Pioneer Theatre Company recently presented “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a play by Heidi Schreck, directed by Karen Azenberg.

The play stars Laura Jordan as “Heidi,” and Ben Cherry as “the Legionnaire”/ “Mike.” There is a rotating cast of debaters for the final act and for the night of April 7, the role was played by Taryn Bedore.

Sobering Truths

The setting is focused around the debate tournaments centering the United States Constitution that Schreck frequented as a 15-year-old. The play reflects on how much has changed since then. The set simply consists of a podium in the front of the stage.

Schreck switches from her naive self to her more knowledgeable counterpart at certain points to break out into tangents or anecdotes that demonstrate how her viewpoint has changed. She reflects on the four generations of women in her family and how they navigated their lives in a country that treated them as second-class citizens in some form or another.

The Fourteenth Amendment, the one that guarantees protection for our founding principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is a central focus as Schreck comes to realize that the truth is that many marginalized or persecuted groups have not historically enjoyed any of these protections. In fact, they have been subject to a great many injustices.

Many of the injustices mentioned in the play spin out from misogyny. They include the unequal relationship between men and women, domestic violence and bodily autonomy.

Schreck takes care to mention the historical struggles faced by African Americans, Indigenous Americans and LGBTQ people as well, acknowledging that the topics are more vast and complex than the play could tackle.

None of the injustices brought up seem archaic at all, as they continue to plague the U.S. to this day. Though these may be sobering truths, Heidi uses humor to soften the blows they land.

The Legionnaire is an odd figure at first, but serves almost as an allegorical representation of Uncle Sam, until he changes his costume from the straight and narrow Legionnaire to Mike, who gets to share his own anecdote.

Mike was included to provide a “positive male influence” as he states himself in the play. Beyond that, the story he tells of struggling to find his own space in the hyper-masculine culture of the U.S. does show that these patriarchal systems do harm both women and men.

An Open Discussion

Towards the end the play, the audience is treated to a debate between Schreck and Bedore as they pose the question of whether or not the Constitution should be abolished and reworked, or kept and continuously amended. This sequence invites audience members to participate in the debate by cheering or booing in support or derision of the arguments the two propose. Several audience members took their duty to participate quite seriously.

At the end of the debate, one audience member was selected to make the final decision: they chose to keep the Constitution as is.

The night ended on a more lighthearted note as the two debaters sat down to ask each other questions submitted by previous audiences. The last question, directed at Bedore, was along the lines of, “How do you imagine your life in 30 years?” The 15-year-old Bedore marveled momentarily at the prospect of being 45-years-old, which caused the audience to erupt in laughter, given many of them were older than that. As the laughter died down, Bedore then stated that they wished for a better future, for everyone. 

The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Award finalist and Tony award-nominated play leaves the Pioneer Theatre Company on April 22. Tickets can be found here.

a.montoya@dailyutahchronicle.com

@apm_andre

Maine Campus Media would like to acknowledge the work of one of our culture contributors Rose Macijauskas. 

Rose has been working for the Maine Campus since the start of the Spring 2023 semester and has been an excellent addition to our team. 

“She’s dedicated to her work and brings a variety of perspectives into her pieces,” said Emme Aylesworth, culture editor for Maine Campus Media. 

Rose is a second year at the University of Maine studying English. She is originally from Colchester, Connecticut, and her dream job would be working as a journalist. 

“Working for Maine Campus Media has given me writing experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” said Macijauskas. 

Rose has covered a variety of topics in her time here. She reflected on a recent article about the recent controversies around TikTok. 

“I thought I would get overwhelmed by technical jargon like data privacy and algorithms, but it wasn’t as confusing as I thought it’d be,” Macijauskas said. “I became completely engrossed in the topic and had fun weaving in comments from UMaine students and tying them back to concerns raised by state representatives.” 

In her free time, Rose enjoys hiking with her dogs and her favorite place on the UMaine campus is Fogler Library. 

“I wanted to be a culture contributor because I knew it would be fulfilling academically and personally,” Macijasuskas said. “It’s a job which has become one of the best parts of my week.”   

Thank you Rose for the work you have contributed to the Maine Campus. Her articles can be read each week on our website. 

Wilson did not play in his lone season at UH, utilizing his redshirt. | Anh Le/The Cougar

Redshirt senior guard Mylik Wilson has entered the transfer portal, per Verbal Commits.

Wilson did not play in his lone season on the UH basketball team, instead being redshirted.

Wilson spent the first two seasons of his career at Louisiana, where he turned in double-digit scoring averages in both years.

