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Kalamazoo College Global Prize Weekend Kicks Off with Finalist Presentations and Opening Celebration

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Advertisement for global prize weekendFREE EVENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Kalamazoo College invites the public to participate in activities this weekend (Oct. 9-10) for the 2015 Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Transformative Social Justice Leadership. Ten groundbreaking activist organizations from around the world present their work this weekend to the public and to a jury that will award one $25,000 prize. Each finalist receives $1,000.

Organized and hosted by K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the Global Prize Weekend will include public presentations by finalists and think tank discussions between finalists and members of the Greater Kalamazoo community. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink and author of eight books, including “Drone Warfare,” will deliver the keynote address during an Opening Celebration, Friday Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m., in Dalton Theatre (Light Fine Arts Building, 1140 Academy St.). The opening celebration will also feature live music by local artists Denise Miller, Scarlet, Yolonda Lavender, Abbie Maikoski, and Dan Davis. See the full schedule for the weekend.

The Prize Weekend features a range of engaging events including a Community Box Lunch, inspiring presentations from on-the-ground activists, and a celebratory Global Dance Party (Saturday, 8:00 p.m. in the Arcus Center at 205 Monroe St.) when Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran announces the recipient of the $25,000 Global Prize.

The 22-member jury that determined the finalists included Kalamazoo College faculty, staff, and students, as well as social justice advocates from the Kalamazoo region. All have worked on relevant social justice issues represented in the applicant pool. K received 87 entries—in the form of eight- to ten-minute videos—from 22 nations and 18 states within the United States.

Finalists’ projects collectively address economic justice, cultural and environmental preservation, immigration, mass incarceration, reproductive justice, racial justice, gendered violence, trans and queer liberation, workers’ rights, and issues specifically impacting people with mental illness, youth, indigenous communities, and children in the foster care system. The scope of each project varies, some focusing on local communities, others looking at national or transnational issues.

“We believe these ten projects provide outstanding examples of transformative thinking and practice on both personal and systemic levels,” said ACSJL Executive Director Mia Henry. “The Global Prize weekend promises to be both inspirational to our community and pivotal for finalists. Leaders from all ten projects will have opportunities to learn from one another, as well as receive capacity-building support.”

Here are the ten projects, listed in alphabetical order with their location.

  • At a Crossroads: Forest Dwellers of India. Madhya Pradesh, India.
  • Bavubuka: Transformative Voices of Justice. Kampala, Uganda.
  • Black on Both Sides. Chicago, Ill.
  • Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Justice for the Injured Colombian General Motors Workers. Bogota, Colombia.
  • Mujeres, Lucha y Derechos Para Todas Región Norte del Estado de México, México.
  • Our Community Is Our Campaign. Madison, Wisc.
  • Radical Mental Health: Paths for Individual & Collective Liberation. New York City.
  • Trans Women of Color Collective: Shifting the Narrative. Washington, D.C.
  • Uno por Uno: Puente Human Rights Movement. Phoenix, Ariz.

Kalamazoo College’s inaugural Global Prize for Social Justice Leadership, now a biennial event, was held in 2013. Jurors for that competition chose to split the prize among three projects.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts 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.

College Breaks Ground on New Wellness Center

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Rendering of Fitness and Wellness CenterKalamazoo College celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony the beginning of construction of its new fitness and wellness center. The ceremony took place at the building site at 4 p.m. (September 24). The approximately $9 million project is funded by gifts made to K’s recently completed fundraising drive, The Campaign for Kalamazoo College.

President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran said that the center is germane to the College’s liberal arts mission. “We focus on the whole student; we focus on the balance of mind, spirit and body.” The center, she added, would be “a common space in which the entire campus community–faculty, staff, students and retirees–can develop healthy life styles through participation in fitness and wellness programs.”

Grace Smith at a podium
Grace Smith ’17 explains what the fitness and wellness center will mean to students.

The 30,000 square foot, two-story center will house the following:

– a weight room and cardio fitness area of sufficient capacity to meet the needs of all students and employees;

– five multi-purpose rooms, as flexible in function as the liberal arts to which they are dedicated;

– two racquetball courts;

– expanded lockers for both the Hornet tennis teams and for general use;

– an office and health assessment room for the campus wellness director; and

– space for the George Acker Tennis Hall of Champions.

The building provides an example of excellence in sustainability. “Our building is designed and will be constructed to the high standards of energy efficiency and resource conservation explicit in a LEED silver rating,” said Wilson-Oyelaran. “And our efforts in this area will be audited by two students who have been hired and trained in LEED certification.”

