Soleil Smith

A part of the original "Cool Denver Twins" along with her sister Katana Smith, Soleil Smith is known for her dedication to the environment and human rights issues, her prominence in the Galesburg music scene, and her involvement in campus-wide emails and in the Maggot Incident of 2018.

Aliases

• Dad
• Chip
• Chip "The Big Cheese" Wilson
• Beezy McCubbins
• Little Smokey

History of Eco-terrorism

As a lover of the environment, the introduction of a 24/7 Union Board TV in the Fall Term of 2017--a TV which often has little or nothing to say--justifiably upset Soleil. For the following term, when passing the TV Soleil would unplug the TV to conserve energy. It is theorized that programmers of the TV thought that the repeated unplugging was due to a loose outlet and installed an additional outlet adapter in order to keep it in place. This did not deter Soleil, however, which eventually resulted in the programmers suspecting that a student was responsible. Eventually footage captured from the Founders Lab camera revealed that Soleil was often at the scene during the unplugging.

The actions taken by the college, particularly that of Andrew Salemi, following discovery have been compared to actions taken again Rod Coronado, an eco-terrorist largely active between 1985 and 1995. Salemi, upon viewing the footage, had a subordinate to get in contact with Soleil, threatening to have Soleil talk with the Dean of Students should her actions continue. According to first-hand accounts, Salemi demanded that she stop the unplugging due to it messing with the rest of the computer system--arguably the fault of the college, as that's just bad programming. Soleil agreed on the grounds that the college try to be more conscious of their impact on the environment, and in mild fear of being punished. Unfortunately, despite her drawing attention to the hypocrisy of Knox College's ideals regarding the environment, the Union Board TV still stands and unfortunately has started to produce inhumane screeching some would call "The Last Jedi".

Music

Soleil is active in the music scene both on- and off-campus. On-campus she has preformed at a number of events, including opening for Lomelda, and being a part of the "Environmental Buddies Department" which performed as part of the 2018 Bioneers Conference, along side members Natalie Haurburg, Benjamin Farrer, Jonathan Anderson, Gabi Harris, and Makenna Farshtchi. Soleil also regularly hosts WVKC shows; her 2018 Winter Term show having been "Gaudemus Igitunes" a play on "Gaudemus Igitur" meaning "Therefore, we enjoy". It aired on Sundays from 6pm to 7pm.

Off-campus, Soleil is one of the leaders of DIY Galesburg, a music collective dedicated to bringing up-and-coming bands and solo acts from around the country to perform in Galesburg, in addition to having Knox students themselves perform. Soleil has performed at multiple DIY Galesburg events. Likewise, Soleil has also been known to perform at open mics at the Beanhive, a local coffee shop in Galesburg. She also has a soundcloud.

Campus-Wide Emails

Knox College Alumni Meeting

On January 4th, 2017, Carol Brown sent an email ("Spring Meeting of the Knox College Alumni Council") with the intended recipients being those of the Knox College Alumni Council, detailing events for the meeting. However, those included in the in distribution list were currently enrolled Knox students. Some actual Alumni, neither aware of the mistake nor the 'reply-all' button, responded saying they would be attending all events. The hilarity of the situation prompted Soleil to reply-all, saying, "I for one will DEFINITELY be there."

MaggotGate

On February 28, 2018, student Michelle Yeboah discovered a live maggot in the steak served for that night's dinner. The story broke the following afternoon in an email distributed to the TKS dis-list, detailing the experience with photographic evidence and acting as a call-to-action to the Knox student body.

Given that the email was not distributed campus-wide, Soleil posted screenshots of the email to the Knox College meme Facebook page, saying "Please do not eat in the caf if you can. For those who can't I'm happy to provide what I can. No one deserves to eat something like this". News of the maggot spread quickly from there, motivating Vice President of Finance, Keith Archer, to send a mass email stating:

We want to take a moment to respond to a recent incident in the Hard Knox Cafe. Last night, the Knox College dining services staff was approached by a student who indicated she had found what appeared to be a worm on a piece of steak. Dining services immediately took action. All food items on the line were inspected; no worms or insects of any sort were found. To err on the side of caution, and recognizing that worms of this sort can be found in lettuce, all lettuce was pulled from the cafe, including pizza that had lettuce as a topping. Staff confirmed that all produce had been double washed per protocol. All additional food storage areas, including the container in which the meat was stored, were inspected; there was no sign of insects of any kind. All inspections were repeated this morning, and, again, no insects of any kind were found. As a food service establishment, the Hard Knox Cafe is inspected regularly by the Knox County Health Department. Scores for all recent evaluations were in the 90s out of a total of 100 possible points. We care deeply about the wellbeing of our students, and recognize that food is an integral part of the college experience. We will continue to work closely with students to meet their needs.

Upon receiving Archer's email, Soleil sent a private email to Archer, asking why it took the work of students to reveal this incident, rather than the college owning up to a mistake and issuing a safety bulletin to all those who had eaten the steak. The email received no response.

In the hours following Archer's email, a number of students including Soleil noticed Archer's careful avoidance of referring to what was clearly a maggot as anything such (bolded above), leading to the "launching of a thousand memes" by members of the Knox meme Facebook page.

Soleil herself contributed the following memes:

• Top 10 Anime Betrayals: [Insert Picture of the Maggot]

• In the "Big Brain Meme" format: 1) Owning up to making a mistake that put the health of students at risk, 2) Trying to cover up the mistake you made and hope no one finds out, 3) PRETENDING MAGGOTS DONT EXIST, 4) "No worms or insects of any sort were found."

• Who would win? The integrity of Bon Appetit Management Company | One Squirmy Boi

• When you keep finding bugs/larvae in your food: Love Bug

Following the incident, Kenna Bell posted a message on the meme page saying, "In light of ongoing issues with the food situation at Knox, some friends and I were hoping to organize a day-long boycott of dining services," at which point Soleil contacted Kenna privately and said she was interested. Plans were made to protest outside Knox College President Teresa Amott's office following class hours, with students listing the health issues they've faced when dealing with the Caf, but the event was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Students' avoidance of the Caf and vocalization of issues concerning Caf management--mainly with College Vice President of Finance Keith Archer and Caf General Manager Diane Welker--with members of various health committees on campus, teachers, and TKS, drew enough attention, however. Upon students' return from spring break, students received an email on March 7th detailing Keith Archer's convenient acceptance of the position of VP of Finance at Grinnell College. On March 19th, students also received news through email that "after recent consultation with the College regarding dining at Knox, Bon Appetit will be realigning the management team...and...[will] conduct a nationwide search for a new general manager," indicating Diane's firing.

In summary: Yeehaw, boys, the evil's finally been defeated.

Quotes

• “Is pussy vegan?” / “Is pussy fair trade?”