By Lori Eshelman staff reporter "Journey to a Hate Free Millennium," a documentary film and lecture program exploring the nature and impact of hate crimes in America, will be presented by Hollywood filmmaker Brent Scarpo at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Ed Landreth Hall Auditorium. The presentation, sponsored by Student Development Services, Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic and Programming Council, will include about 35 minutes of a documentary film that highlights various forms of hate and recent hate crimes that have captured national attention. Scarpo's presentation also includes dialogue from audience members about hate and what can be done to stop it. Scarpo, who has cast such films as "Air Force One" and "The Shawshank Redemption," produced and directed the documentary with fellow filmmaker Martin Bedogne. Scarpo said they decided to make the documentary after they attended a candlelight vigil for Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student whose beating death in October 1998 drew national attention. The film features footage of Shepard's mother reading a message she wrote and read at the trial of one of the men charged with her son's murder. Scarpo's campus presentation includes raw footage of Shepard's mom that does not appear in the final film, which has been purchased for distribution by HBO and will be submitted for consideration for a 2000 Academy Award. Other people featured in the film are family members of Jasper, Texas, dragging victim James Byrd and parents and friends of Columbine High School shooting victim Rachel Scott. There are also interviews with Holocaust survivors and a former neo-Nazi now working with the Simon Weisenthal Center, an international center for the defense of human rights and Jewish people. Various political, religious and entertainment figures such as Elton John are also interviewed in the film, and groups of young people from kindergarten to college offer perspectives on hate and its role in today's culture. Ben Wilkinson, a senior pre-med business major and student affairs intern, said he invited Scarpo to speak at TCU for several reasons. "Hate has become a national problem, especially for high school and college students, and the shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church right in our own backyard definitely hit home," he said. Wilkinson said he expects about 800 people to attend the free presentation and hopes it will help students understand the importance of accepting other people. "This message will be especially relevant to TCU as it continues to increase campus diversity," he said.
Lori Eshelman
Skiff Staff Professors from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima, Perú, are touring TCU this week, following in the footsteps of a group of TCU professors who toured the Peruvian university in June. Delia Pitts, director of international education and organizer of the Peruvians' visit, said the professors are here to complete the exchange. "They are meeting with their counterparts this week," Pitts said. "We hope, with the long-range goal of setting up long-term projects, that our two universities can work on together.
Larry Adams, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the faculty-exchange program fits with the TCU mission statement. "If you look at our mission statement - (which aims) to educate our students to be leaders and effective members of the global community - then we must provide for educational opportunities for our students that include all areas and parts of the world," he said. Pitts said the Peruvians will take on the role of students while at TCU. "One of the goals is to expand on their knowledge of the U.S., to help them understand our society and our culture," Pitts said. "We want to give them a basic grounding in some key issues of the U.S." Pitts said the visitors will listen to presentations from some of TCU's faculty members in areas such as higher education, sociology, history and the role of religion in the U.S. Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright - who was influential in the formation of U.S.-Latin American policy - will speak with the group, and members will go to the Kimbell Art Museum today, Pitts said. Claudia Castillo, executive director of international relations for Universidad Católica del Perú, said she had a preconceived notion of the U.S. before she arrived. "America is everywhere," she said. "We get to look at a different aspect of America. What you see through the news or through talk shows is a different type of America. Now we are getting to see more of the academic aspects, the different kinds of people that you wouldn't see through the media." Luis Peirano, a Peruvian professor of communications theory, said the U.S. and Perú are connected. "We can watch American television every day," he said. "We are trying to work on a very close relationship between TCU and the Catholic University of Perú. "(We are trying) to make this agreement concrete so you can have things from us, and we can have things from you."