Before his junior season in 2021-22, Wilson transferred to Texas Tech, averaging 2.5 points per game and 1.2 steals.

The Rayville, La. native is the second Cougar to transfer this offseason after Tramon Mark left for Arkansas.

Wilson’s departure opens up a scholarship slot for the Cougars. UH will likely look to add its third player its player in the transfer portal after adding two guards, L.J. Cryer and Damian Dunn, last weekend.

sports@thedailycougar.com

—
“Cougar guard Mylik Wilson enters transfer portal” was originally posted on The Cougar

Virtual Discussion: “Environmental Sciences: An Empowered Path to Publishing for Early Career Researchers,” Monday, April 24, 9:30 a.m. (EST) (PHILADEPHIA, April 13, 2023)— To mark Earth Month, Taylor and Francis, a leading scholarly publisher, is hosting a webinar for early career researchers in the environmental sciences. This live virtual discussion is designed to empower researchers […]

The University of Minnesota is preparing to change its definition of administrative costs in its budget proposals to the Minnesota Legislature, altering the amount of money the institution attributes to administrative spending.

The University has changed the definition, but it has not officially applied it to a budget proposal yet.

Over the last 10 years, the University has been required to outline its allocation of state funding for specific areas of spending in its Cost Definition and Benchmarking Analysis presented to the Minnesota Legislature.

Legislators first questioned the recent definition change during a House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee meeting Jan. 31, when the University presented its initial supplemental budget request.

“We took another round of consultation internally and a lot of conversations to define it,” University Budget Director Julie Tonneson said to the committee during the meeting.

The University requested $302.5 million from the Legislature in its supplemental budget request for the 2024-25 biennium. The committee passed the omnibus higher education and finance bill on April 30, which would allocate about $1.4 billion to the University for the biennium for operations and maintenance. The House approved the bill 69-58 on Wednesday.

The University took a look at its definition of administrative costs in 2021 to align with MPact 2025, according to Tonneson. MPact 2025 intends to increase efficiency within University processes and increase budget savings.

The former categories for administrative costs were referred to as leadership and oversight and mission support and facilities, according to the 2021 Administrative Cost Report.

Costs under this definition for the fiscal year 2021 came out to be about $310 million in leadership and oversight and about $1.2 billion in mission support and facilities; the combined administration costs were about $1.5 billion, according to the expense summary for administrative cost benchmarking for fiscal year 2021.

Under the new definition, the University’s total administrative costs for the fiscal year 2021 would have been roughly $433 million and nearly $450 million in fiscal year 2022.

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Previous expenditure category definitions were out of date
The previous expenditure definition was split into three categories: mission, leadership and oversight, and mission support and facilities.
The mission category related to direct mission delivery and the “doers” of the University’s mission, so it included professors, health science professionals and expenses related to research.
Mission support and facilities referred to those supporting the delivery of the University’s mission. This category included human resources, coaches, advisers and building and grounds workers.
Leadership and oversight included executive leadership (e.g. president, provost, chancellors), deans and department chairs.
The new definition categories are mission, operations and administration, according to a document from the University’s Assistant Director of Public Relations Andria Waclawski.
According to Frans, The previous definitions were changed because they required different calculations to show administrative spending, Myron Frans, senior vice president for finance and operations, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily
Frans said the old definitions were also 10 years old and did not adequately address the MPact 2025 Fiscal Stewardship goal to “define and establish an administrative cost benchmark.” The fiscal stewardship goal asks the University to keep administrative costs between 10% and 11.6% of total expenditures.
New categories are similar but include slightly different personnel classifications
The new mission category is similar to the previous mission category and includes the activities that directly provide instruction, research and public services, such as professors, research and teaching assistants. Department chairs, which were classified under leadership and operations, are now included in the mission category.
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Operations are activities that supplement and directly contribute to mission delivery and create the full “campus experience.” This includes personnel positions such as coaches, librarians and police officers; this category is most similar to the previous mission support and facilities category.
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Administration encompasses “the doers of activities that enable the strategic, compliant and efficient conduct of mission and operations,” which includes leadership (e.g. president, chancellors, etc.), administrative associates and communications personnel.

The new administration category is most similar to the previous leadership and oversight category. However, administration now includes finance and human resources, whereas those positions were previously housed within mission support and facilities.
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The most recent report to the Legislature detailing expense category definitions signaled a future definition change, which will be explained when the University submits its next report to the state in fall 2024, Frans said. The 2024 report will apply the new administrative cost definition for the first time, he said.
“There is no requirement that the definition be approved by any organization outside of the University,” Frans said.

