IN THIS ISSUE:
*Events
*Volunteer Opportunities
*Internships, Jobs, and Beyond...
*In the Spotlight, Social Justice at University of Chicago
EVENTS
Summer Links Information Session
Thursday, November 13
6:00pm-7:00pm
5710 South Woodlawn
Hear firsthand accounts of the connections from Summer Links, opportunities, and advantages associated from Summer Links related internships. Please contact Rosalie DeFino at rdefino@uchicago.edu or Trudi Langendorf at trudi@uchicago.edu or 773.834.2699 for more information.
"Waterworks: China/Chicago: An investigation of the environmental issues surrounding large-scale waterworks in Chicago and China."
Friday, November 14
12:00pm
The talk focuses on the effects and consequences of Three Gorges Dam and the Deep Tunnel Project – greater Chicago’s answer to water pollution and sewer problems. Space is limited. To register, call 773.702.2351 or e-mail kristypeterson@uchicago.edu.
Chicago Studies Annual Journal Launch
Friday, November 14
3:30pm-5:00pm
Social Science Research Building, John Hope Franklin Room
The authors will discuss researching in and writing about Chicago, and the process of refining their essays for the volume.
Let’s Play with Blocks!
Saturday, November 15
Registration: 8:30am-9:00am; Workshop: 9:00am-12:00pm
Kenwood Academy: 5015 S. Blackstone
Join a hands-on exercise building concept models, running the numbers, and determining what it takes to create a sustainable and viable vision for 53rd Street.
Xperience Chicago: The National Museum of Mexican Art
Saturday, November 15
10:00am-2:00pm
Take a few hours from your Saturday to visit one of Chicago's hidden museums, and the nation's largest Latino arts institution. Tour the museum and then have time for lunch and exploring the neighborhood before heading back to campus. Sign up at the here!
Into the Second Century: Continuing SSA’s Tradition of Improving Urban Education
Saturday, November 15
8:00am-6pm
School of Social Service Administration, 969 East 60th Street
The seminar panels will spotlight exemplary SSA and Chicago area school improvement efforts as well as urban school improvement efforts from across the country. Each discussion will touch on the areas of emerging research, current policy issues, and innovative practice activities.
The Beehive Collective visits University of Chicago
Monday, November 17
7:00pm
5710 South Woodlawn
The Beehive Collective will hold a workshop on how globalization has led to an unhealthy agricultural environment in South America.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
UCSC Presents the Autumn Day of Service
Saturday, November 22
8:00am-1:30pm; Registration begins at 8:00am
Meet at the Reynolds Club
It will be an opportunity to meet new people, see Chicago, and engage in the great work that hunger-related organizations are doing around the city. Please RSVP by email to Brooke Fallon at bfallon@uchicago.edu or ucsc@uchicago.edu with Attn: Brooke in subject line.
Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center is looking for Mandarin speakers to help with legal intakes for Chinese kids. It would mean going to the International Children’s Center (in Rogers Park) every two weeks for about two hours. Contact Alexandra Fung, afung@heartlandalliance.org or 312-660-1330.
Tutors and mentors are needed by Chicago Youth Centers to work at Bret Harte School for Mondays from 2:50-4:20pm and Tuesdays from 2:50-4:00pm. If interested, please contact Patricia Flax at patricia.flax-hatch@chicagoyouthcenters.org.
INTERNSHIPS, JOBS, AND BEYOND...
Human Rights Internship
The Human Rights Internship Program offers a select group of Chicago students the opportunity to learn the skills and understand the difficulties inherent in putting human rights into practice. The Internship Program is unique in its flexibility, awarding $5000 grants to afford all interns the freedom to explore their interests. Apply and learn more at http://humanrights.uchicago.edu.
Echoing Green Fellowship
Due 12-01-2008
Awards two-year fellowships to emerging social innovators with innovative ideas for creating new models for tackling seemingly unsolvable social challenges. Individuals: up to $30,000/year for two years. Partnerships: up to $45,000/ year for two years. For more information, visit: http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellowship
Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship
Due: 02-15-2009
Sponsors six-to-nine month fellowships for recent college graduates (including graduate students) in Washington, DC. Fellows serve as full-time junior staff members working on peace and security issues, at participating organizations. Includes a stipend of $2,100 per month and health insurance, plus travel expenses to Washington DC. For more information: http://scoville.org/.
