Vote
for the SBC December 15
Get out the vote for Wesleyan's first election using the new
Online Voting System.
This election is to fill spots on the Student Budgetary Committee
of the WSA. The SBC makes
all the decisions about how much money goes to which student groups,
and is thus one of the most powerful committees.
This is an important
chance to have a voice in how your money is distributed. Vote
now!
WTO
Forum December 9
Come to an informal panel, forum, and discussion about the
WTO Thursday, December 9, 4:30 pm in PAC 001. Join faculty
and students as we probe into the real issues surrounding the ruckus
over globalization, free trade, corporate dominance, and the ever-evolving
face of activism. All are welcome, no previous knowledge necessary.
Call Rose at x5719 with
questions.
Seattle
Comes to Middletown December 6
The
eight Wesleyan students who took part in the Seattle WTO protests
came home to lead a protest in Middletown last Saturday. From the
Middletown Press
Students
protest WTO in city
By AMY L.
ZITKA Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN
-- Chants of "fair trade, not free trade" and "solidarity forever"
were heard in the city Saturday as Wesleyan University students
rallied against the World Trade Organization.
The chanting
of about three dozen students was interspersed with the beating
of a snare drum as students marched from the campus along Washington
Street to Main Street to increase awareness of the organization
and continue the support of what happened in Seattle last week...
...Among
the Seattle protesters were about eight Wesleyan students, who
organized Saturday's rally. The local rally -- which was to raise
the level of student and community involvement -- was two-fold,
sophomore Jen Barkan said. The rally was to increase awareness
of the issues surrounding the WTO -- such as profits over people
-- and the issues of what the police did in Seattle....
...Senior
Melanie Grubman spoke of her experience at the Seattle protest.
She took off a knit scarf and showed a linear bruise on her neck,
which was made from a police officer's nightstick. "We have to
keep fighting through nonviolence," she said.
The only
police presence during Saturday's rally was along Main Street
when a few officers stopped, used the public Address speaker on
a cruiser asking the students to be quiet for a little while.
The officers did not want any loud noise, such as drumming or
chanting, which may have upset a horse drawing a Christmas-decorated
trailer filled with children riding along Main Street.
For a less sympthatetic,
and in fact rather ridiculous spin on what happened in Seattle,
watch
this report at CNN ("Those damn hippies" sums it up).
Another Courant article
about the Seattle protest, featuring our very own Adam Hurter, can
be found here.
Unionization
at Wes December 3
Earlier this fall, USLAC
lead a unionization effort for the more than thirty janitors who
work at Wesleyan through a subcontractor. Now, the Wesleyan administration
is apparently interfering:
This past
Monday, union representatives were to meet with Initial for a
card-check, demanding recognition of the union as the collective-bargaining
unit of the Initial janitors. The company had agreed to a card-check
(a formal procedure where they check the cards against their employee
list to make sure that a majority are in favor of the union).
Yet on Monday afternoon, their representatives never showed up.
After some
investigation, we found out that the reason for this was that
the Director of Human Resources at Wesleyan prodded Initial not
to accept the card-check procedure, and to opt instead for an
election through the National Labor Relations Board. As this is
an extraordinarily cumbersome and bureaucratic option that is
likely to stall the unionization effort indefinitely, we have
become convinced that the Administration is opposed to workers'
efforts and, at the time, is ready to block their right to organize.
They have even gone so far as to hire outside counsel in Boston
for the express purpose of dealing with this 'problem'.
USLAC is asking Wesleyan
students to get involved. For more information, email Olivia
or Karen.
USLAC meets every Monday
at 10:00 pm in PAC 002.
More
WTO Protest Info December 3
The protest
of the centuries continues on. Some links with which to educate
yourself:
Z
Magazine
Excite
Photos and Articles
Video
on issues related to WTO
WTO
graphics
Wesleyan
and the WTO December 1
Heard about the ruckus happening over in Seattle? In what has
been billed the protest of the century, tens of thousands of activists,
representing dozens of different issues, have converged on the city
to protest a conference being held by the World Trade Organization.
A number of Wesleyan students made the trip to lend their voices.
Watch for reports in the future.
Those who were unable
to make the trip but still want to be heard are going to Boston
today (Wednesday) where a rally is being held in conjunction with
the larger one in Seattle.
For more information
about the protest, visit Globalize
This!.
Yearbook
Submissions November 28
The 2000 edition of Olla Podrida, Wesleyan's yearbook requests
that you submit information regarding your organization and make
your mark in Wesleyan history. All they need is a short summary
of your organization's history and goals, a list of current members
and one or two photos (with captions).
Being published in the
yearbook can be extremely advantageous. Not only will you be forever
remembered in Wesleyan history, but the book is vastly distributed
to students, faculty, parents, alumni, and even area business owners.
