KNIGHTS PREVAIL OVER COUGARS
The Marian University Knights
Football team is set to continue its
season after a victory over St. Fran-cis
University of Fort Wayne, IN.
After giving up the first touch-down
of the game to St. Francis,
the Knights answered with the next
four scoring drives, putting them
up 24-7 at the beginning of the 3rd
quarter.
The Knights’ offense was fueled
by a powerful performance by
sophomore running back Tevin
Lake, who was named the NAIA
FCS Offensive Player of the Game,
gathering 141 yards and 3 touch-downs.
Senior quarterback Adam
Wiese went 26-34 with 2 intercep-tions,
throwing for a total of 212
yards and 2 touchdowns, with
senior John Hasty as his favorite
receiver, gathering a game high 8
catches for 65 yards and 1 touch-down.
Junior Robert Palmer led the de-fensive
charge with 7 tackles and 1
sack. Palmer was named the NAIA
FCS Defensive Player of the Game.
Trailing Palmer on the defensive
end was junior Seth Vondersaar,
ending the game with 7 tackles.
The Knights move to 10-1 on the
season after their 45-34 victory
over the Cougars and will continue
next Saturday against #2 Missouri
Valley College in Marshall, MO,
who defeated Bethel University of
Tennessee 10-7.
Junior Clifford Brown holds his helmet up and looks to the sky in celebration has
the Marian fight song hails after the game on Saturday
John Hasty celebrates after scoring a touchdown. Hasty had one touchdown
and a two point conversion.
Senior kicker Michael Josifovski had one field goal on Saturday
For more photos of the game, visit The Phoenix on Facebook at www.facebook.
com/Muphoenix
2
By Michael Schrader
Photo by Michael Schrader
Photo by Michael Schrader
Photo by Michael Schrader
Prayer vigil
for workers god and war Election 2012
Students hold vigil in support of the campus
workers.
Dr. Raymond Haberski, Jr., pre-sented
a speech on the intersection
of warfare and civil religion in the
United State
A recap of the election and an opin-ion
about what to expect in the next
four years.
NOVEMBER 2012 ISSUE 2
Page 2
THE PHOENIX
On Nov. 15, members of the Marian community gathered at a prayer vigl to show campus workers their support in organizing a union.
Junior Cora Harrison stood before a crowd of students, alumni, faculty, and staff, as she prepared to lead a prayer vigil honoring the campus workers in their current efforts to organize a labor union on Nov. 15.
“Despite our differences, we are all connected to this campus through responsible stewardship, reconciliation, dignity of the individual, and peace and justice.” she said.
“We are given the opportunity to truly live these out here tonight by standing in solidarity and praying as one Marian University community, “ said Harrison.
Aramark is the subcontractor Marian uses for dining services and campus operations. For about a year, the Aramark workers have been working with a labor union, Unite Here, to establish a union to represent them. For a majority of this time, the campaign was underground; it was not until Nov. 6 that the organizers went public.
“We held the vigil to come together as a community to support the workers in their struggle,” said Harrison.
During the vigil, current Aramark employees shared their personal stories, both their love of the students, faculty, and university environment, and of their need to organize to redress the situation. Student volunteers read prayers and sang hymns.
“Community is everyone, no matter who you are. It doesn’t what your position on campus … We all have dignity and the right to be a part of this community,” said Marian alumna and Aramark worker Grace Dible.
All those attending were given a candle at the beginning of the service. Toward the end, everyone was asked to stand with their candle. Student leaders lit some candles, and the participants then shared their flames with others, until everyone’s was lit.
The vigil was organized by a committee of students who have been assisting the campus workers and Unite Here with their organizing efforts.
On Nov. 13, the campus workers, as well as students and faculty, went to the managers of the Barbara B. Cooling Dining center, Campus Operations, and Subway to request that they sign a card check neutrality agreement. If they signed, the managers would remain neutral in the workers’ decision to organize a union. No one signed the agreement at that time.
Marian University has officially declared neutrality in the matter. “We believe that it is important for Marian University to respect and honor the democratic process that is prescribed in the federal laws and regulations,” said Deborah Lawrence, Vice President for Administration and General Counsel, in an email sent out to faculty and staff on Nov. 12. “For that reason, we must request that members of our community, both faculty and staff members, observe strict neutrality in this matter until the process is concluded.”
