Monthly Archive for March, 2011
Democrats,
Instead of a meeting this week, we will be attending Political Round Table’s event “Revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa” as a group. The discussion begins on Wednesday at 7pm in Busch Student Center room 171. Below is information about the discussion from PRT:
Topic: Revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa
Discussion Questions: What justifies a revolution? If it is justified, then when do we need peaceful demonstrations? Violent revolutions? What is the nature of the relationship between governments and their peoples? How should the world respond to the protests occurring in the Middle East and Africa? How does this affect global politics?
This is going to be a great discussion! It’s highly relevant and a it’s a great topic of interest! Additionally, we now have a confirmed speaker.
Dr. Bahar Bastani, a doctor at SLU’s medical center, is a Muslim spiritual leader and community member who will be giving his perspectives and opinions on the different revolts, specifically Iran and Egypt. He is quite a big name in the local community, and are honored to have him!!
Also, be sure to check out the great events coming up for ATLAS Week:
1. The Great Issues Committee will host Michelle Rhee tomorrow (3/23) at 7pm in the Busch Student Center Wool Ballrooms EDIT: DUE TO A POWER OUTAGE, THE EVENT WILL NOW TAKE PLACE IN THE CHAIFETZ ARENA:
ST. LOUIS Michelle Rhee will speak to students, staff and community members about her 18 years
of experience in the American education system and where that system needs to improve. Rhee began
her career in education in Baltimore, Maryland as a recruit of Teach For America. Rhee stayed with the
program for three years, teaching at a Harlem Park Community School within the city limits.In 1997 Rhee founded The New Teacher Project, a non-profit organization that works to bring more
excellent teachers to classrooms across the country. Her work implemented widespread reform in teacher
hiring practices, placing 23,000 new, high-quality teachers in schools throughout Atlanta, Baltimore,
Chicago, Miami, New York, Oakland and Philadelphia.In 2007, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty selected Rhee to replace superintendent of D.C. public schools Clifford
Janey and become the schools’ new chancellor. Under her leadership, the worst performing school district
in the country became the only major city system to see double-digit growth in both their state reading and
math scores in seventh, eighth and tenth grades.In 2010 Rhee resigned as chancellor and superintendent of D.C. schools and announced her new
movement, Students First, a political advocacy organizations aimed at education reform in the United
States.Rhee has served on the advisory boards for the National Council on Teacher Quality, National Center for
Alternative Certification, and Project REACH. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell College and a
Master of Public Policy from Harvard University.The event will take place in the Wool Ballrooms in the Busch Student Center at 7 PM.
2. Rainbow Alliance is doing photo shoots for their 3rd Annual All of Us Campaign tomorrow and Thursday from 10am to 4pm in the SLU TV studio (BSC 247). The campaign seeks to empower straight allies in the movement for equality for all sexual orientations/gender identities. Check out the website for details.
3. Political Round Table will be hosting a discussion about “Revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa” on March 30th at 7pm in the Busch Student Center Wool Ballroom 171:
Discussion Questions: What justifies a revolution? If it is justified, then when do we need peaceful demonstrations? Violent revolutions? What is the nature of the relationship between governments and their peoples? How should the world respond to the protests occurring in the Middle East and Africa? How does this affect global politics?
Democrats,
I wanted to give you all a quick heads up about some legislation that will make it harder for SLU students to exercise our right to vote. A few bills that are currently moving through the Missouri General Assembly will impose rigid photo identification requirements at the polls. If passed, this legislation would eliminate the ability of SLU students to use our student IDs or out-of-state drivers’ licenses to vote.
While the legislation is intended to combat voter impersonation fraud, the Missouri Secretary of State has testified that there has never been a documented case of this type of fraud in Missouri.
I want to encourage you to sign an open letter to the Missouri General Assembly and Governor Nixon to express opposition to this legislation. It is available here: http://sites.google.com/site/slustudentsforvotersrights/
I would also encourage you to “Like” the Facebook Page SLU Students for Voters’ Rights.
Thanks, and I will see you all at our meeting tomorrow!
Thomas Bloom
VP – College Democrats
Dearest Democrats,
We will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday in the Senate Chambers for our regularly scheduled meeting. However, next week we will transition to our new meeting time which will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in a location that is to be determined. I will notify you as soon as possible regarding our new meeting locations. In other news, on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. our 2011-2012 budget will come under review by the SGA Finance Committee. The Executive Board will participate in the meeting, but all other members are free to attend. I hope everyone had a very safe and relaxing Spring Break.
Democrats,
Please fill out the survey below about your preferences for the frequency and timing of our meetings.
We will not have a meeting tomorrow, so enjoy the extra time to study for midterms!
Also, don’t forget that tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8th is the municipal primary election. If you are registered to vote on campus, the only position you will be voting on is President of the Board of Alderman, for which Lewis Reed is running for re-election unopposed. Nevertheless, it is important to vote because it demonstrates that students are active in the political process and our needs are worth paying attention to.
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