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Our fall term 2002 newsletter featured an article from Hop Holmberg '61 entitled "What's It Like in the Middle East?." This article was the first one submitted by an alumnus of the College and it generated concern on the part of several alumni.
The International Office has published a newsletter for several years. For most of its lifetime the newsletter's main focus has been on campus topics, issues and programs with primary readership composed of Dartmouth international students and scholars, and other members of the Dartmouth community who take an interest in the International Office and the students and scholars we serve. When our very finite budget permitted, we mailed the newsletter to recent international student alumni. About two years ago we initiated limited mailings of the newsletter to graduates of the College living in other countries. Now we are attempting to mail our newsletter to all overseas alumni on a regular basis. Many of our alumni living around the world at best make it back to campus infrequently. I think it is of critical importance for Dartmouth to create and maintain links to alumni living around the globe - both U.S. and foreign nationals - and we hope that the International Office newsletter is a small way to help foster international alumni ties to their alma mater. This publication is not, however, a newsletter exclusively for Dartmouth alumni living in other countries.
International alumni often have so many rich and varied life experiences to offer, and we have now taken the next step of devoting a section of our office newsletter to be a forum in which our alumni from other countries can share their life stories, ideas, and viewpoints. Hop Holmberg '61 was our first volunteer. His views do not represent the International Office. We will not defend or disagree with alumni opinions and viewpoints and do not endorse the comments made by contributors. However, this office does support a respectful and healthy discussion and debate on various topics and issues. Mr. Holmberg's article, "What's It Like in the Middle East?" and the alumni responses it generated provide us with a microcosmic view of the daunting challenge of achieving peace in the Middle East.
I urge Dartmouth alumni who wish to comment on Hop Holmberg's article to contribute a piece of your own for the 2003 Spring Term newsletter. Please submit your comments/text to our office e-mail account at International.Office@Dartmouth.edu. In the meantime, please read our next (and far less controversial!) alumni article in this edition of our newsletter submitted by Fred Eidlin '64. Fred has traveled, lived, and worked for many years in Eastern Europe and Canada, and among many accomplishments has developed several study abroad and exchange programs in Russia while working at the University of Guelph in Canada.
Stephen Silver
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By Fred Eidlin '64
I was already keenly interested in the world outside the United States when I arrived at Dartmouth. This probably had to do with the fact that both my parents were immigrants from different parts of what used to be the Russian Empire. Growing up in a non-ethnic suburb of Rochester, New York, I was very much aware that my parents spoke the language of our Cold War adversary with each other, and spoke English with an accent. For as long as I can remember, I was curious about the lands of my parents and ancestors.
Because of this interest, I took Russian during my Freshman year at Dartmouth and for the first 2 years thought that I was headed for a major in Chemistry, Philosophy or Religion. However, when the time came to choose, the junior year abroad option of the International Relations major tipped the scales. With the help of my thesis advisor, the late Professor Henry Ehrmann, I arranged to do a one-year certificate program for foreigners at l'Institut d'Etudes Politiques of the University of Paris.
That year abroad profoundly influenced my career and my life in general. It put Europe at the center of my interests, both scholarly and otherwise. It led me to apply for the U.S. Foreign Service, to spend another two years studying abroad in Berlin and Vienna, and eventually pursue an academic career which specialized in Eastern Europe. It led to an internship at Radio Free Europe (RFE) in Munich following the Soviet-led invasion, and to my spending 7 months in prison in Czechoslovakia as a suspected American spy. It led to my participation in scholarly exchanges between the U.S. and Bulgaria, the U.S. and the German Democratic Republic, the U.S. and the Czech Republic, and between Canada and the U.S.S.R. It ultimately led to my involvement in sending students to study abroad. Most importantly, however, the experiences of that year abroad shook me out of complacency about many things I thought I knew with a degree of certainty.
Before the start of my program, I studied French through courses in Neuchatel and Geneva, Switzerland. The intriguing encounters with the German students I studied with made me realize that I had to experience Germany for myself. They invited me to Berlin over Christmas and I had fascinating discussions with older Germans on both sides of the Wall who had lived under the Third Reich. It had been less than a year since the Berlin Wall had gone up. Emotions ran high and the atmosphere at the border crossing was tense. The cold and bleakness of late December, the smell of brown coal and creosote in the air, the ruins of what had been the center of Berlin, all made quite an impression on me. It was clear that I would have to return and spend more time in Berlin. I planned to work there the following summer, and upon my return to Paris, started to learn German. Europe began to change for me from an abstraction to real people, students like me, and their families.
I came back to Dartmouth fired up by my Europe experience. I was President of the French Club, Vice-President of the International Relations Club, and a member of Germania. I soon received a Dartmouth General Scholarship to study at the Free University of Berlin but also decided to take the Foreign Service exam before leaving. I passed the written and oral exams and all that was left was the background investigation. This put a different light on the future. My career seemed settled - I was going to be an American diplomat. I used every opportunity I could find to travel in the East, to meet people, to argue and to probe. I was initially concerned that these visits might affect my candidacy, but was reassured by the Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Military Mission. However, I received a letter 14 months later informing me that my candidacy had been terminated. Although the State Department denied it at the time, I later found out through a Freedom of Information request that my travels in the East had indeed been the reason.
So I returned to my earlier plans for graduate studies and an academic career. In 1966, I entered the Ph.D. Program in Political Science and the East European Certificate Program at Indiana University. During the summers of 1967 and 1968, I studied Czech in Prague. I arrived in Czechoslovakia on the very day when the conflict between Czechoslovakia and its Warsaw Pact allies broke out in the open. I spent the first two days after the entry of foreign troops walking around Prague observing what must have been one of the strangest invasions in history. In 1968, I decided to interrupt my doctoral studies to accept an internship as a "Policy Assistant" at RFE in Munich. In July of 1970, having left RFE 8 months before, I was arrested in Prague as a suspected American spy. When no evidence of espionage was found, the charge was modified to preparing to aid and abet subversion of the Republic in collusion with a foreign agent. I was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment and lifelong expulsion from Czechoslovakia. After 7 months in prison, I was expelled. I later found out that there had been an enthusiastic young Czech spy at Radio Free Europe, who had apparently described me as a high-level, pistol-packing CIA agent in his reports to Prague.
After my expulsion from Czechoslovakia, I returned to the University of Toronto to finish my Ph.D. However, before completing my degree, I replied to an advertisement for an academic position at the University of Guelph, was appointed, and have remained there to this present day. Because of what happened to me in Czechoslovakia, it wasn't until 1985 that I started to travel in the Soviet Bloc again.
The Soviet Bloc was one of the main areas that I taught. Although significant numbers of students signed up for my courses on Communist Europe, I knew that they could never compete with other area specializations offered at my university in terms of career prospects. This was largely because of Canada's spectator role in the Cold War. The University of Toronto was the only real center for Russian and East European studies. Not many of the other universities even offered Russian language. There was little funding available to Canadian specialists in Soviet and East European studies, and study abroad in Communist Europe was almost completely unavailable to Canadian students. Moreover, political science research was difficult, frustrating, and somewhat risky in closed societies where ordinary scholarly curiosity always ran the risk of being confused with espionage.
This began to change in the mid-80's with the advent of Perestroyka and Glasnost and the end of the power monopoly of the Communist Parties throughout the Soviet Bloc. Though still persona non grata in Czechoslovakia, I could now visit other countries in the Soviet Bloc. Early in 1989, I received a Presidential pardon from Czechoslovak President, Gustav Husak, and visited that country in March for the first time in 18 years. In late November, as I drove from Poland to Prague, I followed the crumbling of the regime on the radio. I arrived in Prague just in time to join a demonstration of over 200,000 people on Wenceslas Square, celebrating the victory of the Velvet Revolution.
In 1989, I organized the first Canadian-Soviet Sociology Seminar in Moscow, where 7 sociologists from different Canadian universities participated. In 1990, I organized a similar Canadian-Soviet Political Science Seminar in Moscow, which resulted in a group of Russian political scientists visiting 11 Canadian universities. One of the Russians had brought with him a proposal for a course on Russian politics for Canadian students to be offered in Moscow in English. This led to my taking a group of 18 students to Moscow for a 6-week program in the summer of 1992.
