News Releases Archives - Page 15 of 19

18th President Official News Release

Posted on January 12, 2016October 7, 2022

Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez — Jorge G. Gonzalez

Kalamazoo, Mich. (January 12, 2016) – The Board of Trustees of Kalamazoo College has chosen Jorge G. Gonzalez, Ph.D., to become the institution’s 18th president. Gonzalez is currently vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Occidental College (Los Angeles, Calif.). He succeeds President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, Ph.D., who announced her retirement in April 2015. Her last day at K will be June 30. Gonzalez will begin his new duties as K’s president on July 1.

“I feel my life has been a preparation for this incredible opportunity to advance the liberal arts and the K-Plan,” he said. “Kalamazoo College’s mission is a perfect match with my deeply held belief in the learning values and the life values of experiential education and international education.”

Gonzalez said immersion in the liberal arts is the most powerful and life-enriching form of undergraduate education when students have opportunities to apply their academic work in a variety of extra-curricular experiences. As a professor and as an administrator—both at Trinity University, where he worked from 1989 to 2010, and at Occidental College—he has created innovative programs combining liberal arts academics and experiential applications that cross borders and cultures.

“The board’s vote was unanimous, and our excitement boundless,” said Board of Trustees Chair Charlotte Hall ’66, who led the presidential search committee. “Dr. Gonzalez is a passionate champion of the liberal arts and has an abiding commitment to the values embodied in the K-Plan: academic excellence, experiential learning, intercultural understanding and community engagement. Through all of his work, he has sought to make that powerful combination better and more accessible to diverse groups of students.”

Gonzalez won Trinity University’s most prestigious teaching award. He is widely published and a frequent contributor at professional and academic conferences. His research interests include international economics, political economy and development. He served as the president of the International Trade and Finance Association (2014), and he was selected by the American Council on Education for its prestigious ACE Fellowship (2007-2008). He spent that academic year at Pomona College and visited and spent time with the leaders of about 30 other colleges and universities across the country.

Gonzalez grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree (major in economics) from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM). During his junior year he studied abroad at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, an experience, he said, “that changed my life!” He earned his M.A. (economics, 1986) and Ph.D. (economics, 1989) from Michigan State University.

Gonzalez is married to Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez, a Kalamazoo College graduate of the class of 1983. They have two children, a daughter (Kristina) who recently graduated from the University of Southern California with a major in international relations and is now working in commercial real estate in Los Angeles, and a son (Carlos) who is a sophomore at Rice University majoring in computer science.

The appointment of Gonzalez is the culmination of a seven-month-long national search process. Along with Hall, the search committee included trustees Jim Clayton ’78, Gwen (Van Domelen) Fountain ’68, Si Johnson ’78, Alexander Lipsey ’72, Jody Olsen, and Jon Stryker ’82; Alexandra Altman ’97, president of the Alumni Association Executive Board (and a member of the board of trustees); faculty members Arthur Cole, associate professor of physics, Kyla Day Fletcher, assistant professor of psychology, and Jan Tobochnik, the Dow Distinguished Professor of Natural Sciences; Victor Garcia ’97, grounds coordinator for facilities management; Tanush Jagdish, member of the sophomore class; Stacy Nowicki, library director; and Sally Arent, assistant to the vice president and dean of students and secretary to the search committee. The search committee was assisted by the well-known higher education search firm, Storbeck/Pimentel.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) was founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833 and is one of the oldest colleges in the United States. Located midway between Chicago and Detroit, K is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

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Alumnus Will Lead Effort to Solve Flint Water Crisis

Posted on December 22, 2015March 23, 2022

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has chosen Harvey Hollins III ’87 to coordinate the state’s response to the Flint water crisis. Hollins directs the Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives, which was formed in 2012.

