While President Doug Bennet stayed locked in his South College office, over 250 students gathered outside the building and later blocked the stairwells to protest a long list of issues related to a lack of student voice in recent Administration decisions. Standing for over four hours in the rain, students spoke out on an open mic and tried to bargain with Bennet to address their concerns with the whole community.
A snowballing of student frustration with the Administration came to a head this week as over 800 students, faculty and staff showed up to an open meeting in Crowell Concert Hall on Wednesday. While students' specific concerns ranged from the future of WESU to student of color issues to financial aid, the unifying theme of the forum was that the Administration consistently fails to listen to student concerns in decision-making, and fails to make itself transparently accountable to students.
In a forum on Wednesday, we heard considerable testimony from students who believe we as administrators don't take your viewpoints into consideration as we make decisions that affect your lives on campus. We have heard that you often don't know where to take your concerns and that too frequently you expect no one will listen or help.
President Bennet and Members of the Administration: We understand that it would be impossible for you to address all of these concerns here in this meeting, and so we have one concrete demand. We ask that over the next month, you review the minutes of today's meeting, which will be presented to you later today, and by Wednesday, January 19, present the members of this community with a proposal that outlines the ways this administration will address these myriad concerns.
Today, Tuesday, December 7, over 100 students came to President Bennet's weekly office hours to speak out about a lack of student voices, transparency, and accountability in administrative decision-making, and a lack of attention to student demands. President Bennet was both unwilling and unable to respond to student demands at that particular moment, prompting the demonstration to continue in and around South College, where over 250 students congregated for over four hours in the rain.
The janitor supervisor accused of worker abuse several months ago, Zbignein Gryko, will soon be removed from the Wesleyan campus, according to Justin Harmon, Director of University Communications. His company, American Building Maintenance (ABM) will move Gryko to another site and re-train him. According to various janitors, although they are happy about ABM's decision, there is still an array of work-related problems that they would like addressed.
While the specifics of WESU's future remain undecided, the station will make a major shift as of Feb.1 to fix a number of the station's current problems. WESU's Board of Directors hopes to turn the station around by hiring a general manager. "We've talked about the possibility of using WSHU feeds, but that is still in the process of negotiations," said Jesse Sommer '05, General Manager of WESU.
Just minutes from Wesleyan, the Miller Street and Bridge Street community sits under the Arrigoni Bridge. But not for much longer. The community consists of 22 buildings and two dead end streets and is sealed off from the North End by the railroad tracks that parallel Route 9. Its location has marginalized it geographically and subjected it to continuous problems caused by the various forms of traffic surrounding it.
Wesleyan's Action Science Kids (ASK) program not only teaches Middletown elementary students about science, but makes a political statement by the presence of ASK in the classroom. "There is still a discrepancy between [the number] of men and women that work in science," said Kate Longley '06, ASK member and biology major. One of the major goals of this program is to reinforce the notion that in a male dominated field, women make skilled science teachers and professionals.
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, Wesleyan and the Cross Street A.M.E. Zion Church signed a contract for eight acres of Wesleyan property in exchange for the church's 160 Cross St. location. The Wesleyan property that will go to A.M.E. Church is located at the intersections of Wadsworth and West Streets, part of the Long Lane property that the University recently acquired. The Cross Street A.M.E. Zion Church was founded in the 1820s and currently has 350 families in its congregation.
The Green Street Arts Center (GSAC) opened its doors to its new facility this weekend for a "sneak peek," previewing workshops and activities that will be offered in January. On Saturday, GSAC faculty and administration presented demonstrations in Bomba drumming, print making, jazz piano, Puerto Rican Vejigante mask masking, memoir writing, belly dancing, acting, sculpture, and Afro-Caribbean doll-making, which will be among the 30 classes in the GSAC after-school curriculum.
A decision on gender-neutral housing may still be months away, according to those close to the proceedings. The issue was brought up at the Dec. 8 meeting between President Doug Bennet and students, who listed gender-neutral housing as one of a list of student concerns and problems with the Wesleyan Administration. For now ResLife is still waiting for a decision by the Administration and the Student Life Committee on the issue, according to Rich DeCapua, Assistant Director of Residential Life. He added that the decision will not affect the housing lottery in the spring, since sophomores, juniors and seniors can house with anyone.