Concerns over transparency
The University is required to report a list of expenditures to the Legislature, including a full explanation of changes to expenditure categories, according to Minnesota law.
“We expect transparency and accountability from one of Minnesota’s most esteemed and long-standing institutions,” Sen. Zach Duckworth, R-Lakeville, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “A change in leadership presents an opportunity to … ensure the public has a clear and concise accounting of where their tax and tuition dollars ultimately go.”
Frans said the University went through an internal consultative process to update its definitions for monitoring expenses.
Regent Darrin Rosha said the Board of Regents learned about the changes to administrative costs in February 2022, and he said he thought the board would be a part of the decision-making process. He said he does not have a clear understanding of what or why the administrative costs are being changed because he has not received much information on it.

“This affects students and the costs of their debt,” Rosha said. “It also goes to [the University’s] credibility with the Legislature, which impacts our mission and … students. When you have a disengaged board and leadership does not take issues very seriously, [it’s] difficult to get meaningful responses.”

Utah is the first state to create laws restricting social media access for minors with the legislation being signed by Gov. Spencer Cox the same day the United States Congress questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about how the app is being used by children and for data privacy concerns.

Restricting Social Media for Children in Utah

Sen. Mike McKell passed one of the bills signed by Cox with several new requirements for minors in Utah wanting to have social media accounts. His bill, S.B. 152, requires age verification and parental consent for people under the age of 18 to open an account starting March 1, 2024. It also gives parents access to their child’s account, sets a default curfew for nighttime hours, prohibits direct messaging from anyone a minor hasn’t followed and blocks minors’ accounts from search results. Additionally, social media companies cannot use ad targeting on accounts held by children nor can they collect personal data on minors. 

At a public signing of the bills on March 23, Cox said Utah is leading the way on this issue and that it is very rare to see such bipartisan support for a bill.

“We remain very optimistic that we will be able to pass, not just here in the state of Utah, but across the country, legislation that significantly changes the relationship of our children with these very destructive social media apps,” Cox said. 

Isaac Shelton, a psychology major and senior at the University of Utah, said he thinks these bills are under the guise of protecting children but it’s really just a way for parents to have more control over their kids.

Shelton said Utah is a “pretty red state” and LGBTQ+ children may not feel safe if their parents suddenly have access to their social media. Children often find community online, he said, when it’s not offered at home.

“I think that the full access and control to underage people’s data is really just a way to peek into kids’ private lives,” he said.

H.B. 311 from Rep. Jordan Teuscher had overwhelming bipartisan support from the Utah State Legislature and was also signed by Cox on March 23. The bill prohibits a social media company from using any design element or feature deemed as addictive to minors with a punishment of $250,000 for companies found violating the new law and a fine of $2,500 per child exposed to an addictive feature. It also allows parents the ability to sue companies for “financial, physical, or emotional harm” in certain circumstances.

The bills are set to go into effect on March 1, 2024, but it is possible they will face legal challenges.

Cox has said these bills aim to address the mental health crisis among youth, especially teen girls in Utah. In a March 16 press conference, Cox said he wouldn’t back down from a potential legal challenge while social media companies are “killing kids.”

“It’s the addictive qualities of social media that are intentionally being placed by these companies to get our kids addicted, and they know it’s harming them,” he said. 

Ryan Park, a senior studying health, science and program policy at the U, said not only would these restrictions affect marginalized groups or communities, but kids would lose their ability to find themselves.

“I feel like in general, it would be difficult to be a young person trying to find their way, their own identity without having any sort of sense of autonomy,” he said.  

U.S. Seeks TikTok Ban

The same day Utah’s social media bills were signed, Chew was questioned by Congress’ House Energy and Commerce Committee as the U.S. government debates how to restrict TikTok due to national security concerns.

In the five-hour-long committee hearing, lawmakers spoke about their concerns involving TikTok’s effects on children’s mental health and questioned if TikTok shared users’ personal data with the Chinese Communist Party.

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress called the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act (RESTRICT Act) doesn’t list TikTok by name, but it would give Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo power to regulate tech produced from six countries: China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela. TikTok is owned by ByteDance which is based in China.

Chew denied any claims of TikTok sharing data or having any connections to the CCP. 

“The bottom line is this: American data stored on American soil, by an American company, overseen by American personnel,” he said.

Adam Montgomery, a graduate student studying education at the U, said he thinks it’s ridiculous that the U.S. is placing so much emphasis on banning TikTok when so many other companies are harvesting and selling data.

“It feels like a lot of xenophobia is built into this ban,” he said. “It’s just rooted in racism and xenophobia, like a fear of Chinese people or immigrants or anybody who doesn’t fit the societal norm.” 

Silvia Leon, a psychology major at the U, said ironically, she’s been made aware of the TikTok ban because of TikTok. 

“I think that banning [TikTok] completely is a big step in the wrong direction,” she said. “It’s wild that they’re so focused on what one country is going to do and there are so many other problems going on that are so much bigger and demand much more attention.” 

v.hudson@dailyutahchronicle.com

@vanessachrony

Atlanta United is looking to bounce back from a resounding defeat at the hands of the Columbus Crew. Defender Miles Robinson, striker Giorgios Giakoumakis, midfielder Thiago Almada and winger Derrick Etienne Jr. all missed the game against Columbus due to getting international calls up from their respective national teams. Atlanta United did bounce back against the New York Red Bulls, collecting a hard-fought 1-0 win with Giakoumakis getting his second goal of the season. The most recent win against the Red Bulls propelled Atlanta United to second place in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind FC Cincinnati.

Robinson, Giakoumakis, Almada and Etienne all started the match after returning from international duty, bringing some quality that Atlanta United lacked against the Columbus Crew. The quartet of Giakoumakis, Almada, Etienne and Luiz Araújo got their anticipated first start together with the attack being dangerous throughout the game. 

Atlanta started the game on the front foot, and in the seventh minute, breached the Red Bulls defense. Almada took a shot from outside the box which the Red Bulls goalkeeper spilled, after which Giakoumakis was the fastest to react to the loose ball in the box, tapping it in to give Atlanta United a 1-0 lead. After the goal, a string of constant fouls took away all momentum from the game. In total, the game had six yellow shown to New York and four to Atlanta. The game as a whole was very disruptive, with Giakoumakis stating that the physicality of it was reminiscent of his time in Scotland with Celtic. The game ended 1-0 Atlanta United with both teams capable of creating chances but neither able to put them away. The win was the first against the Red Bulls in Atlanta United history.

The defensive unit of Atlanta stood out with such a physical game being played. Robinson has returned to form since returning from his Achilles injury as arguably the best defender in Major League Soccer. Midfielder Franco Ibarra was all over the pitch against the Red Bulls, putting out fires before they even started and is truly living up to his “Bulldog” nickname. Finally, Atlanta’s very own defender Caleb Wiley has burst onto the scene, and despite not getting a goal or assist against the Red Bulls, he was a constant threat on the left flank and is cementing himself as one of the best young fullbacks in the world. Both Robinson and Wiley’s performances could have piqued the interest of some European clubs, with Robinson likely to cross the Atlantic if his immense performances continue. Overall, the performance by Atlanta United was about getting back to the form they showed prior to the Columbus Crew match. 

“Back to who we are. That was the theme of the week. The players showed who they are today,” said team manager Gonzalo Pineda in a post-match press conference. 

“We, Atlanta, need to earn the respect from the league and from the referees … [we] will have to win more trophies to earn the respect that we deserve,” Pineda said. 

Atlanta United are looking to continue their winning ways in their upcoming match at Yankee Stadium against New York City Football Club on Saturday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The Associated Students of Colorado State University convened April 12 for the 26th session of the 52nd senate.

The session began with Director of Governmental Affairs Evan Welch, Director of Health and Wellness and Vice President-Elect Alex Silverhart, Director of Marketing Grace Crangle, Chief of Staff Haydyn Deason, Director of Finance Jillian Cook, Director of Traditions and Programs Reed Vega and Director of Environmental Affairs Kenneth Kinneer updating senate on matters such as an upcoming City Council Town Hall, available executive cabinet positions, an upcoming ASCSU Blood Drive May 3 and open Board for Student Organization Funding positions.

Chief Justice Marcus Zacarias then updated the legislative body on judicial matters such as upcoming Plant a Pot Day events on The Plaza, ASCSU Branch Battle competitions and judicial branch position openings.

Bill 5218 “Interview Attire Wardrobe” was then discussed.

The bill requests $20,000 from the Senate Discretionary Fund to supply an Interview Attire Fund pilot program within the Career Center, separate from its current attire fund, which works to provide financially insecure students with professional attire to be used during job and internship interviews.

The funding from ASCSU will allow students to receive interview attire from the Career Center without taking away from their financial aid, according to the bill.

“There’s a lot of folks who don’t apply for positions because they feel underdressed and that puts them in a continuous cycle of not being able to dress for interviews,” University Affairs Committee Chair Sammy Trout said. “That’s a massive problem, especially for folks who experience homelessness.”

The bill passed by way of a 31-2 vote.

Lex 5207 “Voting Rights and Senate Associate Senator Membership” was also considered.

