Diversity Rally
Tyrell Conner, a leader of the Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition, shares the group's plans with the crowd gathered Friday in front of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
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Tyrell Conner, a leader of the Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition, shares the group's plans with the crowd gathered Friday in front of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
Purdue University president Mitch Daniels speaks to the crowd after his meeting with the Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition leaders Friday on the steps of Hovde Hall at the school.
IU juniors Leighton Johnson and Brandon Washington speak to the crowd gathered about their support for the Purdue community's need for diversity Friday on the steps of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
IU juniors Leighton Johnson and Brandon Washington speak to the crowd gathered about the actions being taken at IU and the need to put pressure on administration for change Friday on the steps of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
IU Junior Emma Campbell holds a sign among Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition members Friday on the steps of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition members speak to a group of students about the need for diversity Friday on the steps of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
A sign bearing the Purdue Anti-Racism Coalition main slogan, "The Fire This Time!" sits on the steps of Hovde Hall at Purdue University. The phrase refers to putting pressure on the administration.
Indianapolis Concerned Clergy Reverend Mmoja Ajabu cheers along with Purdue students for more diversity and less acts of hatred Friday in front of Hovde Hall at Purdue University.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students in assistant professor Javier León’s World Culture and Music course performed with viola, cajon, guitar and trumpet instruments in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology Performance and Lecture Hall on Wednesday night.Graduate student Juan Rojas, one of the performers in the concert, said studying Afro-Peruvian music helps in his research in bullerengue, an Afro-Colombian style of music. Rojas, a Columbian, said he learned a lot about the context and the history of the music in this course.“The rhythms are very interesting, very complex,” Rojas said. “Facing new rhythms is always fun. Professor León is an excellent teacher.”The students performed a total of seven songs, mostly about daily life, as well as protest songs such as “El Esposito.” The Peruvian government banned the song from being played on the radio due to it’s controversial topic of prostitution at a time before birth control, León said. “The song is a critique of society at the time, and a critique of prostitution,” León said. León said the newer songs focused on Afro-Peruvian pride instead of regular everyday life and culture. “Afro-Peruvian music went through a renaissance in the 1950s, and younger people were activists.” León said. The course has been taught once every three semesters since 2008, he said. León has been at IU since 2007. Even though freshman Meagan O’Brien took the class to fulfill an Arts and Humanity credit, she said she is glad she took the course. “I like seeing the different types of music in the world,” O’Brien said, “It’s so different than what we hear in America.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nearly two weeks after the Diversity Coalition Rally led by Hudson and Holland and Groups students, Kelley School of Business professor Martin McCrory was chosen to fill a new position in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs. McCrory was appointed associate vice president for DEMA as well as vice provost for educational inclusion and diversity on the IU-Bloomington campus. McCrory will be the first person in three years to occupy the associate vice president position for DEMA. Edwardo Rhodes was the associate vice president for Student Development and Diversity, the former name of the role, from 2003 to 2010. The new position establishes a joint appointment between DEMA and the Office of the Provost, thus reporting to Edwin Marshall, vice president of DEMA, and Provost Lauren Robel. “We’ve been working closely with the office of provost looking at how we can strengthen programs like Hudson and Holland, Groups and 21st Century Scholars Program,” Marshall said. “I think that this new position, which now will have dual reporting lines both to the provost and to me, will allow McCrory to be able to work with both sides on how we can work better to strengthen the academic support programs that basically serve in my office.”Marshall said McCrory’s new position will strengthen the programs in DEMA. “What it really would do is create an executive bridge for constructive dialogue and interaction between DEMA support programs and the related activities in the offices that are housed in the office of provost," Marshall said. "It will help us integrate those programs and how we can better leverage and strengthen those programs within DEMA.”Marshall said as of now, there are no plans to move the programs out of DEMA and into academic affairs. “It’s an opportunity, a bridge for the office of provost and those programs within DEMA to have an individual who can translate between those offices’ interest and initiatives to improve these programs and go forward,” Marshall said. Marshall said some of his goals for the programs in the Office of DEMA, such as Hudson and Holland and the Groups Program, is to grow the programs in terms of participation, programming and instructive activities. He said the programs do more than bring in students.