manitou

messenger

Friday, MARCH 11, 2016

A3

Assigned reading: why so serious?

A5

Senior project blends dance and theater

A6

A2
Ole basketball falls in Sweet Sixteen

Volume 129, Number 13

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CANDIDATES TO WATCH

The Student Government primaries will be held March 15 and the general election will be held March 17. Go to Oleville.com to view full profiles of the candidates and vote.

EXPERIENCE

BACKGROUND

PLATFORM SUMMARY

SGA PRESIDENT

SGA TRANSPARENCY

EMMA LIND 17

Psychology major

SGAs intercampus
liaison
Two years of SAC
involvement
Co-coordinator of the
Its On Us campaign

SGA VICE PRESIDENT

SARAH BRESNAHAN 17

Economics and
environmental studies
major

Former senator for

Mohn and Hill/Kitt
Halls
Senior Days Event
Planner for the past
two years

SGA PRESIDENT

Political science major

Former high school

class president
President of Rand
Hall, former president
of Kildahl Hall
Rugby captain

SGA VICE PRESIDENT

HCTOR POVEDA 19

SGA REPRESENTATION

Emma and Sarah will work to make SGA more representative by integrating student
government and athletics and providing more opportunities for international and
multicultural students to have their voices heard.

ITS ON US

Emma and Sarah plan to foster student initiatives by featuring an option on the front
page of Oleville.com for students to submit ideas and concerns for the revitalization
of the Its On Us campaign. This initiative works to make St. Olaf safer by formulating action plans to address sexual assault.

DISCIPLINARY BOARD

KYLE WILMAR 17

Emma and Sarah want to ensure SGA transparency by requiring branches to give
monthly updates on Oleville.com, increasing branch presence on social media via
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter and by monitoring the environmental
impact of SGA and focusing on ways to practice sustainable programming.

Economics and political

science major

Former high school

class president

Kyle and Hctor want to institute a disciplinary board on campus. This board would
be composed by Students, Faculty and Deans (SFD) who would unanimously make
decisions regarding the Code of Conduct, just as the Honor Council does with the
Honor Code.

SARN SUPPORT
Kyle and Hctor will make it a priority to increase SGA support to SARN, and therefore the Its On Us campaign. They plan to accomplish this by raising SARNs status
on campus from a normal student run organization to an SGA branch.

STUDENT WORK OPPORTUNITIES

Kyle and Hctor want create more student jobs. Many of their other initiatives, such
as an expansion of library hours, will naturally create new opportunities for student
employment. One of their goals is to to provide employment students whenever possible so that Oles have more options to complete work awards.

OTHER CONTESTED RACES

DCC

Diversity Celebrations Committee

POLITICAL
AWARENESS
COMMITTEE
COORDINATOR

STUDENT
ORGANIZATIONS
COMMITTEE
COORDINATOR

LIONS PAUSE COCOORDINATORS

BOARD OF REGENTS
STUDENT COMMITTEE

DIVERSITY
CELEBRATIONS
COMMITTEE
COORDINATOR

EDEN FAUR 17

JOCIE BAKER 18

TANNER BLOCK 17
JULIA BASSETT 17

GRIFFIN HUELER 18

ELEANOR MORSE 19

DANNY VOJCAK 19

[I will] continue
supporting multi-cultural
organizations and
celebration nights and
expand our definition of
diversity on campus and
strive to increase exposure
to different viewpoints.

I will work tirelessly to

represent your environmental concerns and reduce
St. Olaf s carbon footprint
without compromising your
quality of life.

An important gap for PAC

to bridge is incorporating
the interests of Oles into
weekly events, and translating those interests to the
selection process for our fall
and spring speakers. St. Olaf
students have a range of
passions and the subjects explored in PAC events should
reflect those.

YISHU DAI 18
I want to bring in speakers outside the two-party
system. I will work with
congressional campaigns
to have debates at St. Olaf.
I want to have on-campus
grassroots organizing trainings so that students are
equipped to organize.

As SOC Coordinator I want

to direct the committees
focus to having two large
co-curricular fairs per year:
one at the beginning of the
year and another during the
first week of February.

CHARLIE BAHNSON 17
My vision for SOC is to
become as transparent as
possible. Since SOC makes
financial decisions for hundreds of orgs on campus and
is made up of all students, it
is [easiest] to understand the
decisions we make by making them with you present
in the room, as opposed to
making them behind closed
doors.

Between the two of us, we

have nearly five years of
experience working both in
the kitchen and as kitchen
managers.

I will facilitate student

dialogue about the potential
impact board decisions
may have on our student
community and our overall
college experience.

ANNIKA AWAD 18
MAZEN ABUSHARKH 18

WASSIM ASKOUL 18
Our driving force is what
we so call The Three Big
Cs: Communication,
Companionship and Collaboration.

