Tor Echo Newspaper of the Pioneers

By Tara Goldsbury

This year at Alfred State, the Office of Equity, Inclu-

sion, and Title IX is collaborating with organizations

on campus including Kaleidoscope, the Alfred State

Dance Team, Ujima, Fashion Empire, Get Real With

It, CSA, ASA, and LASO

for a month long series of

events celebrating Black

history. The month kicked

off with Ujima hosting the

movie Freedom Writers in

the Small Event Space lo-

cated in SLC on February

1, 2016. Several other

movies will be shown on

Monday nights starting at

7:30 pm. These movies

include The Butler, Straight

Outta Compton, and The

Pursuit of Happiness. In ad-

dition to the showings,

the campus participated in Black Out Day and a Em-

power Alfred Photoshoot on Thursday, February 4,

2016. Jenna Hooper took both individual and group

photos. This event is in place to represent and show-

case the beauty in Black heritage and what it stands

for. Overall this day will symbolize the unity of Black

culture on campus. The following week on February

10, 2016, will be Black History Trivia Night. The de-

tails of this event will be released on Student An-

nounce and throughout SLC later in the week. The

Poetry Slam on February 17, 2016 will feature Alfred

State poets and turn into an open mic. The idea be-

hind this event is to dive into prominent Black poets

and the messages they wanted to portray. Get Real

With It will be hosting their first event of the semes-

ter surrounding Black history in the Small Event

Space starting at 7:00 pm on the February 18, 2016.

Another exciting event is the Black History Month

Dinner taking place in

the SLC Park Space at

6:00 pm on February 25,

2016. There will be soul

food provided and made

by the Alfred State

Dance Team. For the

following night, prepare

yourself for a night of

routines presented by

the Alfred State Dance

Team and Fashion Em-

pire. The Afrocentric

Talent and Fashion show

is going to take place on

February 26, 2016 in the

Orvis Auditorium. Doors will open at 6pm and the

show will begin at 6:30 pm sharp. During intermission

there will be refreshments and food. Wrapping up

the month, Alfred State’s annual Tunnel of Oppres-

sion begins Monday, February 29, 2016 and ends

Tuesday, March 1, 2016. The events for the entire

month were made possible by Ce’Asia McDonald.

She has worked hard organizing and planning the de-

tails since the fall semester of 2015. The dedication

she has for bringing Black unity on campus is shown

through her passion, effort, and success.

Black History Month at Alfred State

The month of February is widely known as the month for African-Americans to look

back and reflect on the struggles and achievements of their ancestors. Typically, many

public schools try to teach students about great African-American history. However,

some people, including me, have a problem with this method of teaching students about

black history. Over the years while attending middle school and high school, the two

most popular African-American heroes that get the most coverage have been Dr. Rev

Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks. The reason why is because unlike other civil

rights leaders who supported militant actions, these two people heavily promoted the

method of non-violence. Little do many people know, is that towards the end of Dr.

Martin Luther King’s life, he was taking on a more militant approach to achieve new

changes of society. King’s supporters and workers recall in the year of 1968, that his

tone of voice and the words he used in the majority of his speeches sounded like a mili-

tant non-violence version of Malcolm X. So in other words, Dr. Martin Luther King was

slowly withdrawing from his method of non-violence, and was beginning to take on a

more militant approach to solve the unjust laws and treatment of black people in this

country. Yet, many schools do not go into depth of the personal changes that Dr. Mar-

tin Luther King was undergoing. Also, there is also a bigger issue besides society and

schools not getting enough coverage of other African-American heroes. Black history is

part of everyday history in my opinion. Black people were slaves for over two hundred

years in North America, including about 90 years after Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all

men are created equal.” Blacks were the ones who helped build this country. Blacks

were the ones who performed the first successful open heart surgery. And the people

to create the most used invention that changed the world forever, the traffic stop light.

To summarize my personal thoughts about Black History, I find it ignorant, ridiculous

and impossible to try to condense the history of black people within just one single

month. - Daniel David

Inventor of the traffic signal: Garret Morgan

First successful open heart sur-

geon: Daniel Hale Williams

Editorial

Other Famous African-Americans

Letter to the Editor:

Members of African American society have always been treated differently, but nonetheless often times were called the

“same.” If they are the same why do they have a month? Is it because or discrimination, slavery, or just a public apolo-

gy? I f every race is the same, why don’t we all have a month to celebrate? There are simply not enough months in the

year. Black History month was not always called “Black History month”, it was called Negro History week, which was

created in 1915 in dedication to the African American groups. No race should be confined to a single month. Let alone

make other races engage into something they either don’t care about or not wanting to be a part of. People make his-

tory on their own terms every day. Someone truly significant will be acknowledged. So in all actuality it is just labeling

one group out there has been many groups that have suffered or have been oppressed. A prime example is the Jews

who were discriminated by the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. They were beaten, killed, abused, and thrown in concentration

camps. Some were even trapped in a room and gassed to death. Nonetheless we teach about massive genocides every

year in school. But one question comes to mind: where is the Jewish month located on our calendar? This is just one

example of many. By there being Black History month what is being said is one specific group of people are different

from others. When all anyone wants to be is not labeled by color or class, but labeled by their first name. As a society

we are truly more than just a color. We are the future innovators paving the walkways for mankind.