“Bringing students in is one thing, but we need to also provide them with the support necessary for them to graduate and be successful in their careers,” Marshall said. Marshall said that McCrory’s strength is in providing advising for students.IU junior Leighton Johnson, a Diversity Coalition leader, said that McCrory’s appointment was the biggest initiative to follow the rally.“To us, that’s monumental,” Johnson said. “Not only monumental, it’s massive. One of our goals was to fill the associate vice president position and if not then to move Hudson and Holland out of DEMA if you couldn’t put academic leadership over the programs.” Tomorrow, Johnson will be talking to a local Indianapolis radio show hosted by Amos Brown to give a recap of the diversity coalition rally and McCrory’s new position. “There’s going to be leadership from McCrory’s end that will be able to successfully and effectively run and support these programs,” Johnson said. “A lot of the issues that Hudson and Holland has run into since the departure of Rhodes won’t be happening anymore because now there would be leadership with experience, academic support and retention experience from McCrory’s end and from this new position.”McCrory and Johnson met Tuesday evening to talk about the student issues and concerns in the DEMA program. McCrory chose not to comment on his new position. “I’m optimistic,” Johnson said. “I have a good outlook on the future.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Traditional Turkic hats, jewelry, flags, books and food filled the Indiana Memorial Union’s University Club. A little boy and girl wore suits embroidered in a golden material. Faculty and staff from different Turkic backgrounds came Sunday night to the closing reception of the weekend long Turkic Central Asian Festival. Students from each of the four Turkic countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan — presented information and performed traditional songs and dances representative of their native country. Kamilya Salibayeva is one of 3,000 students that have been accepted in to the Kazakhstan Presidential Bolashak Scholarship Program — a scholarship that gives Kazakhstan students a full-ride scholarship to study overseas at a top university, such as Harvard, Emory, MIT or IU, according to the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan website. The Bolashak scholars are expected to return to Kazakhstan for at least five years after they’ve obtained a degree. Salibayeva said once they get back to Kazakhstan, they help promote their country’s industry, science, education and other areas of life. Salibayeva said she hopes to get a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience so that she can teach at a university in Kazakhstan. “I’m really happy that I’m here studying my major field,” Salibayeva said. “I’m really happy that I’m representing my country, which undoubtedly for me is a great pleasure to tell people more about Kazakhstan, how beautiful we are, how beautiful our culture is and just to tell people more about the diversity with countries across the world.”Salibayeva said the event served to raise awareness about the diverse culture and the multinational, polyethnic communities of the Central Asian countries. “We hope that celebrating Kazak, Uzbek, Kyrgyzstan cultures will help us promote the knowledge about our countries and help get people to know us more.” Salibayeva said. The traditional, cultural reception was the third day of the festival. There was a Kazak movie in Wylie Hall after the reception. Graduate student Assylbek Yesturly said he was there to support the countries involved and show the friendship within the Turkic countries. One way friendship was shown at the event was with the traditional Turkish food. Umida Khikmatillaeva, the Uzbek Student and Scholar Association founder and adviser, said her husband prepared a huge pot of big pilav — a Turkish rice dish prepared in chicken broth. “This is the hugest pilav, I think, ever in Bloomington,” she said. “Pilav is king of the Uzbek cuisine. It’s cooked everywhere, in the Middle East, in Asia, in a lot of nations. There was a noodle dish that originated from China and then over the years traveled to Central Asia.”Khikmatillaeva said it is common to decorate tables with dry foods, such as pistachios and dates in Turkic countries. This event was sponsored by IU Student Association, Office of International Services, the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resources Center, Central Eurasian Studies Department and the Center for the Study of the Middle East.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the past, IU has used a coal plant to provide heat for buildings and facilities. But just last year, IU started using natural gas to heat buildings. Because of that, IU has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent from 2011 to 2012. Greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. Carbon dioxide is considered a greenhouse gas and is produced by combustion of fossil fuels. “The tracking of combustion is what they were looking at as the greenhouse gas emissions inventory,” said Bill Brown, director of the Office of Sustainability. “The biggest place that we burn and combust things on campus is at the Central Heating Plant, which heats steam, which then heats the buildings on campus. That plant for the most part is run on natural gas instead of coal, lately.” Brown said the combustion of natural gases releases only half of the emissions created by the combustion of coal, hence reducing the release of gases into the air. “That’s why there’s such a decrease in emissions,” Brown said. “We do very little coal anymore.”Brown said the Central Heating Plant now burns coal just as a back-up supply in case the cost of natural gas increases or if there is a supply disruption of natural gas. “They would like to have as much natural gas as possible while also retaining that ability to switch to coal if they have