On Dec. 1, Cheryl Lim '05 received a phone call informing her that she had been selected as the only Malaysian Rhodes Scholar for 2005. "I hadn't been expecting much," Lim said. "When they called, it was an incredible, really wonderful surprise." Lim, a double major in psychology and sociology, is still applying to the different programs at Oxford but would like to earn her masters in comparative social policy. She plans to use the degree to return to Malaysia and work in public policy, specifically in non-profit, women's and children's issues, she said.
The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Social Committee (SC) will hold its annual Winter Carnival at Eclectic this Saturday. The featured acts will include performances by Jean Grae and a two-man band called "Mates of State." Grae will also organize an opening act with some fellow artists. "We want to have a free concert accessible to the whole campus and that speaks to many different musical tastes," said President of the SC Alex Escamilla '05.
What would you do if you were president? This question drives the Presidential Address Organization, a new Wesleyan group that will host a mock presidential debate on Jan. 21. Event participants will act as presidential candidates and present speeches expressing their vision for America to the Wesleyan community. Participation in the event is open to all students, regardless of class year, citizenship status, or political affiliation. So far, four students have signed up to present speeches.
This week's events were a powerful demonstration of solidarity between disparate campus groups, a clear display of the palpable anger some students feel toward the Administration and an example of the power of grassroots activism. The students also successfully used the media to their advantage; at least two local TV news channels broadcasted hundreds of students blockading Bennet's office and issuing demands.
Presumably, we all want to be tolerated. After all, who can imagine what might happen to us if we were not? Nasty things to be sure. Conversely, it seems likely that most of us would like to be thought of as tolerant. This toleration, which is due to each of us and extracted from all, is not merely social, but institutional: it is against the rule not to tolerate others. Intolerance, being against the standards of any decent community, will not be tolerated. It is intolerable.
We are writing to address your response to Zach Goldstein that, "Because the agreed-upon rules of the forum were broken, the administration does not plan to send any joint communication" to alumni. First of all, the agreement to send a joint communication was never dependent in any way on the success or failure of yesterday's forum. The terms to which you and the 250 or so students who assembled in your office agreed were that a joint communication to alumni would be sent if the wording of such a communication could be agreed upon.
I think it's important to protest. I think it's important to get upset if you've been wronged. I think it's important that Wesleyan students show the passion they showed this week. I agree that there are issues to be dealt with. I agree that the way gender-neutral housing was handled was reprehensible. I agree that we should not have to feel unsafe on campus. I agree that we should not have to face racial prejudice. I agreed that we needed to go to Pres. Bennet's office hours and let him know how we felt. I agreed with the symbolic protest of the duct tape. Till then I agreed with everything the student body had done.
On the cover of last Friday's Argus, there is a picture of four smiling white male individuals, being celebrated like Wesleyan's heroes of activism. Inside the editorial reads, "Anyone wishing to affect change can learn from Herman, Brenner, Ahl and Tuck's success and vision." I don't know anything about the members of this inspiring group of men, except that I recognized the name Jesse Brenner, because the Argus interviewed him a few months ago. And I also remembered that Brenner has appeared in the Argus once before.
Having just watched the meeting at Crowell between President Bennet and several administrators and a crowd of students, faculty and community members, but overwhelmingly of students, and run by students, I feel we owe him an apology. I feel that the portions of the meeting in which students voiced their concerns were well-run, but that the latter portions in which Bennet was supposed to be given time to talk were unacceptable.
Dear Justin Martinez: When I read your wespeak last week, I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu. Did I just read a piece on "respect" or did I just watch the investigative news report CBS's "shame on you?" In your effort to "expose" the dishonor of the not-so-post colonial "traitors," you seemed to have missed the overall irony of the fact that your article was a direct defensive attack on the emotion and substance of performances/writings by Marta and Raquel; that your piece read as the absence of respect and the presence of non-engagement.