It is an excellent form of publicity.
Please place all information
(text and photos) in a sealed envelope labeled with your organization
name and a contact person with his or her phone number. Address
it to:
YEARBOOK OFFICE
c/o WSA
190 High Street
Drop it in campus mail
or deliver it directly. If you have any questions, concerns or comments,
contact the staff at x2423, ollapodrida@wesleyan.edu.
SOA
Protest November 28
Several Wesleyan students, organized by first-year student
Tony Saudek, participated in the largest protest against the School
of Americas ever. Over 12,000 people rallied outside the School's
"campus" in Georgia, several thousand of them risking
arrest by trespassing into the base.
SOA
Watch
Official
U.S. Military Site for SOA
An article about the
protest can be found here.
Amnesty
International Speaker November 16
This Wednesday, November 17, at 7:30 PM in PAC 002,
Sergio Reyes will be speaking on "Victor Jara's Spirit, Pinochet's
Guilt: Chile, A Divided Country." Mr. Reyes was arrested at age
nineteen as a student socialist organizer and was imprisoned for
three years before being granted exile to the United States in 1979.
He now lives in Boston where he helped found the non-profit organization
Latinos for Social Change. He will be speaking about his own experience
as a victim of the Pinochet dictatorship and the experiences of
the other 3,000 or more Chileans who were killed or disappeared
during the dictatorship, such as Victor Jara, a folk singer, who
was murdered in a stadium for his political protest songs. Mr. Reyes
is himself a musician and will be performing some of Jara's songs.
Amoz
Oz Speaks November 15
Tomorrow, Monday Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. in Science Center 150,
the Havurah will be sponsoring a lecture by Israel's foremost novelist,
Amos Oz. In addition to his literary accomplishments, Mr. Oz was
among the founders of Israel's largest pro-peace lobbying group,
Peace Now. In recent years, he has made international headlines
by speaking out for the cause of religious pluralism within Israel,
as well as through his continued public support for the Israeli-Arab
peace process.
Waste
Nothing Day November 15
Tired of the piles of garbage that litter the Campus Center
every day after lunch? Want to see how easy it can be to reduce
that? E3 is sponsoring Waste Nothing Day, on Tuesday, November 16.
Several hundred people have a signed a pledge to avoid creating
waste all day. A trash-free picnic will be held in front of the
Campus Center, with desserts for all of those who brought Tupperware.
This is a great opportunity
to see how easy it can be to live environmentally friendly. It's
just one day, so try it out!
Find
Your Group's History November 10
Would it be useful to know how your group's campaigns went
in the past? Would you benefit from knowing your past allies on
campus, contacts in Middletown, successful campaigns, and supporters
in the faculty? Do you want to keep future leaders of your group
from reinventing the wheel?
This semester, Roger
Smith of WESUNITY
organized a tutorial on student life at Wesleyan, with help from
the archivists and Professors Johnston and Vann of the history department.
We would like to continue this group tutorial next semester with
new students and new research topics. Look for this semester's research
to be published on the web, and possibly in the Hermes
or another publication.
Interested in taking
the tutorial? Would you be willing to help organize it? Email wesunity@wesleyan.edu
right away, and leave a 1CREDIT space in your schedule for this
course.
For more information,
email wesunity@wesleyan.edu
or visit the tutorial
web page.
EAC
Protest November 9
Angry that your University invests money in corporations that
build weapons, destroy the enviornment, and use sweatshop labor?
The Economic Action Coaltion is advocating for student input into
University investment decisions. To this end the EAC will be holding
a demonstration before the next meeting of the Board of Trustees.
The rally will take place
this Friday, November 12, at 12:30 pm in front of the Science Center.
For more information, talk to Meredith Lobel at mlobel01@wesleyan.edu.
Bolivian
Drug Wars Speaker November 7
On Monday evening, November 8, Leonilda Zurita and Margarita
Condori will give a talk/video presentation/discussion on the U.S.
Drug War in Bolivia and related topics at 8 PM in PAC 004.
Both women are very poor coca growers from Bolivia. Leonilda is
the one of the main leaders of Bolivia's Coca Growers Union and
Margarita is the leader of the National Womens Union movement. They
have been in the US for the past month as the Bolivian representatives
to the March of the Americas--a month-long march from Washington
DC to the UN (and an ongoing movement) to bring attention to economic
human rights abuses in the Americas.
Prof. Ana Perez-Girones
of the Spanish department will provide simultaneous translation.
SOAR
Movie November 1
SOAR (Students Organized Against Racism) invites everyone to
our showing of Do the Right Thing-a Spike Lee film Tuesday,
November 2nd 8PM Shanklin 107. Discussion to follow. Take a study
break and join us to watch this excellent film. It should prompt
excellent discussion and give great food for thought.
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