By Tealy Dippel staff reporter After looking at a proposal to extend visitation hours, Don Mills said he is not opposed to a modification to the visitation policy, but he does not want to overlook student input in the matter. "The research in the proposal is generally very good and very helpful because it's good to look at what other schools are doing, but the decision has to be a TCU decision," said Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs. Mills met with Marcus Kain, chairman of the House of Student Representatives' Student Affairs Committee, last month to discuss the committee's proposal to extend the visitation curfew from midnight to 2 a.m. on weekdays and to 24 hours on Fridays, Saturdays and nights before university-recognized holidays. Mills said something will happen with visitation because the topic is too important, but he said he would like to have a broader conversation with the Resident Hall Association and more students. He said those who want to liberalize rules are always more vocal than others, and he would like to see a student forum or a focus group open the discussion. "The proposal doesn't speak about the affect the visitation policy could have on individual students," Mills said. Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari also said he was interested in what RHA has to say about extending visitation hours because it is beneficial to have general guidelines from the association. Ferrari also said he is open to other proposals. "I bring no preconceived bias to the topic of visitation," Ferrari said. "I am interested in balancing the interest of all students in that living environment and finding out what the residents' comfort level is." Russell Elleven, associate director of residence life, said he thinks it's good that the administration is willing to look at the proposal and consider some changes. "I wasn't surprised to see the proposal because I knew it was a concern of students," Elleven said. Elleven said he thinks the proposal offers some good points, but he said some things need to be examined more closely. "If we have 24-hour visitation, basically that means you have to be dressed to go to the restroom," Elleven said. Elleven said he thinks visitation hours allow some "safe" times. "The time frame gives security, and when it goes away, it will create more uncomfortable times," he said. "But I'm not saying we shouldn't change visitation." Elleven said he thinks visitation is going well in Tom Brown/Pete Wright Residential Community, a junior/senior apartment complex where students sign a contract concerning visitation hours with their roommates . "By junior and senior year, you have developed more confrontational skills; you could say if you didn't want 24-hour visitation," Elleven said. Elleven said parents could object to the proposal, but he said there will always be a group objecting. "We need to hear the parents' voices as often as we hear the students voices," Elleven said. The Student Concerns Committee submitted the proposal to extend visitation hours to RHA Oct. 26. Kain said he is waiting to hear to if the association supported the proposal. Members met Oct. 26, and Kain said they arranged to meet at 11 p.m. Monday in the Commons Building of Tom Brown/Pete Wright so the committee could have their decision by Wednesday. Kain said once RHA votes, and they collect student petitions from dormitories across campus, Elleven and Roger Fisher, director of residential services, will make their recommendations. Kain said he will submit a resolution to the House Tuesday.
Tealy Dippel
By Matt Welnack staff reporter The media are owned by corporations and are in the business of selling a product is the central theme of Noam Chomsky's film, "Manufacturing Consent," which will be shown by the Leftist Student Union. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Moudy Building South, Room 164. Phil Doan, a junior philosophy major and co-founder of LSU, said students should see the film because it will change the way people think about the media's role in society. "I figure that, in this society, people are influenced by mass media," he said. "They don't really know who is behind the scenes. I think once people see this film, they won't look at the media the same way. The media has more power than we think." Chomsky, a linguist who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the biggest critics of United States foreign policy, Doan said. Chomsky is a socialist libertarian who believes in the principle of communism, Doan said. Social libertarians also believe in socialism with freedom and without force, he said. In the film, Chomsky uses examples and two case studies - the media's role in the Persian Gulf war and East Timor - to show how the media selectively release information on world events. "This film represents an alternative view of the media that is not commonly discussed," said Chris Dobson, a junior history and political science major and co-founder of LSU. "The media change our view of events rather than objectively report it." The film has won 15 awards and has been entered in 50 international film festivals. It has been shown in more than 230 cities in the United States. "Whether students end up liking it or not, they will come out to question something, whether it be the media or the film itself," Doan said. Dobson agreed, saying students can use the film's message as a learning experience.
Matt Welnack |
"For instance, their people in engineering are meeting
with our people in our engineering department to share ideas, to share
potential research projects and to see what might take place in the future
in terms of potential student-faculty exchanges."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |