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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2014
PAGE 3
CAMPUS
Student group hosts second annual Justice Cafe
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CODY KUIPER news@kansan.com
A student group on campus will bring light to social injustice this evening by celebrating artists who use their work to fight oppression.
The Students for Justice in the Middle East (SJME) will host the second annual Justice Cafe, a nationally-held event on college campuses across the country to unify different groups and promote social justice.
The event will feature local artists from different student groups who will perform music and spoken-word pieces that focus on social justice and diversity, as well internationally renowned Syrian-American hip-hop artist and peace activist Omar Offendum. Of-
fendum has toured internationally at music festivals and lectured at universities across the country, focusing on subjects of social justice, human rights and the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
"The premise of the event is to develop multi-cultural groups on campus and promote issues of social justice," said Salman Husain, a junior from Wichita and the co-president of SJME.
"We need to realize our struggles are the same, and we have a responsibility to care for all human rights issues not just in our corner of the globe, but in our neighborhoods as well," Husain said.
The Justice Cafe will include performances from a member of First Nations Student Association, an indigenous peoples group on campus, about problems native peoples face, as well as students from the Black Student Union, whose performance will focus on the issue of sexual abuse and other women's issues.
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"As college students, we have to look at diverse backgrounds," Husain said. "Whether that's cultural differences or differences of income, we need to realize we live in systems that are often oppressive or have oppressed members, and we need to recognize our privilege and that there are people that suffer from structures in societies across the country and world."
Husain said the purpose of having students perform from a variety of groups helps reiterate the events message of open-mindedness.
Nawal Musleh, a senior from Wichita and the co-president of SJME, said it was important for the group to bring in an act that could bring attention to specific issues, but have a broad appeal at the same time.
"A lot of things he does and proceeds that he makes from these shows then goes to organizations that then help with humanitarian relief for Syria and things like that," Musleh said. "But he does have a lot of work that isn't just about Syria, he talks about human injustices that all people face too that everyone would be able to relate too."
The Justice Cafe begins at 6 p.m. in the Woodruff Auditorium on the fifth floor of the Kansas Union; it is free and open to the public.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO International hip-hop artist and peace activist Omar Offendum will perform at Justice Cafe tonight.
KU1nfo
At next week's employee recognition ceremony, there will be 28 people honored for 40 or more years of service to KU. That represents almost 1,200 combined years they've
given to the University!
ACADEMICS
Humanities redesign program to benefit students, professors
MCKENNA HARFORD news@kansan.com
The Center for Teaching Excellence will begin a project to redesign humanities courses next fall using $215,000 in grant money from the Teagle Foundation. The project will be a collaboration among the University of Kansas, Rockhurst University, Park University and Elon University that will last for three years.
stant communication.
Six professors from each school's departments in the Liberal Arts and Sciences will work to find more interactive teaching methods and think creatively about how to engage students over a series of four face-to-face meetings and con-
"They will regularly share what they're thinking about and show examples, and then as we move further and they begin to use their new approaches in classrooms, sharing their experience, sharing their students' reactions," director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Dan Bernstein said.
The goals of the program are to involve more students in the classroom through new teaching methods. Bernstein said he believes that this type of classroom setting will help students learn to "think deeply about a field and begin to ask more complex questions."
"Doing that requires a lot
of practice and that practice is most effective if it is done in a social context and with feedback from someone who is very experienced," Bernstein said.
Beyond the change in teaching style, Bernstein said that students will see a change in the amount of preparation that is needed for class in order for them to get the most out of what they are learning. However, this leads to larger numbers of students performing at the highest level and a higher passing rate.
"Classes taught in this way show that how the class is organized also contributes to student success," Bernstein said. "In the end what we all
want is for each student to learn the most that he or she can."
Assistant Director at the Center of Global and International Studies, Mike Wuthrich, also believes that these classes are better for students.
"Students who are engaged and take ownership of their learning enjoy it more and get more out of it," Wuthrich said. "We want them to see that these tools, knowledge and skill-building go beyond the diploma."
Wuthrich said the program can also be beneficial to professors. Currently the University provides many opportunities for professional development to faculty, including workshops provided by the CTE and technologies to take student involvement beyond the classroom.
"It seems like [the program] will add another level of interaction and opportunity." Wuthrich said. "I think it will be helping the departments as communities beyond just individual classrooms."
Because of the benefit to students and faculty, Bernstein says all of the work will be visible to the larger community through their website.
"The real benefit of any inquiry is when others know about it," Bernstein said. "I look forward to it."
— Edited by Stella Liang
PROGRAM BREAKDOWN
The program will begin next fall and take three years to complete.
There will be six professors from each of the four schools who will collaborate through face-to-face meetings and constant contact.
The program is based off 10 years of research that shows that students have higher levels of success in more engaging classrooms.
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