BRJEFS

RA NGE OF ACT lVlTl ES

H OKOR MLK

Th, Ret•.Dr. MartinL111'1.!rKing'sdream of hannoniou.sco-existence~ru1eenraces damali ayo and beUefsremains,mf1tlfilkd,b11this ,,ision is tiery muchalit-ecu Ripon. A week'smmh of ewnts honoringtire manand his legacy«ru held)an. 11-27 high. lighredby a ke)110refrom acclai,nedwrira/acri,isr damaliayo. ayo is besr,knownfor hercont10<oeTJiol 1005 bookHow to Rene a Negro, u hich exploresthe cornmodiritationof raceand theinteracrionsberweenblacksand «•hir.!s in socicry. Sh, rrawlscxc.,nsi,,elyas a speak.er,/>T<'Senter and coach,promoting fm.h dialogueabowma and procticalSO· lurionsfor orgaru·~arionsand com,nunities alike.

ALP HA CH! O MEGA R UN

G Ets R Espect

The Deanof Srudenr.soffice hasawarded Alph.~Chi Omegasorority tire2007fall s.,mesrarVoicesof RespectA«md for its 5K R,m/\Valkfor \/icrimsof Domesric\/,. olence.Th, ewnr raised$I ,700to /)TO· moreeducariona1/>TOgtmns for t-icrimsoj don,e.sric."tioknce.

The sororityrecei<'es$250 to theirOC· corm , and is adde,l to a plaqueof au ard u inntrJ on displayin Barr/err Hall. The goalof rheawardis 10 enc01tmgegroupsro organh<!ewnr.sandacti,itieschatpromore respect,raiseaHmenessof issiresr~kuedto respecrand />Tompcsolutionsco />Toblems associoredu•ichdisrespecrand incililiry amongpeople,accordingco Deanof Stu· dems Chris Opfe '80

Briefs

F ACU LTY N O T ES

• Da,id Gral,om, profes.s"'of English, s.?n>edas faculty mernb.?rin August ar the nimh annual FrostPlaceSeminar ar ,he RobertFrostPkicein Franconia,N.H. The u'<ek!ongseminarfor admnad poer, ry studenrsi,wolwdworkshops, a crafr lecmreand a poecryreading. Additicnally, Grahnm published"H,>ritageChannel, ing;" a rel'iewof "Wind in a Box," by TerranceHaye>,in "American BookRet.ieu.1;" and c.hrelpoenu- "Betu.,een Clas;,s, • "Op,mingCredits"and "Recy, cledAir" - in "TriQuarter!y."

• DianeBeres,asso.:iateprofessorof marhematicsand comp,,rerscienceand adjunc t scholorof ~11.iron1nenraJstudies, publisheda bookre,iewof Rewm of rhe Condor: The Race to Sa"c Our Largest Bird from Extincnon in the October 2007issueof Natural Areas Journal. She alsorecentlyspenrtwo uuks in Swe• den ,e(l(hing"'Principlesof Modelingfor l\ 1arurcdResourl'eManag~,nenr'"to doc, torare-lewtm.knu ai Grim..<ii WlrldLfe Resear,h $ration.

• RobertDuk) , headcoachof cross co,mrryand rrackarulfield,presented ' ' Fundarm,nwlsof /)i;uma Training"a< the 19thannual Wiiconsin TrackCoaches Associarion cUnicin Mihrnukee, Feb 15. The clinic i.sthelarge.s r of its ki,ul in the Uni1edSrar,s and currm ' ISabour 600 coaches , says Duky.

Ri Pon J O Ins I Nit Iative To Si Mp Lify C Ollege Compari So Ns

Ri~'On,s supporting a nanonal 1niuan\·e co providl'C'Onlprehensive,transparentand cleanly presented public information to he !p prospective students judge the quality of higher,educacion 1nstitutiOn$.

Dubbed U-CAN (Uni\'ersity & College Accou,uability Networ k ). it is rhe f,rsr nationally coo rdinated effort by rhe institu t ions themselves - p r ivate an<l public alike - ro collect an<l report data and qualirnrive information directly to consumers

A series of federa l inquiries into highe r-ed lending praccice.; fast year fed to increa;ed public demand for increased transpa rency and accountability. This, followed by a widely publici,eJ backlash against "U.S. News and World Report's" hea"il)' weighred reputatrona ! sur...-cy,underscored the need fora ruhhc,information format that ,vasclear and unbiasedenough to satisfy the needs of consun,ers .

U-CAN doe-.snot include reruracioniur,eys o r ranklngs; in!lteaJ, studentsand ,hei r families have free online acces.sto obJective, measurable and ,·e r ifiab!e data supplemenred by h yperlinks to an inscitution's Web sire. The information provided in the U-CAN i ,uricuriona! profiles comes maight from the U.S. Deparcment of Education's !PEDS survey and the Common Dara Set, both widely acknowledged as induscry,standard data sources.

"Choosing a co llege can be a difficul t and stressful time all by itself, but rhe sheer vo lume of co llege information - especia lly when compiled by thirJ parties wirh varying methoJo !og ie, - ma kes it hard to parse out r.he rru!y important faces," saysPresident David C. Joyce. "\Ve be lie, •c the U-CAN initiative will he !p simplify the process...

U-CAN was spearheaded by the National Assoc1arion of Independent Colleges and Un1\'ersnies (NA !CU), and thus far more than 500 member mstirurions have 1nadea commitmentto join rhe iniciative. Profiles of Kipon and other particirartng institutions arc availableat \\'\V\v.ucan.-nenvork.org.

PoGo S ENIORS T AKEON P E RSONAS OF P RESIDENT IAL C AND IDATES

Professor of Politics and Government Marcy Farrell's senior seminar class took an informative and mreracrive rwist this yea r by pr<>;entinga two-day public forum about the candidates for the 2008 rresidenria l election

"We have had a senior seminar for more than 30 years. ft is rhe capstone of the major and is designed ro h e lp t he srudenrs pull together and refine what they\·e !earned in thei r four years here." says Far re l!. "! thoug h t it would be in t e resting to

Cool

Benches!

Eric Gallagher '06, assistant director of th~ annual fund, takes in a beautiful uin ter afternoon f ro m one o f h\ ' O ne,,, bcnch~s in.stall ed in the cou rl)-arJ of ,he campusapartments.The metal bencht-s,com.pletc Y,ith the \\'OrJ s Ripon College cu t into then1 1 a.re the r~u lt of tht 2007 ~nior clas.s g; f,. Th e C lass of 2007 raised S2,0S ~ . which included an A lumn; A ssociar;on Board of Dire-cto rs mat( h (S 10 per member)and Student Senate One Fund match ($5 per senior \,·ho g-.1,·e). Si.xty#three percent of the senior clas.scontributedto,,-arJ tht 2007 gift.

AnJre-'"''\\'uskr '08 'E\ 1an Oa,'ies 'OS Hilary JimCa rdinal\)8 ~1urko....·~ki'OS rry something new a nJ have the seniors app l\' their knowledge and ski lls 10such an in,ponanc decision as the quadrennial presidential e lec tion."

N i n.eseniors each \\'ereassigned a presidential candidate about \\•horn to prepare a presentation. TI,c candidates included Hillary Rodham C linton, J ohn Edwards, Rudy Giulian i, Mike Huckabee, John McCa in, Barack Obarna, Ron Paul, Mitt Romne)' and EdThompson. Srudents had to c reate a presemarion inco rporating material from the class text, Elet'lion2008: A Voter's Guide. bl' Frank lin Foer, ed. The\' also had ro incorporate candidate Web sites, biogs and o ther materials, as well asuse their accumula red knowledge of Ame rica n and inte rnatio na l polit ics, law and political t'Conomycoaccurately present each ca nd,daie. The students were assigned ro present a background on the candidate. their stances on key politica l and social i~ues and their strengths and ,,·eaknesses. The auJi('nce the n ,\·as encouraged to cngag~ in a question..and ..ans\rerperiod follo\,·ingeach presencanon.

" I wanted to open it up w the public because a Co/kg~Days edi,orial had lamented on t he lack of such a forum, and I th ought by in vo lving the con11nuni1y, '"" t'ould performil puhlic s.er\'ice\\'he re audience men1bersv,ou ld be e ncou raged to ask quest ion$or makeS<atemerm." says Farrell.

The student presenters also felt opening the forum to the public "'lli beneficial.

"B~ , in\'iting che camrus , noc on l y does i t gi\'e e,·e ryone a chance to participaHt, but it ma.Jeus as presentersmuch n'loreaccountab le ,"says Andre,v \Vusler o f Brookfield,Wis., who represented McCain

Evan Davies of Port Wing, Minn., agrees and welcomed the resronsibility th is projl'<t presented.

"It is both necessaryand beneficial 10 have an opell seminar like 1h1sbecause as students o f poli1ica l science, we can use our knowkdge of politics to help educate other ,tude,m and ,he public about who rhe cand,dares are and wha1 rhe l' rruly irnnd for." sars Davies,who represemed Edwards . "We live in a.nage of the 'blogosphere,'where anybody can cla im to have a monopo l)· o n the truth, so to ha,·e studentsexan1inecandidacesseriously 1simportancin dec iding ,vhacasfacr::i.nd "·hatis flction ."

'The \\WStkind of rnte r is o ne who is uneduca,cJ," sal's Hilary Murkowskiof Athens, Wis. Murkowsk,ga,·e he r presenra1ionon rhe viewpoints of Paul. "After listenmg ro ou r presentations, peop le can have guidance in choosing a candidate \\'ho be5t re-presents t hem and their concerns,"she says.

Another purporeof che forum '"as co 1gnues rudenrs'invoh·emenc and rassion about politics.

"'(n\'Ol\'ementin rolitic.s becomes crucial once you ente r college because you're finalll' awal' fromhome and can sear,h within yourseli for your own ind"·idual stances on .,,;uesa nd candidares," sai , Jim Cardina l of Withee, Wis. His cand idate \\·as ~1itt Ron,ne~ r .

"The IS-Z5 demographic i$a ke)' group for pre;identia l c.andidates,"agree, DJ\·ies."The question that al"·ays rernain~about young adults b "·hether they ,viii go and , ·ore on election day. l e'sah,·ayshard Hl say."'

S1udenrinn >h-emcnt in polit ics seems to bea frequcm topic of discussion.

"I've alwaysbeen a little pe rplexed by ,he poli1icalatt itudes he re at Ripon. I don't see rhe srudem body as necessarilybemg disengagedfrom the process, but on the other hanJ, activism d,xsn't rea lly happen here. I think it ju,1 might be ,hat

Briefs

R ESIDEI\CE H ALL R EPS

R EAP R EWARDS

Riponearnedho,um m ,he founh annual W1iscoruinAssociarionof l,ul,pe»dem Colkgesand Uniwrsiri.,s (\11AICU)Res· itk'nt Assisk>ntsConference , heldN,w. 16 a, CarthageColkge.

The com/)<'ti1ionin, ,-o!,-edintroducingthe ,c/,oo/ by means of a hu, lnoYOttSskecch , uith j,uigi»glxt.-edon school spirit,wknr and use of ,he college'scor~, al,ies thro11gho111 w piece.

SeniorBrandon

8,.u,Jon Pam>< •· Parrott-Scheffer of 811rr &hdl« 'OS Ridge,Ill., rooksecond placeof all !tudent i,rogramsfor "Program111inguiUla Purpose."

Dirmor of ResidenceLifeJoshDe

War '02 wokfirs<])We among,t i,rograms presentedby a professionalsraff memb..>r for hispresenwdo» --s~pplngrhrough<he Cmcks: Workingui1hSuuknts on lss11es of Self-InjurymidS11icide. •

DIETRICH B usy WITH TALK S, P ERFORMANCES

Profwor oj M11sicK11rrDietrichga,..,the pre-concm ralkfor ,he Clucago)aH £ns.?>nble's/)<'rfonna,u:e at theFoxCities PerformingArts Center in Appk1onOcr. 27. The performancefea111redrhem11sic of fourja« gr,·atsborn90 yearsago: Di«y Gilkspie,Thelonio1uMonk, Ella Fitig<'Talda,idNm '"Kmg"Cole Dimich wlktdabout ,hosefo11rfiguresand ,heir 1nusic.

Diemchalsohasb.>en/lllingin uith localjau groupsu ho needa rrombonis1. He pe,formedu1rhrhe TimW'halen Nonet in Madison . The group u as record, ing the fo11rthnightof a s,ri,s char u i/1ap, pearon an upcomingCD, "Liw a< Rwa,mm, /1.fogmu."He alsoplayeduith the Madison-basedgroupTnb111e 10 An Blakeyin J<ffmon,Wis.