the vermilion — april 13, 2016

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VermilionUL Lafayette’s Student Newspaper Since 1904.

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Heather [email protected]

Banner transition poses short-term problems, long-term solutions

Registration help for the new Banner system is available in Stephens Hall as well as Lee Hall and the Regristrar’s Office

Beginning April 29, student-workers at the University of Louisiana at Lafay-ette will no longer have to wait an entire month to receive a paycheck after Pay-roll Services’ implementation of a new system will move student payroll from a monthly to bimonthly schedule. In an effort to streamline the pay-roll process, UL Lafayette will welcome the Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP), a business management system that facilitates the change to a bimonthly schedule for student payroll, said Donna Castille, the director of payroll and re-lated services at UL Lafayette. “We are hoping that the students will be happy about the change because they will not have to wait a month for a paycheck,” Castille said. The current system separates clas-sified employees, those appointed by the university with specific job require-ments, from the unclassified, all other employees including faculty, students and 12-month administrative employees. Classified employees are currently being paid bimonthly, while unclassified em-ployees are paid monthly. Laramie Williams, the current editor-in-chief for L’Acadian, said she is excited to see the change and believes it will help students who are currently living on a budget. “Waiting so long between paychecks made it hard to save and stressful mak-ing deadlines for the yearbook,” Wil-

PAYROLLcontinued on page 16

Student workers to receive bimonthly paycheck

Photo by Kailey Broussard / The Vermilion

April 13, 2016 / 13 avril 2016

Kailey Broussard [email protected]

The beginning of priority registration for the fall semester marked the first run of a new online database for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Students had their first taste of Banner ERP — the replacement to systems such as ISIS and ULink — and will get their next helping through changes to payroll and finance. Students were issued ULIDs, which will slowly replace CLIDs through the transition process. During the first week of scheduling, advisers struggled with lifting holds, and some students had issues navigating the new system. Students registering for the summer semester have to use ISIS; stu-dents registering for the fall semester have to use the new system. Brooke Dugas, a sophomore majoring in general science, said these factors made the transition difficult for her. “When you’re trying to look at all the classes available, it brings up, like, just multiples of every single class,” she said. “You have to scroll forever and ever and ever just to see what’s available.” Priority registration began March 21, and students and advisers took to Lee and Stephens halls for help regarding the new registration process. The new system en-forces prerequisites and corequisites for courses. “On the old system, prerequisites and corequisites were not enforced, and so stu-dents would get a warning, but they could just bypass it and go register for the class,” said Mickey Diez, university registrar. “That was one of the things we wanted to implement was true enforcement of pre-requisites.” With that change, students who are fulfilling their prerequisites may not be able to register for certain classes because

ISIS won’t interact with Banner. Officials responded with updated help desks and a satellite help desk in the College of Engi-neering. “Engineering had a lot of students who needed a prerequisite override,” said Diez. “So when we identified that, rather than making the students walk over to the regis-tration assistance center, we put a satellite office of the registrar’s office temporarily.” All of these measures, university Chief Informations Officer Gene Fields said, were set up to proactively aid students and faculty in the transitions. “We revamped the training labs, we revamped the service and help desks,” he said. According to Diez, Banner will cover more systems for a more cohesive online experience.

“All of that is part of one big system, and the advantage of that is now, instead of having all those systems … that don’t necessarily talk to each other very easily,” said Diez. “Now that it’s integrated, it’s gonna make our systems much more offi-cial, and it’ll allow us to conduct business in a more active and efficient manner.” According to Diez, the program was scheduled to close for spring break — dur-ing which faculty members received Ban-ner training. “Over the spring break, the Banner team and the consultants got together and sort of did a debriefing of those couple of days,” he said. “We identified an action plan of what are the things we could tackle

BANNERcontinued on page 16

THE VERMILION2 3THE VERMILIONApril 13, 2016 April 13, 2016

THE VERMILIONP.O. Box 44813 Lafayette, LA 70504-4813

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© 2016, THE VERMILION Communications Committee of UL Lafayette. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

All letters to the editor and guest editorials must include the author’s full name andphone number and be no longer than 400 words in length. Submissions are edited for libel and vulgarity only. Editorial and columns reflect

the author’s opinion and not those of The Vermilion staff.All advertisements must be turned in by the Wednesday before publication.

Business Manager Thomas SchumacherAsst. Business Manager Phillip DomingueWeb Editor Kailey BroussardSports Editor Garrett OhlmeyerCopy Editor Olatunde Soyombo

Editorial Staff

Editor in Chief Holly Duchmann Managing Editor Devin CochranCulture Editor Chelsea Yaeger Design By Leah Cavalier

PoliceReports

Compiled by Heather Osbourne

Disturbing the PeaceAshantriona Browder, 18, Evans Almita, 19, and Marlin Williams, 18, were

released on a misdemeanor summons and referred to Student Rights and

Responsibilities after the three individuals were in a fist fight in the Conference

Center on April 7.

Two males, who were previously romantically involved, were involved in an

altercation at The Brew on April 8 after one of the men accused the other of

taking his things. When campus police arrived, they found one of the men

arguing with Starbucks staff outside of the coffee shop. The instigator was

asked to leave campus and not return.

Kyle Garner, 20, and Jack Genova, 18, received a misdemeanor summons for

criminal mischief after the two students were linked to an alarm being falsely

set off in Coronna Hall on April 9. Video footage showed Garner and Genova

set off a fire extinguisher on the third floor, which triggered the alarm, caused an

evacuation of the dorm and notified the Lafayette Fire Department.

Criminal Mischief

Fête de la Terre will kick off this Sat-urday with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s third annual paddling trip on the Vermilion River. “(We want) to bring back natural re-sources as a source of enjoyment, enter-tainment, exercise — all of those things,” said Gretchen Vanicor, director of sustain-ability at UL Lafayette. Waterways are something people in South Louisiana have always been tied to, according to Vanicor. But more people are beginning to uti-lize the river. “More and more people of this region,” she added, “and specifically this city, are starting to really sort of — they call it ‘Rec the River’ — take back the river as a recre-ational resource that we have in our city.” Vanicor said she thinks residents take the river for granted, at times.“We live in this sort of paved, urban soci-ety,” she said. “We get in our cars, we roll up the windows and we sort of distance ourselves. “The Vermilion (River) really is incred-ible. Lots of effort has gone into protecting the Vermilion (River) from pollution… We have nature, and it’s beautiful nature.” Local outdoor gear and apparel retailer Pack and Paddle will help outfit this spe-cific trip with single kayaks. They are also sending out a tour guide with the group. “For those that haven’t been in a kayak at all, or just haven’t been in a while, or are unfamiliar with the territory that they’re going to be paddling, it just helps to have a tour guide out there,” Vanicor said. There are 20 spots available. Register at https://campscui.active.com/orgs/UL-RecSports. A few days later, on the Monday of Fête de la Terre, the Bayou Vermilion Dis-trict will bring out a week’s worth of the litter “that they collect from the litter trap.” “We’re going to dump a week’s worth of litter in front of the library,” Vanicor said. “It will be out there all week for stu-dents to realize the impacts of litter.”

A suspicious male was knocking on a female student’s door in Legacy Park

Apartments on April 8. The victim said she did not know the subject and has

never seen him before. The suspect could not be located but a report was

generated.

Suspicious Circumstances

Five Geaux Vélo bicycle baskets were stolen from the bicycles at the Student

Union kiosk on April 4. One of the bicycles also was damaged after someone

attempted to pull the mounted basket off the bike. Police are still investigating

the theft.

Theft/ Simple criminal damage to property

The artwork for this year’s Lagniappe Week theme was passed out on notecards with the schedule of events on the back.

