Senior computer science major Jae Hyun Choe presented a poster at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition. The title of his presentation was “ACEit!–Android app to Assist Children in Learning to Read English.” The work was based on his Senior Individualized Project, which was supported by the Hough Foundation Natural Science and Mathematics SIP grant last summer, according to Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter, who served as Choe’s SIP supervisor. “Jae Hyun competed with 16 others,” said Cutter, “and although he didn’t make it to the next round of the competition, he said that making and presenting the poster as well as explaining what he did and getting ideas and feedback from others were very valuable experiences. The competition was held in Kansas City, Missouri, during the ACM’s Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education technical symposium. The College’s computer science department has been busy with meetings preparations. Six women computer science students plan to participate in the upcoming Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing, which will be held in Ann Arbor. One of the students will present her SIP work there.
students
K Seniors Win Davis Project for Peace Grant
Kalamazoo College seniors Jasmine An and Allison Kennedy will receive a $10,000 Davis Project for Peace grant to implement a five-week creative writing and leadership workshop for previously incarcerated individuals in Kalamazoo. Both women are fellows at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). The workshop aims to reduce the stigma of incarceration and promote peace and stability in the community. The two also serve as Civic Engagement Scholars for the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). In fact, it was a CCE creative writing partnership with the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative that formed the basis of the project that was awarded the Davis Project for Peace grant. (According to CCE Director Alison Geist, nearly every K recipient of a Davis Project for Peace grant has been a Civic Engagement Scholar, and all have been leaders in CCE programming).
An and Kennedy will partner with Michigan United, a local organization that addresses incarceration and re-entry challenges faced by individuals in Kalamazoo. The ACSJL will donate space and supplies. The work will culminate in an anthology of work that highlights how Kalamazoo is confronting incarceration. An article on the seniors’ workshops appeared in the February issue of BeLight.
Projects for Peace invites all undergraduates at the 91 American colleges and universities that are partners in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to compete for these grants. A total of 127 projects were awarded implementation in the summer of 2015.
K’s history with the program is a successful one. Kalamazoo College students have used these awards each of the past seven years to conduct projects in Thailand, Kenya, Pakistan, Jamaica, Haiti, and Kalamazoo. An’s and Kennedy’s project will be the second carried out in Kalamazoo.
In 2007, Projects for Peace was the vision of philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis on the occasion of her 100th birthday. Until her death at 106 in 2013, Mrs. Davis was intent on advancing the cause of peace and sought to motivate tomorrow’s promising leaders by challenging them to find ways to “prepare for peace”.
Miles to Go: Toward an Equitable, Inclusive Campus Learning Experience
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
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.
Student-Led Forums Focus on Race and Ethnicity on K’s Campus
Kalamazoo College students host two forums this week focusing on race and ethnicity on the K campus.
“Konsciousness” (Wed. March 4, 7PM, Banquet Room, Hicks Student Center) is a structured discussion open to K students, faculty, and staff to hear what students talk about and experience on campus regarding race and ethnicity.
“Stories You’ve Never Heard Before” (Thu. March 5, 7:30PM, Connable Recital Hall, Light Fine Arts Building) is a “Think Tank” event also open to K students, faculty, and staff, that will allow young men of color on campus to tell their stories.
These two events are not open to the general public.
“Konsciousness” grew out of an independent study course that K seniors Asia Morales and Bronte Payne had with Assistant Professor of English Shanna Salinas, Ph.D. Asia and Bronte will facilitate Wednesday’s discussion.
“As students, we believe there has been a severe lack of physical space to have difficult conversations such as this one,” Asia and Bronte wrote in a Feb. 24, 2015 editorial in The Index, K’s student newspaper. “Our hope is that in providing this space, we as a community can take steps forward together on important issues which affect all of us.”
In their editorial, Asia and Bronte state that students will be at the center of the discussion, with faculty and staff forming a silent audience, with the opportunity to submit written questions to students.
“We have chosen this format because we feel strongly that this will serve as an opportunity for faculty and staff … to hear what students are talking about and what students are experiencing on this campus outside of the classroom and the office.”
“Stories You’ve Never Heard Before” is sponsored by the K student organization Young Men of Color. In an email invitation to the campus community, they stated that they invite students, faculty, and staff, to “Come hear the unique experiences we have gone through both in our communities and on K’s campus.
“We would like to share our perspectives and life experiences with the campus community to spark productive dialogues among our peers, administration, and faculty and staff, as well as help our campus community gain a better understanding of our identity as young men of color.”
Young Men of Color, according to their mission statement, “seek to provide the leadership that establishes a safe space of brotherhood, social support, and a common sense of fellowship on campus. Through these collaborative efforts we will unite the young men of color while encouraging internal accountability, eradicating negative stereotypes at large, and inducing academic excellence.”
Message to the K Campus Community on Recent Events and Commitment to Safety and Inclusion
The following message was emailed to Kalamazoo College students, faculty, and staff this afternoon, and posted on the Colleges Intranet site:
At the Monday, 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. The commission declined to support his effort. Some 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.
On Tuesday students expressed safety concerns via a social media campaign and directly to college administrators and trustees. On Wednesday morning the College’s security department asked the student who displayed the empty gun holster on Monday to allow a search of his residence hall room and car. He cooperated, and no weapon was found. Our Director of Campus Security did a complete threat assessment of the situation and the individual with the empty holster. The director has extensive training in this area through the FBI and the Michigan State Police. In his professional judgment, this individual did not pose a threat to the campus community or to 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 three days. 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.
