Category: Claire Hipps

Whitmer or Dixon to become Michigan’s next Governor

CLAIRE HIPPS AND MEGAN NEELEY
STAFF WRITER

11/7/2022

Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Tudor Dixon (R) are facing off in Michigan’s (MI) 2022 gubernatorial election, or the election for governor.

Whitmer, the incumbent, highlights infrastructure development, investments in business and access to abortion as key aspects of her campaign.

Dixon, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is focusing on education, “pro-growth” economic policy, infrastructure, ending most legal abortion access and the second amendment, according to her website. Dixon has criticized Whitmer’s COVID-19 response and “will block mask mandates in schools,” according to her website.

Students at Alma College have numerous issues they take into consideration when deciding how to cast their vote, however, many students feel they must prioritize key issues. 

“My top issues are student debt and access to healthcare,” said Luke Losie (’23), Co-Chair of Alma College YDSA. “With the repeal of Roe v. Wade, I have been forced as a voter to consider exclusively the abortion issue in this election.”

On abortion, Whitmer has taken actions to protect access. Most recently, the MI Court of Claims ruled a 1931 MI law banning abortions without exceptions unconstitutional. 

The MI House of Representatives introduced Proposal 3, which will “amend the state constitution to provide that every individual has a right to reproductive freedom” if passed, according to the official proposal. Proposal 3 will also be on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Alternatively, Dixon believes abortion should only be allowed to save the life of the mother, according to MLive and her website.

Students are also concerned about infrastructure, education and taxes.

“This election has me hyper focused on the state-wide infrastructure issues…[MI’s] problematic decline in test [scores] and educational facilities and the role tax cuts or hikes will play in handling both,” said Jacob Keeley (’24), President of the Alma College Republicans. “Over the last four years, [Whitmer’s] administration’s lack of [economic] planning has become incredibly obvious.”

Whitmer’s proposed $2.1 billion “MI New Economy” plan focuses on supporting the middle class, small businesses and making community investments into infrastructure like high-speed internet and housing units, according to a press release.

Dixon wants to reduce personal income taxes, encourage workforce training, promote trade and cut MI’s regulatory code by “40%…in 4 years,” according to her website. 

“I support Dixon’s broad usage of public-private partnerships as well as restructuring Michigan road management agencies,” said Keeley.

According to Dixon’s website, her goals for education include the following. Dixon wants to finance individual tutoring using federal COVID-19 relief funding, “ban school personnel from talking to [K-3] children about sex and gender theory secretly behind their parents’ backs, protect young girls from being forced to compete against biological boys,” improve civic and financial literacy and create education savings accounts.

According to Chalkbeat Detroit, among Whitmer’s education priorities are “tripling the number of school literacy coaches[,] closing the school funding gap [and] creating a college scholarship program for education majors.”

Voting for MI’s next governor will take place on Nov. 8. If you have not yet voted, be sure to do so at your precinct-specific voting location.

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Potential SCOTUS ruling jeopardizes Voting Rights Act

CLAIRE HIPPS
COPY EDITOR

10/24/2022

The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is currently considering the case Merrill v. Milligan, where the State of Alabama allegedly attempted to redistrict their congressional map in a way that under represents black voters.

Alabama has been accused by Evan Milligan, the executive director of Alabama Forward, and his associates of illegally packing black voters into a single district while dividing other pockets of black voters across multiple districts. The case deals with Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan for their seven seats in the House of Representatives.

In other words, Alabama is accused of gerrymandering.

“Gerrymandering” is essentially “laying out voting districts for political advantage,” said Benjamin Peterson, lecturer of history and political science at Alma College. In conjunction with other systems that do not represent most Americans, gerrymandering “creates a very real risk of the government only representing a minority of the people,” said Peterson.

Depriving voters of congressional representation “violates the 14th Amendment and the [Voting Rights Act],” said Kristin Olbertson, associate professor of history and pre- law program coordinator at Alma College. “[A ruling in Alabama’s favor has] potential to undermine citizens’ ability to translate their will into representation and policy.” The 1965 Voting Rights Act

(VRA) was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson, outlawing discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, according to the National Archives.

