Events Archives - Page 26 of 40

“Without Borders” Conference Imagines World Where All Life May Thrive

Posted on October 27, 2016March 23, 2022

The tension between what is politically possible under the world’s current political and economic systems and what is ecologically necessary exposes an urgent need for change, said journalist and activist Naomi Klein, keynote speaker for the conference, “Without Borders, Post-Oppression Imaginaries and Decolonized Futures.” The conference was sponsored by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College and attracted several hundred activists and social justice experts from across the country.

According to Klein, even though the recent Paris climate change agreement looked like the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, the treaty is neither legally binding nor sufficient in its goals to avert ecological disaster.

“Fossil fuel frontiers have to be closed if we have any hope of a future,” said Klein. “Politicians have absolutely no plan to do this.”

Adequately addressing climate change has failed since the late 1980s, emasculated by a neoliberalist interpretation of capitalism that promotes privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free trade and reductions in government spending to enhance the public sector. Such policies have created in people a profound sense of hopelessness about climate change, said Klein.

“We are told that selfishness and short-sightedness is part of human nature, which prevents us acting,” said Klein. “This is not true and it steers us away from an analysis of our system. In fact, the fight for survival is human nature.”

Many local, grassroots groups are advocating steps to address climate change because they see the issue’s connection to an unjust economic system that is failing for a vast majority of people all over the planet, she added.

Klein challenged the audience to work for “climate justice” by reversing the “extractivist” point of view of the Earth and promoting the “caretaking” of one another, an ethos that indigenous people advocate.

“It’s not just ‘energy democracy’ but ‘energy justice’ that we need,” said Klein. “This leads to clean energy projects and jobs.”

She also emphasized that service work like nursing, child care, public interest media should be redefined as climate work that sets out to create a “caring and repairing economy.”

“We need to embed justice in every aspect of our lives,” said Klein. “The people are hungry for transformational change, and we have to go for it on all fronts.”

The conference focused on four related themes: Afrofuturism, Decolonized Knowledge, Sustainable Futures, and Next Systems.

Text by Olga Bonfiglio; conference photo by Susan Andress

K to Dedicate Batts Pavilion at Anderson Arboretum

Posted on October 20, 2016March 23, 2022

A new multi-purpose structure for people who use Kalamazoo College’s 140-acre Lillian Anderson Arboretum will be dedicated at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, at the arboretum.

Oxen haul logs for Batts Pavilion — In fall 2015, oxen hauled 30 logs of red pine harvested from the Lillian Anderson Arboretum to be used in constructing the new Batts Pavilion, which will be dedicated Tuesday, Oct. 25.

The Dr. H. Lewis Batts, Jr. and Jean M. Batts Pavilion is named for two Kalamazoo College alumni who had a significant impact on natural education in Kalamazoo and beyond.

A generous grant from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation enabled the construction of the off-grid Batts Pavilion and other infrastructure improvements including an accessible trail and an improved driveway and parking lot.

Kalamazoo College Biology Professor Binney Girdler serves as the arboretum’s faculty director and was active in its design. Girdler said she expects this to be a transitional year where she and others explore uses of the Batts Pavilion to enhance users’ experience of the arboretum.

“A main goal is to enhance our ability to fulfill the mission of the arboretum: to provide access to nature for members of the college community as well as the larger community,” Girdler said. “Part of the pavilion is open air so it will always be available to visitors. The other part is enclosed with one room being large enough for a class and two rooms for storage.”

The Batts Pavilion is due south of the Anderson Arboretum parking lot, far enough from M-43 that road noise is minimal. It is also situated where a clearing had been so few trees had to be cut down. The structure’s main support beams are made of red pine, which were harvested from the arboretum and moved to the pavilion’s construction site by oxen so heavy machinery would not be needed.

“The pavilion provides a tiny bit of civilization in the middle of the woods, and it’s a space to gather in inclement weather,” Girdler said. “We envision use by biology and chemistry field labs, as well as humanities and arts classes. Through these courses and in their extracurricular activities, our students can build partnerships with community groups to help connect more people to nature; the new parking area will allow a K-12 school bus to drop off kids for an exploration of the woods or wetlands.”

Public Lecture Explores Historic Treatment of Pueblo People

Posted on October 5, 2016March 23, 2022

Nora Naranjo Morse will deliver the annual Phi Beta Kappa lecture at Kalamazoo College on Tuesday, October 11, at 8 p.m. in the Mandelle Hall Olmsted Room. The event is free and open to the public. Morse Morse is a sculptor, writer, and producer of video films that look at the continuing social changes within Pueblo Indian culture. Her talk, “Numbe Wahgeh,” focuses on the historical treatment of the Pueblo people and history retold by indigenous peoples.