We also are concerned about a much deeper issue—our institutional progress toward building an inclusive, safe environment for all students, particularly students of color. On Wednesday afternoon we met with students who expressed safety concerns stemming from Monday’s StuComm meeting. About 100 students attended and we have heard very clearly that many have concerns about feeling safe on campus, and that these feelings are not only predicated on Monday’s incident, but also arise out of a broader set of concerns, including not being heard, not feeling included within our campus community, and at times being targeted as an individual or as part of a group.
Creating a campus that is safe and inclusive for all is a top concern of ours. The events of this week remind us that while we have made many strides (including diversifying the student body, adding a new major in the curriculum, and with training and on-going work on campus climate and student support) there is much more that must be done to meet our aspiration of a campus that is fully inclusive. We pledge to keep the lines of communication open. We invite all members of the campus community—students, faculty, staff—to consider our individual roles in creating a safe and inclusive community, including how we interact with each other in person and on social media. We also commit to continuing to examine and eliminate or change institutional practices and structures that inhibit a truly inclusive community.
— President’s Staff
Psychology Class Shapes Pro Voice Event
The winter term (2015) “Feminist Psychology of Women” class will present an event called “Pro Voice: Stories of Reproductive Justice” on Thursday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Dewing Hall Room 103. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so tickets must be reserved in advance (contact Brenda Westra at 337.7331). Event co-sponsors include Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan, Kalamazoo College’s Office of Student Involvement, and the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement. Through theatrical performance students will give voice to stories of reproductive justice and challenges to that justice in the Southwest Michigan community. “Through interviews with community members we explored the meaning of reproductive justice,” said Allison Bloomfield, a junior biology major who is taking the feminist psychology class this term. “The experiences that were shared in the interviews will be dramatized by student actors in monologues about abortion, and these will be followed by a talk-back panel discussion.” Reproductive Justice is the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of women and girls, based on the full achievement and protection of women’s human rights.
Jane and Grace
Seniors Jane Huffman and Grace Gilmore are collaborating on the Festival Playhouse at Kalamazoo College’s production of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).
Jane is the assistant director of Good Night Desdemona…, a different–or, perhaps more accurately–an “expanded” directing experience than the one she enjoyed previously this term when her own play, Where the Bee Sucks, was performed at the New Play House Festival in downtown Kalamazoo. “To go from a one act play with three actors to a two act play with six actors has been illuminating,” says Jane. “I’ve learned a great deal from Karen Berthel [director of Good Night Desdemona… and an associate professor of theatre arts] about how to work in a bigger space, with a bigger company.”
Jane also finds this term’s work good preparation for the spring term, when she will direct the play, Nine Parts of Desire. Jane is earning majors in theatre arts and in English, and she has published quite a few of her poems. “I’ve learned that getting published is about 90 percent submitting and 10 percent writing.” Next year she plans to begin work on an MFA in poetry.
Grace Gilmore plays the lead role of Constance in Good Night Desdemona…. “At times I feel really connected with Constance but other times so far away from her. Her views and opinions come from second-wave feminism, which is difficult for me to relate to.” Fall term Grace performed her Senior Individualized Project, the one-woman show “2.5 Minute Ride” by Kalamazoo College alumna (and Tony Award nominee) Lisa Kron ’83. Grace also won the Irene Ryan Award for Performance for Region 3 of the American College Theatre Festival. Grace competed against 274 other contestants from Region 3, ACTF’s largest, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. She and the seven winners from the other ACTF regions will take part in a national program at the John F. Kennedy Center this summer. Grace will work with national directors, perform at various venues in New York, and participate in a final showcase performance at the Kennedy Center. In the meantime, we can enjoy the work of these two talented seniors at Festival Playhouse this coming weekend. —Text and Photo by Mallory Zink ’15
Kalamazoo College Senior Leaders
This year’s senior leadership award winners are characterized by their service to communities and people and their ability to encourage the development of leadership in others. Thirty-five seniors were selected from more than 60 applicants, and both of those numbers set records in the 11 years of the Senior Leadership Recognition Award. Members of the 2015 class of extraordinary leaders include (l-r): front row–Jane Huffman, Jasmine An, Olivia Bouchard, Alexandra Gothard, Adriana Jarquin, Jenna Sexton; second row–Mary (Rosie) Tobin, Hannah Bogard, Natalie Melnick, Mele Makalo, Asia Morales, Bronte Payne, third row–Caroline Barnett, Haley Cartwright, Hannah Maness, Roxanna Menchaca, Elizabeth Cabrera, Shang Sun, David DeSimone; fourth row–Emily Lindsay, Scott Devine, Vageesha Liyana Gunawardana, Colin Smith, Philip Mulder; back row–Carl Ghafari, Samuel Rood, Adam Peters, Luke Winship, Stephen Oliphant, Mojtaba Akhavantafti, Ben Baker, and Scott Manski. Not pictured are Cheyenne Harvey, Allison Kennedy, and Hannah Olsen.
NATURAL LIFE Screens on Kalamazoo College Campus
The documentary film “Natural Life” will be shown on Monday, February 16, at Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). The film focuses on juveniles who are serving life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with sponsor introductions; screening of the film follows at 7 p.m. The sponsoring organizations are seeking legislative action to eliminate juvenile life sentences also for youths convicted before 2012. In addition to the ACSJL, sponsors include Amnesty International USA Group 29, Kalamazoo Metropolitan Branch NAACP, Southwest Michigan American Civil Liberties Union, and the Kalamazoo College Amnesty International Group.
In Michigan some 350 prisoners were convicted as perpetrators or accessories to capital crimes committed when they were juveniles. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2012 the United States Supreme Court banned such sentences as unconstitutional; nevertheless, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has held that the ruling does not apply retroactively to Michigan youths sentenced before the Supreme Court decision. The ACSJL is located at the corner of Monroe and Academy streets. The event is free and open to the public.