The VRA “provides a series of systemic protections against measures intended to deprive people of the right to vote, or to simply make their vote less important,” said Peterson.

Alabama argues that to prove the VRA was violated, the plaintiffs must show the legislature was intentionally designed to discriminate against black voters. Further, the defense contends that the plaintiffs must provide maps of the districts based on other factors that would still result in majority- minority districts, electoral districts where most voters are racial or ethnic minorities.

“Neither of these standards [for the plaintiffs] are required by precedent or by the VRA,” said Olbertson.

“[The argument is essentially] that you cannot prove that it was an illegitimate gerrymander unless you could make a map that would produce the new district without considering race,” said Peterson. “If the Supreme Court did not have its current composition, I think Alabama’s argument would be weak.”

Despite weaknesses in the defense, SCOTUS is likely rule to in Alabama’s favor.

“This case is ultimately about the larger question of representative democracy,” said Olbertson. “The conservative supermajority on the Court has [been] skeptical about its role in preserving or protecting our democracy.”

Olbertson pointed to the Court’s position in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), where SCOTUS ruled parts of the VRA unconstitutional. SCOTUS argued in Shelby County v. Holder that “racism no longer [affects the American] electoral system,” said Olbertson.

Olbertson also noted that SCOTUS has overturned precedence-setting cases and that such cases are in danger of being overturned.

“It wouldn’t be shocking of SCOTUS overturned [Thornburg v. Jingles],” said Olbertson. Thornburg v. Jingles is a case from 1986 in which SCOTUS unanimously ruled that a North Carolina redistricting plan unlawfully discriminated against black voters.

So, in the case of Merrill v. Milligan, the question becomes one of how large the margin in Alabama’s favor will be.

“The margin might be Chief Justice John Roberts,” said Olbertson. “[He seems] slightly uncomfortable at times about how fast and loose [SCOTUS] is playing with institutional norms and has concerns about [SCOTUS]’s legitimacy.”

SCOTUS is expected to release their decision following November elections.

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Alma College celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

RAUL RIVERA
PHOTOGRAPHER

CLAIRE HIPPS
COPY EDITOR

10/3/2022

Americans celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) every year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate Americans who have ancestry traced to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Hispanic Heritage Week was first celebrated in 1968 under Lyndon Johnson. In 1988, the observation was expanded by Ronald Reagan to an entire month. Sept. 15 is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

“Many people celebrate their heritage by preparing traditional dishes, playing music and hosting dances, and most importantly, spending time together,” said Alejandro Salais, graduate assistant in Alma College’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (DI Office).

To celebrate on campus, the DI Office is holding many events for “all students, faculty and staff in the Alma Community,” said Salais.

Central to these events is the Hispanic Hall of Fame, viewable between Sept. 19 and Oct. 15 in the Rotunda of Tyler Van Dusen. This self-guided tour introduces you to Hispanic American historical figures and their contributions to American society.

“My personal hero [is] Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor,” said Stephany Slaughter, professor of Spanish and women’s and gender studies. Sonia Sotomayor, a Puerto Rican woman born in the Bronx, became the first Hispanic person and the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court in 2009.

“Someone in the Latino community that I look up to is Roberto Clemente—the first Latino inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame,” said Salais. “[His] dedication to community service and giving back to others is what has always made him a role model for me.”

“It is no [surprise] that Benito Antonia Martinez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny, is one of my idols,” said Krystal Urena (’23), president of the Alma College Hispanic Coalition. “He is true to what he believes in [and] has broken so many stereotypes of machismo.”

Bad Bunny, who is Puerto Rican, has won two Grammy Awards, four Latin Grammy Awards and eight Billboard Music awards amongst other achievements in music and television.

Puerto Ricans are contributing to American society in major ways, but their situation is unique. Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens, and have been since 1917, but are disenfranchised.