(Photo by Jessie Fales ’18)

River Art, River Uses

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Displays at the “A Pause in Flow: Reconsidering the Columbia River” exhibitPause to see and ponder “A Pause” …specifically the collaborative art show “A Pause in Flow: Reconsidering the Columbia River.” The project combines the work of Kalamazoo College alumnus Nick Conbere ’94 and John Holmgren and is on display in the Light Fine Arts Gallery through October 9. A public presentation by the artists will occur on Thursday, October 8, at 4 p.m.

“Using art as a visual and narrative critical tool, our project investigates the presence and impact of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River,” write the artists. The dams have been celebrated for their massive energy production and economic benefits, and they have also incurred environmental and related social costs as they reshape aspects of the river basin. “A Pause in Flow” explores ideas of environment, industry, time, and memory. “We ask how aesthetic relationship can offer compelling ways to consider human constructions that alter natural forces.”

The concerns are topical and consequential in the Pacific Northwest area of North America, as dam policies on the Columbia River are currently being negotiated in Canada and the United States and considerations of new dams are being discussed. “Central to our project is that the works be exhibited in locations along the Columbia River as well as in Pacific Northwest cities dependent on hydro-power,” the artists add. “Through our collaborative documentation and interpretation, we will aim to explore parallels among various places and histories along the river, suggest patterns and relationships, and facilitate documentary, metaphor, and allegory in considering the presence of the dams.”

The Importance of Diapers

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Advertisement for 2015 St. Luke's Community Diaper DriveA person may be more inclined to think of diapers as a nuisance, but in fact they are a need and, for many in Kalamazoo, an unmet need. Jax Gardner, departmental coordinator for history and social sciences at Kalamazoo College, is working to address that need through her other coordinator role: that of managing the St. Luke’s Community Diaper Drive.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, with support from the Arcus Center for Social Justice at Kalamazoo College, is holding a community diaper drive through October 14.

For low-income families, purchasing diapers can be a challenge. SNAP and WIC benefits do not provide diapers, and adequately providing diapers for a child can cost more than a $1,000 per year.

“More than one in three Kalamazoo families struggle to provide adequate diapers for their children,” Jax said. “It’s an unconscionable gap in how we care for the young children of our community because diaper need can affect maternal/child bonding, childcare accessibility, and infant health.”

The drive is collecting disposable diapers in all sizes, along with wipes and creams; all donated items will be distributed through local charitable organizations including Loaves and Fishes, Ministry with Community, the YWCA and St. Barnabas Diapers.

Financial donations can be made payable to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, with “Diaper Drive” in the memo line, which will be used to wholesale purchase diapers in needed sizes.

Donations can be made at the following locations:

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 247 W. Lovell St.
St. Luke’s Thrift Shop, 432 S. Burdick St.
Kalamazoo College (1200 Academy Street) at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the Hicks Student Center and Dewing Hall.

“We hope that this drive will generate interest and conversation toward addressing diaper need in Kalamazoo with a long-term, sustainable plan,” Jax said.

Living Legend

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Letitia (Tish) Loveless on a tennis court
Tish on the playing surface where her teams won 23 conference titles

On Saturday, September 12, Kalamazoo College will pause in its busy orientation week to honor a living legend: Professor Emerita, Coach Emerita, and Women’s Athletic Director Emerita Letitia (Tish) Loveless, Ph.D.

On that day the College will dedicate the “Tish Loveless Court” in the Anderson Athletic Center. A continental breakfast reception and court dedication will occur at 10 a.m. The volleyball match between K and Trine University will follow at 11 a.m.

Tish is considered the pioneer of women’s athletics at Kalamazoo College. She is the most successful coach of women’s teams in the history of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the oldest athletic conference in the country.

Tish’s teams won 28 league championships–23 in tennis, four in archery, and one in field hockey. Her 1986 women’s tennis squad finished third in the nation.

Tish came to Kalamazoo College in 1953 as an instructor of physical education. She rose through the ranks and was named professor of physical education in 1974. When she arrived, there was not intercollegiate schedule for women. By 1978, women competed in seven varsity sports. Tish served as director of women’s athletics from 1953 to 1986. On October 30, 1992, Kalamazoo College inducted Tish into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Letitia (Tish) Loveless participates in a field hockey practice
Tish was a hands-on coach, shown here participating in a Hornet field hockey practice

Tish believed in the benefits of competition for all persons, regardless of skill level, and she worked tirelessly to ensure an opportunity to compete for all. She added new sports and classes, and not just those that reflected her own particular interests. She paid attention to what students wanted, and she learned and taught fencing, modern dance, folk dance, social dance, and swimming. On several occasions (basketball is an example), at the urging of passionately committed students, Tish would take on the head coaching role (educating herself on the fly) in the sport’s transition phase from club sport to varsity sport. She also served as a leader in the LandSea program and, true to the liberal arts marrow of the institution to which she dedicated her career, she sang in Bach Festival chorus and participated in the Faculty Readers’ Theatre.