The success of the 6-week program in 1992 led to a full-semester University of Guelph program at Moscow State University in the summer of 1993. Parallel to it, I privately organized a full-semester Russian language program at the Moscow Institute of Youth for students from several Canadian universities during the summers of 1994 and 1995. I had hoped that the Moscow Semester would become a permanent University of Guelph program, but study abroad programs were being squeezed by budget considerations and the Moscow Semester was not funded. By 1996 I incorporated InterUniversity Centre Canada, a private company which currently organizes programs and internships in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov, Prague and Tallinn.
Over the years I have been developing a model for my programs that does not require the presence of a faculty member abroad. Instead, I have been making use of group leaders with previous experience in Russia - mostly veterans of my own program. My university's practice of sending a faculty member with every study abroad program was the main reason why they were so costly. This practice seemed not only unnecessary, but arguably one which detracted from the study abroad experience. I believe that one of the best ways of enriching the study abroad experience is helping students to get to know the natives and we have been experimenting with various ways of facilitating this. For example, our program at Moscow State University is the only one in which students stay in dorms with Russian students instead of international students, and we have lectures, discussion evenings and excursions to which Russian students are invited. In order for our students to further understand Russian society, we also organize trips to institutions like police stations, schools, farms and factories, where it is difficult for them to gain access without assistance.
Since founding InterUniversity, I have been participating in several organized activities aimed at promoting business relations between Russia and Canada. The most recent of these was the Team Canada mission to Russia, in which Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Trade, all the Provincial Premiers, and several hundred representatives of Canadian businesses, led a delegation to Russia. On the Russian side, we were received by President Putin and Prime Minister Kasyanov. At the contract signing ceremony, I signed five contracts with Russian partners, including agreements for a Siberia expedition, an introduction to the Russian market, an agriculture course, and for our new program in St. Petersburg.
I have been particularly interested in the role that North American universities might play in facilitating the fruitful development of commercial relations with Russia. More generally, I see the reestablishment of normal relations between the West and the former USSR as being of historic significance. A part of our Euro-American civilization that was largely cut off from us has returned, presenting us with many challenges and opportunities.
Further information about InterUniversity Centre Canada can be found at http://www.interuniversity.com/
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By Ohene Kwasi Ohene-Adu '05
 Kwasi, Interantional Office intern from Ghana interviews Dean Paul Danos of the Tuck School of Business Administration about diversity and its evolution at Tuck.
Kwasi: I would like to start by asking about the history of diversity at Tuck Business School with regard to students and faculty. How has the initiative towards diversity progressed since the school's establishment in 1900?
Dean Danos: Internationalization has really risen in the last ten years. Our high level of internationalization is very important because much of the learning at Tuck is done in student teams. It is very important that we have the right mix of people from everywhere. It's a global market and one has to learn the cultures of other countries. I think that the students and faculty at Tuck definitely have an international outlook. In terms of other forms of diversity, that too has progressed tremendously at Tuck. About a third of the student body is female, about a third is international and about 20% is U.S. minorities, so the diversity of the student body is very rich because the combination of women, international and minority students make up the majority of the class. If you take the top business schools that are ranked at the top 10% or 20%, I think that Tuck, in terms of internationalization and diversity, would certainly be above the mean point.
K: Did Tuck School start out as all male like the College?
DD: Yes. I think all the Ivy League at one time was all male, and right now, all the Ivy League schools seem to have similar demographics. Last year we received about 3200 applications for 240 positions. But the demographics of those who actually attend Tuck compared to those in the application pool are almost the same ��� about a third international and about a third women. There is a broad interest across all the demographic categories for MBA programs and it is reflected in the admissions as well as in the enrolled students.
K: Would that be the reason why Tuck has such a large proportion of international students, seeing that the College undergraduate percentage of international students is 5%? Is this usually a trend in graduate schools, where there is a more heightened sense of diversity, or does it have to do with the programs?