Food service and grounds workers at other Indianapolis universities have taken similar paths. Butler University’s Aramark workers are currently working with Unite Here to organize a labor union. Chartwells, a subcontractor used by IUPUI, recognized the worker’s union there and began negotiations in September of 2011.
Prayer Vigil for Emerging Campus Workers’ Union
November Global Studies Speaker Series Highlights
“God and War,” New Study by Marian Professor
Former Civil Servant Reflects on Politics of Saudi Arabia, Middle East.
Dr. Raymond Haberski, Jr., presented a speech on the intersection of warfare and civil religion in the United States, the topic of his new book, “God and War: America and Civil Religion since 1945.”
In his speech, Haberski asserted that “war tempers the meaning of civil religion,” and that the former has been the “most consequential” in “forging civil religion” in the U.S. Calling upon presidents as examples, he analyzed how presidents differently address the public through the language of civil religion, as mediated by war. The interplay between different wars and civil religion creates widely divergent responses by presidents, e.g., Lincoln and the Civil War, Carter and the Vietnam War, and Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower and the Cold War.
Haberski also noted the changes in the relationship between war and civil religion since 9/11. Unlike many past wars, the military engagements in the Middle East of the past decade have been fought by volunteers, and, since there has been an absence of much “common sacrifice” characteristic of earlier wars (WWII, for example), “[national] unity dissipated rather quickly.”
Haberski is an associate professor of History and chair of the History and Social Sciences Department at Marian University.
Haberski has written three books since 2001, and co-authored another with Dr. Lauren Wittern Keller, who teaches History at the University of Albany, New York.
Former Senator and Congressman (D-GA) and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Wyche Fowler spoke about the political situation in the Middle East as part of the Global Studies Speaker Series on Nov. 5.
“I am going to try to be uncharacteristically brief tonight,” Fowler began. “This is a big topic I’ve been given.”
“Freedom isn’t America’s gift to the world, it is almighty God’s gift,” said Fowler, quoting former President George W. Bush. “I want to beg to differ: freedom is not a gift, it is an achievement” that requires years of political efforts, such as instituting an independent judicial branch and free press, among other things.
Saudi Arabia has, since the mid-1940’s, had a relatively friendly and supporting political relationship with the U.S., which unfortunately “has brought much grief to Saudi Arabia.” Much of the opposition to Saudi Arabia’s support of the U.S. comes from Saudis themselves, according to Fowler.
Fowler stressed the importance of collaborating with Islamic parties in Arab states, as they may function as “vehicles for building democracy” in a relatively young and poor population. Approximately half the population in the Middle East, said Fowler, is under the age of 17 and makes less than $10,000 annually. The problem of encouraging democracy in the Middle East is made more difficult by competing visions of democracy.
“One of the largest problems of creating democracy in the Arab world is not that Arabs do not like democracy, but that the Western world wouldn’t like an Arab democracy,” said Fowler.
With over three decades of public service, Fowler’s career includes being the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia under the Clinton Adminstration from 1996 to 2001. His service in U.S. Congress spanned from 1977 to 1986, and in the U.S. Senate from 1987 to 1992.
Senator Richard Lugar, for whom the Franciscan Center for Global Studies is named, will deliver his last speech as part of the series, possibly his last public speech as a Senator on Dec. 9, at Marian University. For further updates about the Global Studies Speaker Series, please visit the Global Studies department website (http://www.marian.edu/lfcgs/Pages/default.aspx).
By Brendan Dugan
By Brendan Dugan
By Kaite McConnell
Photo by Michael Schradernovember 2012 Issue 2 the phoenix Page 3
The recent decision of campus
workers to make public their
unionization efforts brings up
some interesting questions. Does
the management culture of Ara-mark
align with the moral culture
of a modern Catholic educational
institution? How is Marian Uni-versity,
technically outside the
conflict, addressing the situation?
More broadly, how does mod-ern
Catholic culture address the
corporate mindset so often fixated
upon the bottom line and infinite
growth – not necessarily moral
conduct in regards to its employ-ees?
At the vigil for the campus work-ers
on Nov. 15, this struggle was
framed within terms not unfa-miliar
to a Catholic, Franciscan
university: peace and justice, dig-nity
of the individual, responsible
stewardship, and reconciliation. At
Marian, it seems only appropriate
– and arguably effective – to cast
the unionization efforts in such a
light. In order to assert their col-lective
dignity as laboring individ-uals,
to reconcile disputes, to shift
the conditions of labor towards
justice, the workers have, with the
aide of UNITE HERE, made ef-forts
to unionize.