I am the Station Manager of WESU. Over the past two months, I have been consistently and unfairly misrepresented by both the Wesleyan administration and the unaffiliated "Save WESU" student groups. The administration has over-emphasized the extent to which contractual decisions have been made, while several student groups have usurped our struggle and severely compromised WESU's position on the eve of its critical revitalization project.
Me and my family don't agree on much. But we're sick and tired of getting yanked around by your policies. During Homecoming Weekend, I had a nice conversation with Joshua Boger, a member of the Board of Trustees, during a time when a handful of Trustees made themselves available to listen to student concerns. One of the most prominent themes of this meeting was the overwhelmingly painful fees charged to students.
Here are the dynamics: if we walk out, President Bennet's only options are to either lose the license to the FCC, (which will revoke it if 88.1FM is unused for a period of one month while school is in session), or bring in a lucrative 24-hour NPR feed to retain its ownership and simply wait out the demonstrations. If and when the administration decides to reopen the station to students, most of them won't even be aware it was formerly a student station.
Yesterday I received a letter rife with disingenuous doublespeak from Wesleyan's Doug Bennet, directed at alumni of the remaining men's fraternities. In the letter, signed with a gigantic imperial "D", Bennet stated his intention to force "virtually all students" to live on campus and to exert further restrictions and control over students living on private properties, specifically fraternities, in this case.
You all got the email from Doug Bennet on Tuesday, Dec. 7. And you may have heard that students stayed at South College for four and a half hours until Bennet agreed to hold the forum on Wednesday (not Monday the 13, as he proposed) and mention the fact that the forum was the result of an action by over 250 students (which he did not want to include).
Let me start off by saying that I agree with many of the issues that Tuesday's protest brought up. I think that the inadequacy of the financial aid program is a gigantic problem, like any Wesleyan student I would like to see Woodframe housing kept intact, and I think that there is a need for administrative disclosure in many circumstances. However, the manner in which this protest was conducted was a disgrace and, in many ways trumped the grievances with the issues at hand.
This past Tuesday I headed to Crowell to attend the forum with President Bennet and other members of the administration and like hundreds of other Wesleyan students, was unable to secure a seat inside. This wespeak, however, does not address that issue, but rather words that were said by some students outside of the Crowell Concert Hall. While I wholeheartedly agree on the importance of nearly all the issues being raised by students over the past weeks, months and in some cases years, and I realize the importance for action, I do not agree with the way we are speaking about the action that has been taken.
Let me just start point-blank: the Administration is continuing to ignore and silence us. Now allow me to enumerate some of the most telling moments that demonstrate the administration's disregard for students. Considering that we are fed up with the ways this Administration treats us—i.e. unjustly silencing and ignoring us—their actions at the forum underscore their continued disrespect.
This wespeak is a response to recent protests on campus and is in the context of the WSA's silence on these important student issues. I will not affirm my support or my opposition to the issues themselves. Nevertheless, the protests have been remarkable, and the progress has been heartening. I hope that these events lead to improved student representation and voice on campus, and positive progress for the issues of the movement.
After attending a very disappointing community forum yesterday, one issue has emerged that is more urgent than all others: Wesleyan MUST hire an outside mediator to facilitate dialogue on this campus. What has been shown beyond doubt is that the students and the administration at Wesleyan are utterly incapable of responsibly facilitating and engaging in constructive dialogue.
Wednesday afternoon there was some sort of rally/protest/meeting thing at Crowell concert hall. I slept right through it, and honestly wouldn't have gone had I been awake. Apparently the issue at hand was administrative transparency. The people at Wesleyan who love to hear their own voices have decided for some reason that they should be privy to information concerning decisions on how the University is run.
Recently, Wesleyan's janitors have been struggling to end a trend of racial discrimination, worker endangerment and intimidation of union organizing by their employers at American Building Maintenance. Their efforts have been focused against area supervisor Zbignien Gryko, whose mistreatment led the janitors to demand series of investigations by ABM.