Billie Carroll Tor

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Tor Echo

Report, Encourage, Engage

Issue 1, Spring 2016

Editor-in-Chief: Daniel C. David / Managing Editor: Kevin Shrestha / Treasurer / Student Senate Representative

Reporters: Karla Chun, Heather Cromwell, Shannon Fay, Grace Franklin, Tara Goldsbury, Rachel Haines, Blue Jay,

Yvonne Payne, Breanna Smith, Emily K. Smith.

Dr. Brian Quinn, Advisor

© Tor Echo, 2016

Eight senior architec-

ture students from

Alfred State presented

at the annual Appala-

chian Teaching Project

(ATP) conference at

the end of the fall se-

mester in Washington,

DC. The presentation

centered on a project

the students under-

took last semester as

part of Design Studio

5: Urban Design, in

which they worked

closely with residents

and community lead-

ers in the Chemung

County town of Southport. The

students produced a community

visualization study to create a vi-

sion for the sustainability and

growth of Southport, which was

well received by residents and vil-

lage officials and may be considered

for future implementation. In addi-

tion to the final presentation, the

nine-week project also included

the completion of a Neighborhood

Development Analysis to familiar-

ize students with the town, a

meeting with town officials mid-

way through the project, and a

public display of the student work

at the Community Design Center

gallery in Downtown Rochester.

Led by the Consortium of Appala-

chian Centers and Institutes, the

ATP offers students a unique op-

portunity to conduct active com-

munity-based research on their

campuses.

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February 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Movie Night!

Freedom Writ-

ers

Hosted by Uji-

ma in SLC

Small Event

Space

at 7:30pm

2

3

4 Black Out

Day

and the

Empower Al-

fred Pho-

toshoot

SLC Parkspace

at 5pm

5

6

7

8 Movie Night!

The Bulter

Hosted by CSA in

SLC Small Event

Space at 7:30pm

9

10

Trivia Night

Hosted by LASO

11

12

13

14

15 Movie Night!

Straight Outta

Compton

Hosted by Alfred

State Dance Team

in SLC Small

Event Space at

7:30pm

16

17

Poetry Slam!

Located in the

SLC Small Event

Space at 7pm

18

Get Real With

It

for Black His-

tory

in SLC Small

Event Space at

7pm

19

20

21

22 Movie Night!

The Pursuit of

Happiness

Hosted by Get

Real With It in

SLC Small Event

Space at 7:30pm

23

24

25

Black History

Month Dinner

Located in the

SLC Park Space

at 6pm

26 Afrocen-

tric Talent

& Fashion

Show

Hosted by

Fashion Em-

pire in the Or-

vis Auditori-

um.

Free admis-

sion. Doors

open at 6pm,

and show

starts at

6:30pm

27

28

29

Tunnel of Op-

pression

Throughout SLC

starting at 5pm

Black History

Month Activities

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The Alfred State men's basketball team earned their third straight victory with a tight 65-63 vic-tory over SUNY Delhi on Saturday afternoon. The blue & gold trailed by as many 10 in the 2nd half but rallied to grab back the lead and held on during a wild finish.

The Pioneers started fast and led by as 13, 25-12, halfway through the 1st half. Delhi fin-ished the half on a 16 to 5 run and trailed just 30-28 at the break. The Broncos continued their solid play with a 12-0 run to start the 2nd half and grab their largest lead of the game. The Pi-oneers chipped away and tied the game at 52-52 with just over seven minutes remaining.

The Pioneers shot 35% from the field, 41.2% from the three, and 57.1% from the foul line (10 for 14 in the 2nd half). On the boards, Al-fred State held a slight 48 to 45 advantage.

The Alfred State women's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they defeated Fisher (MA) College 72-56 on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Pioneers have won three straight heading into the final week of the season. The Lady Pioneers connect-ed on four 3-pointers in the 1st quarter and built a 23-10 lead. They expanded their lead to 42-20 at the half. Fisher made a run in the 3rd and cut the lead to 10 but could never could get any closer the rest of the way. Alfred State shot 41% from the field in the first half and hit six of their 11 3-pointers to grab the 22-point lead. They finished the day shooting 34.2% from the field and 41.2% from three. Fisher shot 31.1% from the field and was 3 for 17 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Lady Pioneers held a decisive advantage on the boards.

NCAA A+

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