Recently, Aramark has acknowl-edged
its workers at Marian to
form a union.
It should be noted that these
people, who maintain the grounds,
who prepare and serve food across
campus, are not hired directly by
Marian University. Aramark, a
fairly large subcontracting agency,
employs and manages them.
Nonetheless, they are part of the
Marian community as much as
students, faculty, and staff.
To return to the initial, broader
question: the United States Con-ference
of Catholic Bishops (USC-CB)
released a statement this past
Labor Day, citing Pope Benedict’s
Caritas in Veritate no. 63, and
Pope John Paul II’s Centesimus
Annus, no. 15, in addition to a
range of Catholic social teach-ing
in regards to labor. In these,
the USCCB is strikingly clear: the
“exploitation of working people,
whether subtle or obvious, injures
their humanity and denies their
inherent dignity.”
Whether compelled to support
the workers’ efforts or not, careful
consideration of the issue ought to
be the first step. This is, at its heart,
an issue that ought to be addressed
politically, socially, and mor-ally.
It ought to be located within
the larger field of labor struggles
across the US and the world –
from the Black Friday strike of
the WalMart workers (who acted
without any union organization),
to the problematic labor struggle
and bankruptcy of Hostess, to
that of permatemp workers in
Indianapolis’ hotel industry that
has been unfolding over the last
several years. Post Election Speculation
It came down to a game of
numbers. The process might seem
simple and straightforward: only
270 Electoral College votes are
needed in order to declare the next
President of the United States. On
November 7th, Barack Obama was
reelected for his second term in
office by a margin of 126 electoral
votes.
Obama walked away with a total
of 303 votes, and Mitt Romney won
206. Although the onset of the race
proved close with no clear winner,
Obama pulled away later in the
night, finally capturing the major-ity,
and then still continuing to gain
votes. Obama also managed to cap-ture
the popular vote, with 51% of
the vote, and Romney losing with
48% of the vote.
Interestingly enough, in the exit
polls, as supplied by CNN, trends
began to emerge. While Romney
won the majority of men voters,
Obama collected the women’s
majority. Obama secured 60% of
the vote of our generation (18 to
29 year-old individuals), while
Romney earned 56% of the vote
for those 65 and older. In addition,
Obama carried the urban vote,
while Romney took the rural vote.
The suburban vote was divided
with 48% for Obama and 50%
for Romney. The Democrats took
71% of Latino votes (Pew Research
Center), while Romney only took
27%. Romney appeared to make up
for this deficit with the majority of
votes from Christian conservatives;
however it was not nearly enough.
These trends indicate a shift in
American society. Obama’s win
cannot be seen as a mandate to
act on his agenda explicitly, due to
the fact that Senate is still mostly
Democrats and the House of Rep-resentatives
is still mainly Republi-can.
Ergo, it will still be hard for the
President to accomplish policy leg-islation
in such a divided Congress.
While not impossible, mediation
between what both parties want is
certainly difficult to bring about,
due to rigid ideology and standard
principles that each party attempts
to abide by.
Now, though, it is time for the
President to confront the issues
that were debated ad nauseum in
the election campaign. Now that
the President has secured a second
term, it is entirely possible, and
more than likely probable that he
will begin to push for more contro-versial
legislation, and focus more
on his own agenda. Conversely, his
victory could symbolize a President
that is more willing to compromise
with Congress, in order to get his
agenda through; only time will tell.
The President will need to tackle
the national debt, which is quite
large and growing still. Further-more,
unemployment is still very
high, and the fiscal cliff is hovering
ominously over the White House
and Congress.
But what is the fiscal cliff? The
fiscal cliff is the metaphorical
precipice upon which the United
States’ economy is dangling. There
are three factors that contribute to
the fiscal cliff: the expiration of the
Bush tax cuts on December 31; the
end of the two percent reduction
in payroll taxes and the long term
unemployment benefit extension,
that the Obama administration
had pushed through; finally, the
fact that about 26 million house-holds
will again be subjected to the
alternative minimum tax, which
will raise taxes for many Americans
by as much as $3,700. These factors
all combine to result in less money
Americans to invest in the consum-er
driven economy.