DD: I think that's an interesting point. Tuck is an internationally known school and the MBA world is very different from the undergraduate world. Most of the students are in their 20's when they come to Tuck so they are independent from their parents. I think with the undergraduate programs, many of the top international students stay in their countries for two reasons: firstly, they probably get free education, and secondly, it's very expensive to send them all the way to Dartmouth even if they qualify. The MBA program is different. There are very few 28 year olds who can afford $100,000 so almost all of them borrow money or are on financial aid. For the most part, I would say at least 60% of all the money that is spent on tuition and other expenses is borrowed. A non U.S. resident looking at an MBA program thinks, "Well, I am going to have to borrow anyway", because many of the good programs are in the U.S., and very few are in Western Europe. It therefore makes no difference. If you are in Spain, for example, and you want a top MBA program, you have to come to the U.S. to a school like Tuck. It's a different dynamic, and I think Dartmouth would be able to attract a lot more students from all over the world if not for the huge price differential for the first four years, which makes it very difficult.
K: How effective do you think providing diversity on campus actually helps to enrich the programs?
DD: Everything we do is aimed at a better experience and our theory is this - managers of international firms (and all of our students for the most part are going to be a part of some kind of international firm) are dealing with clients who are completely global. Our students are involved with big operations for the most part, and for them to get the right experience, we need to have the broadest representation in the student body because a lot of the learning takes place from interaction with other people. It is so much more important for an MBA program than or an undergraduate program because over 50% of our grades here are obtained through team work, rather than individual work. Since it is necessary to form teams, it's better to have as much diversity within the teams as possible. Another important point is that we are going to admit the best class if the best class comes from places outside the U.S. We do not have a quota of Asians, or a quota of Europeans, because it depends on who the best students are.
K: Would you consider the programs to be rigorous? Is there an expectation for students here to already understand certain concepts?
DD: Yes, and they've been exposed; all of them have worked in some kind of organization at a substantial level, and of course the test scores are so high because we are so selective. We interview everyone. They work very hard, and we work them very hard, and they do very well. It's a good system for that kind of personalized program. The alumni are very supportive, giving the best alumni support of any school, even among international students. The most amazing statistic is that we have an over 60% contribution rate among our alumni. This is higher than any school by about 40 points. International alumni give at almost the same level. At other major schools, it's only about 10% participation!
K: Do a lot of the international students who come in need help with English proficiency?
DD: We try to screen for that because the program is so rigorous, and you have to read and talk so much that if you can't speak English well you're going to have a hard time. It's just too hard. You really have to go fast at Tuck. We do a lot of the screening during interviews, where we can judge the English proficiency of the students because people who cannot speak English that well are bound to have more problems than those who are very proficient.
K: Finally, I want to ask how your personal experiences, either abroad or right here in the U.S. have helped to shape your international outlook.
DD: I've done a lot of traveling everywhere, and I still do. When I was at the University of Michigan, I did some international programs in Korea and Hong Kong which were carried out over satellite video. I have also been involved in schools and universities in various parts of the world. Now Tuck has several programs all over the world so I travel a lot. One of the most interesting things I've seen in the last five years is what's happening in China, where there has been an explosion in the MBA. The Internet gives them all they need to know and has equalized the information availability gap. Previously, only a couple of schools, such as Harvard and MIT, were known. The Internet has allowed a small school such as Tuck, to be recognized everywhere. So that's one thing that has really changed - information can reach places that ten or twenty years ago were inaccessible.
There are 50 new MBA programs in China right now, and although there aren't many Ph.D. programs, those will come in time. Over the last five years, we have helped create a new school in Hanoi, Vietnam, called the Hanoi Business School, and now they've got a good MBA program going. The only problem is that with so many MBA schools being established, there aren't enough classically trained professors to go around. One of our biggest success stories is the number of Latin American students who matriculate at Tuck. They make up our biggest subgroup, followed by Asians. Having worked at Tuck and the Michigan Business School, globalization has changed me because I have been involved in all kinds of efforts to globalize the schools. My work has taken me to all these countries and given me a first hand view of the economies, the corporations and the people.
