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(02/06/18 8:33pm)
Demands, definitions and durable solutions were discussed during a Comparative Refugees Studies Panel this week.
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The panelists included Dr. Ria Chae, East Asian Languages and Studies Professor, and Nicholas Greven, Indiana University Latin American and Caribbean Studies Master Student. Each spoke of what they’ve come to know about migrants durings their experiences abroad.
Ria Chae, raised in South Korea, is a historian specializing in inter-Korean relations. She began her portion of the panel by defining three types of terms used to describe people on the move.
“These three terms are refugees, migrants and defectors,” Chae said.
A migrant is the overarching term to describe all people on the move for any reason, both forced or voluntary. A refugee is a displaced person who was forced to leave their home. Refugees have already crossed an international border but still plan to return home once the conditions are safe. Lastly, a defector is a person who seeks opportunity to leave their country due to the conditions and systems but are not forced.
Chae says the term defector is most commonly used in South Korea to describe a person who moved from North Korea to leave their political and economic system behind. She disclaims that there is a difference between a refugee and a defector, but both are types of migrants.
“Not all refugees are defectors,” Chae said. “And not all defectors are refugees.”
One solution Chae suggested during the panel was the use of media by Korean defectors as a way to tell their stories.
“If students, American students, get in touch with North Korean defectors and South Korean and help their english ability or help to raise awareness,” Chae said. “For example, translating North Korean talk-shows into English.” She says if other areas of the world were to do this as well, we could begin to find these durable solutions.
“So that could be maybe a very small step,” Chae said. “But it could definitely help towards solving the problem of integration.”
Nicholas Greven, the second panelist, researched and volunteered along Mexico’s southern border region and wrote an article called “The Southern Border Plan on the Ground in the Trump Era" published on NACLA. During the panel, he described his experience witnessing migrants travel from Central America through Mexico.
“Advocating for immigrants is something very close to my heart,” he said.
Greven mentions another term to describe people on the move: an asylum seeker. This type of migrant is forced to leave their home, similar to a refugee, but does not seek to return. An asylum seeker wishes to permanently settle in a new country
Since the United States implemented the Southern Border Plan (SBP), it has deterred migrants and potential asylum seekers from passage into America. Due to the increased border security, migrants had to travel more dangerous routes. Greven says while he volunteered at the shelters, a huge portion of the migrants he interviewed were assaulted, robbed, extorted or even all three.
“The U.S. government is killing many, many people and causing others to suffer very intensely because it’s racist,” Greven said. “They want to profit off of people suffering.”
Greven says there has been a long history of major powers violently extracting resources from countries of the global south. His long-term durable solution for refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and defectors he says would be for this to end and for these large governments to stop forcing people to flee.
“The only other solution I can think of is for the U.S. to provide more asylum, many, much larger quantities of people.” Greven said. “I don’t like seeing people put in cages and tortured.”
The Comparative Refugees Studies Panel: Durable Solutions was hosted by No Lost Generation, Students for Peace in the Middle East, Liberty in North Korea and the Center for the Study of the Middle East. It was hosted within the School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University.
(12/04/17 6:52pm)
Imagine for a second: you’re sitting in an ordinary college lecture hall at an ordinary university, surrounded by ordinary college students. Look around –Notice the students, their age, hair color, gender, race, even the clothes they wear. Look around again –Tell me the student who are the first in their family to go to college. Can you? Probably not.
Listen to the full story:
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(11/11/17 11:07pm)
Sexual violence is a crime.
Sexual violence should not be a norm.
Sexual violence affects 1 in 5 women and 1 in 33 men.
There were 252 reports of alleged sexual misconduct reported on the Indiana University Bloomington campus in 2014-2015 according to The Annual Student Welfare Report. Only 40 out of the 252 cases moved forward under the University disciplinary process. Sexual misconduct includes: sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating or domestic violence and stalking.
