posty

https://www.thecolle...nly-gym-report/

Ohio University leaders are reportedly considering the creation of a workout room that would be designated for minority students.

Its one of at least three ideas proposed by a campus diversity leader as she and student leaders brainstorm plans to redevelop a portion of largely unused racquetball courts at the private institution.

Gigi Secuban, who took the helm over the summer as the universitys first-ever vice president of diversity and inclusion, reportedly made the suggestion at a recent student senate meeting.

Secuban mentioned a plan to turn one of the racquetball courts at Ping Recreation Center into a private workout room for minorities, sexual assault survivors, or people with special religious accommodations, The New Political student news outlet reported.

Not a lot of people play racquetball, so theres tons of racquetball space, so its one of those places were going to recondition, Secuban said.

The Ping Recreation Center currently has seven racquetball courts, according to its website.

Asked specifically by The College Fix about whether or not the university is considering creating a private workout room for minorities, sexual assault survivors, or people with special religious accommodations, a campus spokesperson would not confirm or deny any plans or proposals.

University administration has partnered with Graduate Student Senate to develop a plan that will maximize use of under-utilized space while creating opportunity to better serve all populations of students, Carly Leatherwood, senior director of communications services at OU, told The Fix in an email.

We anticipate a short-term solution will be implemented by Spring semester 2019 in response to students request.

The Office for Diversity and Inclusion did not respond to an email inquiry asking about the proposed workout room and whether or not students not included in the specified identity groups would be allowed to use the room.

Earlier this year, Stanford University began offering a womens only training to try to make its fitness center more inclusive. Administrators cited female students who didnt feel comfortable in large gym spaces, The Fix reported at the time.

However, economist Mark Perry and a male student filed a civil rights complaint, asking how excluding half of the campus from a university facility for four hours per week is celebrated as advancing inclusivity?

A Stanford spokesman told The Fix at the time that after Stanford received a complaint from one male student the recreation department decided to open up the same space for an equal number of hours focusing on weight lifting for men.

2018 Winners

Rookie of the Year (Nov. 12)

National League
Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Braves
Walker Buehler, RHP, Dodgers
Juan Soto, OF, Nationals

American League
Miguel Andujar, 3B, Yankees
Shohei Ohtani, RHP/DH, Angels
Gleyber Torres, 2B, Yankees

Manager of the Year (Nov. 13)

National League
Bud Black, Rockies
Craig Counsell, Brewers
Brian Snitker, Braves

American League
Kevin Cash, Rays
Alex Cora, Red Sox
Bob Melvin, Athletics

Cy Young (Nov. 14)

National League
Jacob deGrom, RHP, Mets
Aaron Nola, RHP, Phillies
Max Scherzer, RHP, Nationals

American League
Corey Kluber, RHP, Indians
Blake Snell, LHP, Rays
Justin Verlander, RHP, Astros

Most Valuable Player (Nov. 15)

National League
Nolan Arenado, 3B, Rockies
Javier Baez, INF, Cubs
Christian Yelich, OF, Brewers

American League
Mookie Betts, OF, Red Sox
Jose Ramirez, INF, Indians
Mike Trout, OF, Angels

Well, set it back for the ones that observe it...

Daylight Saving Time ends...

https://deadline.com...tin-1202481451/

After lengthy negotiations, Naomi Watts has signed on to lead the ensemble cast of HBO's Game Of Thrones prequel pilot, from writer Jane Goldman and author/GOT co-executive producer George R.R. Martin.

Created by Goldman and Martin and written by Goldman based on a story by her and Martin, the untitled prequel takes place thousands of years before the events of Game Of Thrones. It chronicles the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend it's not the story we think we know.

The creative team behind the project is not giving away much about Watts' character  she will play a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.

Goldman serves as showrunner and will executive produce alongside Martin as well as fellow GOT co-executive producer Vince Gerardis and Damages and Bloodline co-creator Daniel Zelman. Added since the June pilot green light are former BBC Studios executive James Farrell and Jim Danger Gray (Orange Is the New Black, Hannibal) as executive producers and Chris Symes (The Alienist) as co-executive producer. As previously announced, GOT creators/exec producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have no involvement in the potential offshoots.

