BITTLE.
Campus Police: Not ‘Just Here to Help’
P
By Jasmine Kozak-Gilroy
olice, on or off campus, are positioned as protectors of the safety of all citizens, an illusion
that comes in conflict with the reality of violence routinely committed against protesters, regardless of the tactics protesters choose to employ. Instances of police aggression
against protestors in the form of pepper spray, flash bangs, and body to body violence is not just
seen during so-called riots, but experienced during marches and peaceful occupations of space.
Critiques of the institution of policing are often brushed off as extremist
or fantastic exaggerations, but problems with the police are based in the
very logic of policing. Police are commissioned to maintain order, the current order of the world, and thus always inherently work in favor of the
status quo. Police are peace keepers,
but the kind of peace they keep is not
peace as an end to structural violence,
but a peace based in non disruption of
the status quo. If you are a member of
a group that the status quo does not favor, if you are among other things not
white, not wealthy, not straight, or not
cisgender, then the cops do not and can
not work in your favor. Because police
are inherently pro status quo, no matter what individual members of the police force say policing, as an institution
will always work against protest and
change, as protest functions as disruption of the status quo, and the actions
of cops reflect that.
I began thinking about this opinion piece as a reactions to a pattern I
saw in conversations surrounding the
cops being present while students argued with vocal anti-abortion rights
advocates who frequent our campus.
Students often implied or flat out said
that the police were watching out for
the safety of students in particular, or
at least, were there for the safety of everyone involved. In the specific case of
the confrontations between anti-abortion rights protesters and students, it is
important to note that the cops do not
show up when the anti abortion rights
advocates show up or start screaming
at students, but instead arrive when
students engage with anti abortion
rights protesters, and a sign of imminent conflict arises.
For the police, it seems, it is not a
safety concern that anti-abortion rights
protesters are screaming at students,
but it is that students are screaming
back. This logic comes from an administration wide fear of riots and a fear
of loss of control, as Chief of Police
Stacy Brown herself discussed when I
interviewed her back in January saying, “sometimes, that crowd mentality,
you can have people that are there to
be peaceful, but sometimes something
happens and then there’s that crowd
mentality that changes. And there’s
also studies on that, too. And then,
some bad choices are made.” The administration seems to fear that when
students express dissatisfaction or gath-
er and organize together those students
will become a threat.
The insinuation that student protests are something that need to be
protected against is condescending and
dangerous.
Recently, during student demonstration that featured students confronting
Bret Weinstein, Evergreen police Officer O’Dell shoved through students
who were serving as a screen between
the police and other students who were
talking to Weinstein, injuring protesters
who did not pose anything but a theoretical threat is one of many instances
in which this fear is expressed.
In the wake of recent campus
protests and the demand that the police be disarmed, it is important that
we recommit ourselves to a mindful
examination of what the administration, and other institutional organizations like the police, stand for in the
context of student rights and safety. In
our interview, when discussing protest
as a concept, Brown stated, “a lot of
great work has been done in this country through protest. And a lot of great
work has been done through peaceful
protest;” but followed that statement
saying, “it is peaceful until it’s not, and
then it’s too late.” These two statements cannot co-exist. If all peaceful
protest is “peaceful until it is not”, and
if, as Brown insinuated in other parts of
our interview, the only valid protest is
peaceful protest, then there is no room
for protest at all. If the status quo at
the Evergreen State College is institutional racism, and the police are here
the protect the institution that shelters
that form of institutional violence, they
are a white supremacist threat.
DAILY HAPPY HOUR 3-7
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MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 13
Astrology
RUBY THOMPSON
By Sylvie Chace
The sun is shining down on this beautiful Gemini season where we are being pulled quickly in a myriad of directions. Where life may feel overwhelming and exploring every angle of a situation may be a lot of work, it is necessary for growth and change to occur within us and outside of us all. Mercury, planet of communication, will shift from stable Taurus to analytical Gemini on June 6, on the same day Venus will move from powerful Aries
and into grounded Taurus. Venus is at home in Taurus, a sign of beauty and all things connected to earth. And Mercury is in the sign it knows best
in Gemini, thus initiating a sort of balance in our lives. Where there is order coming out of the chaos, with so many directions for us to go in now
that a school year is coming to a close, the shining sun sheds light on what it is we know we want. Our true desires have room to develop and breathe.
