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WHAT'S wed News 2a CLASStFtEDS 2A Opinions 4,1 Etcetera 6 a Life is Sports 53 oct-03 http://reporter.stetson.edu ^^Ms^^&t&dJid^^^^^S^s^^^S^^^^^^^^^^^^^S e NEWS: Meeting explores campus diversity page la LIFE: Rockefeller gives micro-credit lecture page lb Petition calls for fair trade coffee service By Jamie Kinsley ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR In front of the Commons last week sat a small table calling for students to sign a petition for fair trade coffee. As of Friday, 565 signatures had been collected to get Stetson to serve this coffee. Fair Trade Coffee is an effort to provide more money for the people who grow the coffee. Whereas now the growers gets less than 10% of the price of coffee, a percentage so small they can barely survive, Fair Trade Coffee wishes to nearly triple the amount of money the growers receive for their products. Fair Trade Coffee, however, does not necessarily mean that the quality of the coffee is less, or that the price is higher for the consumer; it means, that rather than going to conglomerates and intermediaries, more money will go to the coffee farmers. "We have been talking about diversity in great depth this week. If diversity is so important to Stetson, they should embrace the people in Latin America who are growing the coffee," commented Jennifer Ford, sophomore rehabilitative studies major, after signing the petition. "I just don't think that it is right to allow these people to be-treated in such a manner," remarked Kari Kopko, first-year English major. The IMF saw a problem in the amount of debt accumulating in places like Venezuela, and their solution was for the farmers to grow more crops of coffee. This was thought to be a good idea, but when the amount of coffee went up, the price paid to the farmers went down; however, the price of coffee stayed the same. Therefore, more money is going to the big corporations rather than to the poverty level Latin American coffee farmers. "Since agriculture tends to be a major industry, any measure that will stabilize it is appropriate, because it impacts world commodity prices, even more so," said David Francis senior" economics and finance major. When Alison McKeller brought the issue of social injustices inflicted upon the coffee farmers at a Student Government Association meeting, SGA was quick to jump aboard. They even created a new committee named with the title "Social Justice Awareness." "We have been getting so much support from not only SGA, but many other organizations on campus. It is encouraging to see that Stetson students really want to come together on this issue," said McKeller, social justice awareness chairperson. "Stetson has a motto of being a leader in social responsibility; Stetson see. TIRADE, page 2a ^Reporter C O RRE CTIONS "Question of the Week," OPINIONS, Issue 7. The head shots of Matt Sanford and Nick Townsend were mislabeled. Contact Us 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, FL 32720-37S1 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] lifeSfJstetson.edu etcetera@;stetson.edu sport s(S,s tetson.edu [email protected] [email protected] DIVERSITY MESTJNG By Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR The university held its first town meeting on diversity on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Elizabeth Hall chapel. Members of an eight-person panel attempted to answer the questions, "Is diversity a core value of Stetson University?" and "Should it be?" The panel was made up of four students and three professors, as well as Consuela Pender, director of the university's Cross Cultural Center. The students included Julius Santiago, Nadia Sanchez, SGA President Michael Davis, and Andre Egorov, and the professors were Bill Nylen, Jamil Khadir, and Kimberly-Flint Hamilton. University President Doug Lee opened the meeting, detailing Stetson's commitment to diversity. He said, "This has been a conscious choice at Stetson University... I believe that diversity and inclusiveness are at the heart and soul of the institution." He described the university's progress over the years, saying, "Those of us who have worked here a long time know that we are a radically different institution than we were in the eighties and early nineties." Dr. Leonard Nance, head of the university's diversity council, moderated the meeting. Santiago was the first member ,of the. panel to speak. He spoke, about the pressures of being Asian on a campus where the majority of students are white. "It's a lot of pressure to get up here as minorities and say there's too many white people here," he said. He stated that the college catalogs are a misrepresentation of the diversity of the school and that apathy is prevalent in the student body. He also encouraged students to get involved in the various multi-cultural organizations. "We don't need these groups. I know about Asian culture. You guys need these groups. It's not our responsibility to teach you guys what's going on," he said. His speech was followed by Dr. Nylen's speech. Nylen stated that the university's curriculum was not conducive to an emphasis on diversity, and that the faculty tends to leave teaching diversity as a job for the experts. He cited his own experience in teaching Latin American politics