Lee Daniels

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Serving the University of New Hampshire since 1911

The New HampsHire


Friday, February 14, 2014

www.TNHonline.com

INSIDE
THE NEWS

UNHs Ballroom Dance Club


continues to grow and
accomplish its goals.

Vol. 103, No. 29

After falling to Vermont, the


UNH mens hockey team looks to
rebound against Boston University.

Page 8

Page 19

Parental rights for rapists may be terminated Lee Daniels


shares his own
story of struggle
By MELISSA PROULX
STAFF WRITER

A proposed piece of legislation could


mean a change in the way the judicial system reacts to and treats victims of rape.
Last week, New Hampshire lawmakers
considered a bill that would terminate parental rights for convicted rapists as well as limit the rights of those who have been tried and
not convicted. As of right now, New Hampshire is one of 21 states that dont require
termination upon, or even after, conviction.
This change in legislation would potentially
help those who are currently dealing with
relevant cases in court, as well as the one
out of every four women who falls victim to
sexual assault each year.

According to Shauna Prewitt, a national voice for these complicated issues who
spoke to members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee in Concord on Tuesday, Feb. 4,
the maintenance of the current law has to do
with the way the country views and treats
women who become pregnant after rape.
Prewitt is considered a national expert
on the subject, as she has both professional
and personal experience with this sort of
legislation.
While in law school, she wrote a paper
on the issue that was eventually published
in the Georgetown Law Journal advocating
ending parental rights for convicted rapists.
She said that the change in legislation would
only match those standards of the legislation
dealing with the other choices that a woman

can make in regards to her baby.


We know that a woman [who has been
raped] has ultimately three choices once she
nd out shes pregnant, Prewitt said. A lot
of states have legislation that help with termination and adoption, but when it came to
women who were raising their child, I was
really surprised to nd out that far fewer
states had protections in place for them.
Prewitts desire to take action also came
from her own experiences. Prewitt herself
was raped while in college and learned
shortly after that she was pregnant. After
deciding to keep her baby she attempted to
move on with her life. But in one last nal
attack, her rapist, who had not yet been con-

LAW continued on Page 3

UNH ranks high in college arrest statistics

STAFF WRITER

91
11.

12.
33

12.
41

13
14.

17
15.

15.
86

.52
17

20.
06

83

12.5

20.

Its more than just a simple numbers


game when trying to gure out the validity
of UNHs party school reputation.
A recently published report on Rehabs.
com named the colleges and universities in
the United States that hold the highest drug
and alcohol arrests based on data collected
from 2009 to 2011. In the report, UNH was
ranked 37 out of 50 for most on-campus
drug arrests per 1,000 students and 20 out
of 50 for most on-campus alcohol arrests
per 1,000 students. In all, the university was
ranked eight out of 20 for drug and alcohol
arrests per 1,000 students.
When looking at UNHs arrest statistics
from the last three years on the UNH Police
Departments website, it is clear that these
arrests make up a majority of the criminal
activity on campus, providing some evidence for the ndings.
The UNH Police Department, which
posts the crime statistics for the past three
years on its website, recorded that between
2010 and 2012, 717 students were arrested
on campus for violating liquor laws and 294
were arrested on campus for drug possession.
These numbers, which do not include
the drug and alcohol violations referred for
disciplinary action during those years, are
signicantly higher than the other categories
shown on the website. For example, dur-

CAMERON JOHNSON/STAFF

Lee Daniels, director of The Butler, visited


UNH on Wednesday and spoke before a
crowded Granite State Room.
By CATIE HALL

41

STAFF WRITER

2010-2011

25

22.

By MELISSA PROULX

College and University


Drug and Alcohol Arrests
Arrests Per 1,000 Students

School officials
view ranking as
a sign of strong
policy enforcement

U. of Wisconsin
U. of Colorado
U. of Minnesota
U. of Louisiana
U. of Wisconsin
- Oshkosh
- La Crosse
- Boulder
- Duluth
- Monroe
Florida State
U. of Wisconsin
West Chester
Western Illinois
U. of New
- Stout
Hampshire

DATA FROM REHABS.COM

ing those years, only 18 individuals were


charged with aggravated assault on campus.
But all of these statistics raise another
question: is it simply a matter of geography?
New Hampshire has, in the past, had its
own reputation of having some of the highest drug use and alcohol consumption rates
in the country.
A look at the national statistics for the
region only further explains these numbers.
In its 2010 National Survey on Drug Use
and Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration showed that
in the New England Area alone, 56 percent
of those who answered the survey reported
using illicit drugs in their lifetime, with 17.6
percent saying that they had in the past year

Film producer and director Lee Daniels


walked down the rows of seats yelling, Hi,
everybody! Hi! His voice lled the Granite
State Room while he marched, wearing casual
jeans and a white dress shirt, to his spot at the
podium.
If his 200-member audience on Wednesday night expected to hear only about Daniels
movies or his upcoming TV show, they got
more than they bargained for as Daniels painted
the picture of his childhood, his fame and his
home. Much like his movies, the true story of
the night was one of triumph over adversity.
***

and 11.4 percent in the past month. These


numbers were higher than the national averages, which were 49.6 percent, 14.9 percent
and 8.8 percent, respectively.
And when it comes to drinking, the results were about the same. The 2010 SAMHSA report found that in New England, 92
percent said that they had consumed alcohol
in their lifetime, with 78.3 percent saying
they had in the past year and 67.8 saying
they had in the past month. The national averages for these statistics were 87.5 percent,
70.4 percent, and 55.9 percent for the three
categories.
And when compared to other schools in

Before titles, before fame, young Lee Daniels walked down the stairs, his small feet sliding inside his mothers heels. While his mother may have laughed a sweet melody to a
childs ears his father did not.
As he descended the staircase in his mothers shoes, his father picked him up.
Youre trash, his father said, and he put
the little boy in the garbage.
His father was not the only person in his
life that attacked Daniels.
I was bullied on. I knew that I was a gay
guy, real skinny. About half the size I am now,
Daniels said. Kids dont know what their sexuality is four, ve, or six but you know

ARRESTS continued on Page 4

DANIELS continued on Page 3

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