I believe that BORSC

is an excellent tool for
students to bridge the gap
between campus and the
administration that we
talk about so frequently.

ABIGALE HAUG 19
I hope to continue
[to] make even closer
connections with the
Presidents Leadership
Team.

JINHEE CHA 17
I [will] facilitate
conversations about
diversity on campus,
strengthen student
organizations on campus,
unify multicultural groups
around contemporary
issues, and by host
developmental workshops
about diversity.

ENVIRONMENTAL
SENATOR

ANTHONY VALIULIS 19
I would like to reestablish
the environmental task force
to not only look at where St.
Olaf is in terms of sustainability, but how we can
improve it in the future.

Dr. Hamzawy on Egypt, exile and elections

By Cassidy Neuner
Staff Writer

On Tuesday, March 1, professors and students from both St. Olaf and Carleton crowded into Viking Theater for Dr. Amr Hamzawys lecture entitled Egypt Since 2013: A
New Autocracy or the Same Old One?
Hamzawy was an elected member of the first
Egyptian parliament in 2011 after the revolution, and he served as a member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. He
is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
The lecture, which was organized by Professor of Religion Jamie Schillinger and
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Ibtesam Al Atiyat, focused on the state of
Egypts political regime since the countrys
revolution in 2011 and the military coup that
followed.
Wide segments of the population took
out to the street rediscovered the street as
an arena for politics, rediscovered the street
as an arena for staging peaceful, positive ac-

tivism against an autocratic government and

rediscovered the street as an arena for leveling
demands which were very concrete, Hamzawy said. Egyptians took out to the streets on
January 25, 2011 to demand an end to human
rights violations.
The protests in Egypt lasted for 18 days
before President Hosni Mubarak announced
he would resign as president. In 2012, Egypt
held its first popular election since Mubarak
took power over 30 years before.
In response to the popular elections,
Hamzawy raised serious questions about
Egypts future.
So, how come after such a moment of
peaceful, nonviolent mass mobilization with
very concrete demands not driven by ideology, not driven by questions of religion and
politics, how come this country has been
backsliding in recent years to stand where it is
now? Where it is now is quite to the opposite
of what people demanded, he said.
Egypt elected Mohamed Morsi to the
presidency in 2012 and experienced a brief
period when democracy seemed possible for

the country. However, in July 2013, Morsi was

ousted by a military coup. Hamzawy argues
that the autocratic government that follwed is
even worse than Mubaraks regime.
If Egyptians demanded a stop to human
rights violations and human rights abuse,
the last two years have been in fact the worst
years in the long history of the Egyptian Republic since the 1950s, he said.
The new military autocracy has been very
effective when it comes to silencing the opposition.
We have, for the first time in Egyptian
history, Egyptian diasporas outside of Egypt,
Hamzawy said. Intellectuals, opinion makers, writers and academics who were forced
to leave Egypt because of the repression committed by the regime.
Hamzawy himself was forced to leave
Egypt when Morsi was removed from office
in 2013.
I was banned from travel for a year. I did
not have the intention of leaving my home

Egypt...

Continued on A7

www.manitoumessenger.com

LEIGH ANNE HAHN/MANITOU MESSENGER

Dr. Amr Hamzawy spoke about the current military autocracy in Egypt.

 News
page A7

March 11, 2016

Manitou Messenger

Diary of WWII prisoner on display

By Danielle Sovereign
Contributing Writer

Rolvaag Memorial Library currently

has two special collections on display
on the third floor. The book collection
of Jrgen Jensen sits at the entrance.
Jensen was a Norwegian-American
who donated over 100 books about
the Nazi occupation of Norway to the
library. He made this contribution less
than a year before his death in 2015,
and it has been on display since March
1, 2016. Many of the books are in
Norwegian only a few are written in
English.
Jensen was a native of Norway and
a science student at the University of
Oslo on April 9, 1940, the day that
the Nazis invaded Norway. The university did not close until 1943, when
1,250 students were arrested and 650
of those arrested were sent to concentration camps in Germany. Jensen
eventually fled the country alone and
found shelter in Sweden with other
Norwegian refugees, many of whom

were students at Oslo as well.