ARIES 3/21 - 4/19
It may seem scary to dive in deep to your desires, but you know that you feel unsatisfied
with where you’re currently at. There’s no need to be afraid of what’s really going on in
your head, you’ve always known what you truly want and now is the time to uncover it, let
your desires roam and be free in the world.
TAURUS 4/20 - 5/20
For a sign that is known to be quite stubborn, you are actually usually fairly passive.
Conflict just doesn’t seem worth it unless it’s something you truly feel passionate about.
Harness that passion. It is necessary now to stake a claim, make a statement, and let your
stance be known.
GEMINI 5/21 - 6/20
This is your season Gemini, and while your sign is vast in how many angles you can approach your life, right now you may be feeling quite steady. The sun is shining down on
you and it’s up to you to harness that positivity and use it to better yourself, to focus in on
where you’re at and where you want to be.
CANCER 6/21 - 7/22
Being a water sign, you are very self-aware of your emotions and desires. You know exactly what you want and you’re not afraid to explore those depths of your mind. However
just because you feel self-actualized doesn’t mean that delays and external struggles aren’t
a thing. Learn to roll with the punches, Cancer. Setbacks are a part of the journey too.
LEO 7/23 - 8/22
Whoa, slow down there Leo! While you keep planning for each day as it comes, what are
you doing for the bigger picture overall? It may be time to sit with yourself and ask the
bigger questions, like what do you really want for yourself right now? Take a trip into
nature and take it easy. Work towards a bigger goal rather than focusing in on plans for
tonight.
VIRGO 8/23 - 9/22
You’ve been mistreated, badly. You’ve felt the wrath of judgement wrap around you and
now it’s time to break free. You’re not alone, Virgo. For someone who likes to skirt around
these deeper emotions, it doesn’t mean you don’t feel them. Don’t be scared to be vulnerable and you’ll see that people believe you, people do care.
14 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
LIBRA 9/23 - 10/22
Sometimes it is easier to dream and think wishfully on our desires than to actually put pen
to paper and do the work to make it reality. The key here is doing the work. You may find
yourself feeling sleepy, and that’s ok. But sooner or later you must wake up and decide
what to put your energy into.
SCORPIO 10/23 - 11/21
Something wicked this way comes, Scorpio and it’s not what you think. For a sign that’s
all about change, you’re feeling resistant. There’s something deeper in you that you may
have been rejecting or keeping secret and now is the time to embrace it. It may change
things, but not in the big terrifying way that you assume. It may set you on a better course.
SAGITTARIUS 11/22 - 12/21
You’ve taken quite a beating recently, Sagittarius, and while you’re known as the optimist
of the zodiac you may find yourself proceeding with extreme caution. Like a hissing cat,
you’re not lashing out at others out of anger, but out of self-protection. Tend to your
wounds and stay safe out there. While you’ve experienced a lot, you’re still fighting and
that shows deep strength.
CAPRICORN 12/22 - 1/19
You may find yourself hesitant to proceed with the way your life is as of now. You can
see the path before you and it looks limited, it looks the same as it always has. You have a
choice now, Capricorn. You always have. You can choose to go along, business as usual,
or you can change some aspect of your life to give it new meaning.
AQUARIUS 1/20 - 2/18
Contentment surrounds you during this time, but just like how a sweet 30 minute power
nap can turn into a 3 hr snooze, we must be careful about indulging too much. While you
deserve to treat yourself, don’t go so far that you end up filled with regret. All things in
moderation, Aquarius. You can have your bliss without getting swept away too far out of
reality.
PISCES 2/19 - 3/20
You’re working hard Pisces! You should be proud of the tremendous effort you’re putting
into all your projects, however you have a tendency to get isolated. You might believe
no one understands you so it’s easier to just do things alone. Your powers of intuition
are necessary Pisces, and you’ll find now that working on a team will take your work to
another level.
Comics
THE RIGHTEOUS KNIFE
by Isaac Hollandsworth
THE BIG QUESTION
SUMMER
by Diego Lacamara
by Rachael Lynn Howard
JRAWINGS OF JUDY JODOROWSKY
FACE FACTORY #13
by River Gates
by Lortz
MAY 31, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 15
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