Tish was a trusted counselor and source of support for students and colleagues alike. Her tenure at K made a difference in the lives of countless Hornet athletes and PE students. In 2008, Elaine Hutchcroft ’63 and her late husband Alan Hutchcroft ’63 established the Tish Loveless Women’s Athletic Endowment. Both Elaine and Alan competed as Hornet athletes, and both admired Coach Loveless.

Tish Loveless is the teacher/coach/administrator/human being with whom you could place your daughter, at any age, and be absolutely certain she would receive all the right messages about her worth!

Convocation 2015

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Kalamazoo College faculty participate in ConvocationKalamazoo College kicks off the 2015-16 academic year on Wednesday Sept. 9 at 3:00 p.m. with its annual opening convocation ceremony for new students.

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 Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, Provost Michael McDonald, Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00, faculty, staff, and student leaders will welcome new students and their families. Nike Foundation Partnerships and Communications Manager Tieneke vanLonkhuyzen ’06, from Portland, Oregon, will deliver the keynote address.

K will welcome 367 first-year students (including 30 matriculating international students), 18 transfer students, and 28 visiting international students. New students come from 29 states within the United States of America including Oregon, Florida, Maine and Texas, and from 23 countries including, Japan, Ecuador, Greece, Vietnam, and Sierra Leone. Students of color from the U.S. make up more than 25 percent of the incoming class.

Eleven members of the incoming class of 2019 are the first “Kalamazoo Promise Eligible” students to attend K. Through a partnership announced in June 2014 by The Kalamazoo Promise and the 15-member Michigan Colleges Alliance (MCA), eligible Kalamazoo Public School (KPS) graduates enrolling at an MCA member institution will receive free tuition and fees. The Kalamazoo Promise, now in its tenth year, was established by anonymous donors who pledged to provide free college tuition and fees for KPS graduates attending 43 state universities and community colleges in Michigan. With the addition of the 15 MCA liberal arts college members, Michigan 58 institutions are now Kalamazoo Promise eligible.

 

Some Dust and Then a Pony!

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Enlarged graphic shows Campus Drive behind the Hicks Student Center
Effective August 24, Campus Drive behind Hicks Center will be one-way west, allowing a gain of 20 new angle parking spaces.

A stall full of horse manure is a litmus test for optimism. One person may see only a thankless chore; but a second rejoices in the likelihood of a pony.

Well, pardon our dust,and then get ready for a metaphorical pony.

From midnight on Thursday, August 20, until midnight on Sunday, August 23, two parking lots (Crissey-Severn and Upper Fine Arts) and Campus Drive behind the Hicks Student Center will be closed for resealing and striping. we apologize for that inconvenience. Here comes the pony part.

When Campus Drive reopens (August 24), the street will be one way (west only) from the east end of the Hicks Center to Lovell Street. Drivers will no longer be able to enter Campus Drive from Lovell Street. Campus Drive will continue to be accessed from Academy Street and will remain two-way from Academy Street to the east end of the Hicks Center. The new configuration will provide space for at least 20 new parking places, six of which will be reserved for alternative fuel vehicles. And the one-way traffic flow behind Hicks Center will also increase safety for pedestrians and ease congestion.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience the repaving and striping may cause, and we sure look forward to additional parking spaces on campus. This project takes its place among others–the library and Hicks Center renovations, the athletic fields complex, the social justice center building, the fitness and wellness center–wherein a temporary inconvenience is followed by a permanent improvement.

Commencement Then and Now

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Graduates of the class of 1909
Graduates of the class of 1909. Williams Hall is in the background, the present day site of Stetson Chapel and Mandelle Hall.

Can you believe graduation is just around the corner? I couldn’t; or at least I couldn’t until the day last week when I watched College Archivist Lisa Murphy build a library display from old pictures and old traditions of previous commencements. You can see her work in the display case across from the circulation desk.

I’m Mallory Zink, a German and International Area Studies double major and a proud member of the graduating class of 2015—whoo-whoo! I still can’t wrap my head around my own commencement in two months! Wasn’t it only yesterday parents were moving us into Trowbridge, Hoben and Harmon; with mini-fridges, collapsible chairs, and a new ‘college edition’ bed comforter?

1905 senior breakfast attendees
Seniors (all of them) breakfast in 1905 at the home of then-professor Herbert Stetson. He was later president.

We met and made friends, joined clubs, did a mountain of homework, created memories. Later, especially after study abroad, a lot of us moved out of the dorms and split rent for our first ‘real’ houses, in the Vine Street area heavily populated with college students from K and Western. Our residences may have changed; the mountains of homework didn’t. We (or maybe, mostly, I) almost never read the entire 200 pages for our 400-level course in the allotted two-day time period, not because we were (or maybe, mostly, I was) out partying (well…), but instead we were applying for jobs and grad schools! (I’m sticking with that story.)