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By Twum Djin '05
The International Student Mentor (ISM) program is an initiative that is headed by both the International Office and the International Student Association (ISA). The purpose of this initiative is to replace the previous mentor program and to extend its functionality to encompass the adjustment issues that international students face during their first year of college. Furthermore, the program introduces a cross-cultural experience to its participants by having mentors who are mostly U.S upper-class students.
During spring term of 2002, the ISA had a meeting to discuss the possibility of having a more comprehensive mentor program. The association noticed that very few mentors were actively participating in helping international first year students with adjustment problems. The ISA delineated some of the issues faced by new international students and based on these identified needs, the group drew up a draft. The then vice-president of the ISA, Omar Amir '04, was delegated to present the group's ideas to the International Office. Under the direction and guidance of Director Steve Silver, the International Office and ISA drew up a proposal for the program on Friday, April 5, 2002. I was the International Office's student intern who worked with Omar to head the program, and brought this wonderful idea to reality.
Fleshing out the program's structure took us the entire summer and I feel that we continued to add a bit more to it with each passing day. The program consisted of 11 upper-class mentors and 52 mentees (not all 52 students were active in the program). Of our 11 mentors, 9 were US students and 2 were internationals, 7 were females and 4 were males. The program paired each mentor up with 5 or 6 mentees, who were grouped according to common ethnicity and geographic location. Groups that did not have enough students from one geographical location had two or more regions represented. Mentors were thus assigned to their respective group based on their experience, knowledge, and interest in some region or regions of the world. The mentors' tenure began in the summer before their mentees enrolled and ended this winter. The mentors were provided with a stipend each term, and had access to programming funds. They used this money for social activities that brought their mentees together. The ISA also organized programs that involved both parties, and introduced more students to the program and its benefits.
One of my responsibilities as the program's coordinator was to raise funds. By December, the program had a substantial budget that represented generous donations from various offices on campus: the Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Dean of Faculty, Dean of Student Life, and of course the International Office. In the long term, the ISA and the International Office would like the program to have a permanent budget under one or more of these offices.
The program has enjoyed many successes since its birth last spring. Besides an overwhelming interest from sponsors and upperclassmen, the program has seen many well-patronized activities during International Orientation and many mentee groups continue to meet on a regular basis. Perhaps the most noticeable success of the ISM program was its stride towards achieving intercultural awareness, as both mentors and mentees have learned a lot more about each other's culture. In successful cases of mentor-mentee relations, not only has the program provided international students with a support structure for counseling and advice, but it has also afforded them friendships that might otherwise have been outside their comfort zones.
Nonetheless the program has had and continues to have its fair share of difficulties. As mentioned, the prospect of soliciting funding each year leaves the program's future hanging in the balance. Until this is resolved, the mentor program will continue to face the same problems. There also remains the issue of how to pair up mentors and mentees to reduce the number of unsuccessful mentor-mentee relationships. I wish that I could have been on campus this winter to see the end of the program's first year, but unfortunately, I have been away in France on a Language Study Abroad program. I do not doubt that the program has continued smoothly without my help. However, it has been difficult for me to detach myself from the responsibilities that had been such an important part of my life since the summer. It has been my greatest pleasure to work with Director Steve Silver, Omar Amir, the wonderful people at the International Office, and to have been given the opportunity to model such an exciting program. Nothing has been more fulfilling than seeing what was once merely a proposal blossom into a promise: a promise from Dartmouth to the international community that the welfare of its members will always be at the College's heart.
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By Mei-Chuen Thong '04
Prior to our meeting, the only two things that I knew about Hanks Johnson Oshinaike were that he was a '92 from London who was returning to complete his senior year of college and that he was very tall. Indeed, his 6'4" frame towered over my rather diminutive one and he did speak with a very charming British accent. Over a relaxing chat in the Collis Graduate Lounge, I sought to uncover the unusual circumstances that led him to leave college for eleven long years. What I found instead was a delightful synopsis of a life that is rich with wonderful personalities, hope, achievement and self-discovery.