Federal Work Study (Off-Campus)
UCSC seeks out and posts part-time and summer work-study positions with Chicago area nonprofit and public sector organizations. Opportunities are geared toward identified interests and skills of our College, graduate and professional school students. View this list for the most current off-campus works study positions.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Social Justice at University of Chicago
Mutisya Leonard, Staff Writer
Over the last five years, UCSC has coordinated Social Justice efforts through the Social Justice Initiative. Social Justice co-coordinators David Klein, a third year in the College, double majoring in English Language & Literature and Gender Studies, and Hannah Jacoby a fourth year in the College majoring in Political Science reflect on their work with the Social Justice Initiative.
The Social Justice Initiative serves as a conduit between student activists and University resources available for furthering Social Justice efforts. “A clearing house for information on activism,” Jacoby considers it. Of their work, Klein says: “An important part of our job is to shift the paradigm, this notion that activism is simply protesting, rebelling and holding up signs. And though those are crucial statements in a rally, we are really in the business of organizing a serious, concerted effort for social change, with petitions, protests and signboards only as instruments.” The Social Justice dialog is open and casual, as much as it’s bureaucratic and technical.
Aramark Workers’ Student Alliance (AWSA) is a good case in point for this duality. AWSA was created as a coalition of Aramark workers and student groups working together to demand fair working conditions for dining hall staff. AWSA was formed in the Spring of 2008 in response to growing discontent among dining hall staff. Anticipating a renewal of Aramark contracts, last Friday, November 7th 2008, AWSA rallied for a revision of contract terms, pressuring the University to negotiate more closely with dining hall staff.
AWSA is to Klein and Jacoby, a good example of the gains of coalition building. AWSA collected, in its creation, the inputs of Yalla, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Organization of Black Students (OBS), Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL), Southside Solidarity Network, Graduate Students United (GSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS), Jewish Action, Amnesty, and STAND. The RSOs in their collaboration consulted with the Social Justice Initiative for advising in the process of their coalition building.
The selection of co-coordinators is in part, based upon their dexterity with administration, University faculty and community members, so that they are able to advise Social Justice groups on where to reach out to for primary contacts, how to navigate the University administrative hierarchies and basically check up on what office to direct complaints.
An important responsibility for the co-coordinators is in hosting year-round skill-building workshops. “We hold trainings on consensus building, talking to the media, and effective campaign strategy,” Jacoby explained. In fact, a December 2nd workshop is planned for effective campaign strategy, Community Organizing 101. These workshops culminate in the annual Student Activists’ Conference (SAC), a themed daylong event that takes an in-depth look at one aspect of activism. Recent themes have been around alumni activism and City Hall, and this years’ is on the incorporation of community efforts such as teaching, healthcare and journalism into Social Justice efforts.
Two important goals for the Social Justice Initiative this year, and consequently foci for the workshops, are: one, to expand the definition of Social Justice so that it goes beyond its conservative limited understanding, and two, to increase involvement from University of Chicago’s Graduate student population.
A special highlight for this Quarter’s programming is next week’s visit by the Beehive Design Collective, a collective graphics workshop that creates large format murals and banners as educational tools that provide a visual alternative to the deconstruction of complicated social and political issues ranging from corporate globalization to biotechnology. The Social Justice Initiative invited MEChA, SOUL, OLAS and the Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO) to partner with Beehive Collective in bringing them to University of Chicago. A picture lecture is scheduled for November 17th, 7.00pm at the OMSA Community Lounge, on 5710 S. Woodlawn Ave. The visit will feature an illustrated storytelling of their latest graphics and discussion on connections running through colonization, militarism and resource extraction – how agriculture is a Social Justice concern.
The night is, among other things, meant to inspire a habit of coalition among college RSOs towards the pursuit of Social Justice causes. Attendants will consider how they as students, and as affiliates of their different RSOs, are connected to trade agreements between the US and Latin America, and implications South American agriculture may have on their own work.
The University Community Service Center (UCSC) fosters the development of civic-minded students by providing substantive community service opportunities through community partnerships based on mutual trust and respect. If you have questions - how to get involved as a student or how to connect to students as a community organization - please contact us.
University Community Service Center
5525 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 160
Chicago IL, 60637
Tel: 773.753.4483
Fax: 773.834.1160
ucsc.uchicago.edu