The problem with the city of Flint’s water supply began when the city switched water sources to the Flint River in April 2014. The city was under state emergency management when that switch was made. After the switch complaints soon arose about the smell and taste of the water. The city and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality initially insisted the water was safe, but by September 2014, doctors had already detected a spike in the amount of lead seen in blood samples drawn from Flint children. Tests showed that water leaving Flint’s treatment plant was lead-free but picking up lead from aging pipes in the system. The city’s previous water supplier had corrected that problem by adding corrosion control chemicals, but the City of Flint wasn’t adding them.

The appointment of Hollins resulted from a task force recommendation that a single person lead the follow-up to the water crisis. Follow-up responses will come from several state departments, and Hollins will coordinate those and keep the task force up to date on progress. Responses include additional water and blood tests, expedited improvements to the city’s water system, increased education about lead and transparent reporting on goals, timelines and assignments. At K Hollins earned his bachelor’s degree in health sciences. He played basketball and football and in his senior year earned the Catherine A. Smith Award for Human Rights. He earned his master’s degree at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He spent several years working as a fiscal analysts for the Michigan House of Representatives and then eight years as the Michigan government affairs representative for the AARP. In 2004 he was appointed vice president for government and community affairs at Wayne State University. He served in that post until Snyder tapped him to serve as director of urban initiatives.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College Selects Four Local Activists for Inaugural Regional Fellowship Program

Posted on December 2, 2015April 5, 2023

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) at Kalamazoo College has named four Southwest Michigan social justice activists to its inaugural ACSJL Regional Fellowship Program. The four Regional Fellows – Lolita Moss, Fernando Ospina, Jacob Pinney-Johnson, and Janai Travis – will serve in their fellowships through June 2016. They will receive funding, training, and mentoring through the ACSJL.

According to ACSJL Executive Director Mia Henry, the Regional Fellowship Program aims to build the leadership capacity of emerging and veteran social justice leaders that work and reside within the nine-county Southwest Michigan region.

“The fellowships are designed to support participants in clarifying their core values, increase their effectiveness and bring a stronger social justice focus to their work,” said Henry. “We hope the program also helps to strengthen the existing network of social justice leaders in the region.”

The new ACSJL Fellows were selected via a competitive application process. All work with nonprofit organizations on projects addressing issues such as black infant mortality, media literacy in marginalized communities, use of performance art to effect social change, and leadership development and community organizing among young people.

“I was ecstatic when I found out my project had been selected for the Regional Fellowship,” said Lolita Moss. “I have been searching for a way to lend my interest and expertise to the current fight for social justice. I’m very grateful and feel very fortunate that we have the Arcus Center right here in Kalamazoo.”

Fellows will be expected to implement or further develop a project in their local organization and community. They will also attend leadership retreats with other fellows and leadership training and coaching sessions with the ACSJL or a partner organization. They may also engage with Kalamazoo College students in a class, with a student organization, and through the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development.

Brief bios and project descriptions for each ACSJL Regional Fellow follow. Applications for the 2016-2017 Regional Fellowship will be available in May 2016. For more details, contact: Mia Henry, mhenry@kzoo.edu or 269-337-7398.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. The ACSJL’s mission is to develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, which in turn, supports Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Regional Fellow Lolita Moss — Lolita Moss, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow

Lolita Moss was born and raised in Kalamazoo, and received her B.A. degree from University of Michigan. Her professional background includes youth development work and developmental psychology research. She is a fierce advocate for media literacy and inclusive media representations.

Lolita’s project features the development of a curriculum that teaches critical media literacy to youth ages 12-18. The curriculum will be based on critical race and culture theory, which centers and affirms marginalized identities, specifically: people of color, women, trans, queer, disabled, and low-income communities. After the curriculum is developed, she will seek community partners for whom she can deliver the curriculum during summer 2016. Participants will gain an understanding of the media’s ability to impact one’s thoughts and behaviors. The primary goal of this project is to educate and empower youth from marginalized communities.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Regional Fellow Fernando Ospina — Fernando Ospina, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow

Fernando Ospina is an anti-racism organizer and trainer with Eliminating Racism and Claiming/Celebrating Equality (ERACCE). His professional training is in Conflict Resolution and Counseling Psychology. Fernando’s previous work has focused on violence prevention with court-mandated youth and adults as well as in research on courageous altruism.