Therefore, one might conclude
that President Obama will face a
tough four years in office. While
there are domestic issues to be ad-dressed,
there are foreign matters
to attend to as well. Obama is now
going to be focused on what his
legacy will be, and what he wants to
accomplish in his next term. This
factor will influence a great many
of Obama’s decisions and poli-cies,
maybe for the better, but also
maybe for the worse.
All in all, President Obama has
the support of the American peo-ple,
for although elections seem to
bring out the most negative aspects
of a person’s personality, the elec-tions
ultimately a unify. The elec-tions
bring people of all different
backgrounds together to practice
one of the basic rights upon which
the United States was founded, and
drive the country into the future.
Ignited: A Perspective on the Struggle for
Unionization Among Aramark Workers
James Holder, a worker at Marian, takes a moment as fellow employee George
Smith sings the “Our Father”.
Editorial by Brendan Dugan
ByAubrey Schrader
Photo by Michael Schrader
november 2012 issue 2 the phoenix page 4
From Nov. 16 to 18, several Mar-ian
students, faculty, and staff made
the annual trip to Fort Benning,
GA, to stand with thousands of
activists to shut down the School
of the Americas and commemorate
all of the lives lost as a result of the
school.
While officially titled the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation, Ft. Benning is most
often referred to as the School of
the Americas, or SOA, its moniker
before the official change in 2001.
Throughout its history, the school
has trained soldiers from Latin
America .
The School of the Americas
Watch or SOAW, founded by Father
Roy Bourgeois, is a movement
against the SOA because of how the
school has become synonymous
with torture around the world.
Egregious incidents of this torture
include the massacre at El Mozote,
El Salvador, during which over 700
hundred people were murdered;
the massacre was conducted by
SOA graduates.
On Nov. 16 of 1989, five Jesuit
priests studying sociology in San
Salvador, El Salvador, were assas-sinated
by SOA graduates, because
of their “subversive” messages.
Because of this and other similar
incidents, people from all over
the country and few from Latin
America attend this annual vigil to
nonviolently protest to shut down
the school and remember those
who have died.
At the SOAW Vigil and Conven-tion
several thousand people, many
of whom are college students, gath-ered
and immersed themselves in
Latin American culture and politi-cal
activism. From midday Friday
to midday Sunday, workshops,
concerts, and auctions were held.
Several events, such as the Rally
at the Gates of Fort Benning on
Saturday afternoon and the Memo-rial
Service and Solemn Funeral
Procession Sunday morning, high-lighted
the weekend.
The group embarked at dawn
Friday in two vans and drove for
over ten hours to Fort Benning.
When they arrived that evening,
broke camp at a site alongside other
groups of colleges.A Morning Ple-nary
explained the logistics of the
rally and other pertinent informa-tion,
such as how Ecuador and
Nicaragua were added to the list
of countries that stopped sending
students to the SOA this year. Fol-lowing
this, everyone went to the
Gates of the SOA and stayed there
until nightfall, meandering through
merchant and activist booths.
After meeting several other col-lege
students and inspiring folk,
the Marian group went to some
workshops at the convention cen-ter,
such as “Ayer, Hoy, y Mañana:
Musica Tradicional de Cuerdas”
Film screening, and “Life as an Im-migrant
Inside and Outside of an
For-Profit Detention Center.” Later
that evening the group enjoyed
some Spanish music at the concert,
and some native music from Vera-cruz,
Mexico, and Chilean rap.
Finally, on Sunday the group tore
down the tents and gathered back
at the Gates with the other thou-sands
for the solemn funeral pro-cession.
Each person held a white
cross with a name of victims who
were murdered or died as result of
SOA graduates’ actions. During the
march, each name was sung over
loudspeakers, met with the refrain
“Presente!” which signifies that the
victims are present in thought dur-ing
the demonstration.
After the procession, dur-ing
which every cross in the was
placed in the gates to the school,
the crowd dispersed back to their
cars and started their individual
journeys home. The Marian crew
gathered back in the two vans with
smiles on their faces, new friend-ships,
new memories, more but-tons,
and peace in their hearts for
the long drive back to campus.
Junior Cora Harrison raises her cross with thousands of others at the School of
the America protest.
At the end of the demonstration, protestors leave their corsses in the gates of
Ft. Benning.
Photo by Kate McConnell
Photo by Kate McConnell
“Compañeros, Compañeras, we cry out: No mas, No more!” 3 Days, 2 Vans, and 1 Fight for Justice
By Adriana Zermeno
Marian University – The Phoenix Newspaper Collection