Leah Cavalierleah2cavalier@gmail

Lagniappe Week kicks offuniquely themed events

News

Simple criminal damage to propertyA suspect’s vehicle received damage to the driver-side front tire and rim of a

2003 Chevrolet Tahoe after the student attempted to drive with a parking boot

still attached to the tire. The student paid the fines, and the boot was removed.

Chelsea [email protected]

UL to paddle the Vermilion River

Lagniappe Week kicked off Monday, April 11, and the University Program Council traditions committee chairs said they have big plans for events both old and new. This is the first year the new Student Union will be housing Lagniappe Week, and UPC traditions committee chairs Thomas Shuff and Natalie Richard said they are both very excited about having the new space. “(I’m) really excited about the location this year,” Richard said. “(We’re) kind of bringing it back by the swamp — to the heart of campus.” To coincide with the 2016 presidential campaigns, this year’s theme is “Crawfish for President.” Each day of the week is named according to the theme. Monday – “The Campaign” – hosted roaming student-artists around campus. The artists will be wandering campus while playing musical instruments. “We want to give them a chance to showcase not only their own talent,” Shuff said, “but to use that to spread the word to students that they have a week coming up that’s just for them.” Tuesday – “Rippin’ and Runnin’ to the Polls” – was the annual canoe race at Cypress Lake at 3 p.m. followed by a crawfish race on the plaza outside of the Student Union. The crawfish race was the first of a few new events this year. Today – “Burning up the Ballot” – will feature a pepper-eating contest. The contest was introduced to Lagniappe Week last year and “was pretty successful,” Shuff said. It is an event both Shuff and Richard hope stays in the week’s lineup, even after they graduate. “Lagniappe Week is all about culture and celebrating culture — specifically the culture here in Lafayette,” Shuff said. Thursday – “Crawfish in Action (CIA)” – will be a unique day because the events will coincide with events part of Interna-tional Week. All the events on this day will be making their debuts this year. There will be a multicultural dance

class in the UPC office at 4:30 p.m.; “Around the World in Seven Posts” in the Union hallway near the ballroom where students can take pictures in front of back-drops of the seven wonders of the world at 5 p.m.; and at 6 p.m., the International Pageant in the Union Ballroom, hosted by the International Student Association. Friday – “The Inauguration” – will be a day of traditions. This year’s Lagniappe Day will have all of its events hosted in and around the Union. The events have been moved up to lunch time this year to make it more convenient for commuter students and students going home for the weekend, Richard said. The crawfish boil will begin at 11 a.m. Richard and Shuff noted how the event has grown in its past from 10,000 pounds of crawfish to this year’s 18,000 pounds. The boil will be on Boucher Drive – the road running between the Union and the dor-mitory buildings. Richard said the green space where Guillory Hall once stood will be set up with picnic tables so students can

sit and enjoy their crawfish in the sun. Following the food will be the lake jump into Cypress Lake at noon. This is Richard’s favorite event, she said, and she is looking forward to it because she was able to do it last year. “That, to me, was something super fun and super special that not everyone gets the chance to do,” Richard said.The week will conclude with Rock the Swamp and a ring ceremony for seniors at 12:15 p.m. “That’s something we wanted to in-corporate this year into Lagniappe Day to help make it more successful and attract different people,” Richard said. It costs about $20,000 to put on all the events during Lagniappe Week, UPC sponsor Ruben Henderson said. The mon-ey comes from the UPC budget, which is supplied from a student-assessed fee.

Photo courtesy of UPC

Student Government Association Pres-ident Kirsten Allen announced the return of the two-week, 24-hour library hours that were initiated last semester. The service is scheduled to begin April 24, and SGA will offer snacks and scan-trons during the week before and during finals. The University Program Council repre-sentative announced the canoe race signup deadline was extended until noon on Tues-day, April 12. Although no appropriations were re-viewed, these banquet fees were discussed:

• The Chinese Students and Schol-ars Association received $500 from the General Fund to defer the cost of hosting the Chinese New Year Ban-quet Feb. 2.

• SGA also tabled a banquet re-quest to fund the International Stu-dent Council’s Diversity Night until next week.

Kailey Broussard [email protected]

SGA announces 24-hour library

THE VERMILION4 5THE VERMILIONApril 13, 2016 April 13, 2016International Week

Venezuelan flag from Google images

South Korean flag from Google images

As tensions rise on the Korean Pen-insula following North Korea’s continued missile tests and a U.S. student’s impris-onment, professors at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette say the North’s “bluff and blunder” reputation makes a nuclear attack unlikely. Routine U.S.-South Korean mili-tary exercises prompted North Korea to respond with a warning on March 14 that it would make a “preemptive and offen-sive nuclear strike” against South Korea. However, Jason Maloy, Ph.D., a profes-sor of political science at UL Lafayette who teaches international relations, said although a conflict could be possible, he believes stirring up trouble with its enemies is a “time-honored method” for the North Korean dictatorship to secure the consent of its people. “People have been worrying about this very issue for at least 20 or 30 years,” Maloy said. “The character of the North Korean leadership is so unusual, it seems like they are more about bluff and blunder. I think the probability is really low that the North Koreans could pull off some kind of nuclear attack, but people

have to take it seriously because even though the probability is really low, the potential impact is very high. “I would say, even without North Korea’s bluff and blunder, we would still be in South Korea because of China,” he continued. “They are considered to be the only country in the region that could actually reason with the North Koreans at some point. And so, one concern is that if U.S. relations with China aren’t that great, that makes the danger of a confronta-tion on the Korean Peninsula that much greater.” Kim Jong-un, the 33-year-old dictator of North Korea, took over as supreme leader of the economically failing country in 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. Jong-il took power follow-ing the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994. Do Kyun Kim, Ph.D., an associate professor of organizational communica-tion at UL Lafayette and a South Korean, said North Korea is too poor and lacks the necessary technology to begin another Korean War. Kim said he believes the outbursts, led by Jong-un, are strictly

political moves. “The media report that they have bombs and missiles, but North Korea knows if they do anything like that it is suicide,” said Kim. “They are testing missiles and blocking out the international society, but it is all political, and they are not able to create another war because, again, they just don’t have the ability to do anything.” North Korea has a total area of 46,541 square miles, which is approxi-mately the size of Indiana, with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of only $1,800. South Korea’s area is 97,350 square miles — a little larger than Idaho — with a GDP per capita of $25,976. Although North and South Korea could one day reunite, Kim said the “families united” talks are simply for political purposes. “The history of Korea is longer than 5,000 years, and we are a very, very ho-mogeneous people in terms of ethnicity,” said Kim. “So, if (the) governments were to say something of oneness, there are less questions for individuals to be against the government. So, it’s a very good political card when the domestic government has some issues inside.” Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 until Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. The Americans and Soviets failed to unify Korea under one government, leading to the establishment of two states in 1948 divided by the 38th Parallel. On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, which began the bloody three-year war that killed 1 million Chinese, 38,000 Americans and 3 million Koreans. The war ended in a truce in July 1953, dividing North and South Korea by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Airman 1st Class Christ Theriot and his wife, Victoria Theriot, alumni of UL Lafayette who were stationed in South Korea in 2015, recalled a conflict in September when North Korea planted an improvised explosive device on the south side of the DMZ. The explosive severely

wounded two South Korean soldiers patrolling the area. Victoria Theriot said the conflict quickly escalated into threats made over loudspeakers, a North Korean missile fired into the DMZ and 22 shots were fired by the South Korean military in retaliation. “Kim Jong-un is a big bully, and he always threatens South Korea,” said Victoria Theriot. “While we were there, there were four threats. Long story short, they shot a missile into our village, which is the neutral zone, and you’re not supposed to do that. The reason why we have the U.S. Army base right there is to protect that village. They shot a missile into the villages trying to hit the speaker, but it missed the speaker and just landed in the village. North Korea eventually did apologize, and we turned off our speaker and everything was fine after that. “We are not here to go to war with North Korea. We’re here to defend and help South Korea if something would hap-pen,” she continued. Roughly 29,000 U.S. military personnel are still stationed in South Korea, 63 years after the end of the war. The Theriots said they were a part of the South Korean “war games,” which are the routine training exercises to intimidate the North Koreans and train the South Korean and U.S. military in case of an attack. However, they, along with Andrew de la Garza, Ph.D., an instructor of Asian history at UL Lafayette, said North Korea has significantly less technology and mili-tary equipment to be an actual threat. He said the nuclear testing and 15-year im-prisonment of the U.S. student are simply leverage to protect the fragile regime. “Things like North Korea’s nuclear program, building the military and periodical displays of military forces are meant to deter outside threats,” de la Garza said. “The main goal is deterrence to protect the North Korean regime. And in a constant state of threat, that’s one way to gain the cooperation and loyalty of the North Korean public.”