as an example. "Ethniciiy is a major component -' A:h "K&^a DIVERSITY: SGA President Michael Davis speaks at the university's Town Meeting on Diversity, photo by liz erlenbach of Latin American politics, but I wasn't teaching ethnicity. I was leaving it to the experts, which meant that it wasn't getting taught at Stetson University. That was my problem, and it was a problem for the students, because they were getting a distorted view of politics in Latin America," he said. He also discussed problems with diversity in economic background. "Class matters. Unfair advantages'are primarily a function of money and connections. That's unfortunate," he said. The next speaker, Sanchez, __^ stated that the multicultural organizations on campus are essentially ignored, and that this contributes to diversity not being a core value. "I'm president of HOLA, and we work really hard at putting ourselves out there for students, and most of the time we don't have a lot of student participation. It can be very discouraging," she said. Like Santiago, she said that apathy contributes to a lack of diversity in the university community. "I've talked to a lot of students, and I asked them if they were going to "I believe that diversity and inclusiveness are at the heart and soul of the institution." come here today, and some of them were like,' I'm not diverse, so I don't need to come to that meeting,' and I'm like, okay, just because you're not a minority doesn't mean you don't have to come to that meeting," she said. Khadir spoke next, offering several ideas of what to do to remedy the diversity situation at the university. Some of these included refashioning the Bulletin and university website and diversifying the student body by admitting more students from diverse backgrounds. Pender addressed the issue of student apathy ' again, saying that ,..........„„, ^ SUK}ents think, " Hey, I'll go to this program if there's cultural credit... if diversity was that much of a value for most of us, we wouldn't necessarily sign up for cultural credit, but we'd go anyway." Flint-Hamilton described a project in her Slavery in the Classical World course. Students were classified as either a slave or a master by random drawing, and she said, "Any time I have one or two students of color in the class, the entire class hangs upon these students..."it doesn't matter if the students of color are masters or slaves, their mere presence seems to serve as a catalyst." In contrast, the students who had only whites in their class did not internalize the experience and the lessons it provided. Davis said in his speech, "Institutionally, we are diverse. But culturally, we are not diverse. It's our job, now that we have the institution in place, to decide, do we want to move on to become a diverse people?" Egorov commended the faculty and administration on their efforts to incorporate diversi.y, but stated that he did not believe that diversity was a core value of the institution. After the members of the panel were finished speaking, the audience was invited to share stories and viewpoints. They brought up numerous issues, including the unfairness of classifying people as simply "white" and the awkwardness of being one of the only African-Americans in a fraternity. Other issues previously mentioned by the panel were also brought up again, • including the issue of cultural credit. Over twenty people spoke out about the issue, each offering a unique - view that contributed to the goal of the.meeting, which was to open discussion of this issue. Contact Liz Erlenbach at [email protected]. By Jamie Kinsley associate news editor 'ichael Davis, Student Government Association President, brought up the fact that people with disabilities are also a minority and help to make up Stetson's multeity at the Diversity Town Hall meeting. Also this week, the Disabilities Awareness Committee of SGA handed out ribbons for disabilities awareness. By handing Out ribbons, the committee hoped to open a door to the students in order for them to feel more comfortable discussing disabilities. "We want to create an awareness that diversity extends beyond race and color. We also have a greater vision in the future for making Stetson more disability-friendly," said Davis. "I want to treat disabilities as any other diversity issue would be approached, and the first step in that is education and exposure. When those around us have been educated, our environment will be more.loving, and effective learning environment," said Disabilities Awareness Committee Chaii, Crystal Smith. The committee plans on educating people through student panels, guest speakers, and workshops. They have already begun passing out flyers that contains polite terminology, and advice on how to approach someone who is disabled. Smith feels that our generation is already ahead because of the awareness that the Americans with Disabilities Act created. "We are the largest minority group in America, we are also a very interesting group in that we are composed of lots of other minority groups," commented Smith. In 1990, the ADA took people with disabilities out of institutions and granted them equal rights in education, housing, and jobs. ADA also W "* tiw see BISABIL1TY, page 2a AWARENESS: Students hand out disability awareness ribbons, photo by michael davis