TechNews

STUDENTNEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1 92 8

McCormick Tribune Campus Center
Room 221

3201 South State Street

Chicago, Illinois 60616

E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com
Website: http://www.technewsiit.com

TechNews STAFF

Editor-in-Chief
Assistant Editor

Ryan Kamphuis
Hannah Larson

Utsav Gandhi
Matti Scannell
Ciaran Kohli-Lynch

Campus Editor
AbE Editor
Sports Editor

Business Manager
IT Manager

Kori Bowns
Pranava Teja Surukuchi

Kori Bowns
Kristal Copeland
Katie Peters

Copy Editors

Layout Editors Kori Bowns
Swasti Khuntia
Karthik Kumar
Katie Peters
Sowjanya Potha

Pranava Teja Surukuchi

Distribution Manager Emilie Woog
Financial Advisor Vickie Tolbert
Faculty Advisor Gregory Pulliam

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to promote student discussion
and bolster the IIT community by providing a
newspaper that is highly accessible, a stalwart
of journalistic integrity, and a student forum.
TechNewsisadedicated to the beliefthatastrong
campus newspaper is essential to a strong campus
community.

GENERAL INFORMATION

TechNews is written, managed, and edited by the
students of, and funded in part by, Illinois Institute
of Technology. The material herein does not
necessarily reflectthe opinions of Illinois Institute
of Technology or the editors, staff, and advisor of
TechNews.Therewillbe no censorship ofTechNews
publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. Sole
authority and responsibility for publication and
adherencetothevaluesset forthinthis policyrests
with the TechNews staff. This paper seeks to bring
together the various segments ofthe Illinois Tech
communityand strives through balanceand content
to achieve a position of respect and excellence.
TechNews strives for professionalism with due
respect to the intellectual values ofthe university
and its community.Allmaterialsubmitted becomes
the property of TechNews, and is subject to any
editorial decisions deemed necessary.

SUBMISSIONS

TechNews is published on the Tuesday of each week
of the academic year. Deadline for all submissions and
announcements is 11:59 pm. on the Friday prior to
publication. Articles, photos, and illustrations must be
submitted electronically to the TechNews website at
technewsiit.com.

EDITORIAL POLICY

The editors reserve the right to determine if
submitted material meets TechNews' policy and
standards. For more information about our editorial
standards, please email assteditor@technewsiit.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the editor may be submitted by anyone,
but are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief.
All letters-to-the-editor become the property of
TechNews upon submission. TechNews does not
accept or publish anonymous letters or sto

ADVERTISING

Legitimate paid advertisements, from within
or outside the IIT community, which serve to
produce income for the paper, are accommodated.
TechNews holds the right to deny any
advertisement unsuitable for publication. Media
Kits are available upon request. Ad space is limited
and is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Contact the Business Manager at business@
technewsiit.com for more information.

LOCAL 8' NATIONAL ADVERTISERS
To place an ad, contact us via email at
business@technewsiit.com.

 

opinion@technewsiit.com

 

TechNews | Tuesday,Apri123,2013

    

IIT confessional Facebook page returns

Hannah Larson
ASSISTANT EDITOR

It’s backl

The infamous “IIT Confessions"
Facebook page was taken down earlier this
semester due to complaints, and it was building
a nasty reputation: A TechNews opinion
article last January, called for the page to
cease operation after it had published 500
submissions, and perhaps received many more:
The article was concerned about the integrity of
the student body, what these “confessions" said
about incoming students, and what it implies
about IIT’s morale, both within, and outside
our institution of higher education

The new incarnate, titled “Confessions
of IIT Students," was created on April 8, and
claims to be run by a different group of people
than “IIT Confessions" They accept submissions
through email (IllinoisTechConfessions@
gmailcom), or through direct messages from
a personal Facebook account to the page:
This does not strike me as a way to collect
“anonymous" submissions, at all: Facebook
and email communication can reveal personal
details that make it easy for someone surmise
your real identity, not to sound overdramatic:

I have no idea whom, or what group
of people runs this newpage, butI can certainly
guarantee that these submissions are far from
“anonymous? '

Between the posts that clearly make
no sense, there are several that are especially
vapid:

Many concern relationships, most of
which express disdain for the 70 to 30 male to
female ratio on campus: The problem with all of
these “confessions" is that the people who post
them are under the impression that women are
on campus, for their pleasure: whether sexually,
visually, or relationshipewise:

Whether or not you deem the women
on campus worthy enough for your fedora,
wearing, neckebearded, NiceGuy“ selves that
is not why any woman attends HT

I know I sound like Fred Armisen’s
feminist bookstore character, Candace, from
Portlandia, but it’s true: If you came to college
looking for a romantic experience, and expect
the people around you to fawn over you, and
serve you, in the form of relationships and/0r
sex, then why the hell did you come to HT, let
alone any university?