to,” Brown said. “Right now, coal is more expensive than natural gas, so there’s no reason to switch.” Four years ago, Coal Free IU was created to voice student concerns about a coal plant on campus. Coal Free IU advocated for the removal of coal burning used to heat facilities. In April 2012, Coal Free IU presented the administration with a report on the costly affects that the campus power plant had on the environment. Along with the Central Heating Plan, Coal Free IU helped push a plan — the Integrated Campus Plan — into action. The Integrated Energy Master Plan was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2010 to reduce energy use around campus and cut carbon dioxide emissions. According to a press release, this year’s reduction surpassed the goal in the Integrated Campus Plan, which aimed for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.Senior and Coal Free IU Vice President Lauren Kastner said she feels the reduction of these emissions is incredibly important and what they’ve been fighting for the past four years. “We are pleased to see that the University is making progress with this,” Kastner said. “However, while we are happy that coal is no longer a primary fuel source in the Central Heating Plant, we don’t see the natural gas as a longtime viable gas for the University, since it’s also a fossil fuel.” Kastner said she feels that during its hydraulic fracturing process, natural gas can be incredibly harmful to the environment and public health. She said this could have a drastic negative impact on campus in the long term. “For the long term, the University needs to do more research and invest in further into truer, renewable energy,” Kastner said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fred Diego spoke into the megaphone facing a group of ecstatic black, brown and white faces in the biting, 46-degree weather.“How many of your professors look like you?” Only three students raised their hand. At 12:45 p.m. Friday three students — junior Fred Diego, senior Titilayo Rasaki and junior Leighton Johnson — stood with a few others at the Sample Gates arch. By 1:15 p.m., there were more than 100 students, staff, faculty, community leaders and state legislative representatives alongside the three Diversity Coalition leaders. They gave students bold, colorful posters to hold up that read, “Broken Dreams, Unfulfilled Promises,” “How do you quantify culture?” and “WWHD — What Would Herman Do?”Members of Groups Program and Hudson and Holland Scholars led the diversity coalition rally on Friday to call for increased numbers of underrepresented minorities on campus and to fix the infrastructure within the two programs that bring in most of those minorities.Last year, Rasaki, a Hudson and Holland Scholar, said she decided not to join the diversity rally because she felt the alternative methods had not been exhausted. Rasaki said she believes rallies and protests should be a last resort. “I believe that in this rally, we’re trying to collaborate because we have mutual interest,” Rasaki said. “We are stakeholders to this University and we want it to be better and multicultural. What we’re trying to do is help to basically make that become meaningful action.”The IU Diversity Coalition advocates for a healthy, multicultural environment that will promote cross-cultural interactions on campus and protect access to higher education for underrepresented students, as well as integrity in the infrastructure of their programs. They demand the administration provide Hudson & Holland with an adequate amount of support staff, an advisory board for the Groups Program and a promise to hire and retain non-white and women faculty, among other issues. Last year, the rally focused more on the May 2006 promise that the Board of Trustees endorsed in order to double the population of underrepresented minorities on the IU-Bloomington campus by the 2013-2014 school year. A year later, outgoing President Adam Herbert and incoming President Michael McRobbie released a joint statement about a strategic plan for increasing diversity on IU’s campus. In the years following, the Groups and Hudson & Holland Scholars programs changed drastically, especially in 2010. In that year, the Groups program lost its federal funding and a federal grant renewal of $400,000. Edwin Marshall was named the vice president for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs. In the Hudson & Holland Scholars Program funds were cut, retention rates dropped and 5 out of 7 full-time staff departed with only one full-time staff position filled.Last week, IU Provost Lauren Robel wrote a guest column for the Herald Times about IU’s commitment to the definition of diversity and how critical it was to students’ experiences. Robel wrote about how there has been a $1.9-million-increase to the Hudson & Holland Scholars program which has doubled in its population. She also stated a commitment of $300,000 for study abroad opportunities in the programs. However, Rasaki said even though they’ve been meeting with administrators for more than a year, sometimes they don’t understand their concerns. Rasaki said she feels the administration is not focusing on the right problems, like how they need more advisers to assist their growth in college. “It’s the advisers that develop the students into high achieving, excellent students that they are and really make sure that the graduation rates are high, that retention rates are high,” Rasaki said, “If that’s missing, then all you have is money, and money does not always solve everything.”At the rally, sophomore Jason Gonzalez unzipped his jacket to reveal a Kelley School of Business shirt with a paper attached to it that read “Hudson and Holland Scholars.” Gonzalez said he attended the rally because of IU’s broken promises to increase diversity. “I joined the program with promises that students would have full-time access to the resources