Heather [email protected]

UL Lafayette professors say N. Korean threats are mostly bluff

Karley NugentSpecial to The Vermilion

Post-Chavez Venezuela faces major woes

A freshman petroleum engineering major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette from Venezuela said his country has more to worry about than just low oil prices. Aside from the oil crisis, Jesus Rodri-guez said one of the major concerns with the economic disaster unfolding in Ven-ezuela is hyperinflation of the currency, the Bolivar. “Every week, the money my parents get is worth less and less,” explained Ro-driguez, 18. “Less than two years ago, $1 was worth less than 100 Bolivars and today, $1 is worth over 1,000 Bolivars. I constantly check on how the currency is doing.” Rodriguez said the economic crisis af-fects both him and his family, who still re-side in Venezuela. He said he is well aware of what is going on, as he is monitoring the situation back home from Lafayette. “There are food shortages all over the country, which directly affect my family,” Rodriguez said. The average annual income for a fam-

ily in Venezuela is about $25,000. The av-erage income of a family in Lafayette is around $47,783. Rodriguez said the constantly fluc-tuating currency affects the way of life in Venezuela drastically. “Currently, it is nearly impossible for an average person to save money to buy a car, since the currency is devaluating so much,” Rodriguez said. To combat the growing list of eco-nomic problems, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro extended an economic state of emergency for an additional two months. Approved by the Supreme Court, the extension gives Maduro more power and time to work with Venezuelan markets, reorganize financial sectors and boost pro-ductivity in the economy. Jason S. Maloy, Ph.D, a professor of political science at UL Lafayette, said the U.S. has long been connected to the Ven-ezuelan economy. “Historically, the U.S. has sort of been the nosy neighbor of our hemisphere; Ven-ezuela is one of these countries where U.S.

foreign policy has been very active in try-ing to shape what goes on in the politics of that country,” said Maloy. “It’s a part of what’s called the Caribbean basin and Louisiana is a part of a common middle-American-Caribbean culture. U.S. foreign policy has always viewed the Caribbean basin as the heartland of our hemisphere.” The main export of Venezuela is oil and gas. Maloy said the low prices of oil heavily contribute to the poor state of Ven-ezuela’s economy, much like the Louisiana economy is suffering as well. As of last Friday, the price of oil per barrel was $39.66. Venezuela is the world’s ninth-largest oil exporter, exporting about 1.65 million barrels per day. The Spanish colonized Venezuela in the 1500s while mining for gold in South America. In the 1700s, Venezuela sought independence from Spain, but did not win its freedom until 1821. Venezuela has a total area of 353,841 square miles — the size of Texas and Utah combined. It lies on the northern coast of South America, with a population of more

than 30.41 million. The world’s 34th larg-est export market, it also exports alumi-num, bauxite, steel and agricultural prod-ucts. The Venezuelan government has been the center of controversy in recent years. Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1998 on a platform to rewrite the consti-tution with intentions of consolidating his power. “I was under Chávez’s window the night he declared victory in the 2000 re-election, and I could tell he was on his way to dictatorship,” said Robert Buckman, Ph.D., a professor of communication and freelance journalist. “Hugo Chávez was the classic Latin American caudillo. He was in the style of Argentina’s Juan Perón, Louisiana’s Huey Long and even Donald Trump today. “He consolidated power on a pledge to eliminate corruption. When he died, Vene-zuela had become the most corrupt country in Latin America, according to Transpar-ency International,” he continued. When Chávez died of cancer in 2013, Maduro took over and was narrowly elect-ed to a six-year term a few months later. Buckman, who authored a reference book on Latin America from 1997-2015, said Maduro lacks Chávez’s charisma and does not have the same hold over the peo-ple that Chávez did. In the December parliamentary elec-tions, Venezuela’s opposition party, the Democratic Unity coalition, scored a ma-jor victory, taking 112 of the 167 seats in the National Assembly. With the country suffering in differ-ent ways, Rodriguez said he thinks stabi-lizing the economy will take longer than two months and there are certain steps that must be taken. “I believe it would take a lot of time and work to build up the economy again,” Rodriguez said. “I think there needs to be a change in the government, since the one we have currently is very corrupted. Then, the government needs to make the cur-rency stable again so that people can save and invest money, which would make the economy grow.”


Hong Kong flag from Google images

French flag from Google images

After a March 22 mass terrorist attack in Belgium’s capital left more than 30 peo-ple dead and 200 injured, French students and professors at the University of Loui-siana at Lafayette said they believe the at-tacks will only make things worse for the Muslim community in France, which has faced heightened scrutiny after the Paris attacks last November. “Ever since we’ve been having those terrorist attacks, the French people have been taken aback by the Muslim commu-nity, so I’m pretty sure it’s going to make it worse for some of the Muslims who have nothing to do with it,” said Haoua Ama-dou, 20, a French visual arts student at UL Lafayette. “I’m pretty sure that not just France, but the whole continent is going to take more strict precautions about who comes in and out the country.” France’s population of 66.03 million is 85 percent Roman Catholic, but the sec-ond-largest religious group is Muslim, at 8.3 percent. French Interior Minister Bernard Ca-

zeneuve, of the ruling Socialist Party, an-nounced after the recent Brussels attacks that France was deploying 1,600 police officers to monitor the northeast border France shares with Belgium. “There’s been a simmering kind of anti-immigrant sentiment all over Eu-rope,” said Jason Maloy, Ph.D., political and international relations professor at UL Lafayette. “I lived in England, just across the channel, 15 years ago, and even back then there was always this sort of resent-ment the way the European Union allowed freedom of movement across borders, so the terrorist attack sort of piled on to that existing anti-immigrant sentiment and re-ally gave it a sharp boost.” According to the BBC, the Europe-an Union received 1,321,560 refugees in 2015, with just shy of 100,000 of those going to France. Socialist President Fran-çois Hollande, elected in 2012, promised after the November attacks in Paris that France would accept 30,000 additional refugees into the country in the next two

years. Because many of the refugees are not looking to settle permanently in France or in any one European country, EU countries are seeing a spike in transient refugees. According to Ellora Ainadjoglou, 22, a foreign-exchange business student from Normandy, most of the refugees passing through northern France are taking boats to get to England. “It’s so complicated to put everything together,” said Ainadjoglou. “It’s not a French problem; it’s a European problem. So we have to coordinate everything with all the countries, and it’s just terrible.” Although France is slightly smaller than Texas, it is the largest Western Eu-ropean country, and has the world’s fifth-largest economy with a GDP of $2.9 tril-lion, or $42,503 per capita. France has stayed on the cusp of change throughout the past 200 years. The American Revolution inspired the bloody, decade-long French Revolution, which overthrew the divine-right monarchy in

