Week of Action Events in Minnesota
During Raise Your Voice: A Week of Action, Minnesota campuses and communities will dialogue about issues of importance, celebrate the achievements of student leaders, and share strategies for creating further change.
Minnesota Campus Compact's 2003 Annual Meeting of Presidents will be held Tuesday, February 18th from 4:00pm - 6:30pm at Metropolitan State University's Great Hall in St. Paul. The theme of this year's Annual Meeting will be "Civic Engagement and Public Support for Higher Education." Civic engagement holds great potential to help us address declining public support for higher education, both in the short and long term. Discussions of specific strategies for bolstering public support will be woven throughout the program.
At this year's event, we will:
• Launch the expansion of the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration into Minnesota. MCC has been chosen as one of three state expansion sites for this award, and Sue Sehgal, National Director of the Carter Award, will be visiting from Georgia State University to formally kick off the program.
• Launch MCC's Task Force on Civil Society and Workforce Development, including brief remarks by a board or staff member of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures, an internationally-recognized leader in corporate ethics.
•Announce findings from the legislatively-commissioned MCC Civic Engagement Study. You'll hear highlights of the study, and a preliminary report will be presented to select legislators. Sen. Sandy Pappas (Chair, Higher Education Budget Division), Sen. Cal Larson (ranking Republican on Higher Education Budget Division), Sen. Robert Kierlin (Member, Higher Education Budget Division), and Rep. Doug Stang (new Chair, Higher Education Finance Committee) have been invited to join us.
• Celebrate Raise Your Voice: A Week of Action with 20 MCC Student Fellows!
Carleton College:
Carleton College is preparing for Raise Your Voice: Two Weeks of Action and will begin with Carleton students visiting Northfield High School to discuss civic engagement.
Feb. 19-21. A phon-a-thon has been organized where phones, email stations, and letter-writing materials will be available for students to contact their political representatives directly about public issues they feel strongly about. Student groups will also table at the event to share information about their current projects and initiatives.
Feb. 22. Bus trip to Weisman Museum in Minneapolis.
Feb. 25th. During Common Time, Jerry Stein, an Education professor from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, will meet with Carleton students.
Feb. 27. Viewing of Paul Wellstone videos, 7pm
Feb. 28. Wellstone Symposium, Dinner reception co-sponsored by Acting in the Community Together (ACT) and the Career Center.
Mar. 1. Wellstone Symposium, Workshops, Presentations, and Information Tables.
Crown College will host events for student leaders to explore increased political involvement and leadership within local and state government. An all campus forum will be held with an invited speaker to address questions about civic engagement from students. February 19. Contact: moatss@crown.edu
Also at Crown College, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003:
• Morning meeting with student leaders and Lew Freeman, past president of the MN Chapter of NAACP and host of a radio show.
• 10 AM Lew Freeman gives an address to the entire Crown student population
• 3 PM Open forum with Lew Freeman and Crown students
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will host a civic dialogue focused on sexual abuse and physical violence.
Hamline College has proposed activities that give students the opportunity to dialogue with each other:
• A civic dialogue led by Hamline’s President. Friday afternoon, February 21.
• Graffiti Dialogue: students will discuss questions related to the creative tensions between free speech and fostering ideological visions.
• Interactive web activity to connect students to the National Campaign.
• A ‘zine on the topic Democracy: An American Experiment will be produced.
• Civic dialogue addressing homelessness during a lobby at the Minnesota State Capitol with the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.
Hibbing Community College will host events to address the issues of prejudice, racism, and hate-crimes:
• Campus wide assembly with a panel and speaker.
• Public screening of the “Not in Our Town” videos. A discussion will follow, facilitated by a diversity educator.
• Art students will create pieces, to be displayed on campus, that promote the anti-hate crime movement.
• Theatre students will create anti-hate themes skits and present them to local elementary schools.
• Coverage of events on HCC website and public access television.
• Campus wide service project.