that a prestige minority program has,” Gonzalez said. “When staff are being cut back and part of the program is being cut back, it seems like IU is not focusing on diversity on campus anymore.” Gonzalez said he’s noticed some problems in his own school. “Even in the Kelley School of Business, the lack of interaction that students are able to have with underrepresented students on campus is because of diversity issues,” Gonzalez said, “Really it all stems from how IU is going to define diversity and how we want them to. That’s the point of the rally for us.”At the diversity coalition rally, Thomas Buhls, a senior, stood among the students holding a sign which said, “Smile, It’s Alright to be White.” He said when people support diversity, they should mean diversity. “One of the things I see happening a lot of times is that when people think diversity there’s this weird sort of exclusion that happens,” Buhls said. “Some people think that a person can’t be proud to be white or can’t be white without being guilty of being about something. I just don’t buy into that. I’m proud to be white.”Some IU on Strike supporters at the rally blocked him and held up signs that contradicted his message. Indiana State Representatives and IU alumnae Robin Shackleford and Cherrish Pryordrove down from Indianapolis to speak with and support the students. Shackleford and Pryor are also a part of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, a political group which promotes policies concerning black social and economical progress. “There are five members of the Black Caucus that actually graduated from IU-Bloomington,” Pryor said, “So we’re very concerned that the number of minority students is not high as it should be and that the amount of outreach is not the way that it should be. The support services are lacking. The kids are concerned about being here, and that should not be the case.”Pryor said the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is currently having meetings and collecting information concerning diversity issues at IU. “We’re going to have a continuing open dialogue and hopefully add some recommendations to the University on how to better move forward,” Pryor said, “Also, we want to continue to work with the students. I think that the kids put together a list of what they felt was needed, and I think the University needs to know that list and try to do whatever they can to implement it.”Pryor said she and fellow representative Greg Taylor met with McRobbie and Marshall recently and have expressed their concerns. “We are compiling a letter and requesting some information from the president, and we’re going to continue to have conversations,” Pryor said. “The Black Caucus needs to be engaged, and the University needs to know that we are watching what happens down here. If they don’t think we’re watching, then we’re going to continue to have issues, and we want to make sure that we don’t have them.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ten years ago, Feisal Amin Rasoul Al Istrabadi helped construct the draft of Iraq’s interim constitution during the beginning of the U.S. war in Iraq. Earlier last month, IU announced that Istrabadi, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq to the United Nations and the director of the IU Center for the Study of the Middle East, was invited to be a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Istrabadi has accepted this position and will be a part of the independent, nonpartisan, diplomatic organization that advises government officials on foreign policy issues. Istrabadi, who is also a university scholar in International Law and Diplomacy at the Maurer School of Law, said that as a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, he will continue to speak out as a private citizen as well as write scholarly articles about foreign policy. Istrabadi said there is a certain Iraq fatigue within the policy community after almost an entire decade of U.S.-Iraqi war. “It’s been 10 years,” Istrabadi said, “People’s attention span has moved on to different things.” The flavor of the day is Iran and North Korea. Istrabadi thinks this is an unfortunate problem because the United States has fought two wars there in 20 years.According to a recent article in The New Yorker, April 9th 2013 marked the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. “I returned in 2003, after 33 years in exile, to help rebuild the country,” Istrabadi said.Istrabadi has also served as a legal advisor to the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs. He said he sees joining the Council of Foreign Relations as an honor and opportunity to network. Lee Hamilton, the director of the IU’s Center on Congress, and Sumit Ganguly, the director of the Center on American and Global Security, are also new members of the Council. “It’s a great honor for me to be a member of council,” Istrabadi said. “I regard it as an opportunity to be in closer contact with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the American foreign policy establishment and hopefully someway contribute to their deliberations on the issues that they become knowledgeable about.”Interim Maurer School of Law Dean Hannah Buxbaumsaid via email that Istrabadi’s expertise in global affairs will be a great benefit to the Council. “In addition, his appointment will help enhance the national reputation of the Law School as we continue to emphasize the importance of globalization in legal education,” Buxbaum said. Istrabadi, a Virginia native with an Iraqi heritage, went to Bloomington High School South and received both his B.A. and J.D. at IU. He was a practicing trial lawyer in the U.S. for 15 years.