Oct. 29, 2010

Page 1

the

Herald By and for the students of Hobart and William Smith Colleges

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010

VOLUME CXXXI ISSUE 5

GENEVA, NY

HWS Students Ser ve Their Community By Maddison Case ‘14 Herald Contributor

Photo courtesy of HWS Communications

Christine Pichler leads a lecture in German. Pichler is part of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program.

FLTA Recipients Join HWS Community By Emma Stratigos ‘12 Herald Contributor

Emma Boehm/Photographer

Around 230 Hobart and William Smith students participated in last Saturday’s Day of Service. Two more days of community service will be sponsored during the academic year. On Saturday, October 23, Hobart and William Smith Colleges held its 18th annual Day of Service (DOS). For those who are unaware, this is an event put in place to give back to the city of Geneva and other surrounding communities. The event kicked off with a speech given by Jeremy Wattles, assistant director of CCESL (Community Service Office), on the Quad. He opened his address with an alarming statistic: One in seven Americans lives in poverty. Beginning on such an extreme note gave the students a greater incentive to do their best work. An estimated 230 students took a break

from their studies to donate four hours of their afternoon to help make this year’s fall Day of Service memorable. Compared to previous participation, this is a high number; the total number of volunteers for all three Days of Service in past years combined was roughly 300. This increase in interest may be credited in huge part to this year’s DOS Coordinator, William Smith junior Celeste Smith. From the start, she had made it her goal to increase the number of volunteers. In order to achieve this aspiration, Smith created a committee of

This fall, Hobart and William Smith has welcomed international teaching assistants into the German, Arabic and Asian Language and Culture departments. All three of the teaching assistants received grants that allowed them to travel abroad to take part in a language and cultural exchange. Kamel Tabeche (Alger, Algeria) and Christine Pichler (Kärnten, Austria) were both part of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program (FLTA). According to the HWS website, the FLTA, sponsored by the State

DOS continued on Page 2

Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, aims to provide future foreign teachers of English with a first hand experience of American culture. Kuan-yi Chao (Taipei, Taiwan) received the Alliance for Language Learning and Education Exchange grant. This grant endorses programs of Chinese and Japanese language in the U.S. and Canada. Christine Pichler of the German language department explained the FLTA is functioning all over the world. It provides an opportunity for participants to travel to another part

FLTA AT HWS continued on Page 2

Latina Prisoners Suffer in Silence, Says Diaz-Cotto By Karissa Seeberger ‘12 Campus Happenings Editor

Photo courtesy of HWS Communications

The Fisher Center brings faculty, students and experts together to foster understanding and social justice. Dr. Juanita Diaz-Cotto does not claim to be original. In fact, she said, “I have dinner paid for me because I write about other people’s sufferings.” Despite this claim, she is one of the few scholars to study Latina incarceration, claiming that very few people are interested in prisoners. She is a Binghamton University

professor and activist originally from Puerto Rico. Her lecture on Oct. 20 in the Geneva Room was titled “Latinas and Imprisonment in the U.S.” Although this title is seemingly focused, she addressed everything from race and gender inequality to the war on drugs to Latin American dictatorships, all completely relevant to her

research. “Why does it seem like the crime rate is constantly increasing like global warming, it just keeps going up and up an up?” Diaz-Cotto questioned. She revealed that in actuality, the crime rate is going down, but imprisonment is going up, as the U.S. uses crime to maintain its hegemony over the population. Diaz-Cotto gave some historical background on the involvement of the U.S. in Latin America and the rebellion of minority groups within the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s, with a very skeptical attitude regarding the FBI. Then she addressed the war on drugs, one of the main causes of Latino incarceration, and their likelihood of being harassed within the prisons. She went on to say that those involved in the drug

markets in Chicano barrios “are more politically savvy than those at universities who believe everything they hear.” Diaz-Cotto explained that Latinos are being affected by drugs everywhere, even those who are not involved. Outside of drug crime within the U.S., Columbian women are being stigmatized for drug stereotypes particularly during travel and poor coca farmers in Bolivia who are growing a traditional crop that they have been growing for hundreds of years are now at the center of an international war on drugs. Diaz-Cotto discussed the commonalities of Latinos including discriminatory treatment, labeling, harassment and language barriers within the justice system and targeting. The Latina prisoners who DIAZ-COTTO continued on Page 2

Campus Happenings

A&E

Opinions

Sports

Pr i de P r es en ts Ally Week

Spotligh t : L y nda St a r r

P a rki ng Cha nge s R e a c t i on

W i n t e r S p o r t s Pr e vi e w s

K o sha r e P la nning Begins

Miles an d M a y E xh i bi t

Sa kura Surpri s e

Ta k e B a c k the Night Recap Advice fr o m D r. Bl a c kwe l l D o Yo u Rep Pink?

Facemash t o F a c e book

N P R i n t h e Wr ong


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