It would be best to start at the beginning. Hanks was already a budding basketball player with enormous potential from a very young age. Unfortunately, things were hardly smooth sailing for someone with such high hopes and ambition. A family tragedy during his teenage years left him very much alone and without guidance during a period of acute pain and grief. Within a year, his grandmother passed away with old age, his mother died from terminal breast cancer, and his father suffered from a fatal stroke. Needing to leave the past behind, Hanks moved to the States soon after that. To honor the wishes of his mother, he was determined to complete his education at a good school and aspired to become a great basketball player. Unfortunately, another obstacle arose when he arrived in the States, as the Governing Board of Athletics in Massachusetts ruled him ineligible to play high school basketball because he was considered an "unfair advantage".
With the help and support of Judge W. Michael Ryan of Massachusetts, Hanks persevered and it wasn't long before he received a scholarship to Worcester Academy and later, an acceptance letter to Dartmouth College. He came to Dartmouth with a specific agenda in mind - to play basketball. However, it soon became apparent that he would not be able to play because of the internal politics of the team. In his own words, "it was a torturous experience and I just rotted on the bench". This proved to have a detrimental effect on his academics because he was constantly "warring" against himself and lacked the focus to study. The turning point in this downward spiral came when he was in the infirmary one day feeling utterly depressed, and his assistant coach, Dave Faucher, stopped in to lift his spirits by inviting him to play a game of one-on-one. "I realized that I couldn't just stop the game that I loved," Hanks said, "and life moved forward from then on". It was during his junior year in 1991, that he, with the encouragement and guidance of Mrs. Dodge at the Registrar's Office, made the decision to leave Dartmouth and pursue a professional basketball career.
Hanks was recruited by NBA camps Milwaukee, Portland, Denver, Charlotte, San Antonio and Detroit, but failed to make the final cut each time. Finally, he left the country to play where he would be welcomed. It was time that things started looking up. His first stop was Brisbane, Australia, where he had been invited to play club basketball. This was a significant period of time for Hanks because his outlook toward life changed for the better. It was here, under the care of Christine and Laura Murray, that he decided to seize the opportunities that came along because "while the mind will wait, the body won't". And opportunity did come along when basketball teams in Greece, Italy and Portugal recruited him over a number of consecutive seasons. His basketball career was finally well on its way.
Among all the places in which he has lived, Hanks loves Greece the most. It was where he had his best experiences, and ironically, it had nothing to do with basketball. It was here that he met two of the most influential figures in his life - Yanna Darili, whom he described as the Diane Sawyer of Greece; and public speaker and evangelist 'Aunty' Jackie McCullough. Yanna introduced him to the television industry which allowed him to explore a completely different facet in his career path. "I was really chuffed," he said, "when she took me on board and became my mentor". What would normally have been a cutthroat environment was instead, one that he reveled in and was sheltered from under her guidance. Meanwhile, Jackie McCullough became his 'Aunty' after a phone call to New York. "I called the office because I wanted to get more of her tapes and to my amazement, she answered the phone. Sometimes public figures are too busy to talk but she had time for me and spoke to me like I was her only son". With his eyes lit up, Hanks told me that "Greece is a place that forces you to interact with others and nothing but good things happened to me over those two years that I was there".
Toward the end of his journey in Europe, Hanks decided to return to England, where he briefly pursued a career in advertising to appear in commercials for brands such as Guy La Roche, Calvin Klein, Smirnoff and Budweiser. He was also a much sought after model and participated in several fashion shows for major labels like French Connection and Marks & Spencer. Even more recently in 2001, he was approached by Sky One to appear in the British version of the popular reality television series Temptation Island, but don't look for him in the reruns because he declined the opportunity!
Last year, Hanks thought that it was time to revisit Dartmouth. Feeling happier and much more at peace with himself, he said "I've got all the basketball out of me, and I have no desire to play or shoot anymore, not even for fun. I've had my fun so it's not difficult for me to be a student again. I used to breathe, live and dream about the game, I would even sleep with my ball, but now I sleep with my books." He had always intended to come back to Dartmouth because of all the people he had met before- Professor Priscilla Sears, Professor Nancy Crumbine, Mrs. Dodge, 'Mama' Woods, Dean Langford and Judge Ryan. Besides, in Hanks' eyes Dartmouth is the "best school in the world because it gives you a chance to reconcile things about yourself, and gives you access to professors of the highest quality. If you want to learn, you will learn. And that's what I want to do."