“If you would’ve told me as a student that 20 years later that I would be a diplomat, that I would be a drafter of a constitution, I might’ve prepared myself differently on a role that came completely unexpected,” Istrabadi said. Istrabadi said that the moral of the story for students is to take advantage of your opportunities while you have them. “You never know where life is going to take you,” Istrabadi said. “You could end up doing things you never imagined.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Selam Adhanom called her dad to say she wanted to come home. A summer 2010 participant in the Groups Program, the soon-to-be freshman at IU wasn’t used to the American food they’d been serving in the dining halls. It had been making her vomit.Raised in the small Northeastern African country of Eritrea for seven years, Adhanom had been raised on Shiro and Dorho tsebhi. The Groups Scholars Program, an initiative that prepares first generation college students for college at IU, had brought Adhanom to IU for the summer, but she wasn’t sure she could handle the food for another four years. Adhanom said that halfway through the summer session, she increasingly got physically sick from the campus food. “I lost like 15 pounds,” she said. “Everything I ate, my body would just throw up the food. I wasn’t used to eating American food all the time. That’s when I realized how Eritrean I was.”Adhanom’s family moved to Indiana when she was just seven years old, seeking education and opportunity. Because the path to citizenship for international immigrants requires a five-year residency period, the process for Adhanom was prolonged.Additional safety measures due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks didn’t make the process any easier, she said. Adhanom did not become an official U.S. citizen until last year. Even though she lived in the United States throughout middle and high school, she said it still took her a long time to feel like an American once she got to college. Her home in Indianapolis was as close as she could get to Eritrea, a small country in Northern East Africa. “In our house, English is forbidden,” Adhanom said. “We don’t speak in English. We don’t eat American food, unless we go out. It was a big culture shock coming here. So to a certain point, I did feel like an international student.”Eating in the dining halls was a burden every day during her freshman and sophomore years. She said she just couldn’t get accustomed to the new food. “I took every opportunity to go home,” Adhanom said. “If it wasn’t for that I would have quit halfway through the program.”The only American foods she can digest are pasta, rice and certain snacks.“I almost went through depression, just being away from home,” Adhanom said. “I wasn’t eating that much. I wasn’t sleeping. I didn’t like being here at all. If it wasn’t for my roommates, who are also Eritrean/Ethiopian, I probably would’ve left.” Adhanom relies on her mother sending or bringing her food. Now that she works two jobs and serves as treasurer for the African Student Association, she rarely has time to eat. She and her “habesha” roommates — a term for Ethiopian and Eritrean people — have their own kitchen. Their parents send ingredients from home — sauces and spices like silsi and berbere, and fresh, unprocessed chicken, lamb and goat to make meals in their apartment. Residential Programs and Services Dining Services provides food for students all over campus in 20 different food facilities. They accommodate for vegan, vegetarian and other dietary needs, said Sandra Fowler, RPS dining services director. If a student has particular diet restrictions, they can express their concerns to the RPS dietitian, Fowler said. When it comes to culturally and international inspired foods, Fowler said that RPS Dining Services also offers a wide range of options around the campus. “We have different Latin foods, we have Asian foods, we have new items that we rotated throughout or have had concepts at our food courts,” Fowler said. “Even in our school of business café, we have a different ethnic entry every day.”Ancil Drake, the RPS director for production and procurement, said that the RPS staff, including the chefs, experiment with new recipes to create food concepts, then present it for a trial period. The success of the ethnic food concepts is primarily based on how popular the food items are. Drake said that at the Kelley School of Business Campus Café, ethnic foods are rotated throughout the week. “We work with a group of students in a meal plan committee,” Fowler said. “These are students that represent the various regions area. We meet every other week and discuss feedback that they have, suggestions they have, any time we’re going to bring in a new concept.” There are also food committees for a particular dining site, and they operate under student government. Fowler said that there’s a lot of international students who work in the RPS dining services areas. However, both Fowler and Drake agreed that they don’t often receive much input from the non-employee international student population. “They might not be aware,” Drake said. “We try to encourage students to join these local food committees because those committees meet with the managers on a regular basis.”Drake said that the managers are then empowered to act on some of the concerns. If the manager can’t act on it, they can bring the issue to the administrative team to make decisions. Fowler believes a new dining area in Forest Quad will offer better, more internationally diverse options for students. The flyer has hardly been advertised to the student population, at least not yet. It reads, “The Restaurants at Woodland: Created, planned, tweaked, finessed, contemplated, and designed. Just for you.” This new conception will have a brick oven to cook pizza and also fresher foods from a variety of different places of influence. Not only will there be food places that will serve grilled meats and Italian food, there will also be a place called “Fusion” which will offer food ranging from Korean food to Mediterranean to Ethiopian.Fowler, who