An artist best known for her work with clay and organic materials, she has been trained in the Pueblo clay work tradition of the Southwest. Her installation exhibits and large-scale public art speak to environmental, cultural, and social practice issues. Beyond New Mexico, her work can be seen at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.

She studied at the College of Santa Fe, where she received her B.A. degree in 1980, and is the recipient of an honorary degree from Skidmore College. In 2014 Naranjo Morse was awarded a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist fellowship. She is the author of two books: a poetry collection, Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay, and a children’s book, Kaa Povi.

Morse will spend two days on K’s campus. In addition to her public lecture she will visit four classes and meet with various faculty and students.

Roads Back Home

Posted on September 16, 2016March 23, 2022

Alumni home for Homecoming 2015 reconnect with Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Jeff Smith.

May the wind be at your back during your journey “home” to Homecoming 2016–October 14-16. Registration is open (with the schedule posted), and more than 300 persons plan to attend as of this writing (September 16). And why not! The autumn weekend is packed with events for all (and all ages).

Among the highlights:

Story Zoo at the Cavern Fire Circle (next to Stetson Chapel). Everyone has a favorite K story, or a S.O.B. in the closet. All alumni, students, faculty and staff are invited to stop by, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and record your favorite K memory. All recorded stories will be sent to the College Archives as well as being available for future K publications. Individual or group stories are welcome!

The Alumni Association Awards Ceremony and Dessert Reception in Dalton Theatre. The event includes honors for distinguished achievement and distinguished service as well as new inductees into the athletics Hall of Fame. Of special note: Professor Emeritus of Biology Paul Sotherland will receive the Weimer K. Hicks Award.

And speaking of opportunities to reconnect with faculty, make sure Saturday’s departmental receptions make your calendar (see photo). It’s your chance to catch up with current and emeriti faculty in the Hicks Center.

It’s likely you know your alma mater has a new president (the institution’s 18th): Jorge Gonzalez. You can meet him and his wife (K alumnae Suzie (Martin) Gonzalez ’83) at an open house in the Kalamazoo College Field House Hornet Suite.

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry finalist Diane Seuss ’78 will read from her most recent collection of poems, Four-Legged Girl (Graywolf Press, 2015). Di is a longtime professor of English at K and her readings are unforgettable. And you’ll be able to purchase a copy of Four-Legged Girl at the Kalamazoo College Bookstore.

Professor of Chemistry Regina Stevens-Truss will discuss the ongoing Science and Social Justice project, work that has engaged some of the best minds in the country since 2011. Project collaborators include the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Harvard Medical School, the SENCER group and Massachusetts General Hospital. What social justice questions should be explicit in all scientific research and STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)? Help us come up with ideas.

On Sunday join Binney Girdler, associate professor of biology and director of the Lillian Anderson Arboretum, for a tour of “the Arb,” 140 acres of marsh, meadow, pine plantation and second-growth deciduous forest in Oshtemo Township. Not only is it a site for active research and ecological monitoring, it’s a grand place for a Sunday stroll. And it features the College’s brand new off-the-grid education pavilion named after Dr. H. Lewis Batts, Jr. ’43 and Jean M. Batts ’43. You gotta see it!

And these events are just a few of the highlights. Register now, and come home for Homecoming.

Convocation 2016

Posted on August 26, 2016March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College kicks off the 2016-17 academic year on Wednesday September 7 at 3 p.m. with its annual opening convocation ceremony for new students ready to begin their liberal arts adventure.

The ceremony will take place on the campus Quad and be available via live streaming. In case of rain, the ceremony will move into Stetson Chapel.

President Jorge Gonzalez, Provost Michael McDonald, Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00, faculty, staff, and student leaders will welcome new students and their families. Jeffrey D. Hsi ’83, Ph.D., J.D., will deliver the keynote address. Jeff is a shareholder at the intellectual property law firm of Wolf Greenfield, and his career both at the bench and at the bar testifies to the power and versatility of the K-Plan.

K will welcome 354 first-year students (including 27 matriculating international students), 11 transfer students, and 24 visiting international students. New students come from 24 states within the U.S., including Alaska, Maine, Florida and California, and from 22 countries including, Japan, Ecuador, Greece, Vietnam, Nepal and Senegal. Students of color from the U.S. make up more than 30 percent of the incoming class. Fifteen percent of the incoming class will be the first in their families to attend college.