Contact: s.biondi@ins.hcc.mnscu.edu
At Metropolitan State University there will be a week of activities designed to promote dialogue among students while directly exposing students to civic engagement. Contact: sam.grant@metrostate.edu:
• Political Activist Panel Discussion: A panel of well known and respected historic agent of civic engagement in the African American community will share their stories, and then dialogue with a panel of student respondents and all participants to explore how civic engagement has been and can be a catalyst for change.
• Deconstruction and Manipulation in the Media: Guest speakers will discuss how media images shape the political and social landscape.
• The Black Family: An Engine of Possibility: Spoken Word Artists will be invited to work with students and our broader community to engage in telling stories about the experiences of the black family in American history, and the various economic and political forces that have helped and hurt the community. Spoken word artists will dazzle participants with their perspectives and then engage them to tell their own stories. A focus of this will be on the network established by Metropolitan State students engaged in the young fathers movement and in the sister to sister movement.
• A national guest speaker will share their experiences about civic engagement from a local and national perspective.
Minneapolis Community and Technical College will prepare and staff an information booth during Civic Engagement week. Information will be available about engaged citizenship and current civic engagement opportunities available to students, faculty, and staff. The college will also be hosting a regional conference of Phi theta Kappa where a specialist on civic engagement will facilitate a discussion among attendees. This event will occur on Friday, February 21, 2003.
In addition to the Phi Theta Kappa conference and civic dialogue, Minneapolis Community and Technical College will also host a dialogue exploring Relations between African and African-American Students on campus. Contact: gmellas@mctc.mnscu.edu
At Minnesota State University, Mankato, students, in collaboration with administrators, staff, faculty, and community partners, are organizing an Ethnic Culture Day. This day will be devoted to public discussion about diversity and campus climate and will offer seminars, workshops, and critical reflection sessions led and designed by students. The student organizers hope that Ethnic Culture Day will serve as a model to other higher education institutions on how to integrate diversity in the university from academic departments to student activity programming. February 13. Contact: cspearmon@aol.com
Southwest State University:
During the week of Feb. 16-22, we will be hosting Hollis Watkins, civil rights leader and current president of Southern Echo, Inc., a leadership development, training and educational organization in Mississippi. We was the first Mississippi member of SNCC and has been involved with community organization efforts for decades.
February 20: J. Otis Powell will be on campus to conduct workshops and provide a community presentation of his poetry and written words. He is the recipient of countless awards including McKnight Fellowships, Loft Creative Nonfiction Award, Jerome Travel and Study Grant, Juneteenth Award and many, many others.
Contact: Don Robertson, Robertso@southwest.msus.edu
St. Olaf College will host a Civic Engagement teach-in during their Political Awareness Committee Dinner. A panel will discuss civic engagement as it relates to student involvement, classroom teaching, and campus-community relationships. A roundtable discussion will follow. The date for this event is Tuesday, February 18, 2003.
On Wednesday, February 19, the Civic Engagement Recruitment Fair will take place. This will serve as a venue for organizations and student groups to disseminate information about their cause and recruit new students as members. Contact: kmoch@stolaf.edu
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota is hosting the first Public Achievement Coach Dialogue: Reflecting on the Public Achievement Experience. Humphrey Center - Wilkins Room 215, February 20, 4:30 - 6 PM. Who is invited: Experienced coaches, new coaches, potential coaches and others who want to participate in a discussion of lessons learned, struggles and successes in doing Public Achievement. Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to Addi Jadin at ajadin@hhh.umn.edu or call 612/ 625-0142.
University of Minnesota at Crookston will host a musical outreach program called “Reach-with James Hersch.” James Hersch will work with students to present three interactive community concerts with Washington Elementary School, Headstart, and the Nimens-Espergard Apartments. A video of the concerts will be made, and presented in the evening for students and participants with a facilitated discussion to follow. February 19th at 7:00 pm in the Bede Ballroom. Contact: pholsing@umn.edu
University of Minnesota, Morris will host a dialogue about student civic engagement on Monday, Feb. 17th from 12-2pm in the Alumni Room of the Student Center. Students will have an opportunity to connect, learn about, and apply ideas concerning civic engagement, campus mapping, and institutional change. Contact Dave Nelson, nels2158@umn.edu or 320-589-2541.
|