Fernando’s project will focus on assisting the Kalamazoo Infant Mortality Community Action Initiative with designing and implementing strategies and activities to ensure the reduction of black infant mortality in Kalamazoo. In Kalamazoo, black infants are 4.5 times more likely to die than white infants. This fact is a direct consequence of systemic racism. In order to reduce this disparity, it is vital that those affected, and throughout the healthcare system in Kalamazoo, are knowledgeable of at least two things: 1) how racism contributes to disparities and 2) how to engage in systemic interventions to reduce disparities. Fernando’s organizing goals will be to help the initiative: 1) maintain focus on and increase awareness of how racism contributes to disparities; 2) approach the problem with a systemic lens and implement systemic responses; and 3) organize community and institutional support to address racial disparities like infant mortality through systemic, race conscious interventions.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Regional Fellow Jacob Pinney-Johnson — Jacob Pinney-Johnson, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow

Jacob Pinney-Johnson is a fourth generation Kalamazoo resident with a lineage of family members who have contributed to the uplifting of African Americans in Southwest Michigan. He is a recipient of the Kalamazoo Promise and holds a B.A. degree in social work with a minor in Holistic Health from Western Michigan University. With a focus on racial equity, social justice, health and wellness, and youth development, Jacob has experience organizing within institutions and on a grass-roots level. Jacob currently sits on the Board of Directors for Educating for Freedom in Schools and the Kalamazoo Farmers Market Advisory Board. He is also a member of the ERACCE Regional Organizing Team. Along with serving as the Assistant to the Director at SHARE (Society for History and Racial Equity), Jacob also works part-time as a coordinator for the Kalamazoo Farmers Market.

Jacob’s project, the Institute for New Leadership (INL or project X), is a leadership development and community organizing program for the rising generation in Kalamazoo. The program will work with a multicultural group of 10-15 young people, and will focus on building awareness about systems of oppression as well as organizing for justice and social change. The program will be based around studying resistance, social change, and re-imagining communities, and will culminate in a community-based event, a People’s Movement Assembly. INL is based on a vision of leadership that is inclusive and non-oppressive of any gender, ethnicity, class, education level, or identity.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Regional Fellow Janai Travis — Janai Travis, 2015-16 ACSJL Regional Fellow

Janai Travis has been engaged in the performing arts since the young age of eight years old and decided early on to make a career out of her passion. Thanks to the Kalamazoo Promise, Janai was the first generation to graduate from college earning a B.A. degree in theater performance from Western Michigan University. She finds her purpose rooted in serving youth in the community through arts, culture, and artistry. For the past five years, Janai has been instrumental in the Freedom Schools movement. She currently holds the position of coordinating program director with Educating for Freedom in Schools. Janai is also one of the co-founders of the Black Arts and Cultural Center’s Face Off Theater Company.

Janai’s project, Activism and Artistry for Youth Initiative, explores the impact artistry can have in society as it relates to activism and demonstration. Youth will have the opportunity to express themselves while learning the artistic and rigorous technique of movement work. This Initiative is designed to merge service learning and authentic performance art in a way that is transformative. The objective is to create a piece that youth of color can use as a tool to combat injustices in our society. This project has the potential to set a new style of demonstration that will provoke substantial change.

Kalamazoo College 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership Goes to Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement

Posted on October 10, 2015March 23, 2022

Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement (Familia), the only LGBTQ Latino organization in the United States that focuses on racial justice through a trans and queer lens, is the winner of the 2015 Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership.

Familia was formed with a mission to work at the national and grassroots levels to achieve the collective liberation of LGBTQ Latinos and their families by leading an intergenerational movement through community organizing, advocacy, and education.

Jennicet Gutierrez, an organizer with Familia, was humbled by receiving K’s Global Prize.