“Puerto Rico deserves particular attention, not only because of the continued colonial relationship between the island and the continental US… but because of the current situation [in which they are] recovering from Hurricane Fiona,” said Slaughter.

One of the ways the community celebrated HHM is by inviting Puerto Rican artist, Omar Cruz, to the DI Office’s HHM Painting with a Twist event. This event took place on Sept. 29. According to his website, Omar Cruz is “one of the most sought-after portrait photographers among celebrities.”

On another note, there are many ways to get in on HHM celebrations on Alma College’s campus.

“On campus, the [DI Office] has an event planned [on Oct. 7] that will include Ballet folclórico and food for our campus community,” said Slaughter. “I’m excited to participate!”

This event will take place in the chapel, featuring the Ballet Folclórico del Luz, Central Michigan University’s award-winning folclórico group.

On Oct. 13, there will be a showing and dialogue around the East LA Walkouts. This event will be cohosted by the DI Office and History Club in the chapel basement.

“The purpose of [the showing and dialogue] is to shine some light on the history of [the American] education system,” said Urena.

On Oct. 18, the Hispanic Coalition and iGem are cohosting an event on Latinx Voices in STEM in SAC 113.

“As a Latino graduate student and young professional, it means so much to me to be surrounded by a community here at Alma College that cares so much about learning about different cultures and social identities,” said Salais.

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As library evolves, history is uncovered

KYLE SCHECK
PHOTOGRAPHER

CLAIRE HIPPS
COPY EDITOR

9/19/2022

Among Alma’s distinguished faculty and staff is Matthew Collins, the director of the Alma College Library and occasional adjunct faculty member in the religious studies department, where he specializes in disambiguating the meaning of the New Testament.

The library-to-Learning Commons renovations have posed some challenges for the library staff. The library will only occupy the third floor after the renovations. The resulting need to consolidate has given the staff opportunities to purge duplicate or antiquated texts, although physically moving large portions of the collection has been tedious.

“Yes, we have reduced space, but there was a lot of the collection that we were just carrying and didn’t need to carry anymore,” said Collins.

Overall, the renovations are a positive to Collins, although he misses being at the center of academics on campus.

“The space is going to look so much different,” said Collins. “All of the light from the windows will come in, and the space will look and feel much [more open]. I think that is pretty exciting.”

The renovations also gave librarians the opportunity to excavate a time capsule, placed in the building’s cornerstone in 1964. The capsule, made of copper, was difficult to open. With the help of the facilities team, Collins and Katie Crombe (’11) and the director of alumni and family engagement, opened the time capsule.

The capsule contained a few copies of Almanian editions from the time, yearbooks and some other documents. The Almanian articles discuss an elementary school sponsored by the college in Nigeria and beating Calvin College, as well as the new library.

The capsule also contained a book from 1807, the oldest book in the library collection at the time. Two golf ball were also found, as Alma’s Men’s Golf Team won the 1963 championship.

When asked what his favorite item found was, Collins said “either the old book or the golf balls.”

“My favorite thing was reading the student handbook [found in the capsule],” said Crombe. “The rules back then were much different.”

Just as a new library was built in 1963, the Alma librarians have also been building a library digitally. In fact, one of Collins’ points of pride from his three years at Alma is the digitization effort Alma’s library staff began undertaking in Spring of 2020.

The digital institutional repository includes digital copies of every edition of the Almanian, every yearbook and the digital archives. The archives include “8500 photographs, documents [and] videos,” said Collins.

“There are almost 12,000 [items] in the repository,” said Collins. “It represents a huge step for us. It’s also something that a lot of small colleges don’t have.”

Although electronic resources are widely preferred to physical texts nowadays, libraries and our librarians are here to stay for their unparalleled insights into research and writing. Our librarians can help with any research question students might have, so if you need a book, a topic for a paper or help evaluating the trustworthiness of a source, the library is the place to go.