1799 and ended with the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte. Since the Revolution, France has had more than a dozen constitutions, three monarchies, two empires and five republics. The Fifth Republic was ushered in in 1958 by former war hero Charles de Gaulle, who served as president until 1969 and is considered the father of the modern French state. Thomas Cauvin, Ph.D., a public histo-ry professor at UL Lafayette, said the first impact the terrorist attacks will have will be on the next elections. The French presi-dential election is in April and May next year. Hollande was expected to run for re-election, but the departmental council elections in March 2015 imply the French people may opt for more conservative al-ternatives to Hollande’s Socialist Party. The Conservative UMP, led by for-mer French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in-creased its number of councils from 40 to 67, while the Socialists fell from 61 to 34. There is a presidential election ev-ery five years, and the president appoints a prime minister, who enforces law. The Parliament is split between the Senate and the National Assembly. The leader of the National Front, France’s right-wing and anti-immigration party, Marine Le Pen, also has been gain-ing support and is a possible candidate in the upcoming presidential election. “I don’t think France is a racist country, but with everything that’s been going on with Hollande, maybe they might vote for her,” said Amadou. “I would not vote for her because her dad (Jean-Marie Pen) was really racist, so I can only imagine what she would bring to the country.” “I guess the crisis may be a key as-pect of the election,” Cauvin said. “Rather than the crisis, we expect some questions such as identity. What does it mean to be French? What does it mean to be Europe-an? Because people will have to find solu-tions for the refugees and they will have to think about what it means to be European — not only the question on do we accept the refugees or not, but also what (will be) our relations with Syria, Turkey, the Mid-dle East.”

Holly [email protected]

Immigration issue roils France after attacks

While some Americans claim that their freedom of speech is being infringed at Donald Trump rallies, Hong Kong resi-dents are seeing that right eroded in very real ways. “Hong Kong was ruled by the British Empire for many, many years,” explained Jason Maloy, Ph.D., a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. “So there’s a deep cultural imprint of Anglo-Protestant civilization on this extremely wealthy Chinese island. There’s a culture clash of sorts in Hong Kong. “You have lots of people who are edu-cated, both formally and informally, and who grew up under this British-style rule, but now you’ve got the Chinese Commu-nist Party coming in and assuming control over the last 20 years,” Maloy continued. “This culture clash was bound to boil over at some point.” Over the last six months, five booksell-ers and publishers in Hong Kong who were dealing with Chinese writer Xi Nuo have allegedly been kidnapped by the Chinese government. The Chinese government

claims the men went to mainland China of their own accord, but only two have re-turned and one has confessed to a crime, which some argue was under duress. The controversy stems from the pub-lishers trying to publish a pulp-romance novel involving Chinese President Xi Jin-ping in sordid affairs with prominent mem-bers of the Chinese government. This book is part of an underground genre of romance novels that places government officials in sexual situations and affairs. Although fic-titious, the books are considered an insult, and the Chinese government has sought to halt the publication of these books. The British gained control over Hong Kong in 1841 at the end of the First Opium War, and, in 1898, Britain signed a 99-year lease for Hong Kong and controlled it with the exception of the three-year period during World War II when Japan captured Hong Kong. On June 30, 1997, Britain officially signed control of Hong Kong back to the mainland Chinese government, but not be-fore receiving the assurance that it would be treated differently from the rest of Chi-

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C H E C K O U T O U R . . .

na and be allowed to keep its democratic traditions and institutions. Hong Kong was renamed the Hong Kong Special Adminis-trative Region of the People’s Republic of China. This dual system is called the “one country, two systems principle.” However, this has led to tensions between capitalist Hong Kong and com-munist China. Before the turnover, Hong Kong’s economy was the world’s 44th largest economy and had the 10th highest GDP-per-capita in the world, and it is still considered a world trade capital, though the island is less than one-third of the size of Rhode Island. Hong Kong’s economic success is crucial to China’s overall econo-my, although its population of 7.19 million people is a fraction of the Chinese popula-tion of 1.38 billion people. “Some in Hong Kong are seeing this as the beginning of the end of Hong Kong’s special, distinctive status and the much more open freedoms that the people of Hong Kong have come to expect com-pared to the rest of China,” said Andrew de la Garza, Ph.D., an Asian history professor at UL Lafayette. “So there has been push-back and protests — the so-called Umbrel-la Movement — to protest this.” Although mass protests like the 2014 Umbrella Movement and current protests against the alleged kidnapping of booksell-ers by the Chinese government have made some headway, political scientists like Maloy are watching the situation in Hong

Kong closely. “I think Hong Kong is really fascinat-ing in international politics right now be-cause the Chinese Communist Party is not interested in a lot of what goes on in West-ern-style, constitutional republics,” Maloy said. ”They’re ruling over this island that has these ingrained Anglo-Protestant tradi-tions, and it’s going to be interesting to see if Hong Kong can figure something out. The Communists are sort of in the driver’s seat. “If they figure out some sort of in-stitutional compromise where they give something to the protesters who want Hong Kong to be governed under a multi-party democracy that’s workable, that could be huge for world history. People in Asia, people in Africa, (and) people in the Middle East aren’t necessarily buying this British parliamentary model. If China can come up with a hybrid that works, that could be an example that lots of other countries follow,” he continued.

Daniel BoudreauxSpecial to The Vermilion

Longing for liberty creates tension in Hong Kong


Congolese flag from Google images

Brazilian flag from Google images

A Brazilian University of Louisiana at Lafayette student said she believes the Brazilian economy is deteriorating as a re-sult of bad management. “My family still lives in Brazil, so they have told me how bad it is,” said Dan-iela Cruz, a 22-year-old Brazilian UL La-fayette electrical engineering major from Belém, capital of the northeastern state of Pará. “My uncle has his own company, and he has mentioned that he had to let go some of his employees. My parents have also told me that a lot of restaurants and businesses are closing in our city.” Brazil’s recession and corruption have led to protests, riots and the call for the im-peachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Last week, a congressional investigative commission looking into allegations of wrongdoing by Rousseff and her predeces-sor, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, conclud-ed there was sufficient evidence to warrant impeachment.

Cruz said it was only a matter of time before corruption occurred in Brazil. “Everyone that has access to a little education in Brazil probably knew that there was corruption going on,” said Cruz. “The only problem was that people did not really understand how deep, how high up and how much money was being stolen. “The moment all of that became public and one person had the courage to stand up to the low-life politics we have there and investigate was the moment a lot of the Brazilian people were waiting for. It makes me really mad that a beautiful country like Brazil is being talked about with this ugli-ness and corruption,” she continued. Cruz said she believes the corruption has led to the weakened economy in Bra-zil, which is scheduled to host this year’s Olympics. “The president has not done a good job with paying back the creditors,” said Cruz. “In addition, the government was caught