Having had his life filled with dominant, powerful women who gave him the strength to forge ahead, Hanks is a true feminist at heart. "There have been so many strong women in my life - my mother, who was a small lady, was one of the strongest women I have ever met... and Yanna and Aunty McCullough!" he exclaimed, before continuing on to say, "I honestly believe in the feminine fire and that women are the rock of society." He is currently taking classes in Women and the Bible, Persuasive Speaking and Greek. Despite his 11 year absence, he is obviously glad to be back and thinks that "people should treasure everyday at Dartmouth because it is an absolute privilege to be at this school". Hanks J. Oshinaike - professional basketball player, model, actor, Greek expert and feminist - has finally returned to Dartmouth and come full circle in his life.
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By Niranjan Bose and Fuyen Lim
The first "International Holiday Bazaar" was held on November 26, 2002 by the International Students House (Brewster), and was supported by the International Office, the Dickey Center, and the International Students Association. The event was a great success and a few hundred dollars of merchandise was sold during the bazaar. All the items displayed during the bazaar were donated by members of the Dartmouth community, and ranged from traditional Pakistani sandals to antique Russian dolls. The Dartmouth community was very forthcoming in contributing to the bazaar and all its proceeds were donated to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). It was a fulfilling day for the international community as everyone came together to support children in need around the world.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this project, and hope to make it a regular annual event. If you would like to donate an item(s) towards future bazaars or help organize similar events, please contact the International Office.
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By Flora Powell, Staff Editor
Pakistan, Brazil, Israel, Columbia, Lebanon, Turkey and the European Union - if you have attended one of the International Issues: Personal Perspectives (IIPP) panels these countries may be familiar to you. Over the past three and a half years the International Office has sponsored a number of international student panels which gave students the opportunity to discuss topics such as the influence of western culture in Turkey and the impact of the 2002 presidential elections on the Brazilian economy. Students put a great deal of effort into these panels, creating handouts, supplying music samples and even PowerPoint presentations as a means of exchanging information about their home countries.
Bruno T. Ruvario, a Master's degree student studying music, was one of many enthusiastic participants in the panel on Brazilian elections held in December 2002. "It was a challenging experience to prepare a panel about my country, especially since we had just come from the election of a new president. Meeting with other Brazilians on campus and talking about topics to be presented was more or less like bringing to life, here at Dartmouth, some major issues which are certainly being extensively discussed now all over our native country."
With so many different students presenting there are bound to be conflicting opinions on the many controversial topics discussed at each panel presentation. "The Brazilian panelists, for example, exposed opposite viewpoints which really reflect some of the current major tendencies in the political scene of that country. The recent historical election of a socialist to the presidency has been stimulating an important debate which is related not only to Brazil, but to countries around the world," Ruvario says.
International students, ranging from undergraduates to Ph.D. students, have been very enthusiastic about sharing their perspectives on politics, culture, international relations and various other topics as they relate to their home countries. Participants have been equally eager to learn and share their experiences during the question and answer sessions which often extend beyond the allotted time slots. Achint Ahuja '05, a former participant and IIPP organizer, felt "the events succeeded in their purpose of reaching out to a part of the community, giving students the opportunity to hear the viewpoints of 'insiders' from other cultures. I learned a lot during the process of organizing the panel discussions. These events are just a start and a small indication of the tremendous potential of the international students and the rest of the Dartmouth community to be able to give and take in a rich mutual cultural exchange."
Each term the International Office plans to host two or three IIPP panels. Next term we anticipate hosting three panels with students from Vietnam, Russia and South Korea. Come participate in these events and enjoy light refreshments supplied by the International Office which may range from tea and cookies to ethnic foods like dolma (stuffed grape leaves).
