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