“It’s an honor to work on behalf of the undocumented immigrants who are suffering,” they said. “We’ll work tirelessly to stand up for the dignity of these brave people.”

Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement National Coordinator Jorge Gutierrez — Familia National Coordinator Jorge Gutierrez

The Global Prize, the second such award given since the biennial competition was born in 2013, was announced Saturday evening. It came after a two-day competition where the 10 finalist organizations engaged in social justice work from around the globe presented their projects to a panel of judges comprised of social justice advocates from Kalamazoo College, the local Kalamazoo community, the United States, and abroad.

Mujeres Lucha y Derechos Para Todas A.C. (MULYD), “Women, Struggle, and Rights for Everyone,” a Mexican-based organization that works to educate and empower indigenous women about health and reproductive rights, and The Association of Injured Workers & Ex-Workers of General Motors Colmotores (ASOTRECOL), a group working to draw attention to the plight of employees injured at a GM plant in Colombia, each won an Audience Choice Award of $2,500 each.

Jorge Gutierrez, national coordinator with the Los Angeles-based Familia, said the $25,000 prize, awarded by K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, would help Familia sustain its current work and grow its influence into much needed areas.

Alicia Garcia and Guadalupe Garcia Alvarez outside the Arcus Center — Alicia Garcia and Guadalupe Garcia Alvarez of MULYD

“I am a mixed bag of emotions,” said Gutierrez. “All of us who do social justice work deserve resources, and we are grateful for this prize. We don’t take this lightly. We would continue doing what we’re doing if we had won or not.”

The organization’s work extends across the nation, including several Western states, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. They are looking to enter the Midwest and many southern states as well, which the prize money will help them do – among other things, Jorge Gutierrez said.

“We can now pay some volunteers, and devote our energies in areas we’ve always wanted to,” he said, adding some of the money would be given to the MULYD group, with which Familia is planning to collaborate.

All ten finalist groups were awarded a plaque in recognition of their work by Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran.

Paige Shell-Spurling and Jorge Parra outside the Arcus Center — Paige Shell-Spurling and Jorge Parra of ASOTRECOL

“We’ve spent 48 hours together, and come to appreciate each other in deep ways,” she told members of the ten finalists. “We here at the College are touched by your collective work. Know that you are loved, affirmed, and empowered.”

Lisa Brock, academic director of the Arcus Center, gave a closing remark to finalists.

“When we began this in 2013, it was never about competition,” she said. “It was a way to get all of you amazing people here and to lift you up, praise you, and say we are in solidarity with you.”

Kalamazoo College Announces 10 Finalists for 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership

Posted on July 22, 2015April 5, 2023

Kalamazoo College is pleased to announce the ten finalists for its 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership, a juried competition hosted by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL), in which one project will receive a $25,000 prize.

The 24-member Global Prize jury that selected the finalists included Kalamazoo College faculty, staff, and students, as well as social justice advocates from the Kalamazoo region. All have done work on relevant social justice issues represented in the applicant pool.

Kalamazoo College received 87 entries—in the form of eight- to ten-minute videos—from 22 nations and 18 states within the United States.

Finalists’ projects collectively address economic justice, cultural and environmental preservation, immigration, mass incarceration, reproductive justice, racial justice, gendered violence, trans and queer liberation, workers’ rights, and issues specifically impacting people with mental illness, youth, indigenous communities and children in the foster care system. The scope of each project varies, some focusing on local communities, others looking at national or transnational issues.

Here are the ten projects, listed in alphabetical order with their location.

At Crossroads: Forest Dwellers of India. Madhya Pradesh, India.
Bavubuka: Transformative Voices of Justice. Kampala, Uganda.
Black on Both Sides. Chicago, Ill.
Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. Los Angeles, Calif.
Justice for the Injured Colombian General Motors Workers. Bogota, Colombia.
Mujeres, Lucha y Derechos Para Todas A.C. Región Norte del Estado de México, México.
Our Community Is Our Campaign. Madison, Wisc.
Radical Mental Health: Paths for Individual & Collective Liberation. New York City.
Trans Women of Color Collective: Shifting the Narrative. Washington, D.C.
Uno por Uno: Puente Human Rights Movement. Phoenix, Ariz.

