96 letters down

Actually, it's 97 with Kurt's late-in-the-game last-ditch effort for one more concerned and active citizen in the Eckhardt.

So. 97 letters down. 97 voices for 30 million (30,000,000) oppressed and hurting North Koreans. Tables opened next to the SAC dance sales while the Grille opened for evening service and Praise and Worship began warming up and running sound check - it wasn't the entirety of campus, but there was an interesting, quivering and stark overlap of demographics and ritual.

The sad of the celebration, of our student body community's efforts today, is that there are 1,300 literate students at this school. Still 97 voices that responded to a gathering of open tables, borrowed pens, loose-leaf notebook paper, scribbled addresses and tired shoulders.

Let's call this a start, yes?

Please add to the count. Here are the very basics for what you need to start. If you would like us to quiet you down for Joel to stand on a chair and yell at you, feel free to make a request.

Sample Letter

(Your Name)

(Your Address)

December 9, 2009

The Honorable (Representative's Name)

(Representative's Address)

Dear Senator/Representative ________

[Part I: Introduction]

I am writing to you today about the ongoing human rights crisis in North Korea. While this crisis does not receive a great deal of coverage in the news media, it is of great importance to me as a voter.

[Part II: The Problem]

North Korea is ruled by a regime that denies its citizens the most basic liberties, and traps them in intolerable economic conditions. Millions of North Koreans have died of starvation or been killed by their government since the 1990s. The North Korean government currently holds 200,000 political prisoners - men, women, and children - in its prison camps.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have risked their lives to flee into China, where they are hunted by the Chinese government and returned to North Korea if caught. If returned to North Korea, they face torture and perhaps execution. These actions put China in direct violation of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees.

[Part III: Request for action]

I am writing to ask you to do everything in your power to address this crisis. Specifically, I want the United States to put pressure on the Chinese government to protect North Korean refugees, and to make human rights a central part of its engagement with North Korea. I would appreciate it if you wrote back to me explaining what you, as my senator/representative, are doing about the North Korean crisis, especially regarding the full implementation of the 2008 North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act.

[Part IV: Polite finish]

Thank you for your time, and for representing my [state/district] in the [Senate/House of Representatives].

Sincerely,

(your name)

North Korea Facts

- North Koreans are denied freedom of speech, religion, the press, travel, thought, and association.

- Millions of North Koreans have died of famine since the 1990s.

- 37% of North Korean children have stunted growth, 23% are underweight, and 7% are wasted.

- 200,000 North Koreans are serving life sentences in prison camps for political "crimes" committed by them or their family members. (Three generations of each prisoner's family are held responsible for political "crimes.")

- Prisoners in these camps are frequently subjected to summary execution, torture, hard labor, forced abortions, and other atrocities.

- Between 50,000 and 400,000 North Koreans have fled across the border to China in the hopes of reaching freedom. In violation of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, China hunts these refugees and returns them to North Korea if they are caught, where they face probable torture and execution.

Source: Liberty in North Korea, http://linkglobal.org

North Korea Letter-Writing Night!

On November 11, the organization LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) came to Dordt to screen the documentary Seoul Train, about the human rights crisis in North Korea, and the plight of North Korean refugees trying to escape to freedom.  If you'd like to get involved in trying to end this crisis, come to a letter-writing event this Wednesday night at the Grille, from 8:30-10:00 PM.  We'll be writing our congressmen and senators, urging them to take action.  Fact sheets, sample letters, pens, paper, envelopes and stamps will be provided.  All we need is you - the citizens.

As an added bonus, feel free to come to the Campus Center Board Room beforehand to enjoy snacks and socializing with your student symposium representatives.

For more on the North Korean human rights crisis, go to the LiNK or Seoul Train links on the left, or see these posts.

Iowa Tuition Grant cut

It might have been in October when John Baas, Vice President for College Advancement, contacted Troy and myself to gather Dordt's Iowa students. State legislators were deliberating budget-relieving options and the Iowa Tuition Grant, which provides private college and university students with need-based financial aid, was on the table. A handful of students gathered, called, texted, facebooked and tracked down their other friends until a couple dozen Iowa residents came to write their senators and representatives.

Today I received a letter in my mailbox, as I imagine every Iowa student had.

"The serious shortfall in state revenue caused by the recent economic downturn has resulted in a 10% mid-year cut to the Iowa Tuition Grant appropriation, a loss of over $4.7 million. To address this shortfall, the Iowa College Student Aid Commission has determined that all Iowa Tuition Grants must be reduced by up to $435 for the remainder of the year. While the maximum award has been lowered to $3,565, Iowa Tuition Grants continue to cover a significant portion of tuition charged by Iowa's independent colleges and universities."

The Des Moines Register has an article titled, Culver's cuts targeted us, private colleges complain. It might be a condescending title, it might be a tersely written article, pitting private college presidents against Governor Culver and his office, but it's a quick read.