The class of 2020 is outstanding in many ways. About 11 percent achieved state honors in academics, athletics or both. Forty-two percent participated in one or more sports in high school, and 28 percent of those served as team captains. Fifteen percent of the class served in student government, and 10 students were their class presidents. Thirty-two percent participated in music (seven of them garnering state honors). Ninety-one percent took college course work during high school, and 84 percent of the class did volunteer work in civic organizations and social justice causes. Welcome, Kalamazoo College class of 2020!

2016 With/Out ¿Borders? conference at Kalamazoo College continues registration, and announces participants, performances and community partners

Posted on July 7, 2016April 10, 2023

Kalamazoo College officials announced today applications remain open to attend the 2016 With/Out ¿Borders? Conference hosted by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) on the K campus in Kalamazoo, Mich., Oct. 20-23.

With/Out ¿Borders? features a panel of distinguished participants, including actor and writer Daniel Beaty, American studies scholar and social movements historian Christina Heatherton, journalist and author Naomi Klein, and New Orleans poet and singer Sunni Patterson.

Naomi Klein [photo credit Kourosh Keshiri]

“This conference brings together people whose work envisions an imaginative, robust and just future,” said ACSJL Academic Director Lisa Brock. “We invite conversations across disciplines from American and international academics, writers, artists and activists on the front lines of climate change, peace, food justice, human rights and more.”

According to Brock, Naomi Klein will deliver a conference keynote presentation and participate in panel discussions. Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Published worldwide in 2007, Shock has more than a million copies in print in 30 languages. Her critically acclaimed new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, was a 2014 instant bestseller now being translated into more than 20 languages. A documentary film based on the book will be shown during the conference.

Also during the Conference, Sunni Patterson will perform a spoken word/poetry piece, Christina Heatherton will discuss and sign copies of her new book, Policing the Planet, and Daniel Beaty will stage his play Emergency. In the play, Beaty performs 40 different characters who respond to the unexpected phenomenon of a slave ship emerging in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Through characters’ individual responses to the ship and their varied testimonies on identity and personal freedom, Emergency weaves a stirring commentary on what it is to be human and the longing to be free.

Community partners for the With/Out ¿Borders? Conference include Alamo Drafthouse Cinema; Case Western Reserve University Social Justice Institute; Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at University of Chicago; ERAACE; Hispanic American Council of Kalamazoo; Kalamazoo Public Library; People’s Food Co-op of Kalamazoo; University of Illinois-Chicago Social Justice Initiative; and YWCA of Kalamazoo.

According to Brock, other confirmed With/Out ¿Borders? Conference participants thus far include:

• Simon Akindess – UNESCO Coordinator of Pan-African Schools
• Jaafar Aksikas – President of the Cultural Studies Association
• Blair Anderson – Detroit-based activist and former Black Panther
• Peter Bratsis – Scholar of EU polices, Greece and Brexit
• Adrienne Brown – Detroit-based science fiction writer, social justice activist and performer
• Prudence Browne – Scholar of charter schools as colonial education
• Dara Cooper – Black farmers and food justice advocate
• Sean Estelle – National divestment campaigner for Energy Action Coalition
• Nicholas Estes – Scholar of indigenous intellectual history in the U.S.
• Bill Fletcher, Jr. – Author and racial justice and labor activist
• Shreena Gandhi – MSU scholar of religion in the Americas
• Lewis Gordon – Philosopher and expert on Frantz Fanon
• Alex Lubin – Scholar of African-American/Arab solidarities
• Shaya Plaut – Human rights journalist and educator
• Erin Polley – Peacebuilding program coordinator at American Friends Service Committee
• Shante Paradigm Smalls – Hip Hop scholar, artist and writer
• Valerie Thomas – Scholar of Afro-Futurisms
• Cynthia Young – Scholar of third-world solidarities
• Alice Kim – Coordinator of the Chicago Torture Survivors justice movement

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/arcuscenter) is an initiative of Kalamazoo College. Its mission is to develop and sustain leaders in human rights and social justice through education and capacity-building. The ACSJL envisions a campus and world where every person’s life is equally valued, the inherent dignity of all people is recognized, the opportunity to develop one’s full potential is available to every person, and systematic discrimination and structural inequities have been eradicated.

Kalamazoo College, 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.

Kalamazoo College Commencement is June 12 at 1 p.m.

Posted on May 9, 2016March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College’s 2016 Commencement takes place Sunday June 12 at 1:00 p.m. on the campus Quad. Speakers include international human rights lawyer, activist and scholar Gay McDougall, Award-winning author Bonnie Jo Campbell, and graduating K senior Mindze Mbala-Nkanga.