“We believe these ten projects provide outstanding examples of transformative thinking and practice on both personal and systemic levels,” said ACSJL Executive Director Mia Henry. “The Global Prize weekend promises to be both inspirational to our community and pivotal for finalists. Leaders from all ten projects will have opportunities to learn from one another, as well as receive capacity-building support.”

All finalists will be awarded $1,000 and brought to K’s campus Oct. 9-11 for Prize Weekend. During the weekend, finalists will present their work to an audience consisting of a jury of global activists, members of the K campus, and the public. They will also engage with each other through a Global Leadership Exchange.

The recipient of a $25,000 Global Prize will be announced by Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran during the weekend. A full schedule and the list of jurors will be announced later this summer.

Kalamazoo College’s inaugural Global Prize for Social Justice Leadership, now a biennial event, was held in 2013. Jurors for that competition chose to split the prize among three projects.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

Kalamazoo College Receives 87 Entries from 22 Countries and 18 States for 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership

Posted on June 17, 2015April 5, 2023

Kalamazoo College has received 87 entries from 22 countries to its 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership. Entry deadline for the juried competition was April 17. Ten finalists will be announced in early July and vie for a $25,000 prize during a Global Social Justice Leadership Exchange, Oct. 9-11, on the K campus in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Entries came from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central America, North America, and South America. Entries from the United States came from 27 cities in 18 states and the District of Columbia. Eleven entries came from Michigan, including four from the Kalamazoo area.

“We are thrilled by the number and geographic scope of the entries we received,” said Mia Henry, executive director of K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL), which is hosting the competition. “We are impressed and inspired by the breadth and depth of the issues the applicants are addressing,” she added.

The 87 entries address 12 distinct themes: art and justice, economic justice, educational equity, environmental justice, food justice, gender and sexualities, health equity, human rights, immigration, mass incarceration, politics and justice, and race and racism.

Jurors, consisting of Kalamazoo College faculty, students, administrators, and community members have been hard at work to determine the ten finalists. Each entry—in the form of an eight- to 10-minute video—has been reviewed by three jurors.

Each finalist will be awarded $1,000 and brought to the K campus Oct. 9-11 where they will present their video and make a case for their projects to an audience consisting of a second jury, other finalists, Kalamazoo College campus members, invited guests, and the general public.
Jurors will select one project to receive the $25,000 Global Prize at the end of the weekend gathering.

“The competition was open to anyone in the world doing grassroots, transformative social justice work that challenges structural inequality and that centers the voices of those most impacted,” said ACSJL academic director Lisa Brock, Ph.D.

“The prize weekend will feature a leadership exchange that includes workshops and think-tank discussions among the finalists, an online publication, and video documentation that finalists can share long after prize weekend is over,” Brock said.

More information about the Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership is available at www.kzoo.edu/SocialJusticeLeadershipPrize.

Kalamazoo College held its inaugural Global Prize in Social Justice Leadership in May 2013.
Instead of awarding a single $25,000 prize, as had been planned, the jurors were split and ultimately decided to award three Global Prizes for $10,000 each.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College Commencement 2015 Will Be Held June 14 at 2:15 on the Quad

Posted on June 10, 2015December 19, 2022

NOTE: DUE TO RAIN, COMMENCEMENT IS CHANGED TO 2:15 OUTDOORS ON THE QUAD!

Kalamazoo College 2015 commencement will be held Sunday June 14, 2:15 p.m., on the campus Quad (1200 Academy St.). Approximately 330 K seniors will receive B.A. degrees.

Kalamazoo College commencement is free and open to the public. Parking will be in high demand, so allow extra time. The College sets up about 3,000 folding chairs on the Quad and guests are invited to bring a lawn chair or blanket to stretch out on the grass. In case of rain, Anderson Athletic Center (1015 Academy St.) is the alternate site. The gym can only accommodate the graduates and a few of their family members, as well as K administrators, trustees, and faculty members. K uses a special ticketing process for those seats.