If you would like to see the time capsule, there is a video on YouTube of the capsule being opened. It is also in the library, currently located in Tyler Van Dusen.

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Alma welcomes eleven new faculty members

CLAIRE HIPPS
COPY EDITOR

9/9/2022

You may have been asked to attend teaching demonstrations by faculty candidates last semester, or even asked to eat breakfast with a potential new professor. Given the large number of faculty vacancies, Alma is welcoming eleven new faculty members to campus this fall.

The psychology department is welcoming both Janelle Blazek and Jacob Sawyer as assistant professors of psychology.

Blazek’s work focuses on gender and race in developmental psychology. Sawyer specializes in clinical and counseling psychology and is excited to “work with students on group and independent research projects.”

Beth Spinner is joining the education department as an assistant professor. Spinner is passionate about making education applicable and meaningful to her students. She was drawn to Alma because “it was clear… that students are the center of the college.”

New to the sociology department are two new assistant professors: Emma Bosley-Smith and Dion Campbell.

Bosley-Smith is a sociologist “focusing on sexualities, gender, family and economic inequality.” Her research focuses on “LGBTQ adults [and their] relationships with their parents” as well as economic insecurity for young LGBTQ people.

Campbell researches “community, culture and identity”. Campbell earned his undergraduate degree at Central Michigan and is looking forward to “learning more about the gaming scene [at Alma].”

The Department of Business Administration has three new faculty members.

James Haupt was hired as an instructor. Andrew Sellers, an assistant professor, specializes in sports management and ethics. Since sports ethics is a new concentration at Alma, Sellers is excited to “bring the subject to any Alma student that is interested in the field.”

Sangchul Park has also been hired as an assistant professor of business administration. Having worked as an analyst, marketing assistant and advertisement operator on a global scale, he will specifically teach Business Analytics and Global Strategic Management courses at Alma College.

Mathew Smith is a new assistant professor of religious studies. Smith specializes in the study of “religion, race and colonialism/imperialism in the Americas” while also working on research related to gender, sexuality, and environmental humanities.

Additionally, new to Alma’s Dance department is Catherine MacMaster. Macmaster is an assistant professor of dance who uses choreography to study dance “in relation to space.” MacMaster hopes to “broaden the awareness and appreciation of dance as both an art form and a research methodology” at Alma.

Finally, Matthew Kinkel is joining the economics department as an assistant professor, specializing in labor economics and sports economics. He has researched labor market dynamics, “public policy in the construction industry,” and “labor union activism in sports.”

Candidates for Alma College faculty “are evaluated on three criteria – teaching, scholarship and service,” said Janie Diels, Interim Provost. Coming from diverse backgrounds to contribute to seven departments, all new faculty members cited the community feel and emphasis on the student body as reasons for coming to campus.

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Updates within the Biden administration

CLAIRE HIPPS
STAFF WRITER

Joe Biden has served as US President for nearly two months. In this period of time, he has addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign policy and the environment, all by signing over 40 executive orders.

Executive orders are not the same as laws. The Heritage Foundation says that, “an executive order is a type of written instruction that presidents use to work their will through the executive branch of government. Congress and federal courts can strike down executive orders that exceed the scope of the president’s authority.”

“A large portion of President Biden’s initial executive orders are focused on reversing policies of the Trump Administration,” said Jacob Keeley (’24), president of the Alma College Republicans. “While [it is] within the powers of the President to take such steps, it is important to note that a Presidency based on undoing… sets a dangerous precedent [and leaves] the nation stagnant in terms of leadership and divided politically.”

Biden, as promised, has enacted policies to combat the effects of the pandemic. First, Biden signed a $1.9T relief package which extends unemployment aid, distinguishes the first $10,200 in jobless benefits tax free and allocates $20B for vaccine distribution. Lost in this provision was the minimum wage increase, which House democrats were hopeful to pass.

Biden has also allocated $250M to encourage COVID-19 safety and vaccination in underserved populations, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Biden has also taken foreign policy action. He has placed sanctions on Myanmar with the support of the UN and has ordered airstrikes against Syria, escalating tensions in already-stalling negotiations with Iran.