Jalen [email protected]

with their hands in the cookie jar, aka, rob-bing us. That led to lots of protests against the president, which weakened the econo-my even more, because international busi-nesses were less trusting into investing a country with instability within its people.” Brazil, a country with a population of around 204.5 million people, is currently ranked as the fifth-most populous country in the world. It was founded and claimed by the Portuguese navigator and nobleman Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500. The Portu-guese colonized Brazil until its indepen-dence in 1822. The Portuguese king fled to Rio de Janeiro after Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1808. The Brazilian elite were unhappy because of the lack of in-dependence and Brazil finally won its in-dependence after defeating Portugal in a two-year war. After gaining its independence, Brazil was governed by Emperor Dom Pedro I,

then by his son, Dom Pedro II. His reign lasted 58 years, until 1889, when Brazil became a republic. For the next century, Brazil was ruled by alternating democratic and dictatorial regimes. Brazil’s last military regime lasted from 1964-1985 because of the political struggles it faced during the time. The au-thoritarian military dictatorship was led by the Armed Forces who fought against Janio Quadros and his administration. The military regime ended in 1985 when José Sarney took office as president. Brazil’s per capita GDP in 2014 was $11,384. Its 3,288,000 square miles com-pare to the 3,806,000 square-mile United States. Jason Maloy, Ph.D., who teaches in-ternational relations in the political science department, said he believes Brazil, like Louisiana, has the oil industry to blame for some of its recession. “Brazil has a major oil industry, “ said Maloy. “It’s interesting because Brazil has sort of been the great hope in developing countries over the recent years. Until the last couple of years, the economic growth there was so strong.” Maloy said he believes if the economy weren’t so bad, the corruption wouldn’t be noticed. “Rousseff’s predecessor was Luiz Iná-cio Lula da Silva,” said Maloy. “He was wildly popular, got the economy going and she was sort of his handpicked successor. She won the election and she’s been under intense pressure with corruption scandals. My belief is that when the economy goes south, things that are normally overlooked, people start to harp on them.” Rousseff was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. “They’ve had massive street protests recently against the corruption scandals inside the Workers’ Party, and it’s argu-able that if the economy was still hum-ming along, then people would kind of forgive minor indiscretions in govern-ment,” opined Maloy. “But now, it’s kind of like, what do they have to hold on to? They haven’t got the great economy that Lula gave them, and now these corruption scandals rub salt in the wounds.”

Brazil buffeted by recession and corruption scandalDRC faces uphill recovery

Kaila JacksonSpecial to The Vermilion

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to try to rebuild its econ-omy after years of corruption and warfare, and since the recent arrest of former Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba over war-related crimes, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette professor and student agreed the wars have had detrimental effects on the country’s economy and people. Jason Maloy, 41, international rela-tions and political science professor at UL Lafayette, said he believes the country’s instability is directly related to the after-math of the First and Second Congo Wars and the unruly tycoons’ greed for the mineral wealth the country possesses.“The thing about a mineral economy—what makes money—is kind of like a cut-and-run activity,” Maloy said. “You pull stuff (mineral wealth) out of the ground, and when it’s all gone, you move on and find something else.” François Neto, 20, who lived in Mbuji-Mayi and the capital city Kinshasa, agreed and said one of the reasons the DRC has not excelled economically is

because of the corruption caused by the country’s mineral resource wealth. “Unlike the American government system, the Democratic Republic of the Congo —or any Third World country for that matter— the Congo’s govern-ment doesn’t work for the people,” Neto said. “The mineral resources are profited through businesses, and the money is pocketed and distributed among govern-ment officials.” According to the United Nations En-vironment Program, the DRC has mineral wealth worth $24 trillion, equivalent to the gross domestic product in the United States and Europe combined. Yet, its GDP per capita is $380 — one of the lowest in Africa. Neto added that the failure of the government to protect its people from the war-stricken East Congo and rebel groups, which continue to plague the country, has “devastated the country.” The First Congo War, from 1996-1997, was an invasion of the DRC, formerly named Zaire, by the Rwandan

army. This war overthrew dictator Mobutu Sésé Seko’s regime and replaced him with Laurent- Désiré Kabila. The Second Congo War, also known as the Great War of Africa, followed Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s presidency in 1998. These wars involved conflicts over the trade in minerals, its unstable govern-ment and mistreatment of its people. Recently, the International Crimi-nal Court convicted Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo for crimes against humanity and war-related crimes committed through his rebel movement turned political party, Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, during the Second Congo War. “One of the challenges the Congo faces is that a lot of investment comes in from the more developed world and creates employment as long as the stuff (mineral wealth) is in the ground,” Maloy said. “But then there’s not much incentive for the companies operating there to build a durable society and invest into infra-structure that would be a benefit to the people once all the resources are pulled

from the ground.” The DRC, colonized by Belgium, became independent in 1960 and now has a population of 74.88 million. Mobutu’s regime lasted from 1965 until his death from prostate cancer in 1997. Under his leadership, Zaire experienced short-lived peace, while the economy deteriorated despite U.S. economic and military aid. Tensions between ethnic groups and unmet needs motivated rebel groups like the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire to overthrow the government. Once Mobutu’s regime fell to the AFDL, Laurent-Désiré Kabila became president and named Zaire the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Second Congo War further de-stroyed the economy. It is estimated that 5.4 million people suffered or died from the economic decline. Joseph Kabila, son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, ruled the country after his father’s assassination in 2001. There is an ongoing insurgency, while the economy is drasti-cally hindered by warfare and corrup-tion. “The wars in the Congo have in fact destroyed the country and its economy,” Neto said. “A major reason this is true is because of the country’s failure to protect its people. If a country comes in and attacks Americans, on American soil especially, America will not rest until its people are at peace and until the enemy is eliminated. This is not true for my coun-try. My country’s leaders have not done enough for their people.” Maloy agreed and said the tensions between rebel groups, the government and DRC’s people have and will continue to hinder the growth of the economy unless a solution is found. “With the civil war there, it’s a very basic problem of law and order,” Maloy said.“When different ethnic groups within the government can’t accept one government, it makes it hard to do business there. Un-til there is a negotiated decision and civil peace, it’s going to be difficult to rebuild the country.”


Devin [email protected]

Students recognized in BFSA ceremonySigma Chi raises money through annual Derby Days

To quote Sigma Chi alumnus John Wayne, “Men join fraternities; leaders of men join Sigma Chi,” and they gave their all to prove it this past week during the Lambda Psi chapter of Sigma Chi’s Derby Days. Derby Days is a week full of events that helps Sigma Chi raise money to go towards their philanthropy, the Hunts-man Cancer Institute, which was found-ed by cancer survivor and Sigma Chi al-umn Jon Huntsman, Sr. It is also a week used to serve the chapter’s community. “We had a Snap-A-Sig competition going on throughout the week in which members of the organizations competing could take a picture with a brother and use the hashtag #ULDerbyDays2k16 and get points for their organization,” said Ross Allbritton, a University of Louisi-ana at Lafayette freshman and first-year member of Sigma Chi. “We also did a T-shirt giveaway in which someone had to answer a question about Sigma Chi to get a free T-shirt from one of our broth-ers. We also had two coin drives, a jam-balaya dinner, which served over 250 plates, Pie-A-Sig and our Derby Darling pageant.” Derby Days was open to all UL Lafayette organizations. Six National Panhellenic Council sororities chose to compete along with the UL Peer Men-tors, who totaled seven teams for the week. Each team was assigned Sigma Chi brothers who acted as their coaches throughout the week, and the winning organization received a trophy. 15 per-cent of all the proceeds from the week to donate to a philanthropy of their choice. Each organization was given a cer-tain number of points for events they participated in, the number of shirts their members received from Sigma Chi brothers, the number of photos included in the Snap-A-Sig event and more. The

week ended Friday when each team had a member participate in the Derby Dar-ling pageant held in Bayou Bijou. The pageant consisted of a portion where the ladies showed off a derby-styled hat they had made, a talent por-tion and also a questioning portion for the top three. While each organization could gain points prior to the pageant, the pageant was its own individual event and made up a majority of Derby Days points. Tri Delta, Kappa Delta, Alpha Omi-cron Pi, Tri Sigma, Alpha Delta Pi, Phi Mu, and UL Peer Mentors had ladies compete, with AOII member Ashley Picciola as the second runner-up, ADPi member Laiha Bergeaux as first runner-up, and Tri Sigma member Kiana Vin-centy placing first. Tri Sigma also won overall for the 2016 Derby Days. “The atmosphere was wonderful,” Bergereaux said of the pageant. “All the women were super friendly and we laughed and cut up the whole time. We all wanted each other to do well.” Vincenty was incredibly excited to win the 2016 Derby Darling, as the top three women’s teams were close all week. “We did end up winning overall!” Vincenty exclaimed. “Tri Sigma, AOII & ADPi were neck-and-neck and to know the pageant helped us win was re-ally rewarding.” But Derby Days, no matter how big or small, is meant to be something more than a week full of fun events and com-fort colors T-shirts. “Sigma Chi International Fraternity pledged to raise $10 million for Hunts-man Cancer Institute by the year 2022 — the largest donation pledge to a single charity of any greek letter fraternal orga-nization,” said Matt Dupre, president and junior member of Sigma Chi. “The goal