Speakers include Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, Board Vice-Chair S. Si Johnson ’78, Alumni Association Executive Board Chair Alexandra Foley Altman ’97, and senior class speaker Asia Liza Morales ’15.

The Kalamazoo College class of 2015 is one of the most diverse in the College’s history. About 33 percent of students came from states other than Michigan. Nearly 20 percent self-identify as American Indian, Asian, Black or African-American, Hispanic, or two or more races. Fourteen students identify as non-U.S. resident aliens and 32 countries overall are represented by class members.

David Finkel, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of “The Good Soldiers” and “Thank You for Your Service,” will deliver the commencement address and receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College. Finkel was the summer common reading author for the class of 2015 prior to their arrival as first-year students at the College in fall 2011. He visited the K campus during students’ orientation, giving a lecture and reading from “The Good Soldiers,” his bestselling account of a U.S. Army infantry unit during the Iraq War “surge.” Finkel won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his case study of the United States government’s attempt to bring democracy to Yemen. Per K tradition, the summer common reading author returns to deliver the commencement address to the same class of students he met in 2011.

Attorney, author, and LGBTQ activist Urvashi Vaid, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the College on Sunday. Vaid is the president the Vaid Group, LLC, a consulting firm that works on ending inequality of all kinds. She is the former director of the Engaging Tradition Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. Her most recent book is “Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics.” She was executive director of the Arcus Foundation from 2005 to 2010 and was instrumental in creating the vision for what is now Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.

Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.

Miles to Go: Toward an Equitable, Inclusive Campus Learning Experience

Posted on March 12, 2015March 23, 2022

In recent weeks, three separate events embedded in a much broader historical context have brought to light the need for greater attention and resources devoted to shaping our campus climate and continuing to foster a community that is safe and inclusive for all.

First, during the weekend of Feb 21-22, an anti-Semitic comment was posted anonymously to a social media site similar to ones aimed at colleges and universities nationwide on which anonymous posters post all sorts of hate-filled speech. K has no control over what is posted there, and the post in question may well have originated with someone unassociated with K. The content of the entry, however, was antithetical to Kalamazoo College and to its Honor System. Moreover, members of the K campus community suffered unnecessarily as a result of this attack. K President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran urged the entire campus community to stand in solidarity by rejecting this action and any action that dehumanizes members of our community.

Second, at the February 23 Student Commission meeting, a K student asked StuComm to support his effort to allow him and others to carry a concealed weapon on campus, part of a national campaign for concealed carry on college campuses. StuComm declined to support his effort. Some Commissioners have reported that the student visibly displayed an empty gun holster and made threats to individuals and/or groups. The meeting made some students feel unsafe. The following day, students expressed these safety concerns via a social media campaign and directly to College administrators and trustees. The student advocating for the concealed-carry measure cooperated with a search of his residence hall room and vehicle. No weapon was found. The Campus Security Director performed a threat assessment, and determined that this individual did not pose a threat to the community or individuals on campus.

Weapons are not, and will not be, allowed on campus.

No weapon was involved in any of the events of the past two weeks. The wearing and showing of an empty holster is not against the law or the Kalamazoo College code of conduct. Nor does the action in and of itself constitute bullying and harassment. Nevertheless, we know that some felt bullied or harassed. That concerns us deeply.

The third event occurred last week (March 3) when College officials were informed that a highly inflammatory entry had been placed in a Student Commission Google Doc, a document repository hosted on Google servers which allows for anonymous group editing and sharing online. The entry was racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic. It also contained a direct threat for March 5 aimed at “faculty at Kalamazoo U, that will teach them the value of campus carry.”

The College and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) consider the inflammatory entry a hate crime, and KDPS is investigating it as such. Police investigators have also enlisted the FBI‘s support in the matter. Investigators are seeking to determine the identity of the source of the anonymous entry; the likelihood of such an identification not known.

