Dominic Simonetta
Contributing Writer
At the start of the 2014 campaign, North Central College entered into the final year of its three-year series examining global human rights.
Throughout this winter term, NCC will be hosting three different events that are being sponsored by the Office of International Programs and the Leadership, Ethics, and Values Program and are free for all to attend.
Director of International Programs Jack Shindler talked about how this idea of exploring global issues and raising awareness of the effects on different cultures originated amongst the college.
“It all comes from a movement we started in the mid-90s when we did international programming for the first time,” said Shindler. “The idea was if we could choose one issue, in those days it was one country or region that would be a focal point. We could eventually arrange courses and events around that.”
This year, the college’s focus dials in on poverty and how we as a nation can hope to reduce it.
The first event took place on January 23, featuring Deputy Director of Bread for the World and NCC alumnus Matt Gross. Bread for the World is a non-partisan citizens’ movement that strives to end hunger. Gross’ return to campus centered around a film called “The Line,” a documentary depicting present-day American families who share their experiences of living far below the poverty line.
On February 18, the next event, will be held at Meiley-Swallow Hall from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. where two additional NCC alumni, Rick Guzman and Gonzalo Arroyo, are set to put on a presentation describing their innovative efforts in assisting families in Aurora to break the continuous cycle of working-class poverty.
“The two American alums [Guzman and Arroyo] are very important,” Shindler said. “What I really wanted to do was show students that these are people who went to North Central just like them and have gone into their particular fields and are doing something about these very issues.”
Choosing to bring back two people who are doing something on a localized level also insists that the very problems these events bring attention to are right under our noses.
“I think a lot of students and a lot of my faculty think that ‘international’ is somehow far away or exotic, or talking about problems that [America] doesn’t have,” said Shindler. “There’s a very high percentage of folks in this country that are living way below the poverty line, and there are a lot of reasons for it.”
Additionally, Shindler also acknowledges that he’s pushing for people to take notice of these individuals who are doing something out of the ordinary about it.
“I just think it’s good for students to know that this is a path that people follow and whether you’re interested in it or not, you can have a career similar to [the alums],” he said.
“I think shedding light on these worldwide issues is extremely important,” said sophomore Angie Crowe. “Today’s society is blissfully ignorant of the world. Knowledge is power, and I’m proud to see North Central sponsoring others who are trying to spread the word about global human rights.”
For the final event that will take place on February 28th from 12 to 1 p.m. at Meiley-Swallow Hall, felters Melissa Potter and Miriam Schaer will be demonstrating and lecturing on felting as an activist form of art. Their combined work has concentrated on using art as a way to help bring families out of poverty by turning their focus to women’s rights as well as feminism in developing worlds.
“I really wanted something that would show activism. I think it’d be nice for people just to be inspired,” said Shindler. “To ask an economist to do something about a problem in Russia might be a stretch, but to ask them to do something about a global problem like the environment or human rights is a lot easier.”
In order to be able to put on these events, the International Programs, LEV, and Cultural Events all work together and combine funding.
“I think it would be nice if the college could give us more,” said Shindler. “I think everyone would say that. Every now and then it’s really worth it to jump out of the box and try something, even if it meant, ‘Hey, I can do some of this as a volunteer.’ In my heart of hearts, that’s what I hope will happen.”
Regardless of the amount of resources the college plans to feed into this program in the future, NCC has already made arrangements to kick off a new focus starting next year that examines globalization as it pertains to specific regions worldwide.