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for the ‘15 -’16 year is $1.2 million, and as of today, Sigma Chi has raised more than $745,000 this year.” The goal set by the Lambda Psi chap-ter for this week was $2,500, which they surpassed by more than $500. “This year for our Derby Days, we raised over $3,000 for the fight against cancer,” said Dupre. “Although this may seem insignificant to Sigma Chi’s $1.2 million goal, we are proud to contribute to and support Significant Sig & Founder of HCI, Jon Huntsman Sr., who is a four-time cancer survivor.”

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Approximately 602 University of Louisiana at Lafayette students were honored in the 27th annual Black Stu-dent Achievement Awards Program on April 6 at 6 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. More than 150 students, family and faculty filled the Student Union ballroom and were greeted by Vice President of Student Affairs and BFSA president, Patricia Cottonham. After a musical selection from senior education major Hallie Bou-dreaux, the evening’s guest speaker, Tyler Olivier, Ph.D., biology professor at San Jacinto Community College and UL Lafayette alumnus, offered words of encouragement to the students. Olivier also spoke about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome can be defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist even in the face of informa-

tion that indicates the opposite is true, according to information published by counseling.caltech.edu. “Ditch the imposter syndrome,” he said. “You don’t see many people that look like me in my field. Because of those surroundings, I suffer (from im-poster syndrome). It leads us to devalue our own work.” Olivier then encouraged the audi-ence to “be someone’s reason,” and to embrace the priorities of school because the reward is greater than the struggle. “There are people who have prayed, died and paid for you to be where you are today,” he said. “Realize that your greatness is not your own. Getting my Ph.D. was for my sisters — my chil-dren. It’s for the brother who wants to be a biologist but hasn’t seen someone like him before. It is not about you. Someone else’s reason may be because

of your success. Go out and be some-one’s reason.” Olivier, originally from Patterson, earned his bachelor’s degree in biologi-cal science from Louisiana State Uni-versity in 2006. He earned his doctor-ate in environmental and evolutionary biology at UL Lafayette in 2013. Taylor Brown, a sophomore nursing major from Lafayette, said receiving the award has been an honor. “It’s an honor to have received it two consecutive years because it shows that my hard work is paying off academ-ically, and I would like to see myself continue to be a part of a great group of students who are being recognized for their academic achievements,” she said. “It inspires me to continue forth in my studies because I have sacrificed a lot in order to be where I am academically. “I think that this award is a great

way to recognize minority students on our campus because it lets us know that we are doing something worth recog-nition and not being put in the back-ground,” she continued. “There has been a lot of rift lately about not being recog-nized for positive things, and this is one of them, so I think it’s a great idea. The BFSA also recognizes minority students from elementary and high school and those students seeing us college stu-dents continuing to be successful also gives them hope and encouragement to do the same.” Select students also received the Joseph Chaisson Freshman Minority Scholarship, Christiana Smith Alumni Chapter 2016-2017 Scholarship and the UL Lafayette Black Faculty and Staff Association Scholarship.


SATIRE

SUNBELT SCOREBOARDS

NORTH OVR Texas-Dallas 9-1St. Gregory’s 9-4Stephen F. Austin 4-4Oklahoma State 6-7Dallas Baptist 3-9Tulsa 2-6Tarleton State 2-11Abilene Christian 0-8

SOUTH OVRUL Lafayette 10-4Texas-San Antonio 7-3Sam Houston 6-5Rice University 4-3Texas A&M-Galveston 4-5St. Edwards 2-5Corpus Christi 1-7Incarnate Word 1-8

Lone Star Alliance Lacrosse Standings

Baseball StandingsTeam OVR CONFSouth Alabama 25-8 15-0Texas State 21-12 9-3UL Lafayette 21-11 10-5Little Rock 15-16 8-7Georgia Southern 18-14 7-8Troy 19-13 5-6UT Arlington 18-15 5-7Georgia State 15-17 4-8UL Monroe 13-19 4-8Arkansas State 13-18 4-11Appalachian State 8-23 3-11

Softball Standings

Team OVR CONFUL Lafayette 32-3 13-1South Alabama 24-11 12-2Georgia Southern 23-17 9-3Troy 25-14 6-6UL Monroe 20-23 5-10UT Arlington 25-11 4-8Georgia State 19-22 4-8Texas State 24-15 4-8Appalachian State 9-33 2-13

Sports

The Louisiana-Lafayette Ra-gin’ Cajuns baseball team traveled to Statesboro, Georgia and won two of three games against Georgia Southern in their Sun Belt Conference series last weekend. The Cajuns won on Friday and Sunday, although they needed 10 in-nings to win on Friday. The lone de-feat of the series came Saturday after-noon. The Ragin’ Cajuns won the eighth contest of their last nine Friday night, winning 6-2 in extra innings. Dylan Moore was credited with the win af-ter starter Gunner Leger was handed a no-decision. The Cajuns handed Georgia Southern’s Landon Hughes his first loss of the season. Leger had his fifth quality start of the season, holding the Eagles to six hits with three strikeouts, no walks and two earned runs in seven innings of work. The Ragin’ Cajuns had a 2-0 advantage in the fifth inning before Georgia Southern scored two runs in the seventh to tie the game. In the 10th, RBIs by Stefan Trosclair, Brad Antchak and Alex Pinero gave the Cajuns a 6-2 lead. Closer Dylan Moore retired the final three Eagles batters to secure the victory for Louisiana-Lafayette. “We stayed in the game, the hitters did a good job of running up (Evan) Chal-lenger’s pitch count early,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “I told the guys that our starters were going to have to match theirs and we would have to beat their bullpen. I thought Gunner (Leger) did a good job and we played good defense for the most part. We hung in there till we could break it open, and we were able to win a runaway.” The teams met again Saturday and it was close once again. The Ragin’ Cajuns were on the receiving end of a 3-2 defeat as the Eagles secured their 18th win of the season. Louisiana-Lafayette’s Wyatt Marks suffered his third loss of the season after giving up five hits and three runs, while registering six strikeouts and only allow-ing one walk in six innings. Senior Eric Carter came in and pitched two perfect

Matt [email protected]

Photo from ragincajuns.comCajuns’ Marks pitches in the team’s series against Georgia Southern this past weekend.

innings of relief and struck out five to keep the Ragin’ Cajuns in the game. Georgia Southern pitcher Chase Cohen earned his third win of the season after allowing five hits, two runs and walking one. Cohen also had five strikeouts. Offensively for Louisiana-Lafayette, Brian Mills was the go-to bat. Mills plated one run off one hit in four at-bats. He singled, advanced to third off of a steal and a throwing error and then scored on a wild pitch. The Eagles gained their first lead of the series in the fifth inning to make the score 3-2. The Cajuns threatened multiple times throughout the remainder of the game but couldn’t score the tying run. “You hate to waste our pitching, and that’s a winnable ballgame for us,” Robichaux said.” If you aren’t going to score runs, you have to play defense. We didn’t make a play in the field when we needed to at a critical moment in the game, and we couldn’t bring a guy home from third tonight. We needed one of our hitter to man up and do a job. We’ve got to do a better job of competing at the plate and competing for nine innings. They gave us the first run and we only scored one run through nine innings.” Sunday’s rubber match between the teams pitted Nick Lee for Louisiana-