This is an invitation to all the flies on the wall who've enjoyed, detested, admired, and gotten bored of the back and forth over the past month. We, submitters of wespeaks, agreed that we should have an inclusive forum that would allow people to debate the effectiveness, need for, and ideas of Queer politics. While we have disagreed about these issues in our editorials, we firmly believe in the benefits of discussion, debate, and open dialogue and encourage anyone following (or ignoring!) the debate to come to the forum on Dec. 12, 8 p.m. in PAC004.
As many of you know, there has been an effort to re-initiate/initiate a dialogue aimed at specific solutions to specific community concerns, demonstrated by last Monday's protest and Tuesday's forum. However, as many have stated, the list of concerns/demands is only representative of those who have been involved thus far, is incomplete and does not include many voices. If you feel like this movement is not benefiting you, is hurting you, or is excluding you, then your voice is not being heard.
It is December again, and as in all Decembers, we, as a community, begin to face the challenge of treating and guarding against those pesky winter-time illnesses. During the winter months every doctor patiently awaits the inevitable onset of hundreds of sick patients toting illnesses ranging from the common cold to strep throat. Our own Health Services is no different, and already they are surely facing the beginnings of this traditional surge.
I would like to take a minute to address the "silencing" of Doug Bennet at yesterday's forum. When student facilitators tried to maintain the integrity of the forum's format that was negotiated and agreed upon by student representatives and deans, many members of the audience proceeded to boo and demand that Bennet be able to speak.
In my address to the administration's lack of action against hate crimes on Wednesday, I mentioned that I thought there should mandatory BiLeGaTa's for the athletic teams and the coaches. I was trying to name one, of many, many different groups that need reaching out to, in the larger goal of making Wesleyan a safer place. However, my remarks were counterproductive and perpetuated false stereotypes and assumptions, something I did not intend to do.
I am truly embarrassed by the way the student body was represented on Wednesday afternoon. I felt as though one group of student activists appropriated my voice as a Wesleyan student by pretending to represent the entire student body. I hold some of the concerns that were raised on Wednesday, but I would never have treated President Bennet the way that a few members of our student body did, especially if I wanted him to consider my point of view seriously.
Students for Democratic Action applauds the collective student uprising begun Dec. 7. The action is a lesson to every student who wants to make change at this school: unity and solidarity within the student ranks makes power. We witnessed acts of defiance and leadership from individuals that can only be described as profoundly inspiring manifestations of DIY democracy. We are only surprised that something like this hadn't happened sooner.
I'm writing to voice my strong concern about your proposal to associate WESU with NPR affiliate WSHU. It's hard to see what educational purpose such an arrangement would serve--as I recall, you can already hear two NPR-affiliated stations in Middletown. But it is clear that the move would shrink the amount of space available to student and community programmers, and sacrifice local control over the programming grid.
In the past few days, I witnessed actions by my fellow students that have challenged my ideas on student activism and responsibility. You probably would not get to read this letter given your busy schedule, but I feel that if I "want my voice heard," it is my responsibility to make an effort and speak up.
"Hey, come protest!" "Did you hear there is a riot at South College? You should totally come?" "Everyone needs to come to Crowell today at 4 p.m., it's totally important?" Protest WHAT? The stance demonstrated yesterday is fragmented, immature, and incoherent. Clearly there are individuals with reasonable opinions who too were appalled at how shockingly the progress of the student body was set back by the overall actions of yesterday. I state now that this message is not directed at them in the least, and I hope that they share my opinion in what I have to say following.
On Dec. 8, 2004 (the 24th anniversary of the deadly shooting of John Lennon), "Dimebag" Darrell, guitarist of the bands Damageplan and Pantera, was shot to death on stage during a performance at a Columbus, Ohio nightclub. He was 38.
Amidst the rise in student involvement on issues and in response to the confrontations earlier this week between the administration and students on several issues, I would like to note a few things to maybe think about concerning the lasting effect of the discussions that will hopefully take place as a result of the efforts of students who voiced their opinions on Tuesday (even in the downpour) and on Wednesday (inside and outside of Crowell Concert Hall).