“President Biden’s executive order taking economic action against those involved with the military coup in [Myanmar] was an important action for the United States to take,” said Keeley.

The strikes in eastern Syria were reportedly in response to Iran-backed militias who instigated a rocket attack on Feb. 15 which harmed American citizens. Despite this, Biden still intends to reopen negotiations regarding the Iranian nuclear deal tabled by the Trump administration, according to the NY Times.

Biden’s environmental agenda aims to guide the US towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Climate-related executive orders included, but were not limited to, directing 40% of federal sustainability investments to disadvantaged communities, rejoining the UN Paris Agreement and WHO and halting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. These policies were popular with activists on the left and generally disliked by Senate republicans.

“[Biden’s steps] to stop the U.S’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization… should be [a unifying] factor for the country; however, it is important that President Biden recognizes and grants the republican minority party opportunities… to voice its input and make suggestions on these matters,” said Keeley.

Biden’s Presidential campaign was largely based on unity and bipartisanship. Despite the high volume of executive orders, many remain hopeful that compromise and the interests of everyone will remain at the forefront of his priorities.

“The Alma College Republicans stand by the President as he attempts to lead the charge for unification,” said Keeley on behalf of the Alma College Republicans. “Unity in the United States requires President Biden to…establish policy that works for all Americans”

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Power to the People: the GME short squeeze

CLAIRE HIPPS
STAFF WRITER

The price of GameStop (NYSE: GME) grew dramatically over the period of just a few days in late January of this year, as well as a few other securities. At its peak, the stock reached a price of $500 per share, creating a stark contrast between its $17.25 value at the beginning of the year, according to data from Yahoo Finance. This was not due, however, to the release of a highly anticipated game or some other similar innovation from the company itself. This arose because of activity on reddit.

The subreddit r/wallstreetbets includes around 3.8 million members, all who could be classified as casual or “retail” investors. Members of this subreddit looked at the GME and recognized that it was being shorted (expected to depreciate in value) by short sellers.

From this observation came the idea that by buying up the shares available for public purchase, the members of the subreddit can trigger a short squeeze, which ultimately forces the value of the stock up very quickly.

A short squeeze can be triggered when short sellers, investors who borrow stock they don’t have at a high price to sell and later hope to buy the stock back for less than they borrowed it for, are forced to buy back their stocks at higher prices than what they originally sold it for in order to not lose more money.

This is bad news for the short seller, but good news for the stock. The buying back of these positions at high prices forces the stock to even higher prices, which meant high returns for members of the subreddit.

This short squeeze also had negative implications for hedge funds, which offsets risky investments by making counterinvestments that aim to cover the losses potentially incurred by said investments. Losses incurred by American firms exceeded $70B, according to a 2021 article by Reuters.

These large losses, and the way this squeeze came about, sparked the interest of Congress and the international community. “This really the first big case of what is essentially a social media group causing a big move in stock prices,” said Robert Cunningham, adjunct professor in economics here at Alma College.

“The hedge fund industry is very purposefully opaque in how it operates, and really only a relatively small number of people benefit from it. [Retail investors] joined up and made decisions that negatively affected a hedge fund’s profits—[that] is something worth following,” said Cunningham.

Caught in the controversy is Robinhood, a financial services company with an app popular with retail investors. Despite having famously said “let the people trade” in a 2016 tweet, they suspended the trading of GME and up to 13 other securities during the squeeze. Robinhood claimed that it did not have the required collateral to execute the high trade volume, but they also have contracts with hedge funds.

“One of Robinhood’s revenue sources is its ability to sell trading information to hedge funds, so I think Robinhood had to weigh the costs and benefits of executing trades on behalf of retail users, versus the costs and benefits of upsetting its large hedge fund partners,” said Cunningham.

Senator Ted Cruz and House Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez came out in opposition to this move by Robinhood.