Approximately 300 members of the K class of 2016 will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees.

K President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran will welcome the graduates – along with approximately 2,500 family members and friends, K faculty, staff, trustees, alumni and community members – in what will be her final commencement as K president. She retires from her post on June 30 after 11 years.

Gay McDougall will be the 2016 commencement keynote speaker. She is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School, Fordham University, New York City. Her long and noteworthy career has been dedicated to fighting racial oppression both in the United States and abroad. She is former United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues, former Executive Director of Global Rights at Partners for Justice, and former Director of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In 1999, McDougall was a recipient of the coveted MacArthur “Genius” Award. She has also received the Butcher Medal of the American Society of International Law for outstanding contributions to human rights law and the Thurgood Marshall Award of the District of Columbia Bar Association among numerous other national and international awards.

McDougall received a J.D. degree from Yale Law School and an LL.M. degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has Honorary Doctors of Law degrees from Georgetown University Law Center, the School of Law of the City University of New York, and Agnes Scott College.

McDougall will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from K during commencement.

Bonnie Jo Campbell will also speak at commencement. Campbell is the author of Once Upon a River, Women and Other Animals, Q Road, the just-released Mothers, Tell Your Daughters, and the National Book Award nominated American Salvage. In 2012, Once Upon a River was the Summer Common Reading book for the incoming class of 2016. Campbell spent two days on campus meeting with class members as part of their new student orientation program. Per K tradition, she returns to address this same class of students at their commencement.

Campbell is a Michigan native and resident of Kalamazoo who has served as a visiting professor of English at K. She received her B.A. degree from University of Chicago and both a M.A. degree in mathematics and M.F.A. degree in writing from Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo.

During Commencement, Bonnie Jo Campbell will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from K.

2015-2016 President’’s Student Ambassadors, Kalamazoo College, Erin Butler ’18; Francisco “Franky” Cabrera ’16; Bianca Delgado ’17; Alexis Fiebernitz ’16; George Fishback ’17; Immanuel “Manny” Greene ’16; Madeline “Maddie” Hume ’16; Elyse Kaplan ’18; Mindze Mbala-Nkanga ’16; Nirmita “Mira” Palakodaty ’18; Brian Raetz ’16 — Mindze Mbala-Nkanga ’16

Graduating K senior Mindze Mbala-Nkanga will be this year’s student graduation day speaker. Mbala-Nkanga is from Ypsilanti, Mich., and will receive a B.A. degree in biology. Her Senior Independent Project (a K graduation requirement) was “Mother Anopheles: Of Malaria and Other Infections,” a play in two acts, for which she received honors. During her four years at K she completed an internship at Monroe Carell Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University and second at a hospital in Libreville, Gabon. She also served as president of the student organization Kalama-Africa, member of the Student of Color Coalition, and President’s Student Ambassador.

Graduating K seniors Sarah Wallace, Dylan Polcyn and Kaeli Peach will speak at Baccalaureate on Saturday June 11, at 8:00 p.m., in Stetson Chapel. K Baccalaureate is a nondenominational service with student and faculty speakers and musical performances.

17th Century Reality TV

Posted on May 5, 2016March 23, 2022

The cast of the Festival Playhouse production of Molière’s LEARNED LADIES includes Belinda McCauley ’16 (Bélise), Kellie Dugan ’17 (Armande), Madison Donoho ’17 (Philaminte), and Kate Kreiss ’19 (Henriette). Photo by Emily Salswedel ’16

Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College wraps up its 52nd season with Molière’s comedy, The Learned Ladies, in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, Thursday through Sunday, May 12-15.

The play, first produced in 1672, has been perceived as Moliere’s criticism of educated women. However, Director Marissa Harrington believes “his mockery [targets] the excess in which the women of this play indulge. We must always seek balance.”

“Though the play encourages female empowerment,” explains Dramaturg Lauren Landman ’18, “it also emphasizes the chaos that occurs when indulgence becomes immodesty–not unlike popular television shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

“To illustrate this parallel, Festival Playhouse’s production will transform audience members into avid fans of reality television, offering a behind-the-lens perspective that will question what exactly it means to be ‘learned’.”

With today’s reality television shows becoming increasingly popular, Harrington poses a question to the audience: “Do we demand enough truth from ourselves and each other?”

The play opens Thursday, May 12, at 7:30pm. Additional evening performances occur Friday and Saturday, May 13 and 14, at 8p.m., and a matinee concludes the run on Sunday, May 15, at 2pm. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for seniors citizens, and $15 for other adults. For reservations call 269.337.7333 or visit the FP website.