Erryn Warnke, a student Wartburg College, said. "If support does continue to decrease, students will simply not be able to afford schools like Wartburg. The education will not be worth the cost.” (Source)

Gary Steinke, President of the Iowa Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said cuts to the Iowa Tuition Grant could strip some students of the opportunity to go to college. (Simpson College article)

That's what the situation seems to be. Higher education is often seen as the expected post-high school experience, an avenue to a financial stability. Yet it is the private institutions - schools like Wartburg and Dordt College - that (brochure-speak coming) equips its students to actively lead, doing more than acquiring a comfortable lifestyle. At the risk of sounding haughty to students at public colleges and universities, we wonder how much the state government, and the state itself, values its private institutions. Private higher education used to be affordable. Higher education used to be affordable. Affordability often supports necessity, especially for Iowa families living in small towns who are doing their best to send their students to a small school that instills their values, where professors learn their students' names.

What should we do? Student Symposium Officer of the News Joel Veldkamp is in conversation with Dordt's partner schools in their response, possibly organizing a united response. We will continue to speak with Dordt administrators. We're asking you to talk to your parents, consider your current situation and let us know what you think.

---ADDITIONAL INFORMATION---

Thank you for writing about the benefits provided for you by the Iowa Tuition Grant program. I am pleased to hear that you are able to attend Dordt College because of the Iowa Tuition Grant. I am also concerned with the cuts that are being directed to this program by the governor and the current major party in the legislature. I think it is a real travesty that Governor Culver has back filled his own All Iowa Opportunity Scholarship program but not the Iowa Tuition Grant.

I will continue to strongly support this important program during the economic downturn with an eye on the future for our graduates, like yourself, who could become the future leaders of Iowa.

From the office of Iowa Representative Dwayne Alons. November 30, 2009.

Slum Documentary Travelogue Saturday Night!

For nearly a year now, a group of Dordt students led by Professor Mark Volkers have been working on a documentary about life in the slums of the Third World, where over one billion people now live. Filming for the Slum Documentary Film Project have taken these students to the Philippines, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Their final journey will take place this Christmas, when they travel to Kenya to document the lives of people living in Kibera, one of the largest slums in the world.

To raise money for this trip, these students will be showing some of their footage in a travelogue at the B. J. Haan Auditorium Saturday night. Admission for students is $3.50, $5.00 for adults. The travelogue starts at 7 PM. Come on out to support your fellow students!

The Community Under the Bridge from Prairie Grass Productions on Vimeo.

A home in Kibera:

(Jonas Bendiksen. Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/03/planet_slum?page=0,1)

North Korea: For Purposes of Comparison

Here is Camp 22 in North Korea, one of a string of prison camps across the country where political prisoners and their families (up to three generations) are held:

And here is Washington DC, shown at the same scale:

Want to know more? Come see Seoul Train Wednesday at 7 PM, in S101.

North Korea: Kingdom of Darkness

Since 1948, the nation of Korea has been divided into two states, North and South. The South has had its struggles and difficulties, but it has emerged as one of the world’s most prosperous democracies. Due to the secrecy of the North’s dictatorship, it’s sometimes difficult to get accurate information about the situation there. Fortunately for the oppressed of the world, we live in the age of satellite photography. This photo pretty much sums up the conditions of the two nations:

Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have risked their lives to flee the grinding poverty and political oppression of the North for free countries. Find out more about how we can help them by coming to the screening of the Seoul Train documentary, Wednesday, November 11, at 7 PM, in room 101 of the Science Building.

North Korea Primer

Want to know more? Come see “Seoul Train,” Wednesday at 7 PM, in S101.

The Seoul Train Is Coming To Dordt

On Wednesday, November 11, Dordt’s Justice Matters Club will be hosting a presentation by LiNK (Liberty in North Korea), an organization dedicated to ending the North Korean human rights crisis and assisting refugees from North Korea. A team of LiNK volunteers (called “Nomads”) on a 10-week tour across North America will come to Dordt to screen the documentary “Seoul Train,” which chronicles the efforts of hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees to escape to freedom.

The screening is in room S101 in the Science Building, at 7:00 PM. The event is open to the public. Mark your calendars!

From the SEOUL TRAIN website:

Today, there are an estimated 250,000 North Korean refugees living underground in China. They escaped a food crisis and other persecutions at home that have claimed the lives of approximately 3 million in the past 10 years. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stands idly by, the Chinese Government – in direct violation of international laws to which it’s a party – systematically arrests and forcibly repatriates hundreds of these refugees each month. Defecting from North Korea is a capital offense, and repatriated refugees face human rights abuses ranging from concentration camps and torture to forced abortion and summary executions.

For a lucky few refugees, however, there is hope. A group of multinational activists has taken it upon themselves to create an Underground Railroad. Via a network of safe houses and escape routes, the activists – at great personal risk – help the refugees on daring escapes to freedom over thousands of miles of Chinese territory. This is an odyssey where betrayal and deceit lurk around every corner, and the price of getting caught likely means death. It’s an epic tale involving years on the lam living in underground shelters, North Korean and Chinese agents, double-crossings, covert border crossings, and the terror of what happens if they get caught.

Come see Seoul Train to learn more about this hidden human rights crisis, and what you and I can do to help.

www.seoultrain.com
www.linkglobal.org

"I want all of you to get up out of your chairs..."

