2A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16.2005
Van Kelly
Chairman and associate professor of the French and Italian departments.
What is it like to be the chairman of a department at the University of Kansas?
Being chair of a foreign language department at KU is interesting, since the University is very attuned to internationalization. This situation presents many
What are some of the duties you perform in your job?
Recently, one of my duties was to organize the KU Tournées French Film Festival. Other duties include such things as establishing the budget for graduate teaching assistants in French and Italian, organizing the recruitment of new faculty, encouraging undergraduates and graduate students to study French and Italian language and culture, and helping the department set long-term
goals, while keeping things runnin
smoothly day-to-day.
How long have you been at KU?
I have been at KU since 1989. Had I come here a year earlier, alas, I could have celebrated the national basketball championship.
The Summer Language Institutes in France and Italy have been around for quite a while. I have co-directed the Summer Language Institute in Paris five times, so I guess that is my favorite KU tradition.
- Edited by Alison Peterson
SPEAKER
Africa has woes, hope
Taylor Miller/KANSAN
BY MALINDA OSBORNE
mosborne@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Last night Molefi K. Asante spoke to an audience of about 300 in Budig on African-American history and the continent's struggle for liberation as part of the Africa and African-American department's Marwa Africana Lecture Series.
Asante is known for establishing the first ever African-American studies department in the United States at Temple University and for his theory of Afrocentricity, an academic approach to data that places Africa at the center of academic inquiry.
At the beginning of the lecture, Asante said his entire speech could be encapsulated into one sentence.
"Africans were brought to the Americas against their will," he said.
He then went into a retelling of the lengths he said slave owners went to break the slaves' spirits, from changing their names to negating their history.
Asante emphasized that African Americans in particular should learn about Africa in order to better understand their history and their own lives.
"We are more sane once we see ourselves, through our eyes and our own experiences, as opposed to the Eurocentric view," Asante said. "That's when everything clears up and we achieve mental liberation."
(Foreground to background) Jacob Gordon, former KU professor, Molefi Asante, Temple University professor, M.B. Marwa, international philanthropist and political leader of Nigeria, and David Shulenburger, KU provost, all gathered for the Manwa Africana Lecture Series in Buduq Tuesday night.
The series is intended to address matters related to Africa and the African Diaspora. Peter Ukpokodu, chairman of African and African-American studies, said the department brought in Asante to speak because the topic represented both the international and domestic aspects of his department.
Asante, when posed with the question of why more African Americans did not help put more money back in Africa, said money wasn't what Africa needed, but equitable economic practices were.
"Africa is the richest continent on the Earth and yet has the poorest people. None of the farmers receive government subsidies, international tariffs are extremely high and there is residual debt inherited from colonialism," he said. "Africa is not even allowed to sell finished products in America. Africa doesn't need money. What they need is fair trade," he said.
The series is named after Nigerian politician Mohamed Buba Marwa. Among his many accomplishments, he is founder of a Nigerian airline company, a diplomat and a Harvard graduate. He is also touted as the next possible president of Nigeria in 2007.
Marwa first came to the University to receive the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Center for Multicultural Leadership in 2003. Soon after, he donated money to establish the Marwa Africana Lecture Series. Aminu Gusau, lecturer for Africa and African-American studies, said it was important to have leaders like Marwa in Africa at this time.
"Africa is changing, especially when all of the focus is on debt relief and growth."
Gusau said. "Without effective leadership, there is no way to have the money managed effectively."
Marwa briefly spoke before Asante's speech. He said there was not a shortage of leadership in Africa striving against the odds for political renewal.
"These are exciting times of hope and optimism," Marwa said. "Our past is not our destiny, but they can only serve to help provide a clearer vision for the future."
— Edited by Kellis Robinett
STUDENT SENATE
Meeting proposed to hear fresh ideas
BY JOHN JORDAN
jjordan@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The Student Senate is planning to have a town hall-style meeting early next semester to let students suggest ideas and issues they would like Senate to study.
Marynell Jones, student body vice-president, is organizing the event. Jones, Dallas senior, said she planned to send her ideas to senators through e-mail. She said the idea came from the Big 12 student leadership conference at the University three weeks ago.
have ideas.
Jones said she hoped Senate could take the concerns of other groups and discuss them with the administration.
Some groups have expressed interest in the idea and already
AbleHawks, a student group that tries to raise awareness of disability issues on campus, would like to raise certain concerns.
Derek Zarda, Shawnee senior and AbleHawks president, said there were senators who understood on-campus disability issues. There is room for improvement, though, he said.
"I do not think our voice has been heard enough," Zarda said.
AbleHawks would like to see buses made wheelchair accessible so students with disabilities don't have to use alternative methods of transportation.
Senate has made headway with transportation, but Zarda said he would ask them to bring legislation that acknowledged the need for equal access. Zarda
"I do not think our voice has been heard enough."
Derek Zarda
AbleHawks president
said AbleHawks had no ill will toward Senate.
Robert Page, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said he would like to see Senate make funding easier for groups such as the Black Student Union, the Asian American Student Union, the Hispanic American Leadership Organization and the First Nations Student Association.
Because the groups ask Senate for money each year, the organizations are becoming
more focused on fundraising, Page said. Their role should be more of a governing organization, rather than the fundraising groups they've become.
Page said Senate was "one of the best in the Big 12 in commitment to diversity."
Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public safety office said the office was interested in the event and that Chief Ralph Oliver would be meeting with officers to come up with ideas to discuss.
Jones said these were exactly the kinds of issues she hoped groups brought to the meeting.
"My hope is things come up we don't know about," Jones said.
Edited by Jonathan Kealing
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