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By You Zhou, MALS
I was astonished by what I saw when I entered the classroom. Picture this scene: one person is wearing sleepwear with slippers on her feet; another person is biting into a muffin in one hand and holding a cup of coffee in the other; somebody else is putting his feet on the chair in front of him and laughing loudly. Did I enter the wrong room? Was there going to be class here in a minute? I kept asking myself this while seeking an empty seat in the corner, full of doubts. I can still recall the feeling of that time vividly - the first time I audited an undergraduate class at Dartmouth.
As time goes by, the class just keeps me thinking and surprised. The method of teaching and the style of education are so different from my country, China. The American way of learning and teaching is just amazing. I have to admit the more I attend the class, the more I feel involved in it and the more I like it. I wouldn't miss even one time, though I used to skip class often when I was a college student. Compared to China, the American style of education is quite informal. In fact, the casual class atmosphere often continues to surprise me.
In China, college is always thought of as a divine palace of imparting knowledge, so classes are supposed to be serious and earnest. Teachers are considered the authority of knowledge and students should have no doubts about what they are told by teachers. Basically, it is a rule that students should not whisper or have a personal discussion without the teachers' permission during class, and it is thought to be very impolite and rude if a student dares to interrupt the teacher to ask questions. In America it is a totally different situation. The teacher encourages students to think for themselves. Students are welcome to bring up to the teacher whatever they want to ask, and whenever they don't understand something during the class, they are free to question the teacher. If the class were a show, it would be the students who are playing the main roles and the teacher who takes the part of a supporting actor. In my eyes, American classes put much more emphasis on interaction between the teacher and students than just one-way teaching. Students often have to think creatively to solve problems - not just memorize facts. Students also learn how to do research by using resource materials to find their own answers. In this way, classrooms illustrate the American emphasis on individual responsibility.
In China teachers are more likely to grade students mainly according to the scores they receive on the middle/final exams. Teachers here evaluate papers, group projects and class participation as well. As a result, students don't have to weigh too much on tests while neglecting what they really want to know.
Picture me now: crossing my legs, drinking my favorite French Vanilla, biting a stick candy and studying. Isn't it amazing?
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By Caroline Engel '05 and Arnold Engel '07
Cat food tins, Popsicle wrappers, cigarette butts, Coke cans and fast food containers. These were some of the hundreds of items littering the roadside in both Canada and the United States that we, two proud Canadians, picked up during a two-day long trek along the highway this past December.
Starting in Montreal, where it was -4 degrees (Celcius of course!), we filled our mom's Volvo station wagon with garbage bags, pulled on our heavy duty gloves, and set off on a journey through Quebec, past the Highgate border, and into Vermont. We cleaned up along the highways in both Canada and the U.S.A., and in towns such as Bolton, QC, Mansonville, QC, and Montgomery, VT.
In our minds, the environmental benefits were first and foremost, but the location eventually came into play as we planned our journey. The idea for the cross-border cleanup came from the notion that the landscape surrounding the border is an American's first impression of Canada, and likewise, a Canadian's first impression of America. Thus, we felt that by cleaning up both countries' landscapes more favorable impressions would be gained by travelers and locals alike, thereby helping the relationship between the two nations.
Ultimately, the environment has been helped, international relations have been aided and two Dartmouth undergraduates (one present and one future) have learned that the College wants its students to help the community at large, and will provide the necessary means to do so.
Our sincere thanks to the International Office for their wonderful and generous support in the execution of this project.
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- April 6 - 7: Conference on Refugees
- April 10: Sudan: State of the Peace; State of the War
- April 16: Bosnia: Forgiveness, Faith and Interethnic Friendships
- April 24: Chase Peace Prize Panel
- April 25 - 26: Shattered: Stories of Children and War
- May 21: Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
- May TBA: Amazonian Conference
- May TBA: Japan x Japan
- TBA: International Dinner and Movie
- TBA: IIPP-Russia
- TBA: IIPP-South Korea
- TBA: IIPP-Vietnam
Not all events are sponsored by the International Office. Monitor the "International Programming" Blitz Bulletin for more information on upcoming events.
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