The impact of this case has reached Ohio as well, as Hale Hall, at Ohio State University and location of the black cultural center for that campus, was defaced with the words “Long Live Zimmerman”spray painted on the side of it, in assumed reference to George Zimmerman.  This prompted an immediate reaction and pledge of support to inclusion and safety for all students from Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee.

Students at the College of Wooster are thinking and talking about Trayvon as well, with discussion, public art wall displays, and rallies, and now a short documentary created by student Mamoudou N’Diaye, supported by organizations like Men of Harambee, Black Student Association, Brothers of Diversity, and The Woostonian.  He explores the knowledge and awareness level of Wooster students, faculty and staff in his piece, as well as perceptions about the case and what the outcome will or should be.  It is a 15 minute watch well worth your time, and no matter what side you stand on in with these issues, it can be agreed upon that more awareness and informed discussion and debate on these topics serves everyone and makes our community stronger.

Grey Day: The Dream Revisited – Documentary by Mamoudou N’Diaye

Background Reading

1. Coll, S. (2004). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Penguin Press HC, The.
2. Oldenburg Phillip, India, Pakistan, and Democracy: Solving the Puzzle of Diverging Paths (2010) Routledge
3. Hansen, T. B., & Jaffrelot, C. (Eds.). (2001). The BJP and the Compulsions of Politics in India (2nd ed.). OUP India.
4. Jaffrelot, C. (Ed.). (2007). Hindu Nationalism: A Reader. Princeton University Press.
5. Kaplan, R. D. (2009, April). India’s New Face. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/india-8217-s-new-face/7332/
6. Rashid, A. (2012). Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Viking Adul

Some YouTube Videos

Please RSVP soon as space is running out quickly at iwdcelebration.eventbrite.com.

We will see you there!

Details

Pre-lecture

4:30pm As it happens, live from the CoRE with Robin Wright and Rami Khouri. (Reservation required)
5:45pm. Middle Eastern Buffet Dinner at Freedlander Theatre Lobby. (Reservation required)

Lecture

7:30pm. Great Decisions Lecture by Robin Wright. McGaw Chapel. (No reservation required, free and open to the public)

Appiah on cosmopolitanism

Nussbaum from Examined Life

Fight for Peace from TedX

• Jan 17 MLK Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, 8am Babcock Dining. RSVP here.
• Jan 17 Living and Learning from CRASH. A Workshop. 4-8:30pm including dinner. Lean Lecture Hall. Sign up here.
• Jan 18 Global Leaders Dinner. Celebrate King, Mandela, Mother Theresa and more. Babcock Dining Hall
• Jan 19 Campus Climate Summit (Follow-up to the open forum held in Lowry fall semester) 11am, Babcock Dining Hall. Please contact us if you would like to be part of this event.
• Jan 24 “Waiting for Superman” Film screening and discussion. Lean Lecture Hall 6:30pm
• Jan 26 “Examining the Education-Prison Pipeline” Kauke 038 7:00-8;30pm.

Additional Events

1. Conversations in Global Engagement (Social Sciences). Please RSVP here. Babcock Dining Hall Jan 19 5:15pm.
2. Ambassadors Dinner. Wooster Inn Jan 25 at 7pm.
3. I-Seminar. Babcock Dining Hall. Jan 26, Feb 2, 9, 16 and 23rd, 11am to 1pm. Students present inter-disciplinary IS projects that are in-progress. Lunch is provided. Topics include social justice, identity, culture and art, and global engagement. See our Wiki for more details.
4. Off Campus Studies -Worldly Wednesdays 4-6pm – Jan 25, Feb 29, Mar 28 and Apr 28.
5. Ambassadors program application deadline – Feb 1 at 11:59 pm
6. “Debating for Democracy- “Letter to an Elected Official” Due at 4pm Feb 1st to Director of Project Pericles Thomas Tierney.
7. Conversations in Global Engagement (Athletics). Please RSVP here. Babcock Dining Hall Feb 2 6:30pm.
8. Ambassadors and Girl Scouts Thinking Day – Saturday Feb 18 from 1-4, Wishart.
9. “After the Cameras have Gone” Global Engagement Network Summit. February 25. Invited guests include Dr. Elaine Enarson and Trent McNelly.
10. “One Year After the Arab Spring.” Robin Wright and others. Co-sponsored with Great Decisions. February 27. 4:30pm “Live from the CDGE” and Lecture at 7:30pm
11. C-3 (Cross-Cultural Connections) Nuclear Power Panel. February 28, 7-8:30, Lean Lecture Hall
12. Intercultural Leadership Institute (Tentative March 30-31 or 4/13-14).
13. Sufi Orders that Crossed Borders. April 4th and 5th (Tentative)
14. WE (Wooster Ethnic) Fair – Saturday April 21, Wayne County Fairgrounds
15. Safe Zone Training (Date TBA) will include lunch and a Facilitated Dialogue on GLBTQ issues.