In these recession-troubled times, the Iowa legislature is considering cutting the Iowa Tuition Grant in its upcoming session. This could have a huge financial impact on Dordt students from Iowa. If you're an Iowa student, and you think higher education is a part of the state budget that should be protected, come to a letter-writing party in the Grille Area, today at 9 PM. Pizza will be served, and students will be heard from.

"We're not gonna take it. Never did and never will!" - The Who

Racism: What Are We Missing?

Recently in CORE 300 class, the professors played a video of an interview of black liberation theologian James Cone:



This video was also played in class when I, your humble symposium news officer, took CORE 300 last semester. When I first saw this video, it made me angry. It also made a lot of my classmates angry. A protracted, heated debate followed, in which I’m pretty sure no one understood what anyone else was trying to say. A lot of shots were fired, and no consensus ground reached.

Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so defensive. As a white child of the 90s, I sometimes feel like I’ve been saddled with guilt I don’t deserve. Long before I was born, people with my skin color instituted a truly horrific system of slavery and segregation on those with a different skin color. The effects of this massive crime against humanity linger to this day. As a white person, I have to contend with this legacy. I feel like this is unfair. After all, I never enslaved anybody. I imagine other white kids my age have the same feelings.

And yet, that legacy is a reality. And it is my calling as a servant of Christ to not turn away, to not get defensive, to not lie and say, “It’s not my problem.” It is my problem.

What better way to start dealing with the problem than by setting aside my defensiveness, and listening to people who come from a totally different background, who experience America in a completely different way than I do?

I still don’t agree with Professor Cone. But I’m not sure I completely understand what he’s trying to say yet. I think I’ll watch again. Care to join?

What do you all think? Look for Symposium to start a conversation about this in the near future. If you have any thoughts, please contact us.

Are We Being Pandered To?

Slate's Timothy Noah thinks so.

If you haven't been following the healthcare debate very closely lately (and really, who could blame you?), Max Baucus, the Democrat from Montana who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, recently released a version of the healthcare reform bill that is something of a compromise between Obama's vision and the Republicans'.  Like most compromises, it's gone over like a lead balloon, but it's probably pretty close to what the final thing will look like.  Noah writes:

One of the more annoying components to Sen. Max Baucus' just-released "chairman's mark" is its creation of a special category of private health insurance policy to be offered to a group known in insurance circles as "young invincibles." These are people 25 years or younger who don't understand what all this health care fuss is about because they are going to live forever and therefore have no use for doctors. One-third of them carry no health insurance, and they account for nearly one-third of the uninsured.

...

As Erika Lovley noted recently in Politico, President Obama's enthusiastic supporters among the young aren't particularly enthusiastic about health reform. It will, after all, require them to buy something they probably won't need. Baucus' young-invincibles option is a sop to them. By isolating invincibles from people far more likely to draw health benefits, Baucus guarantees they won't have to pay much in health premiums

Don't you feel special?

Unfortunately, this also means that when healthcare reform comes, and the individual mandate requires everyone to buy insurance, it will be much more expensive for the old folks, since us young, inexpensive folks won't be sharing their costs.

So, young people: Do we like this? They're obviously trolling for our votes with this bill.  They'll listen to us if we don't.

Stay informed.  Stay involved.

Senator Max Baucus
http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

Senator Charles Grassley, IA (Ranking Republican on Baucus' committee).

http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm


Senator Tom Harkin, IA
http://harkin.senate.gov/c/

Flu Season Cometh

It's flu season again, and this year it's coming with a vengeance.

In my experience, at Dordt last year, swine flu was not taken very seriously. It was a punchline, like West Nile or "bird flu." But according to the Washington Post, 72% of college campuses across America have reported cases of swine flu. It is infecting college students at a rate of 18 cases per 10,000 students.

Dordt's health office website has some good tips to avoid contracting the flu this season:

Protect Yourself:
1. Get vaccinated. The single best way to prevent influenza is to get vaccinated.
2. Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
3. Avoid close contact with the people who appear sick. A distance of 6 feet is recommended to protect yourself.
4. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
5. Frequently clean your living quarters. If you live together with other students, you should frequently clean commonly-used surfaces such as doorknobs, refrigerator handles, remote controls, computer keyboards, countertops, faucet handles, and bathroom areas.

Protect Others:
1. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder; not into your hands.
2. Stay home or at your place of residence if you are sick for at least 24 hours after you no longer have a fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius) or signs of a fever (have chills, feel very warm, have a flushed appearance, or are sweating). This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medications (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). Staying away from others while sick can prevent others from getting sick too. Ask a roommate, friend, or family member to check up on you and to bring you food and supplies if needed.

Thoughts?

Save Darfur Coalition Petition

The war and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan began six and a half years ago. Since that time, nearly 400,000 people in Darfur have been killed, and three million have been forced to flee their homes. These millions now live in massive refugee camps spread across Chad and Darfur, dependent on outside aid for survival.

At the Save Darfur Coalition website, you can sign a petition to President Obama asking him to make peace in Darfur a top priority when he addresses the United Nations next week.

The petition is here:
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/ungapoll?rk=v7MJvh7q2JLCE

Learn more about the genocide in Darfur here:
http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/primer