May 2015
News Briefs Graduation Ceremony Volunteers Needed
Graduation is a day our students all look forward to. We need volunteers to help make this an extra special day for our graduates. There are several times and duties still remaining. Please sign up and commit a couple of hours to helping our students celebrate their achievements. We have the following needs: • Set up at 6:15 a.m. and continue until finished. • Alumni table attendants for 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. ceremonies. •Photo card holder for the noon ceremony. • Ushers for 3 p.m. ceremony • Robing room attendant for 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. ceremonies • Tear down and clean up beginning immediately following 3 p.m. ceremony. Please contact Becky Hudson at rhudson1@nwacc.edu or 479-9866682 to volunteer.
Recycle for Sight
Millions of people all over the world lack access to basic eye care services. During the month of May, the NWACC Disability Resource Center will be participating in Recycle for Sight month through the Lion’s Club International. We will be collecting eyeglasses, reading glasses, frames, and sunglasses to help those in developing nations who do not have the resources to buy them. Please help by donating your unused glasses! A collection box will be in the Disability Resource Center (Student Center, 114) through June 1.
DREAMers Scholarship Available
Are you a DREAMer? You may be eligible for a scholarship at attend NWACC in Fall 2015! Eligible applicants must be willing to participate in volunteer opportunities with the DREAMers of NWACC Club. Full eligibility requirements and instructions on how to apply are detailed on the scholarship application located HERE. . Deadline to apply is 4 p.m. on June 4, 2015. For questions, please contact scholarships@ nwacc.edu.
College Supports Nepalese Students
Nepal recently was devastated by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. There is a significant loss of life and many displaced families. The college has 5 Nepalese students in our NWACC family who have been affected by this catastrophic event. The Global and International Programs office has identified a non-profit organization named Health Foundation Nepal (www. healthfoundationnepal.org), which was formed by a team of Nepalese medical doctors residing in United States. The organization is very trustworthy. Please consider them if you want to help Nepal. Here is their link: http://www.healthfoundationnepal. org/earthquake-relief-fund.html
NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s Student-Run Newspaper Since 2007
Vol. 10, No. 9
College Welcomes Film Festival Tanya Castella Staff Writer
Geena Davis is teaming up with ARC Entertainment to launch the Bentonville Film Festival with the aim of championing women and diversity in all aspects of film. The festival is set for May 5 - 9 in the northwest area, with panels and screenings happening on the NorthWest Arkansas Community College campus. Dr. Megan Bolinder was a key player in ensuring some festival events took place at NWACC. She is also one of the screeners and one of the jurors for the festival. Though she couldn’t share anything about the films themselves, she shared a few details of the events happening on campus and how NWACC became a host for the festival. “I do know we have four
Photo courtesy of Bentonville Film Festival slots on our campus where we are either going to host screenings of the films, or panel discussions where people come in and talk about issues related to gender in the
media,” Bolinder said. “Or, we may even have one of our spots be sort of like a green room, where the people who are connected to the festival like actors, actresses, anyone
who might be on the panel can sort of hang out in between the viewings.” These events will take place in White Auditorium at Burns Hall, or the Walmart Auditorium at the Shewmaker Center. It took an early breakfast and a lot of phone calls for NWACC to become a host. When asked about how our campus got chosen for the festival Dr. Bolinder said, “A student in my Gender Studies class, Peggy Hick, got wind that there was this thing that might happen someday in Bentonville and she said that it was about what we have been talking about in class, and that she hoped to someday be able to connect me with the people talking about these ideas.” It wasn’t until January that Dr. Bolinder heard back from Peggy who asked her to meet with Trevor Drinkwater, the director of the festival. During their meeting,
Tinker Talks Freedom of Speech Vanessa Brown Staff Writer
Free speech activist Mary Beth Tinker gave a lecture April 7, at NorthWest Arkansas Community College to a full and attentive room of NWACC and University of Arkansas students, teachers and members of the Northwest Arkansas public. Tinker is famous for her part in the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines, Iowa, court case in which the Supreme Court determined that students do not lose their constitutional right to freedom of speech when they enter their classrooms. Tinker spoke about being raised by parents who stood up for what they believed in and encouraged their children to do the same. Her father, a Methodist preacher, lost his position in two churches because of his advocacy for African Americans’ civil rights. Her mother couldn’t stand civil injustice either; she once picketed a drug store in Des Moines that refused to serve African Americans. So it was no surprise when a 13-year-old girl who witnessed activism her whole life decided to make a statement herself. After hearing death tolls and seeing images
NEWS
Photo by Hillary Hollis From left: Caleb Cannon, Mary Beth Tinker, Danny Cannon, and Alex Cannon. of the Vietnam War, Tinker, three of her siblings, and a few schoolmates planned to wear black armbands to school in support of a Christmastime truce. Their principal learned of their plan and banned the wearing of the armbands. A story about the ban ran in their local paper. Some children decided they weren’t going to wear their armbands
on the planned day, but Tinker didn’t get the memo and wore hers. She was asked to remove it at school and she immediately complied. Over the course of a few days Tinker, her siblings, John, Hope, and Paul, and another child, Christ Eckhardt, were all suspended in relation to the armband protest. The American Civil Liberties Union caught wind of
FEATURES
For More Event schedules and ticket information can be found at www.bentonvillefilm festival.com Bolinder said Drinkwater told her that the BFF team had tried to have part of the festival hosted by NWACC, but due to some miscommunication they got the message that the campus was not interested. In that moment, Dr. Bolinder told Drinkwater that NWACC would be delighted to have the festival held on campus. “I was on my way back to school before eight o’clock in the morning calling everyone I could, like my department head, Jim Laughton.” Between seven and nine a.m., NWACC became a host for the festival, Bolinder said. See Festival, page 2
Waving the Red Flag
the suspensions and wanted to help the students take it to court. Tinker’s side lost in both the district and appeals courts, but in 1969 it was picked up by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court determined children and teachers do not lose their civil liberties when they are in school, and this includes their right to free speech. The Court also determined that schools cannot encroach on that right unless the speech is substantially disruptive to school or impinges on the rights of others. Tinker said she didn’t even know how important her case was until she was older and getting her nursing school degree and saw her case in her textbook. Today Tinker uses her fame to advocate for freedom of speech. She says she firmly believes that children need to know about this case because “kids have great ideas” and are “the great hope for Democracy.” So, Tinker created The Tinker Tour, a program where she travels to schools and juvenile detention centers around the country to teach kids about the importance of their first amendment rights and speaking up for the things that are important to them.
April is noted as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Throughout the month, the Red Flag Campaign at NorthWest Arkansas Community College has hosted many presentations on raising awareness and prevention of sexual violence and rape. The Red Flag Campaign launched last September. In conversation with Teresa Williamson, head of the Red Flag Campaign on NWACC’s campus, gave some updates on what the members of the campaign have been working on. Williamson said the campaign is strong, “We are moving around campus strategically. One day you might drive into an area and see flags and it’s just pulling your attention. We did another bathroom stall series. What we find is more and more reporting of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, and we haven’t had the influx of sexual violence.” Williamson said, as a society,
See Tinker, page 2
See Waving, page 2
Hayden Higgins Sr. Staff Writer
NEWS
Woodward Speaks at U of A April Golden Eagle Winner
Mother’s Day
Check out Vanessa Brown’s coverage of award winning journalist, Bob Woodward, and his lecture at the U of A.
Aya Yassine covers the April Golden Eagle Award recipient, Veronica Garcia-Carvajal.
Check out the Books, Bands, and Beyond, to see what Crystal Bridges has planned for Mother’s Day.
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