The United Nations released it’s first-ever report on the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people around the world, which details laws pertaining to the GLBT community, ranging from full marriage rights in some countries to imprisonment and the death penalty for those caught engaging in homosexuality in other countries.

The report, released by the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights “outlines “a pattern of human rights violations… that demands a response,” and says governments have too often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”  The report details these patterns of violence against the GLBT community, finding that “violence against LGBT persons tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes.”  Unfortunately, a large number of these crimes go unreported because victims do not trust local police or governments, or are afraid of being identified as GLBT and encountering further discrimination and violence.

“In the report, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calls on countries to repeal laws that criminalize homosexuality, abolish the death penalty for offences involving consensual sexual relations, harmonize the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual conduct, and enact comprehensive anti-discrimination laws.  In 76 countries it remains illegal to engage in same-sex conduct and in at least five countries – Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen – the death penalty prevails.”

This map from 2009 shows the different levels of acceptance and rejection of GLBT human rights around the world, ranging from the death penalty and imprisonment to full marriage rights.

The release of this report also follows unprecedented announcements from the President and Secretary of State, Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, directing United States agencies and departments to promote the rights of the GLBT community in diplomatic actions and foreign assistance around the world.  Click here for video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s landmark speech to diplomats in Geneva.

For further information about GLBT rights and issues around the world, check out ILGA (International Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) website for information and graphics that further explain the global situation.

We hope that everyone has a great break for the holidays, but we are excited for the events that we are bringing to Wooster after the break.

Beginning Tuesday, January 17th, CDGE and the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs will begin its Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with two events – An Interfaith Prayer Breakfast at 8am and Living and Learning from Crash starting at 4pm. The Interfaith Prayer Breakfast is open to all students, staff, faculty and community members and will take place in the Babcock Dining Room.  We will share some of King’s writings and offer prayer from many faiths and perspectives in support of King’s reach for peace and equality.  We ask that you please RSVP at mlkprayerbreakfast.eventbrite.com.

Poster for Jan. 17th Events

Living and Learning from Crash is an all-evening workshop featuring a viewing of the award-winning film Crash and extensive discussion and activities afterwards to delve into the issues of prejudice and discrimination that surface in the film.  The workshop will start at 4pm in Lean Lecture Room in Wishart Hall, and will end about 8:30pm.  Dinner is included for free with this workshop, so we ask that if you do register, you intend to stay for the full workshop experience.  This event is open only to COW community members – students, faculty, and staff.  Please register for this workshop at mlkcrashworkshop.eventbrite.com.

On Wednesday, Jan 18th, OMSA and International Students Association will collaborate on the Global Leaders Dinner.  This event, starting at 6pm in the Lowry Ballroom, will highlight the lives and work of various leaders from around the world, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi, Mother Theresa, and others.  Food in the International Food Station in Lowry will feature favorite foods or popular dishes from the countries of these leaders, and students and faculty will speak on the importance of these leaders to their respective countries and to the world.

We then have two events that examine the state of education in the United States, starting with our viewing of Waiting for Superman on Tuesday, January 24th at 6:30pm.  This film examines the state of United States education and the push for better schooling in communities across the country.  There will be a discussion afterwards, and refreshments will be provided.  Location is TBD.  The trailer for this film can be found here: Waiting for Superman Trailer

OMSA and Cross-Cultural Connections (CThree – formerly known as Cross-Cultural Living Experiences Program (CCLEP)) will collaborate on our Thursday, Jan. 26th event, Examining the Education to Prison Pipeline.  This discussion will examine the racial and socioeconomic inequities that currently exist in our school system, which lead to disproportionate representation of some identity groups in the American prison system.  This event will take place at 7pm, but the location is currently TBD.