“This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about [Robinhood’s] decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit. As a member of the financial services committee, I’d support a hearing if necessary,” said Ocasio-Cortez in a tweet.

There will be a hearing on this matter hosted by the Financial Services Committee in mid-February.

Technology is constantly and consistently changing the world around us. For this reason, “average” citizens can communicate much more freely their ideas and make such things happen.

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Unpacking the COVID-19 Vaccine

CLAIRE HIPPS
STAFF WRITER

Pfizer and BioNTech produced an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine found to be 95% effective in November. Despite the existence of this vaccine, many Americans are apprehensive about receiving it. According to AP/University of Chicago, 35% of Americans aged 18-29 said that they will not received the COVID-19 vaccine; another 22% said that they weren’t sure.

Despite potential mistrust of the vaccine in the student body, President Jeff Abernathy states that “We expect students, faculty and staff to receive the vaccine before the fall term. As with the flu vaccine, there will be exceptions for individual circumstances. The science is clear that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and that it saves lives”

COVID-19 has a “wide range of infection outcomes, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal,” said Timothy Keeton, an associate professor of biology here at Alma College focused on microbiology.

While the CDC outlines certain COVID-19 risk factors, like age or preexisting conditions, there are rare deaths amongst college students. The chronic effects following an infection are also unknown.

“I suspect we will discover that the virus causes more serious illness in individuals who unknowingly carry a certain version of a [presently unidentified] gene,” said Keeton. “Many fatalities are associated with an apparently hyper-active immune reaction, which ultimately causes most of the damage which kills the patient.”

The COVID-19 vaccine uses mRNA technology to combat the virus, which “utilizes modern genetic cloning technology to manufacture the genetic sequence of the desired target,” says Keeton. give your immune system directions on how to defend against the infection without introducing the virus itself, said Keeton. “None of the COVID-19 vaccines developed for human use involves live virus.”

That being said, mRNA vaccines cannot alter your DNA. “mRNA molecules do not survive long inside or outside your cells, [nor do they] gain access to your genetic ‘vault’ in the nucleus of your cells,” said Keeton.

As with many vaccines, there are some mild side effects that may occur when the vaccine is administered. “A common side effect to date with the mRNA vaccine is soreness at the injection site and sometimes general aches and pains, [as well as a] mild fever for 24 hours or so, especially following the booster injection,” said Keeton. “If you have known severe allergies, notify the clinic where you plan on getting your vaccine beforehand. They may have special instructions.”

Side effects are normal. “Know that [side effects] happen to many people and monitor your temperature for high fever. In most people this only lasts about 24 hours,” said Keeton.

Receiving the vaccine is integral for protection against the unknown effects of the virus. There is not enough evidence to determine whether or not exposure to the virus provides adequate immunity, as initial immune responses are oftentimes weak.

“We know that humans who have been infected usually are producing antibodies, but we do not know if those antibodies are protective,” said Keeton. “There is evidence which indicates

some people who have been infected may in fact be immune to a second debilitating infection but can still carry replicating virus in the respiratory system [and can thus transmit the virus to others].”

It is imperative that students take the vaccine within the guidelines outlined by the CDC. “You DO in fact need both doses,” said Keeton. “Some of our best vaccines provide long term or even lifelong immunity, but many do require periodic boosters. Be prepared to [receive boosters after the initial vaccine and] down the road.”

Although many compare COVID-19 to influenza, they are not the same infection. “Your flu shot from the fall will do NOTHING to help you against COVID-19,” said Keeton.

Despite the idea of herd immunity, “only those who are truly immune through vaccination or prior infection are truly protected,” said Keeton. “There will always be a small percentage of individuals who, due to pre-existing health conditions, cannot be vaccinated safely.”

The vaccine will likely be available to Alma College students in the summertime, according to Abernathy, although that estimate is subject to change.

COVID-19 has changed our lives in unimaginable ways. Serendipitously, each of us have the opportunity to prioritize our health and the health of others by receiving the vaccine in the recommended way.

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