Much to the chagrin of Lee Grodin '05, each day leftover food from Wesleyan dining areas is wasted. Unlike many other students, though, Grodin decided to do something about it. With Bay Love '05, she formed the Food Recovery Coalition (FoRC) in an effort to rescue this wasted food. "I grew up in New York where they have programs like Second Harvest where restaurants give leftover food to shelters," Grodin said. "I worked at Pi Café and saw all of the leftovers and thought that it would be more useful to give to shelters in Middletown."
Last Saturday morning, 34 Fairview Ave. rang out with the sound of sledgehammers. A group of Wesleyan students had rolled up their sleeves and joined community members for a common cause: building a Habitat for Humanity home. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that builds low-cost houses "in partnership with those who lack adequate shelter," according to the group's website.
Since the premiere of World Series of Poker on ESPN in 2003 and a host of imitations, what was once a late-night workingman's game has become a growing fad among young men. Recently, this trend has spread to Wesleyan, where increasing numbers of students are playing poker—often for high stakes. A recent New York Times article claims that televised poker has created a particularly great trend among teenage boys. For some, a night of poker has become the equivalent of gathering around the television for Monday Night Football. The same seems to be true at Wesleyan.
On a campus often ranked among the nation's most political liberal arts schools, it might not come as a surprise that professors interject political commentary into their lectures. However, a new report released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) shows that this trend is hardly unique to Wesleyan, with 49 percent of students at the 50 top colleges in the United States saying professors often discuss political issues in class, even if they are seen as irrelevant to the lecture or discussion. Wesleyan was one of the schools surveyed.
Every couple of months in Revere, Mass., Club Lido hosts a "Combat Zone"—sixteen match-ups of no-holds-barred mixed martial arts fighting. Revere is not the gem in Massachusetts' crown; it's not even the crown's protective plastic case. It's more like the old cigarette you find on the beach, far, far away from the crown. But since NHB fighting is illegal in Connecticut, I return home to the Bay State.
Jesse Sommer '05, station manager of WESU, has been interviewed by the Argus so many times he's stopped counting. But Jesse is more than a radio-lover caught in the crossfire. He is also a WESU talk show host, a former WSA presidential candidate, and perhaps the shortest-lived member of Prometheus and the wrestling team in University history.
Jazz, Tap, Indian, Javanese: these are just some of the styles of dance taught at Wesleyan and performed last Sunday at the Worlds of Dance Concert. The World Music Hall was at maximum capacity even before the scheduled start time of the concert on Sunday. About 50 students and family members milled around Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. until they entered Crowell Concert Hall for the second portion of the concert.
How did a Czech composer born in a bohemian village outside of Prague go on to capture the national spirit of America in his music? That was the question that framed the Wesleyan Orchestra's performance Saturday night in Crowell Concert Hall. The Orchestra performed works by Antonín Dvorák, a Czech who was invited to America in 1892 to teach young composers at the National Conservatory in New York.
Projected images of mosques excentuated the powerful performance of the Muslim call to prayer as this performance began the University's celebration of the many types of religion. On Wednesday in the Memorial Chapel, students took a break from the stresses of both studying and activism alike to attend the fourteenth annual Festival of Lights, a nondenominational holiday celebration organized by University Chaplains Louis Manzo, Gary Comstock, Abdullah Antepli, and David Leipziger.
For the first time ever, the African Students Association hosted "Birima Night." Birima, a word from the Senegalese language Wolof, means "festival." Though the night was indeed a celebration, sobering issues were weaved in a powerful and seamless manner. Dance group Boucher opened the show with a traditional Senegalese dance. The young women performing, dressed in traditional garb, grinned throughout the dance number, choreographed by Ndeye Gueye '06. It was difficult not to be moved by the infectious beat; several audience members could be seen dancing or clapping to the music.
Like many Wesleyan students with exams and final papers looming, Selina Tirtajana '08 must balance her academic work with singing. "[I sing] to wind down and relish things I truly enjoy," Tirtajana said. Unlike other Wesleyan students, Tirtajana sings downtown with the Greater Middletown Chorale. This weekend, her voice will be part of the Chorale's two performances of "Mystery and Joy," a program of Christmas selections spanning nine centuries.