Our final even will take place Saturday, Jan. 28th, and will be a service project completed alongside Wooster High School students.  This event is still being planned, so please be sure to check out the Center for Diversity and Global Engagement on Facebook for the latest information!

There are plenty of other CDGE events coming up directly after the break as well.

Thursday, January 19th marks the return of our Conversations on GLocal Engagement, which starts at 5:15pm in the Babcock Dining Room.  This first conversation of the second semester will be focused on the Social Sciences, and can be RSVP’ed for here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2294627292 .

Thursday, January 26th also marks the return of I-Seminar, which offers seniors the opportunity to present their diversity and global engagement related Independent Study projects if they have been nominated by their IS advisors.

Off-Campus Studies will also host a Reception and Open House for those Wooster students returning from their studies and journeys away from Wooster this past semester on January 30th.  We are very happy to have these students back on campus with us and are excited to hear about their experiences!

Again, best of luck during finals, and have a very safe and relaxing winter break! Pack light if you are traveling!

We will see you all when you get back in January!

This program involves letters to legislators written by teams of students from the 29 Periclean colleges. Each Periclean institution can submit 4 letters, and a panel of national judges will select 5 letters, representing 5 different schools, for 2-person team presentations at the 2012 Debating for Democracy Conference. The conference will be held at The New School for Liberal Arts, in New York City, on March 22-23. Transportation and lodging costs are provided for students who have been selected to present their letters at the hearing, and the top letter-writers will receive a financial prize that is to be used to continue working on their issue during the following academic year. Consequently, this competition is not open to seniors.

To learn more about this event, please attend an information session at 4 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 5, in Severance 009.

If you have questions, please contact Thomas Tierney, Director of Wooster’s Project Pericles, at ttierney@wooster.edu

The Center for Diversity and Global Engagement will recognize World AIDS Day this year by hosting three panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community arts project in the world and a visual reminder of those we have lost to this pandemic.  CDGE will house two panels during the day in the Babcock Formal Lounge, while the third panel will be hung up in the main lobby of Andrews Library from the second story balcony.

CDGE Poster for AIDS Awareness Week

Daily tours of the Quilts will be offered, starting each time in the Andrews Library Lobby.  On Tuesday, the 29th, tours will take place at 9am and 4pm.  On Wednesday through Friday, the 2nd, tours will take place at 10am and 3pm.  Tours can also be specially scheduled for classes, student organizations, residence halls, departments, offices, and community organizations by emailing Joel Pettigrew at jpettigrew@wooster.edu.

Other events associated with the Quilt will be a viewing of the Academy Award winning documentary “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt.”  Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, this documentary traces the story of 5 individuals who are honored in the Quilt, as well as the history and tradition behind the Quilt itself.  The trailer for the movie can be found here: Common Threads Documentary

Hosted by CDGE and Cross-Cultural Living Experiences Program, join us at 7pm on Wednesday, November 30th in Lean Lecture Room for this documentary viewing and discussion.

On World AIDS Day, Thursday, December 1st, CDGE will host a Candlelight Ceremony at 7pm in the Babcock Formal Lounge, honoring those we have lost to the epidemic but recommitting to an equal and just world for those living with AIDS and eventually a world without the disease.

We hope to see you out at all these events or on a tour this week!

But wait, CDGE has many more events coming this week and the rest of this semester as well!

Tuesday, November 29th 

• Deadline to nominate your student for I-Seminar. Nominate your student to present their unfinished multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary IS. Nominations are due to Nicola Kille.
• Life Raft Debate. Co-sponsored with the Woostonian. Come hear your colleagues debate the value of their discipline in Scheide at 7:30pm. See Facebook event http://goo.gl/9B7Ux

Life Raft Debate November 29th

We hope to see you out at any or all of these events!