Lafayette against Brian Eichhorn for Georgia Southern. The game was offensive from the beginning, as Lee was chased from the game in the fourth inning after allowing five runs and four hits. Lee sur-rendered two walks and struck out one in 3.2 innings. Eichhorn allowed six runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings. Dylan Moore was scored the win after throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings and giving up one hit. Moore also had a career-high six strikeouts. Offensively for Louisiana-Lafayette, Brian Mills and Kyle Clement stole the show. Clement went 3-5 with one run. Mills went 2-4, hitting two home runs (1 grand slam), scoring three times and reg-istering six RBIs. Mills became the first Ragin’ Cajun to have six RBIs in a single game since Jace Conrad in 2014. Stefan Trosclair batted 2-4, hitting a double, scoring twice and scoring an RBI. Brenn Conrad also had a strong game and was 2-5 at the plate with two RBIs. Louisiana-Lafayette’s offensive dominance began early, while racking up 12 hits in the contest. The Ragin’ Cajuns jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Georgia Southern took a 9-7 lead in the sixth. In the

eighth, Mills hit his first career grand slam to put the Cajuns up 11-9 and then Conrad added a pair to clinch the game and the series for Louisiana-Lafayette. “You don’t want to always get in firefights, but it’s nice when your hitters can back up your pitchers and defense when they aren’t at their best,” Robichaux said. “We said ‘so what’ and kept fighting when things weren’t going our way. We didn’t let one thing turn us and didn’t quit fighting. I thought Brian (Mills) did a good job of staying back on a changeup and took the ball down the line where the ball really carries.”

BASEBALLcontinued on page 13

BASEBALLcontinued from page 12Baseball wins series 2-1

vs. Georgia Southern

The No. 5-ranked University of Loui-siana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns Softball team traveled to Georgia State for a week-end series and took all three victories from the Panthers, 4-1, 6-5 and 12-0 respec-tively. Big bats by DJ Sanders and Shellie Landry led the Ragin’ Cajuns through the weekend as Sanders homered in each of the first two games and Landry hit a 3-run home run in the final game of the series. The Ragin’ Cajuns are proving that they can hold their own without one of the best hitters in the country, catcher Lexie Elkins, who is out 4-6 weeks with a thumb injury. Landry, Sanders and Aleah Craigh-ton have stepped up offensively, while true freshman Brittany Nollkamper has filled in at backstop for Elkins. Alex Stewart continued to dominate with her pitching and picked up her 16th win after allowing one run and seven hits. Louisiana-Lafayette struck first in the fourth inning of the game with Sanders’ two-run shot. Georgia State trimmed the lead to 2-1 after a bases-loaded error led to a run. Another two-run blast by Landry put the game away for the Ragin’ Cajuns as they won, 4-1. The second game was a similar story to the first. The Cajuns scored first in the third inning after a bases-loaded single by Craighton that scored Haley Hayden. Georgia State threatened, but Kylee Jo Trahan’s pitching kept the lead at 1-0. The Ragin’ Cajuns added a run in the top of the fourth after an error on a Kassidy Zeringue bunt. Craighton hit a two-run home run in the fifth. Georgia State turned the momentum in the fifth inning and erased the 4-0 deficit with a five-run inning. The Panthers hit a two-run home run and took advantage of Cajuns’ miscues to add three more runs and take a 5-4 lead. Victoria Brown, the Cajuns’ second

reliever in the fifth, eventually quieted the Panthers rally as she notched three straight outs with the bases loaded. She struck out one, induced a ground ball to Sanders for a forced out at home and then Kara Gremil-lion scooped up a grounder and fired it to Vincent for the final out. Sanders added two RBIs in the seventh to win the game for Louisiana-Lafayette. The final game was a blowout from the first pitch, as Shellie Landry hit her 50th career home run and plated three RBIs. Alex Stewart and Victoria Brown com-bined for the pitching staff’s 15th shutout as the Cajuns hammered Georgia State, 12-0, in a 5-inning mercy rule. Haley Hayden and Taylor Terrio had two hits and Craighton and Kelsey Vin-cent each homered in addition to Landry’s bomb. Six runs by Louisiana-Lafayette in the second inning ultimately put the score-line out of reach for the Panthers. The Ragin’ Cajuns will travel to Gainesville, Florida, to play the second-ranked Florida Gators this weekend.

Matt [email protected]

Softball sweeps Georgia State, extends win streak to 7

SOFTBALLcontinued on page 13

SOFTBALLcontinued from page 12

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Secular:Trump’s abortion highlight inconsistent opinion of murderDawn Darbonne [email protected]

Obviously, I’m not a fan of Donald Trump. I think he’s dangerous and unprincipled. But he had an unusual moment of honesty, which eventually brought him one of his largest controversies yet. On March 30, he was discussing abortions on MSNBC, when he said that if abortion were to be illegal again (and he identifies as anti-abortion), women who have abortions should have “some form of punishment.” Democratic and Republican candidates condemned his remark, and Trump even walked it back, though he later said in an interview with radio host Joe Pags that he, “didn’t see any big deal.” So who knows what Trump’s real beliefs are. But he is perversely correct about punishing women, and abortion foes’ condemnation of him shows their hypocrisy. The basic argument against abortion is that the unborn baby is a full person — as much of a person as the mother or you or me — and therefore entitled to full rights and protection under the law. This would include not being killed, and therefore killing it would be murder. However, a murder implies a murderer, and that would logically be the mother having the abortion and the doctor performing it. It is politically incorrect to say women who have abortions should be punished, but it is also the logical end point for that position. Because what message do you send if you believe abortion is murder, but you don’t want to prosecute the people responsible? That murderers should go unpunished. Consider Lisa Graham, Mae Taylor and Thandi Ndlovu — three women on trial for killing their adult children. If an unborn child is a full person, then there is no difference between these

three women and someone who has an abortion. To find a difference is to admit a distinction exists between unborn fetuses and actual children, which undermines the anti-abortion arguments. The National Right to Life Committee, the oldest and the largest national anti-abortion organization, argues “The baby living in her mother is as distinct and unique a separate person/human being as I am from you. This human being, as we all do, has the un-alienable right to life and deserves full protection under the law.” But in re-sponse to Trump, it affirmed that it “has long opposed the imposition of penal-ties on the woman on whom an abortion is attempted or performed.” What hap-pened to the unborn baby’s “full pro-tection under the law?” It disappears when politically inconvenient. To be clear, I am not arguing against abortion here. Abortion should remain le-gal and easier to obtain. Too many states have too many restrictions that claim to “protect the mother’s health,” but re-ally just attempt to make it impos-sible to obtain an abortion. Thanks to the Advancing N e w S t a n d a r d s i n R e p r o d u c t i v e Health, we have a better understanding of the negative consequences of restricting abortion. But to be intellectually consistent, if you want abortion outlawed, then you should treat people performing and obtaining them as criminals. To claim one type of child murderer should be punished but another should go free isn’t really “pro-life.” And if you still think that we shouldn’t punish the mothers and doctors, then maybe you aren’t as anti-abortion as you thought.