has worked in RPS Dining Services for about 40 years, said that in the 1970s, RPS Dining Services would showcase a different ethnic meal every month. “It might be Brazilian, Italian, German,” Fowler said. “Each month we would try to get as many authentic recipes as we could make them, this is when we did traditional dining — when every center had a dining room and we served the same meal in all the dining halls. To get variety we would have some international meals, and then the popular recipes would be incorporated in the cycle of menus.”Sue Huang attended IU in the mid 1980s as a Taiwanese international student pursuing her master’s degree. Huang said in an email that she stayed in Eigenmann Residence Center for some time before she moved to Collins Living-Learning Center after one semester. Huang remembers making the American food in the main library and Eigenmann cafeteria work for her taste as an international Taiwanese student. “At that time, the food served in the cafeteria was quite American. I don’t think the food was international at all. But that is all right in teaching us about American food. We managed to make food Taiwanese anyway. That is why we all try our best to move away from dorms so that we can cook for ourselves.”More than 25 years later, RPS is still having a hard time getting student input from the surveys they send out every year. Adhanom said she’s never seen an RPS survey to voice her concerns about the food services. “I’m sure there’s a lot people that feel the way I do, who struggle with the same thing I did,” Adhanom said. “I’m sure it’s hard for not just international students, but like Islamic, Jewish and other students.”Adhanom said she feels that RPS doesn’t do enough to accommodate international students here. “It’s kind of like they want them here for like tuition payment,” Adhanom said. “But they don’t do a lot to make them feel comfortable. They kind of have to create their own thing to have a community here.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Center of Latin American and Caribbean Studies spread flyers this semester around campus that read, “The bututu is sounding! Calling you to learn Inga, the Quechua of Colombia.” Next semester, CLACS instructor Francisco Tandioy is teaching an indigenous dialect of Inca Quechua language called Inga. Even though other Quechua dialects are taught at other universities, IU is the only university in the world that offers Inga language and culture courses. Quechua, the largest indigenous language spoken in Latin America, is the native language for more than 13 million people from southern Colombia, northern Argentina and Chile as well as Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Francisco Tandioy, a former Universidad de Nariño professor and a current Inga instructor, is a native speaker who advocates for the preservation of the Inga language and culture. “Right now, they don’t know how to read or write,” Tandioy said about the Inga people. “They just speak the oral language. So right now we need training.”During the course a quarter of a century, Tandioy has worked on providing language pedagogy for the natives in the Inga village. Tandioy was responsible for creating the world’s first Inga language instruction book — Inga Rimagapa Samuichi: Speaking the Quechua of Colombia — along with his longtime research colleague, Folklore and Ethnomusicology professor John McDowell and then-graduate student Juan Eduardo Wolf. He also wrote an Inga-Spanish dictionary, as many people from the Inga villages are speaking more Spanish and less Inga, as well as a bilingual education book for children. Tandioy also wrote a photo and illustration book in collaboration with his mother called “Dreams and Omens” about his mother’s dreams of mystical healing and cures. Tandioy said in his community they share their dreams.A native of Sibundoy Valley in Putumayo, Colombia, Tandioy received his Master’s degree in Linguistics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at IU. He is currently a Ph.D. student in folklore and has been teaching Inga for years. Tandioy left IU in 1983 to go back to Colombia to teach at the Universidad de Nariño and co-founded an Inga political activist group called Musa Runakuna that works with the Inga elders to preserve the language and culture. McDowell met Tandioy in Colombia as he collected and recorded stories to preserve Inga traditions. “People kept telling me you have to meet Professor Tandioy because he can help you translate those stories,” McDowell said. “So I found him at the Universidad de Nariño. Sure enough, I explained what I was doing and he liked the idea and we started working together. I played back the materials on my tape recorder and he could understand the words on it and we would think about how to translate to English, well, first into Spanish and then we have to figure out what the ideas were in the stories." McDowell said Tandioy is seen by people as a mentor and an ambassador of his culture. “I think he thinks of himself as doing that kind of work — bringing the knowledge and beauty of his culture to faraway places, way up here in Bloomington, Indiana, “ McDowell said. “He’s a highly respected elder in his community.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Wednesday afternoon, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures celebrated its 50th anniversary. The celebration started with celebratory remarks from EALC Chair Natsuko Tsujimura, Executive Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Larry Singell, University Chancellor Emeritus Ken Gros Louis and East Asian Studies Center Heidi Ross, all of whom talked about the prestige and history of the department. The department was established in 1962. Bob Eno has been a part of the East Asian Languages and Cultures department since 1985. Eno said East Asian studies became a field of interest because of World War II and spawned because of United States efforts to encourage Japanese and Chinese studies. The celebration also included guest speakers such as Professor Joshua Fogel and the visual presentation of EALC history presented by graduate students in the department. Tsuijimura said the department concentrates on Japanese, Chinese and Korean languages and cultures. She said these studies play an important role in the new School of Global and International Studies.