Boom! Bouf! Shia La Bouf! That's it! That's the Fall semester for ya. It went by faster than any semester ever before. And for some of us, there's just one more. A-oo-gah! That's weird! But more importantly (at least for the purposes of this column), it's the end of the Film Series. But don't cry, little lambs. When you return from your restful recess, the Film Series will be right here waiting for you. It is, after all, the old standby.
Sometimes it's nice just to go to the theatre and enjoy a story as it unfolds. Not every play is high drama or grand farce. The middle range can often be entertaining and engaging if risks are taken, and if the show has the audience's best interests in mind. Fun was indeed had at the '92 Theater this weekend in a production of the unusual play "Life x 3," written by Yasmina Reza ("Art," "Unexpected Man") and directed by Logan Starr '06. Starr and company tackled a tricky and delicately structured text and emerged the better for it.
The Wesleyan Community, along with the rest of the country, will now have to wait until winter break to see the already acclaimed "Hotel Rwanda." On Dec. 3, Wesleyan's Amnesty International group announced that the Connecticut premiere of the United Artists movie would be held in the Center for Film Studies this Friday. Due to security concerns that the offices of Film Studies, Public Safety and Student Activities and Leadership were not able to negotiate with United Artists, the advance screening has been cancelled.
There is a quasi-strange occurrence for me at the end of most semesters. I find myself sucked into this time vortex or warp jigger and next thing I know it's like over a month since I wrote a film column. It's not as if I sit around and say, "Let's do the time warp again." It is not like that at all.
After overcoming the gated security of the Coast Guard Academy's entrance, an opponent with a red-hot three-point percentage and a 17-point deficit, the women's basketball team squeaked by Coast Guard Tuesday to extend its winning streak to six. Nora Bowman '05 led the Lady Cards with 19 points, sinking all 12 of her free throws and helping the women go 20 for 22 at the line. Ashley Mastrangelo '06 contributed with 17 points, while Hannah Stubbs '06 added 13 of her own, two of which were game-clinching free throws in the 66-64 Wesleyan victory.
The men's basketball team got off to a slow start by dropping three of its first four contests of the season. But after it appeared the squad was set for a transition year, the men quickly dispelled that notion by stringing together four quality wins. This past weekend, the Cardinals brought home the Skidmore Invitational Tournament championship, as they squeaked out two close victories over Nazareth (56-54) and host Skidmore (70-65) by a combined total of seven points.
Middletown became a hub of New England squash last weekend as the women's team hosted the annual Wesleyan Invitational. The Lady Cards played five matches and won two, including 7-2 victories over Smith and George Washington. While the women were battling on their home courts, the men traveled up to Trinity, where they lost two closely fought matches against Tufts (5-4) and Hamilton (7-2).
The wrestling team faced its toughest competition to date on Saturday, Dec. 4 at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. In a stacked meet, Wesleyan finished sixth in a 16-team field, falling just one point shy of fifth place to nationally ranked Cortland State. The team finished thirteenth at this meet last year. This year's finish, behind five nationally ranked schools, will put Wesleyan's young team onto the map, most likely giving it a top-25 ranking in the next Division III poll.
The high-flying Cardinal swimmers flew into Williamstown Friday with plans to avenge last season's loss, but while one Wesleyan women's record was broken, the women fell to the Ephs 181-104 and the men lost 178-113.The women kicked off their meet with the 200 medley relay, in which the quartet of co-captain Mikki Columbus '05, Amanda Shapiro '08, Kate Krems '08 and Joanna Tice '07 broke their own school mark by swimming the course in 1:51.67. However, this performance was only good for second place, as a Williams team beat them by 1.7 seconds.
Amanda Shapiro is a member of the Class of 2008 and the newest star for women's swimming. The holder of four individual University records, Shapiro set aside some time after a big weekend at Amherst to talk swimming and life at Wesleyan.
The women's ice hockey team played several tough games last week, hosting conference powerhouses Middlebury and Williams as well as two tough out of conference teams, Utica and SUNY Cortland. They lost all four games and fell to 1-6, allowing fourteen goals while only scoring twice during that time period.