Clarion 1992-05-08 Vol. 67 No. 13

              iVol. 67, No. 13; May 8, 1992
Creativity Battles Racism
by Karen Harkins
Staff Writer
On Thursday April 23, students, faculty, and administration gathered for a
public reading concerning the topics of
racism, reconciliation, and harmony.
S andie McNeel, Director of the Writing
Center, helped to organize the reading,
which involved Bethel students reading
the work they had submitted to be published in an anthology entitled The Nature of Harmony. In addition to students
reading their works, two art exhibits by
senior Jody Mueller were displayed, and
music was performed by freshman students Joe Nathan and Rosetta Raynor,
along with their son Joseph.
A total of eleven students read their
work found in the anthology. Although
the works shared the common theme of
reconciliation, each work approached the
theme from a different perspective.
McNeel said she saw a need for an
activity such as this, feeling "all of this
negative feeling and anxiety" after the
threats made to Associate Professor of
Social Work, Nicholas Cooper-Lewier,
and to students of color. Since that time,
she has attended the United Cultures of
Bethel Chapel. "There I would hear how
they [some ofthe students of color] were
feeling,...a great anxiety, so I wondered
if there was a way to transform some of
this negative energy and channel it....into
something constructive.'-'    •    .•
After deciding to go ahead with lhe
project, McNeel approached Associate
Professors of English Lorraine Eitel and
Natalie Kusz, and Associate Professors
of Art Kirk Freeman and Wayne Roosa
about setting up guidelines forsubmitted
entries. McNeel says that "despite already bursting Spring schedules," these
HIGHLIGHTS
intense
reactions
to last
Clarion, see
page 4.
Some of
Bethel's
Best, details
on page 7.
hnoio/Holly Seyfert
Junior Karsten Piper reads his poetry at a recent on-campus public
reading. The reading was held to confront the issue of racism
through student art.
professors decided to back the project
and helped in the editing of the anthology. McNeel also went to Director of
Multicultural Development, Terry Coffee, about funds from the McKnight
Foundation, which were granted.
The guidelines were announced during the Unity Rally by Provost David
Brandt. In total, 14 contributions were
submitted. All readings were published
in the anthology. Junior Karsten Piper,
who contributed a poem entitled "The
Porch," written in response to reading
Langston Hughes poetry, explains, "It
was apretty small groupof people there...I
doubt it will have a widespread effect on
people, but it was able to pull out a bunch
of people who usually don't go to read
ings.
McNeel began theevening by saying,
"We have a multi-faceted focus here
tonight. We're going to be thinking about
racism, which is a very ugly thing to
think about,...about the hard work of
reconciliation, ...andaboutthejoyfulness
of harmony, being together, enjoying
each other's differences, and celebrating
that, and also celebrating creativity in
words, in art, and in music, so we're glad
you can be part of this...we have a lot of
work to do on our campus and across the
country, and it's good to see people who
are committed to that."
McNeel sees "the anthology as one
little way to begin talking to each
other...The creative process is so completely amazing and fascinating, so I like
the combination of try ing to focus on this
progression [from racism, to reconciliation, to harmony]...creativity is a great
way to tap into feelings, thoughts, and
experiences, and I'm pleased with what
people have submitted."
In the preface to The Nature of Harmony, she writes that while growing up
her friends included people from various
backgrounds. McNeel feels that her
background has a great deal to do with
her feelings on racism. She grew up on
the islandof Guam, where she"observed
the atrocities of racism happening to my
friends and acquaintances everyday...I
enjoyed the beauty of a cross-cultural
environment."
During the reading, people were able
to pick up unity buttons symbolizing the
di f ferent colors of people and the similar
blood and earth which they share. McNeel
comments, "This is a way we can see
solidarity...think of theimpacton people
Racism, continued on page 6
Faculty Confronts Gender Issues
by David L. Smith
Staff Writer
Addressing gender issues is aconcern
for liberal arts institutions throughout
the United States. In order to address
these issues at Bethel, a "Faculty Gender
Series" has been arranged to raise faculty
awareness of gender concerns through a
number of forums.
"Gender issues at Bethel are very
powerful, but often times not talked
about," says Mary Ellen Ashcroft, a
writingprofessoratBethel. "Wefeltthat
by the time students leave Bethel, they
should have thought about a whole range
of issues relating to gender." According
to Ashcroft, she and Margaret Koch, a
history professor, began discussing the
idea of organizing the faculty series early
last fall. After thinking through the idea
and talking with other faculty members
to find out whether there was a sufficient
level of interest, the two professors began to plan and arrange the series.
The series consists of six forums, the
first of which took place on March 11.
At each meeting, a different faculty
member begins the forum with a 20-30
minute presentation of a gender topic.
Following the presentation, faculty
members have an opportunity to discuss
and make comments about the topic.
Since it was impossible to arrange the
series to fit into the schedule of every
interested faculty member, those who
are not able to meet have been given the
reading materials which accompany the
presentations. There has been an average of 25-30 faculty attending each
meeting; about 55 faculty members receive the reading materials.
Professor of Math and Computer
Science, Eric Gossett, has attended several ofthe forums. When asked whether
or not he would change the way he teaches
based onwhathehasleamedt hrough the
series, he said, "I'm not sure of any
blatant changes, but there is certainly
somemoreinformationtodeal with about
some viewpoints I haven't directly considered." Overall, Gossett feels the series is, "Very good— something worth
paying attention to."
Junior Anne Bottazzi agrees that
gender issues should be discussed by
Bethel's teaching staff. "If faculty are
moreaware of gender roles and problems
lhat exist, they will be more aware of
them in the classroom," says Bottazzi.
This is the kind of response Ashcroft
wants faculty members to have from the
discussions. "We weren't sure that students were being confronted with these
issues," she said. "We decided that the
first thing we needed to do to see that it
got done was to organize a forum for the
Mary Ellen Ashcroft is helping to
educate the faculty on the
gender issues of language and
classroom discourse.
faculty dealing with these issues."
Ashcroft hopes that by going to these
forums and participating in the discussions, faculty will be able to discover the
implications of gender issues as they
relate to communicating with students.
The presenters and topics of the
"Faculty Gender Series" are as follows:
> Harley Schreck
Gender   at   Bethel:   First
Glimpses from Ethnography
Gender, continued on page 6
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1/May8, 1992