In 1948, he came to the United
States and settled in Maryland. Jensens collection contains diaries and
historical accounts of the war and of
important Norwegian figures during the Nazi occupation of Norway.
Special Collections Librarian Aimee
Brown was contacted by Jensen himself, who expressed his wish to donate
his collection to the library, though he
had no personal ties with the college.
He had heard about St. Olaf s Kierkegaard Library and other special collections, including that of the Norwegian
American Historical Association.
Brown reflected on her experience of
curating the collection for the display.
Though there is limited space in
the front display, I tried to select the
books that had the most visually interesting covers, so that students can get
a feeling for the Norwegian experience
of the war, even if they cant necessarily read Norwegian, Brown said.
Students can check out these books

SONJA NELSON/MANITOU MESSENGER

The Special Collections display features a number of books about the Nazi
occupation in Norway donated by Norwegian refugee Jrgen Jensen.

by asking one of the librarians. The

display will be up until May.
The second special collection currently on display is the diary of Petter Moen, who was a writer for the
underground press of the Norwegian
resistance movement during the Nazi
occupation. He was arrested by the
Gestapo in 1944 for his involvement
in the resistance and imprisoned in
Oslo. During his imprisonment, he
used a pin from the blackout curtains
to make raised dots in sheets of toilet
paper, creating a diary that he could
only write after dark so that the guards
would not know. After each chapter,
he would roll the sheets up and hide
them under the floorboard.
Before his death 1944 on the way to
a concentration camp in Westphalen,
Germany, Moen told fellow prisoners about the diary he left behind in
the prison. After the war ended, one
of the men informed the Norwegian
police about the existence of the diary and they pried up the floorboard
to reveal Moens several scrolls of toilet paper. The diary was published in
1949 in Norwegian and in English two
years later. Brown was contacted by
Hans Magnus Aus and Berit Aus the
children of Moens brothers friends
who wished to donate part of the diary to St. Olaf in 2015. Aus was given
two pages of the diary as a gift from
Hans Moen, Petter Moens brother.
They were connected with the college
through the Norwegian American
Historical Association.
To see the documents outside of the
display near the reference room, make
an appointment with Brown. There are
additional copies of Moens complete
diary in both English and Norwegian,
which students can check out from the
library.
sovere1@stolaf.edu

Egypt- young democracy falters

Continued from A1

country after my travel ban was canceled by a court ruling, Hamzawy said.
But I was threatened, indirectly and
directly, and I was left with no options
but to leave. So I had to leave. I left the
American University in Cairo as well as
Cairo State University, which banned
me from teaching for opposing the
military autocracy as well, and I came to
Stanford. And my story is by no means

tragic when compared to real tragic stories of many Egyptians.

Hamzawy stressed that young Egyptians, who represent 60 percent of the
population, were the main champions
for democratic reform, but the military
autocracy was quick to discourage them.
This led young Egyptians to feel disenchanted, not to walk away, but to basically leave aside the ballot box, because
it was a simple conclusion. If what we

took out to the street to demand is not

happening, but exactly the opposite is
unfolding, why should we mobilize and
go to the ballot box? Hamzawy said.
Hamzawy continues to try to answer
the question of why Egypt failed to democratize through his studies at Stanford and is currently working on a book
exploring Egypts political upheaval.
neuner1@stolaf.edu

Lutheran Commons moves forward

By Brooke Janusz
Contributing Writer

This past November, faculty and

staff considered the proposal of a new
co-curricular body that would foster
campuswide engagement with the colleges tradition and mission. This body,
provisionally called the Lutheran Commons, is still a work in progress. A formal proposal for the body developed by
the working group will be reviewed by

As a Lutheran
institution, both
exploration of ones
individual faith and
values [and] interfaith
conversation is really
important.
Vice President for
Mission Jo Beld
the end of the year.
The Lutheran Commons can be split
into three different areas of programming. The first area of programming
aims to facilitate a dialogue among
students, faculty and staff of all creeds
to bring the St. Olaf community closer
together.
Its just an opportunity for maturing
young adults to be around older adults
who are a little further along in life. But
those opportunities dont naturally happen outside the classroom. So thats an
example of something that Lutherans
are really big on as a faith tradition. We
are a Lutheran institution so we want to

borrow some of those things from that

faith tradition and use them to enrich
our community, Vice President for
Mission Jo Beld said.
A second proposed area of programming aims to create a home for interfaith conversation exploring different
faiths and values that exist at St. Olaf
and in the outside community.
As a Lutheran institution, both exploration of ones individual faith [and]
values interfaith conversation is really
important. But again, we dont really
have a home for that on campus. Theres
not a particular structure that makes
that available, Beld said.
The third section of programming is
focused on conversations about vocation and service for students, faculty
and staff.
A main emphasis for all of these areas
of programming would be on scholarship and production of scholarship for
outside audiences as well as St. Olaf audiences.
Were imagining having either faculty members or students within the
community who could be fellows of the
Commons and be producing scholarship and writing that supports one or
more of these things. We are also imagining the outside audiences, so scholarship that would serve other colleges
and universities and faith communities,
particularly the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America but other denominations as well. So theres also an external engagement, Beld said.
The Commons hopes to obtain funding from both alumni and members of
the outside community of all faith traditions who are interested in the overall
goal of the Commons. They will not be
able to start the process of fundraising

