Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009
YOU SPEAK, WE LISTEN
Radnor, Pa.
CABRINI COLLEGE
Pacemaker Winner Vol L, Issue 18
www.theloquitur.com
President, students build ties abroad andy stettler
asst. news editor
ads725@cabrini.edu
staff photographer
President Marie George and senior English and communication majors Kara Schneider and Megan Pellegrino sort coffee beans to select the very best for high quality Fair Trade outlets.
It was snowing when the white Cabrini van carrying President Marie George and a group of students and staff pulled up to the mansion. The group has spent the past week in much warmer weather in Guatemala to experience Cabrini’s partnerships and extreme poverty first hand. The group seemed beyond exhaustion, sporting unwashed faces and even less clean clothes. But they won’t have much time to sleep this week because the group has brought back hundreds of photos, hours of video and audio recordings to edit. Dr. Jerry Zurek was the first to exit the van, heading toward the trunk to help unload luggage. Zurek smiled tiredly and said, “[The trip was] incredible.” “Every one of us on the trip witnessed something that we could relate to, something that we in the States take for granted. Some need or want that is easily gratified here but which is all but impossible for those living in poverty,” George said. The trip was made for several reasons. One was for those at-
tending to experience Cabrini’s partnerships on a global scale. Another was to observe extreme poverty in a developing nation. It was also to put a face to the new curriculum Justice Matters, through photos and video documentation. The group, consisting of professors, students, a member of Cabrini’s marketing department, a representative from Cabrini’s Wolfington Center and the college president, was able to witness the effects of the Guatemalan Civil War which ended in 1996. “I understood that the country had experienced massacres,” Kara Schneider, senior English and communication major, said. “I didn’t think that I would meet survivors.” Jillian Smith, senior English and communication major, told the story of her experience in meeting a doctor named Hector. Hector grew up in Guatemala and eventually traveled to the U.S. to attend medical school. When the time came for him to return to Guatemala, he was told by his parents that he could not come
GUATEMALA, page 3
Campus sustainability proves to be top priority christopher r. blake news editor
crb724@cabrini.edu
An online sustainability survey executed by 254 members of Cabrini’s faculty, staff and student body found that four out of five participants ranked sustainability as “very” or “extremely” important. The survey was initiated in hopes of setting the college’s Sustainability Steering Committee, being considered by the President’s Office, in the right direction of gaining insight on what the campus community needs to improve in regards to sustainability. “The survey is a part of a longer project that we’re working on to create a Sustainability Steering Committee on campus, so we thought one of the first things we should do was get a sense of what sustainability issues are most important to people on campus,” assistant professor of biology Dr. Caroline Nielsen said.
INSIDE this week’s edition
The survey was conducted online during the period of November 10-25, 2008. Overall, 53 faculty, 89 staff and 112 students, 87 on campus and 25 commuters, participated. Recycling proved to be the campuses top concern as over 75 percent of the respondents expressed concern for the accessibility, effectiveness and overall level of knowledge of Cabrini’s current recycling program. “I was really struck by people’s level of concern about the recycling program,” Nielsen said. “People think recycling is really important and they have concerns about the program on campus right now, so that was a useful result, because once this steering committee gets up and running that’s something we can work on right away.” Green buildings and conserving electricity were chosen by nearly 50 percent of survey participants. Several respondents even offered suggestions for electricity conservation measures.
Dr. Caroline Nielsen
An online sustainability survey completed by 254 members of Cabrini’s faculty, staff and student body found four out of five participants to be concerned for the sustainability of Cabrini’s campus. Some suggestions included adding a green roof to the Iadarola Center, coordinating the Cabrini shuttle more effectively with the R5 train and Route 100 trolley or adding solar panels to the Dixon Center. “I remember reading through
the suggestions and saying to myself, ‘oh that’s a great idea,’ we should come back to that,” associate professor of mathematics Dr. Ellen Panofsky said. Transportation proved to be another issue the Cabrini community will need to address as
faculty, staff and commuter students documented there average commute distances. One way commutes averaged 15.4 miles for faculty with the
SUSTAINABILITY, page 3
81st Oscar Awards
Women’s Lax Preview
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