The legislation makes clarifying edits to the voting rights and membership requirements for associate senators, determining that associate senators are only granted voting rights if they hold a committee chair position within senate. 

The lex will be sent to the Budgetary Affairs Committee.

Senate then discussed Lex 5208 “Collaboration and Diversity Amendment.”

The lex intends to increase and encourage cooperation within the historically contentious senate by mandating legislative authors collaborate with senate members from several College Councils and Student Diversity Programs and Services offices on all future pieces of legislation. 

The lex will be sent to the University Affairs Committee. 

Resolution 5208 “Sustainable Investment Future” was then considered. 

The legislation intends to allow ASCSU to continue advocating for sustainability efforts on campus and denounce further investment in fossil fuel energy, citing the extensive research of the Divest CSU coalition that maintains the CSU System continues to hold at least $7 million in fossil fuel investment. 

The legislative authors hope the bill will push CSU to reach its net-zero emissions target by 2030.

“For a university that prides itself on being sustainable and taking action to further their sustainability initiatives, this is a fantastic next step,” co-author Riley Ruff said.

The resolution passed by way of a 25-1 vote, with two abstentions.

Bill 5221 “Accessibility Accountability Act” was also considered.

The bill intends to create an Accessibility Caucus that will work to investigate broken door buttons designed for disabled students on the CSU campus and seek further accountability and transparency from CSU administration on other accessibility efforts across campus, including reliable elevators and campus transportation. 

“At the end of the day, disabled people don’t need help, we need to be able to have spaces where we can come together and make change,” Senator Ruairí Low said.

The bill will be sent to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, University and Internal affairs committees.

ASCSU Senate will reconvene April 19.

Reach Sam Hutton at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @Sam_Hut14.

Many may have not heard of the name Rachel Pollack. I know I hadn’t up until around a week and a half ago. But even discovering her from a post made by Neil Gaiman about her declining health as per the request of Pollack’s wife Zoe, I immediately started doing research as everything he mentioned about her intrigued me. Now, a little while later, I have listened to many of her talks and interviews and have done some research into her and can firmly say that she is one of my new inspirations and I only wish I found out about her and her body of work at an earlier time.

The Writing of Rachel Pollack

Pollack is a prolific writer of both comics and fiction, though many may not have heard of her work. Most notably in her body of work she wrote a run of Doom Patrol following the very successful Grant Morrison run. Pollack took over the series at issue #64 and ended her run with issue #87 in 1995.

For many years, DC had overshadowed her run on the series despite how groundbreaking many consider it to be. Pollack is largely considered to have created the first mainstream transgender superhero named Kate Godwin, aka Coagula, who had the power to both dissolve and coagulate solids inspired by occultism and Baphomet. Perhaps even more iconic is the pin Coagula wears that says “Put a Transsexual Lesbian On The Supreme Court.”

Pollack, who is a transgender woman, said she created Coagula after talking to a group of her trans friends, one of which asked her to write her as a superhero. Coagula even fights a supervillain named the Codpiece who tries to compensate for his ascribed phallic inadequacies after being rejected by a woman that he constructs a literal codpiece that shoots cannonballs. The comic series was a boundary-defying and surreal creative work from beginning to end.

Pollack has also written a plethora of fiction in the form of both novels and short story collections. Two of her novels have won prestigious science fiction and fantasy awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction for her book “Unquenchable Fire” and the World Fantasy Award for her book “Godmother Night,” all of which draw from occultism or esoteric practices in some way. One of her most recent books is a collection of short stories called “The Beatrix Gates” published by radical publisher PM Press.

The Tarot of Rachel Pollack 

Rachel Pollack has been considered by many in the tarot community to be one of the foremost experts on divinatory tarot. In the 1980s she wrote the book “Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom,” which many consider to be the tarot bible and has been massively influential in the world of tarot. It also goes into incredible detail on not only card meanings but also the history of tarot. In addition, she has written and illustrated her own tarot deck “The Shining Tribe Tarot,” which is inspired by tribal and prehistoric art and she has written for many other tarot decks as well.

An Underrated Creative Visionary

Rachel Pollack is an underrated creative and more people should know more about and reach her extensive body of work, especially as she nears the end of her life. In being a Jewish transgender lesbian, she has pushed so many boundaries and blazed her own path in many different creative fields. Pollack passed away on April 8 of Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. She will be deeply missed by many around the world. If you would like, draw a tarot card for yourself in her honor today, read her comics and fiction and take a moment to honor her contributions and her spirit. 

a.marler@dailyutahchronicle.com

@arlo_marler