until after the proposal is approved. It is

possible that some programming could
be implemented as early as spring of
next year, but the whole project is still
in an early stage.
There has been some controversy
over the name The Lutheran Commons and if the Commons will discourage religious diversity on campus.
However, Beld believes that having this
name is central to the overall mission of
the body.
I think we do need a name that signals in some way that part of why were
doing this is because of who we are as
an institution, and part of who we are
as an institution is that were guided by
these values, Beld said.
Recently, there has been a proposal
to edit St. Olaf s mission statement and
possibly express the colleges Lutheran
tradition and mission in a different way.
Some wonder whether this would affect
the Lutheran Commons and how the
mission statement and the Commons
would interact if the mission statement were changed. The creators of the
Commons hope to increase the extent
to which the mission of the college is
carried out, so the question of whether
or not the mission statement should be
changed directly affects the Commons.
Its been interesting and helpful to
have the conversation about the mission
statement unfolding at the same time as
this planning process for the Lutheran
Commons. Because in the end, the ideal
thing will be if the mission informs how
the Commons works and if the Commons strengthens the way we carry out
our mission, Beld said.
janusz1@stolaf.edu

KATIE JEDDELOH/MANITOU MESSENGER

By Katie Jeddeloh
Copy Editor

Religion professor Trish Beckman is a delight both inside and outside the classroom. As many of her students
and peers can attest, Beckman emphasizes fun as an integral part of her teaching method, ensuring that her students not only develop knowledge about the topic but also
enjoy the learning process.
Beckman has spent the majority of her life in Minnesota. She grew up in Anoka, Minn. and completed her undergraduate degree at Gustavus Adolphus College, where
she studied religion. She went on to receive a masters and
a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School in
the History of Christianity, one of her many specialties at
St. Olaf. She also studied mysticism extensively during her
schooling.
Following graduate school, Beckman immediately got a
job at St. Olaf and then briefly taught at Carleton College
and the University of Missouri. Although Beckman liked
the experience of teaching at a large state school, she is a
self-proclaimed liberal arts junkie and prefers the intimate engagement of classroom discussion.
I am curious about everything, and [teaching] is the
greatest day job because you get to follow your curiosity
everywhere, Beckman said. What I really love about St.
Olaf is that students come in expecting that they are supposed to know the material, engage it and critique it.
Beckman teaches a wide variety of classes on the Hill:
the Great Conversation, first-year religion and other religion seminars. She often teaches with a focus on a particular way of understanding religious texts for example,
examining women in Christianity or comparing religions
through the lens of mysticism.
This past interim, Beckman and Professor of Religion
Mara Benjamin co-taught a class on the role of food in religion.
Its fun to put eating rituals across cultures in conversation with ultimate meaning, Beckman said. We use a lot
of anthropologists to talk about how food has meaning and
how humans structure themselves around communities.
The students in her interim class got to explore cultural
aspects of many different religious groups through food,
including partaking in a traditional Sikh dinner at a temple
and a Mexican candy demonstration and tasting.
Beckman also teaches in St. Olaf s Great Conversation
program, and she currently teaches the course in the Kildahl cohort for the class of 2018. She likes teaching the
class itself, but she particularly enjoys the communal nature among the Great Conversation professors.
One of the fun things about teaching Great Con is that
the faculty is all reading together, right? And were having
our discussions like a mini Great Con among us, Beckman
said. Its fun to teach the classes, but its really fun to have
a peer with you doing that, and our cohorts become like a
Great Con cohort with faculty. Its a great chance to have a
high level of intellectual fun.
Outside of her work at St. Olaf, Beckman is working on
other academic projects. She is currently writing a piece
on mysticism in the study abroad experience, in which she
claims that students seek an ultimate experience through
travel. She is also working on a food and religion faculty
seminar with religion professors at Carleton College. Her
part of the project will focus on mystical practices in the
Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions. However, instead
of food creating differences between religious groups, she
emphasizes how food can assist in the erasure of these
boundaries and the ability to bridge gaps.
When she isnt working, Beckman enjoys spending time
with her three boys, playing with her dog and cat, knitting,
cooking and being outdoors. She says that she likes a full
life, one with a balance between work and play.
Professor Beckman loves teaching at St. Olaf. When
asked about the thing she likes most about it, she said, I
like the excitement of watching [people of] your age build
a life. Youre on your own now, you get to think about what
is meaningful and we get to be a part of those conversations as people figure out what theyre trying to do. Its
pretty cool.
Beckman has a lot of hope for her students. She is constantly impressed with the things her students do after
leaving St. Olaf, and she considers herself lucky to work
here.
I love the exchange, I love the conversation, I just love
wrestling with the meaningful things and doing it with
other people.
jeddel1@stolaf.edu