Kalamazoo College and KDPS take all threats seriously. The initial assessment of KDPS was that the threat was not credible and was unlikely to be acted upon. However, patrols by campus security and Kalamazoo police officers were increased around and on campus, including plain clothes officers, on March 5. As police officials expected, no incident of violence occurred on campus that day. Nevertheless, the matter was and is unnerving for many people, and we are taking precautions and measures to address the concerns of those who feel uneasy. Being safe and feeling safe are two different things. Both are important, particularly for students of color, international students, first-generation students, and students from low income families who have traditionally been underrepresented and underserved at K and by higher education generally.

These recent events have generated new conversations, renewed previous discussions, and sparked protests on the subjects of safety and institutional progress toward a learning environment that is equitable inclusive for all students. The conversations, discussions and protests have involved students, faculty, staff, President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran and other senior administrators, and the Board of Trustees. On the matter of an equitable and inclusive learning environment for students traditionally underrepresented and underserved by K and in higher education generally, the College has made some progress and still has further to go. Progress in and of itself is not our end goal. Instead the achievement of an equitable and inclusive learning environment is the end goal.

Toward that end we have dramatically changed our representational diversity. We have increased our percentage of domestic students of color and international students, becoming the most racially diverse school in the Great Lakes Colleges Association, which includes Hope, Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster and eight other small top colleges.. We need to do more. We have trained more than half of our faculty and staff (and some students) using the VISIONS, Inc., multicultural training and ERAC/CE anti-racism training. This training is ongoing; we need to evaluate its effectiveness and expand it. We have listened to the campus experience of our students of color and from that focus group work we must continue discussions and develop or refine recommendations that will eliminate or change institutional practices and structures that inhibit an equitable and inclusive learning environment. A recent result of this ongoing effort was the creation last quarter of the “Sense of Belonging” Task Force charged to make specific recommendations to achieve that learning environment. We have recently secured a grant from the Mellon Foundation that will allow us to hire additional staff in student development and to reconfigure our intercultural work there. We’ve also approved a new major in Critical Ethnic Studies, and have secured an endowed gift to support a faculty line in this area. The Mellon Foundation Grant will also be used for faculty development and further curriculum development on behalf of educational practices and a learning environment that is equitable and inclusive.

In regard to that goal the events of the past weeks have allowed us to take a critical look at our roles, and in doing so the duress and struggle associated with our discussions and self-criticism are signs of health. We are committed to building an equitable and inclusive learning environment. We’ve made progress. And we have further to go. Both of those statements are true. Progress requires hard work, struggle, and occasionally pressure from our community. All of those phenomena–work, struggle, and pressure–are signs and part of progress. We will not content ourselves with progress alone. We are committed to the goal no matter how difficult it is to get there.

Hornets at National Championship Meet

Posted on March 5, 2015March 23, 2022

Five Hornet members of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team have qualified for the 2015 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Qualifiers are Tristyn Edsall ’17, Ellen Neveux ’17, Colleen Orwin ’17, Christina Park ’17, and Will Guedes ’15. The championships take place March 18 through March 21 at the Conroe Natatorium in Shenandoah, Texas. In addition to the national competition, there will be an opportunity to meet the K swimmers, divers, and coaches in an informal dinner setting on Saturday, March 21. The Office of Alumni Relations will host a complimentary dinner immediately following the competition at Guri Do Sul Brazilin Steakhouse (1400 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, Texas). Please confirm your attendance no later than Monday, March 16, by contacting Kerri Barker, assistant director of alumni relations (269.337.7289). Tickets for the championships are $80 for an all-session pass, which includes prelims and finals on all four days.

Arcus Center Building Dedication is Open to the Public, Friday Sept. 19, 4:00 p.m.