GOT, created by Benioff and Weiss, has a male lead, Jon Snow. Looking to differentiate itself from the mothership series and coming from a female writer, Goldman, it was a logical assumption that the prequel could have a female lead, something Watts' high-profile casting seems to reaffirm. That is not exactly the case, HBO President of programming Casey Bloys told Deadline in July.

"There are very strong female characters but it's an ensemble, there are men and women," he said. "Jane is a very good writer, we don't want to limit her to writing female leads. There are a lot of very complicated leads in (the pilot)."

None of the actors from the current show will appear on the prequel, which originally was set 8,000 years before GOT. "It's a very different setting, a very different time in Westeros, It will feel different but still Game of Thrones," Bloys said in August.

Two-time Oscar nominee Watts recently signed on to star as Gretchen Carlson opposite Russell Crowe in Showtime's Roger Ailes limited series. She most recently starred in Ophelia with Daisy Ridley and will next be seen in Once Upon a Time in Staten Island, The Wolf Hour, Boss Level and Luce. Other recent projects include David Lynch's Twin Peaks sequel limited series for Showtime, Netflix's Gypsy series, Colin Trevorrow's The Book of Henry, and The Glass Castle with Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson. Watts is repped by CAA; Untitled Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson Teller.

Why that racist...

https://www.stripes....troops-1.553964

President Donald Trump on Friday used his executive powers for the first time to designate a national monument, establishing a 380-acre site in Kentucky to honor African-Americans role as soldiers during the Civil War.

The move won praise from local activists and conservationists but also criticism from several environmental groups, which noted Trump had used this same authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act last year to downsize two existing national monuments in Utah.

Republicans had pushed for more than a year to establish a national monument at Camp Nelson in Nicholasville, Ky., which served as one of the largest recruitment and training depots for United States Colored Troops. While Kentucky was the last state in the Union to allow the enlistment of African-American men, the camp sent 23,000 of the roughly 180,000 black troops who fought on the Unions side during the Civil War.

During the war, thousands of enslaved African Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp Nelson, out of a deep desire for freedom and the right of self-determination, Trump declared in the proclamation he signed Friday.

Jim Fryer, a retired Navy senior chief petty officer and descendant of men who fought in the U.S. Colored Troops, said in a statement Saturday, These are hallowed grounds here, let it be a park, let it remain a park.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who last year recommended that Trump designate the site as a national monument, celebrated the announcement Saturday in an event in Kentucky attended by dozens of activists and Rep. Garland Andy Barr, R-Ky., who authored legislation to recognize it.

Camp Nelson, and all the patriots who have ties to it, holds an incredible place in Americas history, and President Trumps action to designate Camp Nelson as a national monument will ensure the ongoing protection of the site and the story, Zinke said in a statement, adding that he thanked the president for using the Antiquities Act as it was truly intended.

Barr hailed the news in a tweet Saturday, sharing photos of himself and Zinke at the ceremony. I am proud to advocate for Camp Nelson, a site which has the ability to unite the American people, he said.

Kate Kelly, director of public lands for the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said that the camp deserves to be protected. However, she questioned the timing of the proclamation, given that Barr is locked in a tight re-election race with Democrat Amy McGrath.

But we cant ignore the deep irony and injustice in President Trump using the same authority to protect one chapter of Americas story, while illegally stripping protections for another national monument that honors Native American history and culture, she said, referring to Utahs Bears Ears National Monument, which Trump shrank by 85 percent in December. Given this announcement comes mere days before a tight election in Kentucky, we must also question whether the historic site is being used as a political pawn.

Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift noted that the department invited all the members of Kentuckys congressional delegation to Saturdays event.

Alan Spears, cultural resources director in the National Parks Conservation Associations government affairs office, said in a phone interview Saturday that the designation highlights the fact that there was a great deal of Union sentiment in Kentucky during the Civil War, even though the state now has dozens of Confederate monuments still standing.

There has been a reversal of the actual sentiment of what Kentucky was during the war, Spears said.

Kentucky initially declared neutrality during the war, but after Confederate forces attempted to seize the state, the legislature asked the Union army for assistance.