While traditionally the college
campus is regarded as a horny mating ground
for rambunctious coeeds, this isn’t “Animal
House," and you aren’t John Belushi:

I’ve always regarded IIT as a studious
place, where we party just as hard as we study,
but that’s no reason for some people to expect
other people to be obligated to look and act a
certain way

Autonomy is so hot right now, (so
hot)

Other confessions suggested that IIT
sorority members thought they were “better"
than sorority members at state schools, some
called women on campus “damn ugly" and
suggested that men prioritize their preferences
over establishing a meaningful connection with
a potential partner

As well as inherently misogynistic
posts on this Facebook page, I’ve also noticed
some that are attackingpeople’s sexual identities
and gender expressions:

Post #169 begins with someone
objectifying a potential date, and ends with a
transphobic slur, “So I pick this cute ass girl at
iit [sic] (everything looked all right: had nice
boobs and alll [sic] right ass): We went to dinner,
made out and had a pleasant data [sic] at the
CTA:::When we came back and started closing
the deal, I got a surprise: She had some extra
junk in front: Since then I am actively seeking
therapy and have a huge trust issue with girls:

Confessions of IIT Students
Anti 24 near C'iicago

Post #193: "people, I can feel you're awkward and asexual

vibes as I approach campus....g

0 drink more than a few

drinks and get naked —thank you" ~Anonymous

Confessions of IIT Students

Post #169: Sol picked this cute ass girl at ii
boobs and alll right ass). We went to dinner
CTA... When we came back and started clos

t(everything looked all right. had nice
, made out and had a pleasant data at the
ing the deal, I got a surprise. She had

some extrajunk in front: Since then I am actively seeking therapy and have a huge
trust issue with girls. GUYS BE AWARE. SHEMALES ON THE HUNTI~Annymous

GUYS BE AWARE SHMM’” ON THE HUNTI"

Let’s point out the obvious flaws; first,
don’t take someone out on a date to the CTA, at
least take them to a restaurant: Second, I won’t
even mention the atrocity that is the grammar
and spelling of this post: Third, (this is going
to be a huge truth bomb) some women have
penises, and some men have vaginas: Not
everyone is cisgender (sex assigned at birth
aligns with gender)

The trans* community at IIT has little,
to no visibility According to Trans Student
Equality Resources (TSER), 80% of gender
noneconforming students experience verbal
harassment in the past year because of their
gender expression While the Gender, Violence,
and Resource Access Survey found 50% of
trans* people have been raped or assaulted by
a romantic partner:

Whether you would like to believe so
or not, things like this happen on HT’s campus:
Stigma against the trans* community, and
the rape culture in which we live in, promote
outdated ideas like the existence of a gender
binary (the idea that there are only two genders),
when in fact gender and sexuality are fluid:
Rape culture also leads to skewed data, because
sexual violence is not often reported, or taken
seriously

I like to say that IIT does not
discriminate against anyone due to his or her
race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation,
gender expression, et cetera, but I am apparently
wrong: Transphobia is real, and it’s happening
on this campus:

I won’t go on to scold this person
anymore, or any other people who think this
way, but they definitely deserve some education,
because they obviously aren’t getting any
worthwhile lessons at IIT

Ways to combat transphobia in
everyday life, include: calling people by their
preferred name and gender, don’t compliment
someone by telling them they look like “a real
man/woman" or “you never would have known,"
do not tell a third party of a person’s status
without their consent, don’t fetishize those
who identify as trans*, words like “tr*nny,"
“sh*male," “h’hsh”, and “sh*m" are never okay
to use, under any circumstances: For more
trans* resources, visit transwhatorg, or for
local resources, contact Chicago’s The Center
on Halsted, at centeronhalstedorg:

Social steps to end transphobia have
resulted in movements for trans* rights in the
marriage and job equality bills across the nation,
as well as a call for gender, neutral bathrooms to
become the norm:

The trans* community was explicitly
left out of the Obamacare bill, and it would
have covered any transition procedures, but
because of transphobia and discrimination, it
was purposefully left out of the bill:

IIT (like many other institutions of
higher education have already done) should
plan for gendereneutral bathrooms in the new

Images courtesy ofConfessions ofIIT Students

construction that has been announced: Most
buildings already lack an adequate number of
female restrooms, and many are handiecapable,
and are singleeperson bathrooms already:
Proper signage, and acceptance promoted by
HT would help combat transphobia on HT’s
campus:

Another rude comment cited IIT’s
“asexual vibes" in Post #193, “people, I can
feel you’re [sic] awkward and asexual vibes
as I approach campus:::g0 drink more than
a few drinks and get naked thank you:" I
will reiterate, people are autonomous: They
are allowed to be attracted, or not attracted
to people, regardless of sex, gender, gender
expression, race, ethnicity, culture, et cetera:
Telling people to binge drink to behave like
society says they should is inappropriate, and
stupid:

There are a few confessions that
redeem this page:

One is a confession of a student’s love
of BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance
and submission, sadism and masochism), and
many other students commented and gave
advice on the subject: It was a great display of
an open, sexepositive conversation, happening
at IIT

Another was a Muslim student’s
confession that they thought their homosexual
friends were judging the confessor for his/her
faith, when in fact, they were perfectly accepting
and open to anyone that has different beliefs:

Post #246 suggests that HT students
should stop bullying, and speak up for others
that have, or are being bullied:

This page is also a place for students
to air their grievances with the administration;
one post mentioned the confessor’s ill will
towards the Athletic Department Director for
his decision to change divisions (which past
issues of TechNews have discussed)

There are other Facebook pages that
are far more informative, and positive about
HT Like the “Illinois Institute of Technology:
Admitted Undergraduate" page: With over
1700 members (whereas the Confessions of
IIT Students page has 700 fans), this page is
one where discussions and forums are posted:
Positive and reactionary results have been
started in this Facebook group, and I hope they
continue:

When IIT Confessions was popular, I
questioned the integrity of the people policing
the page, and how the administration could
be okay with terrible personal statements
being associated with IIT, but now I realize it’s
not these pages that are the problems, it’s the
people who submit confessions: We eat in the
Commons and Center Court with these people;
we sit next to these people in classes: We allow
them to think this way

It’s the people who express nasty,
judgmental opinions through these avenues
only to show how terrible they really are; they’re
the real problem: