Multicultural Affairs Newsletter

January 2014

Issue: 7

EXPRESSIONS

Multicultural Affairs Newsletter

MCA Fall Speaker, Dr. Devon Carbado

Dr. Devon Carbado

Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law

On November 14^th, students gathered in Tomson 280 for Dr. Devon Carbado's public lecture based on his book, Acting White?: Rethinking Race in Post-Racial America. Dr. Carbado, graduate of Harvard Law School, is currently UCLA faculty member with the prestigious title of Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law, teaching courses like: Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Constitutional Law, Critical Race Theory, and Criminal Adjudication. His visit and lecture were co-sponsored by the President's Office for Institutional Diversity and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Within the book, Carbado reflects on the social construction of race within today's society, highlighting different phenomena that could potentially trigger racial discrimination and stereotypes across the many different races in existence today. Carbado briefly discussed the issue with racial salience, describing how, as human beings we have created an imaginary scale to assess how much a certain individual depicts his/her race through various factors such as one's: actions, history, religion, phenotype, etc. He then proceeded to bring his point home by connecting it with the Trayvon Martin case, one of the most talked about court cases of the year, describing the fact that Martin wearing a black hoodie set him high on the racial salience scale, depicting him as "too black." Unknowingly, Martin was already being stereotyped and discriminated against because of how he presented himself to the world, with Carbado describing it as "the more phenotypically black a person appears to be, the more death eligible they are."

Carbado gave a thought provoking and intellectually stimulating discussion based on points about race from his book, specifically that race is merely a perception constructed by society, and that the way one acts can be the root of many misconceptions in society today.

Prior to the lecture four students joined Carbado for lunch and engaged in a rich conversation, regarding life on the "Hill," careers, and society.

-George Nickings '16

Welcome Kham Vang '07, International Student Coordinator

Kham Vang '07

My name is Kham L. Vang, and as a 2007 St. Olaf graduate it never crossed my mind that I would return to "the Hill" as an International Student Coordinator seven years later. I must say that driving back to campus has never felt so good! After graduation I spent time exploring possible career paths at Target Corporation, working in social services, and in several non-profit organizations to find out that I miss being on a college campus. In my spare time, I spend time working on my photography business where I get to meet lots of new people and capture their special moments. I am addicted to traveling and have made it a life goal to travel once a year to a different place to learn something new. The one thing I look forward to is meeting everyone and memorizing their names and faces! Come, stop by if you haven't already!

FUNTOBER!

Posing at the Pumpkin Carving Station

Newly appointed Program Assistants (PAs), a student work position for the Multicultural Affairs Office, worked together for a month and a half creating and organizing an event for the fall. On October 18^th the PAs hosted FUNTOBER, an event to integrate the St. Olaf community in a fun and entertaining way.

What better way to bring people together than providing a bouncy house, cotton candy, caramel apples, games, and prizes? Competitions, from tug-of-war to three-legged races, were also a part of the event along with costume and pumpkin carving contests. Winners of each competition and contest were rewarded a raffle ticket to be placed in a drawing. Toward the end of the night, the raffle tickets were drawn and winners were given one of the 37 prizes donated by local businesses. With over 200 guests, the event turned out to be a success as every Ole in attendance enjoyed themselves.

- Tim Joseph '16

Reunion: Ten Years After the War

International Awareness Week was a time for celebrating being human.Hosted by International Student Organization (ISO), the theme this year was "War: Footprints of Reconciliation." The goal for all programming was not to talk further about war, but more specifically about how to move beyond war. To that end ISO held a number of events that helped educate and discuss potential methods of doing so.

We screened Reunion- Ten Years After the War, a documentary which highlights how a group of Serbians and Albanians are engaged in a process of reconciliation. We sponsored several discussions on reconciliation; one from the Christian standpoint, and two which investigated the importance of moving towards a process of reconciliation and what it means to live as a Vietnamese in the USA after the war in Vietnam.

After a week of often difficult discussions we hosted the annual Food Night during which a number of students formed groups and prepared food from all over the world. It provided a wonderful opportunity for students to celebrate the variety of cultures and ethnic groups represented on campus by appreciating their food and learning about various cultures, even as they braved the cold wintry day.

ISO continues to be committed to increase awareness about global events, global in that they may originate in Northfield or around the world. As such, International Awareness Week was a resounding success as we navigated the difficult waters of war while expecting a vision full of hope for the future.

-Nathan Detweiler '16

Cultural Conversations:
"Islam in the US & Islam and the US"

Professor Al-Atiyat and Participants

Wednesday November 20th

marked the third installment of the Cultural Conversations Series, "Islam in the US and Islam and the US" led by Sociology Professor Ibstesam Al-Atiyat. The small room of Tomson 212 filled quickly and Al-Atiyat commanded the room with ease. Her discussion began imploring us to reflect often on what we say and how we say it when making cultural remarks, and proceeded to talk about the struggle of the Islam faith and Muslim people of constant subjection to misunderstanding and misinterpretation, the shift of public views on Islam after 9/11, the skewed relationship of Islam to terrorism, and finally the kind of shift that must take place in the United States and around the world to bring Islam out of its negative spotlight. However brief the conversation was, Al-Atiyat engaged each student critically and provocatively, succeeding in an hour of active discussion of questioning and enlightenment.

- Tasha Viets-VanLear '15

"Rethinking Diversity:Racial Identity, White Privilege, and Racism" A Student Lead Workshop

Co-Leader Hana Ferronato '14 and Workshop Participants

On October 26^th several St. Olaf students conducted an in-depth, eye opening workshop called Re-Thinking Diversity: Racial Identity, White Privilege, and Racism. This workshop not only enlightened students who were passionate about their community's diversity, but it created a positive, enriching environment for students from various backgrounds to discuss different controversial issues concerning diversity. The workshop highlighted important concepts such as reverse racism, discrimination, and instances of white privilege and what those mean. Moreover, the participants learned techniques on how to approach certain situations that made them uneasy so that they could apply them on and off campus.

Hana Ferronato '14, presenter and organizer, states that the workshop creates "a safe space to talk about these issues," a place to gain the "confidence and vocabulary to express themselves and to really strengthen our allies to make this an important issue."

- Dennyce Martinez '17

Know Your STOGoals

Student Leaders and Participants

Know Your STOGoals was organized by Neng Vang, a program assistant in the MCA office with the support of her team of student leaders and was held on November 19th. Several sophomores and juniors explored and became more aware of the STOGOals that were developed by the college with collaboration of academic and non-academic departments. The goals were created for the use of students with the support and guidance of faculty and staff. It is encouraged for students to utilize the goals as a guide when planning their four years, and to help maximize their experience; for faculty as they design curriculum and staff when creating programs.

The event consisted of multiple activities such as: filling out the STOGoals campus map, small group discussions, sharing and reflecting of experiences, setting and sharing future goals. All the activities were led by six senior student leaders who all have various experiences in and out of the classroom. At the same time, everyone enjoyed pizza and refreshments as they learned about the student leaders' experiences helping them achieve their STOGoals. To bring the event to a close participants formed a large circle and shared their newly set goal as they tossed a ball of yarn. Everyone was encouraged to share the STOGoals with their peers as they begin to plan their curricular and co-curricular experiences.

- Neng Vang '14

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