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content: the davidsonian
P
AGE
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Inside

NEWS
Harry L. Vance Athletic Center
opens
2
College releases summary of
sexual misconduct reports
2
LIVING DAVIDSON

Exhibit by Kent Williams dis-
played in the VAC
4
PERSPECTIVES
Fabian Lara discusses reality of
students of color on campus
5
An open letter to black students
at Mizzou
5
YOWL
Snapchat’s Desire Lens capti-
vates students
6
SPORTS
7
-
nah Early ’16
8
The Independent Student Newspaper of Davidson College since 1914
N
OVEMBER
18, 2015
V
OL
. 108
I
SSUE
10
Students lead solidarity demonstration
Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses book and race relations in America
AJ NADDAFF & MADISON ABBOTT
Guest Contributors
An estimated 250 Davidson students, faculty,
administrators and staff circled the flagpole on
Thursday during Common Hour in solidarity
with student-activists around the country mark-
ing a National Day of Action.
“I’m proud of our community,” said Rashaad
Phillips ’16, who, alongside Fabian Lara ’16,
planned Davidson’s gathering against the mar-
ginalization of students of color at America’s pre-
dominantly white institutions.
He and Lara were responding to a call to ac-
tion made by Ravyn Brooks, a student at Missouri
State University, last Monday, a week after pro-
tests led to former University of Missouri Presi-
dent Tim Wolfe’s resignation. Mizzou student-ac-
tivists had accused Wolfe of neglecting to address
students’ concerns about racism on campus.
“This is not only happening at the University
of Missouri, but these same problems are hap-
pening at Davidson College,” Phillips said, noting
that he was pleased with the turnout.
The demonstrators formed a large circle out-
side Chambers, linking arms while students in the
center led songs and chants such as “This is what
America looks like” and “No justice, no peace.”
Between chants, students gave short speeches
and personal testimonies.
Joi Stevens ’18 recounted being followed by a
police officer while driving with friends to a fast-
food restaurant. Many in the circle were audibly
moved as she spoke of calling her mother in case
anything happened to her.
“Picking which story to tell was the most dif-
ficult, because I have so many stories about race
from Davidson,” she said.
She felt the story she chose reflected a com-
mon experience. “The first thing my mother told
me when I was learning how to drive was that if
I was ever to be pulled over at night, to go to a
well lit and populated area, only crack my win-
dow, and ask for another cop to come as backup,”
Stevens said.
Although she said she was nervous about
sharing, she is now glad she spoke. “Everyone has
to know the daily struggles of people of color, and
they can’t ignore them anymore.”
Student Government Association President
Pablo Zevallos ’16 spoke about the exhaustion
that stems from underrepresentation and preju-
dice. “I’m tired because whenever I see an injus-
tice on this campus or elsewhere, I feel like I have
to suppress my anger because I don’t want to be
perceived as dangerous or as a threat.”
He defended his choice to support the event
in a Wednesday night email to the student body,
claiming, “Neutrality in the face of inequality
does not exist.”
Shuyu Cao ’16 participated in the demonstra-
tion by reading aloud racist Yik Yaks from the
Davidson area. She said the demonstration was
unique because it gave students of color a chance
to be heard.
“This event provided an hour that focused on
people of color and allowed us to speak without
limitation,” Cao said. “There are very few events
on campus that provide spaces like that.”
Phillips noticed Cao’s reading of the Yik Yaks
seemed to make a big impact of the faculty and
administrators present. “It was interesting watch-
ing the faces of the faculty, because I think they
were realizing, ‘Oh my god, I teach students who
think like this. How scary is that?’ ”
He hopes the testimonies will increase aware-
ness about the realities of racism at Davidson.
Lara and Phillips planned the event in less
than 24 hours after reading about the call to ac-
tion in The Black Tribune, an online publication
edited by students at Loyola University-Chicago.
MARY CLICK
Co-News Editor
Davidson students link arms during a demonstration in solidarity with University of Missouri activists. Photo by Shea Parikh.
In two weeks, according to Ta-Nehisi Coates,
you will see a report of another black life lost to
police brutality. He claims it is inevitable at this
point. This somber thought reverberated across
a sold-out John M. Belk Arena Monday evening,
where an audience of students, faculty and mem-
bers of the Charlotte community listened to the
journalist Coates, this year’s Reynolds lecturer,
speak on the legacy of black criminality and the
racial disparities that plague our nation. Coates
said the crowd, which neared several thousand
people, was the largest group he has seen during
his seven-week book tour so far.
Known for a prose as brutally honest as it is
lyrical, Coates serves as a National Correspon-
dent for “The Atlantic.” His story, “The Case for
Reparations,” published last year, earned him a
George Polk Award for Commentary and is one
of the most discussed non-fiction works of recent
years. His newest book, “Between the World and
Me,” made the shortlist for the 2015 National
Book Award in the nonfiction category, as he
seeks to understand why criminality has been
imposed upon black people in a letter to his teen-
age son, Samori.
The book articulates his conclusions from
investigations into how blacks have been crimi-
nalized in the United States. The death of Prince
Jones, a classmate of Coates’s at Howard Uni-
versity, instigated Coates’s inquiries. Coates de-
scribed Prince having been incredibly brilliant
and charismatic; he was very fond of Prince and
had “nothing but love” for him, as he used to
say. One evening when driving through Prince
George’s County, Prince was followed by a po-
lice officer chasing a criminal suspect in a similar
Jeep. He was followed across county lines and
into the suburbs before being shot and killed
mere minutes away from his fiancé’s house. It
Coates spoke to a large audience in John M. Belk Arena. Photo by Bill Giduz .
Thank you for
reading the
Davidsonian
See COATES
on page 3
See DEMONSTRATORS
on page 3
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