“Given the new School of (Global and) International Studies, this department is currently the largest unit in that new school. Especially due to the growing importance in the world and in China, it’s going to be a very important factor in relation to the global international studies,” Tsuijimura said. Jude Coulter-Pultz, a second-year master’s student who studies Japanese, said he got involved in the EALC through an interesting coincidence, as he was introduced to it by a Japanese folklore professor. He read a book about Japanese monsters called “Pandemonium and Pride” by IU professor Michael Dylan Foster. “Well, my current focus is in Japanese folklore. Prior to coming here I lived in Japan for five years teaching English...that’s when I became interested in Japanese folklore. I would like to return to school as a graduate student. I wasn’t immediately aware of Indiana University’s EALC department, but in applying to other schools, some of the professors I was working with pointed me in the direction of IU.”Eno said he thinks the EALC will continue to strive in the next 50 years.“Our goal is to keep that cultural balance,” Eno said. “So we have social scientists and humanities people working together. To keep the language program really, really strong is what keeps us doing exceptionally well. That’s the goal. Right now, the trajectory of this department is extremely good.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Alvin Tan, one of the hosts of the Southeast Asia night, asked for a volunteer from the audience. A young boy raised his hand and rushed to the stage. Tan asked him, “Do you know which region Vietnam is from?” The little boy had no idea. Another member of the audience, a little girl in a purple, flowery dress answered. “It’s in Southeast Asia,” Last Saturday was Southeast Asia Night for the IU student organizations that represent countries in that region. Win Yee Ho, a junior, said six organizations were represented at the Southeast Asia night; the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Southeast Asia night has grown to include all of these organizations through the years. “This year we had Indonesia join us,” Ho said, “They used to have their own Indonesia night. This year they decided to join us, so everyone knows about Southeast Asia cultures, instead of just one country.”Even though there are 10 Southeast Asian countries in the world, little more than half are represented. Ho said the other countries tend to lack student manpower. For instance, Myanmar has fewer than 5 students attend IU. “They say that there are no Cambodians at IU and Laos, they don’t have any here. We have more man power so we can represent many cultures,” Ho said. From Malaysian Batik silk scarves , to Indonesian miniature Ondel Ondel puppets, to Filipino Manny Pacquio “Pac Man” Nike Shoes, all six of the student organizations showed a piece of their country’s culture at their booths. Some wore extravagant, golden dresses, like the students from Thailand; some wore bright, neon outfits like the dancers from Indonesia. After the mingling and visiting of the booths came to an end, everyone sat down and watched Tan and his cohost lead the show with trivia questions such as “What is the national animal in Malaysia?” or “What is the capital of Thailand?” The show started with a dance performance by Indonesian students. Additionally, three students participated in a mixed-martial arts demonstration and Filipino dancers performed a Tinikling dance, which involves dancers tapping and sliding bamboo sticks. Haley Rios, a sophomore with a Mexican and Filipino background, said joining the Filipino Student Association was her first time experiencing this side of her culture. “Growing up, I was never really involved in my Asian culture, so I was really part of FSA for that reason, just to get to know a little bit more about the culture that I didn’t grow up with,” Rios said. “Coming to Southeast Asia night you get to learn about other cultures. I have never been to the Philippines, so it gives me a taste of what it is like.” Senior Yi-Yang Chua was the main organizer of the event. Chua also serves as the president of the Malaysian Student Association. He said the student organizations started planning for this event in December and it means a lot to them. “Its more of a way to show off our culture because we don’t have a global presence,” Chua said, “If you ask an average person in the world they probably couldn’t tell you where Malaysia is.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Diversity Coalition called a “rally planning meeting” in the Neal Marshall Black Culture Center Tuesday evening to plan a rally to emphasize and publicize diversity. The three core members of the Diversity Coalition — Titilayo Rasaki, Leighton Johnson and Fred Diego — asked the group of about 30 students, staff and faculty gathered in the Bridgwaters Lounge the question: What issues have you seen with the various programs?One student said IU fails to recruit in certain Indiana areas like Gary and Indianapolis outside of just the Hudson & Holland Scholarship Program, Groups Scholars Program and 21st Century Scholars. The IU Diversity Coalition was started last year as a student-run initiative to discuss and plan actions dealing with programs that bring in diversity like Groups and Hudson and Holland, specifically. Diego said the coalition members are working to resolve the issue on all grounds and pressing