While I talked with Lisa as she built her display, I wondered if the graduating class of 1909 felt the same way we did freshman year? Did they share their excitement via some turn-of-the-century (the 19th to 20th!) counterpart to “hashtag-Kalamazoo College bound?” Did a young woman with an interest in studying German feel lucky when she got the last teal shower caddy at the bookstore? Was there a bookstore? As the days until graduation dwindled, did they hear as many times as we do: “What is your plan for next year?”

Class Day in the early 1930s
During Class Day Exercises—part of commencement week in the early 1930s—seniors would read class histories and prophecies.

I think every senior dreads that question until she has a plan for the following year…then we (or maybe, mostly, I) begin to hope, maybe even beg, that people will start asking us (me) about our plans, even strangers on the street. I hugged an innocent stranger after I finalized my plans for next year! (I’ll put my major to use when I begin my master’s degree at the University of Bonn in Germany…I told you I was begging to tell someone!)

I like the ‘Class Day Exercises” graduates of the early 1930s did. I like the piano outdoors and the horse and buggy in the background (you can barely see them in the upper left corner). The stage is set where Anderson Athletic Center and facilities management are located today. I bet that class didn’t have to hear the Amtrak train horn.

In 1905 the entire senior class would breakfast at a professor’s or the president’s house. That seems cool, though 300-plus members of the class of 2015 wouldn’t fit in Hodge House.

1929 poster for the senior class play
Poster for the senior class play of 1929, a commencement tradition “way back then.”

In the late 1920s a senior class play was a commencement tradition. Hmm. Maybe Festival Playhouse’s production of CARRIE the musical will serve for our class. After all, senior prom is temporally close to graduation. In the novel the title character kind of addressed any potential overcrowding at a hypothetical commencement breakfast.

It was fun to visit Lisa and check out her display, the old photos in particular…so much different; so much shared.

Commencement for the class of 2015 will take place on Sunday, June 14th at 1 p.m. on the campus quadrangle. I hope to see you there. I wonder what they checked out for more info in 1909.

Text by Mallory Zink ’15. Photos courtesy of Kalamazoo College Archivist Lisa Murphy ’98.

Un-COMMONS Learning

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Six K colleagues work in the Learning Commons
The Learning Commons is all about collaboration. Among its champions are (l-r): Candace Bailey Combs, Hilary Wagner, Paul Sotherland, Robin Rank, Liz Smith, and Amy Newday.

Kalamazoo College’s ‘Learning Commons’ had its grand opening on Thursday, April 9. The Learning Commons is located on the first floor of Upjohn Library and is all about students helping other students raise their academic achievement.

Amy Newday, director of the Writing Center and one of several collaborators in the development of the Learning Commons said, “We are trying to move away from ‘cubicle’ style studying. Students actually learn and perform much better when they study in pairs or groups. With the Learning Commons, the end goal is to create a mobile physical space for intellectual collaboration.”

The Learning Commons offers peer assistance in math, physics, writing, science, and library research. Its five centers include the Writing Center, English as a Second Language, the Biology & Chemistry Center, the Math-Physics Center, and the Research Consultant Center. Learn more at the Learning Commons website.

Text by Mallory Zink ’15, Photo by Susan Andress

The R in K’s DNA

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Rob Townsend standing at recycling receptacles
The work of Rob Townsend has been key to the recycling culture on K’s campus.

RecycleMania 2015 is over, and if you didn’t know that (or if you weren’t aware the contest had even begun) that’s because for the second consecutive year the College has competed without promoting the contest–sort of a test to see the degree to which R (for recycling or Rob, as in Rob Townsend) has become part of K’s DNA. The results are good.

Kalamazoo College recycles far more than half of the solid waste it produces, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Paul Manstrom. “We placed very high in many of the categories despite the fact we did not promote the contest at all on campus–unlike most other schools that competed,” said Manstrom. “Our performance is a testimony to the recycling culture that Rob Townsend has built at K over the years. While some schools need the publicity of a contest to up their recycling statistics, it just comes naturally at K.” This year the College had three top-ten finishes out of eight categories. K’s ranking (and number of participating institutions) by category follow: Grand Champion–32nd (233); Per Capita Classic–10th (334); Gorilla–201st (334); Waste Minimization–116th (148); Paper–20th (141); Corrugated Cardboard–4th (163); Bottles & Cans–3rd (142); and Food Service Organics–129th (175).

RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. During an eight-week period, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.

Kalamazoo College earned silver-level recognition for its 11 years of RecycleMania participation, and it’s unlikely to rest on the excellence of its tradition. Said Townsend: “The data shows our numbers slipped a bit from the previous year. We won’t get complacent.”