Opinion

Religious: Alternatives to ghosts and demons

We are afraid of dying. We are all afraid of dying, and anyone who has not achieved ego death is lying if they say they aren’t. It’s natural to be afraid of death — both as a subset of the unknown and as one of the driving biologi-cal urges the human race employs. In Freudian psychoanalysis, or at least one of the few of Freudian psychoanalytic theories that haven’t been discredited, the death drive is the human instinct to repeat and seek out instances of self-destruction and regression. Death is constantly on our minds, even when it isn’t. We consider death when we think of legacy; we consider legacy when we choose our professions and hobbies and we are so violently afraid of dying with our lives “unfinished” that we create

superstitions about ghosts, demons and be-ings from beyond the grave that afford us some comfort in our lives. And that is the role of faith in some respects — to help us cope with the en-croaching specter of death. That is why I am here to offer another choice: Panpsy-chism. Panpsychism is the belief that minds, souls, consciousness — whatever you’d like to call it — are inherent to the uni-verse. It’s the belief that all things are con-scious and that death is impossible. The philosophy behind Panpsychism is wildly interesting, and I recommend that every-one read up on their pre-Socratic philoso-phy if they are interested in learning more. The first instances of Panpsychism can be found in traditionally animistic faiths,

shintoism and Greek philosophy (whose philosophers mistook electromagnetism for souls). As a mode of thought, Panpsy-chism has waxed and waned throughout human history (currently waxing) as con-ditions become right for it to rear its head up again. The basic argument of Panpsychism is there are two ways to explain conscious-ness: emergentism and panpsychism. Emergentism argues that consciousness is an emergent quality — one that is created once there is enough of something. One molecule of water contains no informa-tion about weather patterns, but an ocean does. This is the argument that tells us that humans are inherently more alive than ani-mals, animals more than plants and so on until stone.

Panpsychism argues that evolution, which is the main mode of transport of this consciousness property that emergentism believes in, cannot create new properties; it can only refine them. Panpsychism is the belief that con-sciousness is not a pattern revealed by the layering of matter, but that it is hidden within all things, and that makes me com-fortable. It relieves the tension and pres-sure of finite beings, when everything is a mind and all minds eternal.

Bakr Abbahou [email protected]


Cajun Candids:Greeks prepare and compete in

the Derby Darling pageantPhotos courtesy of Katie Wappel

liams said. “My employees could go two months or so without getting paid just be-cause of how the schedule would work, and I hated doing that to them.” Sophie Trosclair, a L’Acadian em-ployee and junior English major at UL Lafayette, said she believes paying stu-dents twice a month “makes a lot more sense.” “Life is full of unexpected expenses and having to wait a month between pay-checks is really difficult sometimes,” she said. As the new system is implemented, Payroll Services encourages all students who currently receive paychecks through the university to sign up for direct depos-iting. “Direct deposit is encouraged for all students receiving a paycheck,” Castille said. “No lost check(s) or having to track down your check; your pay is in your bank account on payday.” Although many students said they feel they will benefit from the change, there were still other students such as Jesvin Jolly, a STEP lab student-worker majoring in computer science, who said they do not look forward to the change. “I prefer getting paid once a month since it’s a bigger check,” Jolly said. “I do like direct deposit, though. I always did that, and it’s more convenient.”

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Nadia [email protected]

Feminism:Sexual objectification comes from both sides

When I was first introduced to femi-nism, one of the main issues that was re-peated over and over was the notion that women were more than pretty faces and deserved to be treated as such. Instead of praising women for their bodies alone, feminism declares men, the media and work forces should respect women for their talent and intelligence instead. I still heavily subscribe to those ideas, but, based on casual observation, I’ve no-ticed an uncomfortable shift in how soci-ety as a whole regards this idea. Nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly common for women to compliment each other — which is an incredibly positive thing that I completely support. In the past, women used to feel an underlying com-petitiveness against each other; now, we’re moving towards more solidarity and pride in sharing womanhood. Back when I was in high school, girls (myself included) tried their hardest to fit into a mold of “not being like other girls” because the very notion of acting like a typical girl was insulting — because be-ing a girl was insulting. It’s awesome that we’ve collectively been able to move past that and reach a point where comments like that are eyeroll worthy. However, there is a line between friendly uplifting/spreading positivity and resorting to compliments that treat women like pieces of meat. More and more frequently I hear wom-en talking about other women in terms of them being “sexy” or “hot,” and stating that they love when women wear certain articles of revealing clothing — which on a

very shallow level is the exact terminology feminism tried to stray from a few years ago. It isn’t that I don’t hear women prais-ing others for their intelligence; it’s just that the proportions are way imbalanced. I don’t hear women saying blanket state-ments like, “I love when girls are good at math,” but they sure do say things like, “I love when girls wear shirts that show their pretty tummies,” etc. When girls comfortably talk about other random girls using that kind of harsh terminology, there’s often no one to criti-cize them. Women are beautiful; that’s never been a questionable statement. Magazines haven’t been plastering pro-vocative pictures of women on their covers for years because people doubted women were beautiful — it’s because we’re all very aware of that fact. To state the simple truth, we can’t expect society to praise us for our intel-ligence rather than our beauty if we are incapable of fulfilling that requirement amongst ourselves. I don’t like it when a random guy I’m acquainted with looks me in the eyes and says I look really hot today, and I equally dislike it when a woman I’m at the same level of familiarity with says it. If you’re reading this and are thinking, “Wow, they’re just trying to be nice, learn to take a compliment,” then I must implore you to ask yourself who you sound like (answer: you sound like the army of men who chant that angrily when people criti-cize catcalling.) There’s no difference, and you don’t get a free pass at objectifying women just because you are one.

during spring break while students weren’t here and … resolved those issues. “When students’ registration started back up this week, many of those issues weren’t accounted at that point,” Diez con-tinued. The system has been placed in effect for admissions, finance and payroll, in ad-dition to a degree auditing program. Banner implementation began in Au-gust 2014 with the project kickoff, and is slated to finish in April 2017 with the launch of Ellucian Degree Works. Accord-ing to the website, EDW is a “degree audit solution that aligns students, advisors and institutions to a common goal: helping stu-dents graduate on time.” The transition, Fields said, came with its challenges such as inconsistent infor-mation and integrating different forms of data. “The institution prior was data rich but information poor, and there’s a big differ-ence between data and information,” said Fields. “What we needed was a mecha-nism to share information with our deci-sion makers (and) faculty.” Once the new system is in place, Ban-ner will provide a one-login process for all UL Lafayette resources. “The most exciting (thing) that stu-dents are going to see is access to more information and more resources through their mobile devices,” said Fields. “I think that’s going to be one of the big wins for the students.” Aimee Bullinger, associate director of web communications, agreed. “We’re connecting other systems on campus that we have to keep separate,” said Bullinger. “We’re connecting them with this new ULID so that you log in once and you’re connected instead of having to log in here and then log in there.”

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SOUNDING OFF

Andrew Langley

Petroleum Engeneering

Junior

“I’ve only used it to register for fall

classes. I like the old Ulink better.”

Abdul Majeed AlshauibiPetroleum Engineering

Junior“It’s such a stupid system. It does not let you apply for class, so it’s

just a waste of time.”

Toye OyelamaiMechanical EngineeringSenior “It’s very stupid. It’s aggravating because you can’t even sign in with your CLID.”

What do you think of the new Banner system?

Nathan Lewczynski

Mechanical Engineering

Junior

“It’s crap, because I can’t even get in

some of my classes and I need it for

next semester but they are already

full now.”

Jerna WilsonAthletic Training

Freshman “I like it, it’s better than Ulink.”

Divine Martin Business managementFreshman“It’s pretty easy, it’s pretty straight forward.”

Photos by Haoua Amadou / The Vermilion

Cajun Candids:Students work and attend the

VSOUL bake salePhotos by Una Ha

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