the issue with administrators to make changes. He said he first noticed that he was the only non-white in his cognitive science class when his professor pointed it out. “That’s one of those things that really got me thinking, to what extent there’s an absence of minorities in the STEM fields and if that underrepresentation could be evidenced,” Diego said. “I witnessed it first hand. Then I didn’t realize it until someone pointed it out ... they’re not hearing from the students that are feeling a lack of diversity.”Rasaki said that for more than a year they have tried to talk to administrators about the failing infrastructure of these programs and nothing is being done about it. Diversity Coalition members said they believe that the core of the issue is the degenerating infrastructure within the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs. They want to advocate not only for the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students, but also for a diverse faculty. One staff member stated that having a diverse faculty can increase the learning environment for everyone. Junior Jose Mitjavila is a Hudson and Holland Scholar. Mitjavila is running for IUSA as the presidential candidate on the YOUniversity ticket. He said that he and some representatives came to the Diversity Coalition meeting because of the importance of the issue on campus.The Diversity Coalition also discussed the possible date for the rally. Some people debated if they should partner with the IU on Strike protesters on April 11-12, which are also the dates of the IU Board of Trustees meeting. Diversity Coalition members said they will send out a survey to determine the best date.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Hungarian Fulbright Visiting Professor László Borhi spoke to staff, faculty and students Monday. Borhi presented his research on the role that East Central Europe’s weaker states play in the global system, especially during World War II and the Cold War. He argued that weak states often influence and shape international policy. Borhi also emphasized three periods that supported his argument: post-World War II’s creation of the new European order, the Cold War diplomacy that divided the continent in the 1940s and the Soviet Union collapse in 1989.Borhi said he disagrees with political analysts and historians about who influences the international system. Some people believe it depends on how much power you have, but he said he believes that strong military and economic power doesn’t always have to be the main source of influence — policy change can come from smaller powers as well. “We have to realize that contrary to what neo-realists feel or say about systemic change in international politics, weak states do have a way in certain historical situations to generate systemic change in international politics,” Borhi said. The role of weak states and international politics is very underrated, Borhi said. “There’s not even a definition of what constitutes a weak power,” Borhi said. “And as I said, some powers are weak economically and military, but in terms of their soft power, they are extremely powerful.”Borhi specifically discussed the role Hungary played in World War II and how the country affected the political atmosphere. Hungary was originally an Axis power, but soon after betrayed Germany forces and did secret peace negotiations with the U.S. and the United Kingdom. They were then occupied by German forces and conquered by the Soviet Union. Valéria Varga, a Hungarian language instructor at IU, said Borhi’s research is always unique because it always puts everything into perspective. She called Borhi one of the most prominent scholars in his field. “You know, seeing our culture from the inside is always different than seeing our culture from the outside,” Varga said. “The purpose of his research of everything in Hungarian history puts it into perspective. It gives a new understanding to our past.” Freshman Jessie Nejberger, a member of the Hungarian Culture Association, attended the talk not only because she is a political science major, but also because she is interested in learning about her heritage. Nejberger is one-quarter Hungarian. “I’ve always been interested in the Eastern Europe history and its history in the Cold War, not that my family was there, they had moved to Paris by then after World War II,” Nejberger said. “Because of my background I’m very interested in Hungarian studies. Even though it is the period after my family had already left Hungary, I’m still a part of a legacy, Hungary.”Nejberger said she wants to have Borhi as a professor. “I think it’s interesting just to hear his perspective of weaker states still have power,” Nejberger said. “Even though they’re perceived as weak states. In the beginning he was talking about how soft power was not able to be calculated, so soft power is where they would be coercing and convincing the bigger powers. Analyzing and revisiting that history is really interesting.”Christopher Atwood, chair of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, said he thinks that this was a great introduction to the Fulbright lecture series for the department. “The Fulbright Lectureship is an institution as to famous professors teach at Indiana University for a year in different fields, so we think the lecture is a way for them to show their abilities and what their research is to the IU community,” Atwood said. “It’s an example of although he’s Hungarian and his research is focused on Hungary, I think it’s a broader interest to the entire IU community. Atwood said the Fulbright Scholar Program is a very coveted position, and people who are chosen have to be very established, up-and-coming in their fields and able to teach a wide range of issues. Borhi’s lecture was a part of the Hungarian Fulbright Lecture series that is a part of the IU Department of Central Eurasian Studies.