The performance features Elaine Kauffman, costume designer; Lanford J. Potts, scenic and lighting designer; and Val Frank ’17, sound designer. This production of The Learned Ladies has been translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur.

Intercultural Conference and Hip Hop Collective

Posted on April 22, 2016March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College’s Intercultural Student Life group presents the “Intercultural Conference and Hip Hop Collective,” a two-day event on April 29 and 30 featuring guest speakers, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, panels, discussions and a performance featuring five Hip Hop artists. The event’s venues include the Hicks Banquet Hall and Hicks Center.

Among the event’s goals are building relationships and learning about the intercultural ethos of K. “My student advisory board and I decided to focus our first event on Hip Hop because Hip Hop has a way to cross over cultural boundaries and speak to multiple groups,” said Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, director for intercultural student life.

The museum exhibit is open both days of the conference and is a powerful experience. “Khalid El-Hakim, the museum’s curator, travels with about 1,000 exhibit pieces,” says Carvalho-Pinto, “ranging from the slavery era through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement up to Hip Hop and the modern era.” El-Hakim will deliver the keynote address Saturday, talking about the museum and the importance on continuity in social justice work.

The Conference also features Ernie Pannicioli, a photographer who has documented Hip Hop from its birth through modern days and photographed every celebrity in Hip Hop,” according to Carvalho-Pinto. She adds, “He published a book titled Who Shot Ya, and he speaks about ’the other side of Hip Hop,’ the movement building and struggles that few discuss.” Carvalho-Pinto also is excited about the presence of OLMECA at the conference. “He is a very unique artist,” she says, “and his keynote address will focus on his experiences in the Zapatista movement and Hip Hop in Latin America.”

A Hip Hop panel occurs Saturday afternoon with Miz Korona, Mu, Supa Emcee and Kenny Muhammed THE HUMAN ORCHESTRA. Five Hip Hop artists will perform Saturday night for the “Zoo After Dark” activity.

“Our speakers, panelists and performers are really great people,” says Carvalho-Pinto. I would love to see as many students, staff and faculty as possible attend some or all the conference. My hope is that the event opens more opportunities for dialogue and serves as a place of empowerment for our students of color on campus.”

Participants Announced, Applications Open for 2016 With/Out ¿Borders? Conference at Kalamazoo College

Posted on April 20, 2016April 10, 2023

Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) is accepting applications to attend the 2016 WITH/OUT ¿BORDERS? Conference scheduled for Oct. 20-23 on the K campus in Kalamazoo, Mich. Journalist and author Naomi Klein will be among a panel of distinguished conference participants. She will deliver the keynote address on the evening of Oct. 21.

“This conference aims to confront and provoke the notion that the current nadir of austerity, violence and ascent of the global one-percent is normal and the best we humans can do,” said Brock. “We intend to bring together people whose work envisions an imaginative, robust, plentiful and just future.”

According to Brock, confirmed conference participants thus far include:

– Political scientist Simon Akindes;
– Actor, singer, writer and composer Daniel Beatty;
– Author and political scientist Peter Bratsis;
– Science fiction writer, social justice activist and performer Adrienne Brown;
– Educator Prudence Browne;
– Food justice activist Dara Cooper;
– Divestment activist Sean Estelle;
– Indigenous historian Nick Estes;
– Author and racial justice and labor activist Bill Fletcher, Jr.;
– Afro-Jewish philosopher, educator and musician Lewis Gordon;
– American studies scholar and anti-racist social movements historian Christina Heatherton;
– Educator Alice Kim;
– Journalist, columnist and author Naomi Klein;
– New Orleans poet, singer and activist Sunni Patterson; and
– Ethnomusicologist Stephanie Shonekan.

Topics of discussion will include Afrofuturism and post-oppression desires, decolonizing knowledge and liberatory education, sustainable futures, and next systems and new economic possibilities.

Brock said this will be a “conference/unconference” featuring modules that will include panel discussions, breakout sessions, and performances “designed to prompt us to collectively conjure, theorize, decolonize, and map a future we can all thrive in.”

Conference modules will take place at the ACSJL (205 Monroe Street) and other venues on the K campus.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/arcuscenter) is an initiative of Kalamazoo College. Its mission is to develop and sustain leaders in human rights and social justice through education and capacity-building. We envision a campus and world where: every person’s life is equally valued, the inherent dignity of all people is recognized, the opportunity to develop one’s full potential is available to every person, and systematic discrimination and structural inequities have been eradicated.