The Waterman Takeover: A tradition of protest at UVM
Meg Trogolo, Staff Writer
February 26, 2019
One year ago, student activist group NoNames for Justice staged a takeover of the Waterman building Feb. 26 in order to protest racial injustice in the University’s administration. The takeover, in which over 250 students spent the day hanging banners, soliciting signatures from administrators on a list o...
Black History Month means calling out people who just don’t get it
February 23, 2019
Black History Month is meant to highlight the accomplishments of black people throughout history, but this February’s news has revolved around white public figures’ history of racism. The democratic governor and attorney general of Virginia admitted to wearing blackface this month, and Liam Neeson sai...
The state of racism: it’s not geographic
January 31, 2019
Every time I tell someone I am from Alabama I get the look. You know the one I am talking about, a mixture of shock at my being in Vermont and my pride towards my home state. I'm not here to say Alabama is the greatest. I know my home state has its issues, but I see a real problem with the way Nor...
Don’t tune out when you’re turned on
December 14, 2018
Porn is an outlet for everyone to witness their fantasies. However, it is still racist, there are still tropes and white men are still running it, according to the documentary “The Racist History Of Pornography.” Porn exploits women of color, portraying them as unrealistic stereotypes. Asian women are...
Campus organizations create safe spaces
January 24, 2018
This week, we got a tip from a student about racist posters posted around the Waterman green. We thought it was old news – two months old, in fact. The front page of the Nov. 14 issue of the Cynic read “Posters highlight racial tensions.” Old news? Unfortunately not. These posters were roun...
Equal treatment for organizations
April 26, 2017
First, let’s be clear: the action of the individual who stole the Black Lives Matter flag was hateful and racist. In our editorial last week, we were not nearly clear enough about this. In fact, race and racism are not explicitly mentioned until the 12th paragraph. Yes, we speak abou...
All Live Matter roots in racism
October 13, 2016
The slogan “All Lives Matter,” at face value, claims to advocate for the equal value of lives; this turn of phrase has troubling connotations and seemingly ignores the problem that Black Lives Matter seeks to address. To understand ALM we must first understand BLM, which is based on dismantling t...
Winter Carnival unites the University
March 16, 2016
The Cynic’s Enterprise section has spent the past three weeks exploring race at UVM, and has covered the Kake Walk, the current racial climate and the future of diversity at our University. Though this may come as no surprise to UVM students, our University has the one of the lowest diversity rates of all...
Kake Walk: Time to right our wrongs
February 24, 2016
Forty-seven years ago, the University ended a tradition that involved fraternity members dancing in blackface and satin tuxedos. It was called the Kake Walk, inspired by mid-19th century minstrel shows in Vermont.It ended in 1969, the year after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and durin...
Kake Walk: Alumni, faculty and students reflect on 73-year tradition
Bryan O'Keefe, Kelsey Neubauer, and Sarah Olsen
February 24, 2016
For 73 years, UVM fraternity members danced in blackface and satin tuxedos during the longest running winter carnival in the country. At its peak in the 1960s, this event, known as the Kake Walk, was held twice over a February weekend in the Patrick Gym in order to fit all 8,000 spectators, according...
Our failures to shed light on hate
Our failures to shed light on hate" />November 20, 2015
The media has been buzzing about the recent protests at the University of Missouri. Minority students and faculty across the country said they often are left feeling marginalized, and as outsiders at universities where the majority of the campus population is white. These events may be thousa...
The great power of the racial epithet
April 21, 2015
When is a word more than a word? Words have power beyond compare. They make us feel. They bring us smiles but also rip out our hearts. They give comfort but also turmoil. They build us up and tear us down. Words give and take life. Arguably the most taboo word in American English is the infamous n-word....