Posted on September 18, 2014March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College hosts a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 P.M., Friday Sept. 19, for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership building at 205 Monroe St., at the corner of Academy St. in Kalamazoo, Mich. The 10,000 sq. ft. structure—the newest on the K campus—was constructed by Miller-Davis Company of Kalamazoo and designed by Studio Gang Architects of Chicago.

The dedication event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to park in the K Athletics Fields parking lot, 1600 W. Michigan Ave., and take continuously operating shuttle vans to the ceremony.

Speakers will include Charlotte Hall ’66, chair, K board of trustees; Jon Stryker ’82, K trustee; Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang Architects; Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, K president; and Cameron Goodall ’15, K student commission president.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will include Carol Anderson, K professor of religion and chair of the Department of Religion; Lisa Brock, academic director of K’s Arcus Center; and Mia Henry, executive director of K’s Arcus Center.

Refreshments and an open house in the new building follow.

The Arcus Center building features offices, work areas, and classroom/seminar spaces situated around a central hearth and kitchen area. Wooden benches around the central fireplace preserve and repurpose wood from the site’s trees. The building’s structural frame includes 680 pieces of steel—many curved, some in two planes, and no two alike.

The building’s three-sided form emphasizes academic learning, relationships with the natural world, and interdependency of communities. A predominance of curvature represents arms open to all to join in social justice work.

The exterior cordwood masonry construction—northern Michigan white cedar logs of varying diameter in 11- to 36-inch lengths—symbolizes the diversity of humanity. While cordwood construction is traditional to the upper Midwest, this is believed to be the first commercial or institutional structure in North America to employ this technique.

The College will seek Gold LEED certification for the new building. Its geothermal heating and cooling system (12 wells drilled to a depth of 400 feet) meets the College’s stringent energy efficiency standard. A radiant and forced convection heating system transforms the Center’s entire floor into a heat duct, with air movement undetectable to the senses. Onsite drainage and retention reduces storm water runoff.

K gratefully acknowledges Steelcase Inc. and Custer Workplace Interiors for their generosity in helping supply office furnishings for the new Arcus Center building.

The Arcus Center building and its $5 million construction cost is a gift to the College from Jon Stryker, a member of the K board of trustees and of the K class of 1982. Jon is founder and president of the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), a private, global grant-making organization with offices in New York City, Kalamazoo, and Cambridge, U.K., that supports the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights, and conservation of the world’s great apes. Jon is a founding board member of the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, Save the Chimps in Ft. Pierce, Fla., and Greenleaf Trust, a trust bank in Kalamazoo. He also serves on the board of the Friends of the Highline in New York City. Jon is a registered architect in the State of Michigan. He earned a B.A. degree in biology from K and a M.A. degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.

MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founder of Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective of architects, designers, and thinkers practicing internationally. Jeanne uses architecture as a medium of active response to contemporary issues and their impact on human experience. Each of her projects resonates with its specific site and culture while addressing larger global themes such as urbanization, climate, and sustainability. With this approach, Studio Gang has produced some of today’s most innovative and visually compelling architecture. The firm’s projects range from tall buildings like the Aqua Tower, whose façade encourages building community in the vertical dimension, to the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, where 14 acres of biodiverse habitat are designed to double as storm water infrastructure and engaging public space.

Founded in 1909, Miller-Davis Company is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Mich., with an additional office in South Bend, Ind. It is a full-service construction company providing general contracting, construction management, design-build, and construction consulting services. Miller-Davis has served as the construction manager on numerous Kalamazoo College projects for more than 80 years. In addition to the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, these projects include Upjohn Library Commons, Hicks Student Center, the K Natatorium, Stetson Chapel, Mandelle Administration Building, Hoben Residence Hall, and Trowbridge Residence Hall.

The mission of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice) is to support the pursuit of human rights and social justice by developing emerging leaders and sustaining existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, creating a pivotal role for liberal arts education in engendering amore just world. The Arcus Center was established at Kalamazoo College in 2009 through generous funding from the Arcus Foundation. In 2012, the College received a $23 million grant from the Foundation to endow the Center’s activities.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

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