“There’s kind of this running rhetoric of, you can only do so much,” said Shadia Siliman, Indiana University graduate student. Siliman interpreted and transcribed the 2014-2015 Campus Climate Survey while working at the Title IV office. Students were asked if there was a solution to sexual violence, she said, “I think that kind of deep down a lot people feel like it can’t really be eliminated truly."
A lot of students simply felt there was no solution to this absolutely chilling issue, affecting so many individuals.
“People like to say oh it’s Greek life, oh it’s alcohol, or it's a lack of education,” Siliman said. “I think among all the types of sexual violence I’ve seen, I think the thing that runs through is entitlement. People just feel like they should have access to other people’s bodies.”
Siliman uses the word ‘entitled’ to describe sexual violence situations. She says these people feel insecure and they seek to grasp their power through entitlement, but Siliman brings up another pressing issue; why does consent fail?
“If we have students on campus that just don't care if the person they are attacking is a person and has feelings and rights, then they won’t care if you consent or not,” Siliman said.
She asks, why would an attacker care if a person says no if they don’t even care about them as a human being? So if this issue is so jarring, why did only 40 of the 252 sexual violence cases report their incidents to the university?
The 2014-2015 Campus Climate survey also asked how the University can change. Siliman says there’s a massive emotional toll with reporting incidents, she questions, is it even worth it to press charges?
“Students wanted more transparency from the University,” Siliman said. “They wanted to know what the outcomes were? How many people were being charged? What the outcomes were and punishments were? What’s the process as a whole?”
Siliman says, like other universities, IU is known for giving low-level punishments for serious crimes, and for letting athletes and fraternity members off the hook and students simply don’t trust the process. She says reporting is emotionally laborious, retraumatizing, and can even be mortifying if the student is not taken seriously by the administration.
Senior Director for Wellness Prevention and Victim Advocacy Leslie Fasone says there is an upsetting rape culture on campus.
“Until we start addressing, this is what rape culture looks like, here’s just a piece of that and that's what we have to change,” Fasone said. “How do we change people's attitudes and perceptions? How do we change this culture? What do we do? How do we stop it? And I think it's the big frustration, this is what’s happening it is not okay.”
Fasone says students must become aware of the signs of unhealthy relationships which can be sexual, physical, controlling, emotional or financial types of abuse. She said, “If other people know that they're friends are not accepting of that behavior, that’s huge..that's what's going to change this culture.”
The Sexual Violence Prevention and Victim Advocacy Office focuses on creating a safe haven for students experiencing sexual misconduct or domestic violence. Senior Assistant Director of Victim Resources, Sally Thomas, says the office does not exclusively deal with on campus trauma. If students had a childhood, high school or off-campus experience the office will still provide help.
President of Culture of Care Miko Siewenie says education is truly the only way to change the cultures perpetuated on campus. She says, all we can do is be supportive of victims of sexual violence until they’re ready to take the next step.
“Making sure that, no matter how cheesy it sounds, that you're taking care of your friends around you,” Siewenie said. “Always stop if you see something that isn't right, stop and ask that person, are you okay? Do you need help?”
Culture of Care focuses on mental health, sexual well-being, drugs and alcohol awareness and respect. Siewenie says they are collaborating with other groups on campus to increase awareness of sexual violence by providing bystander intervention education.
“In college, I was sexually assaulted and I didn't really know what to do about it and I didn't talk to anyone for a really long time," Siewenie said. "When I finally realized the resources that were there and the people that were there to support me, it was kind of a weight off my shoulders. I want to help people realize how powerful they are and how they can make a difference.”
For more information on sexual violence and resources for help, visit the Sexual Violence Prevention Office or visit stopsexualviolence.iu.edu.
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(11/06/17 5:53pm)
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The Bloomington Refugee Support Network and the Muslim Student Association welcomed a group of Venezuelan refugees by holding a fundraising event this past Friday at the St. Paul Catholic Newman Center.
The event was called International Dance Night to Welcome Venezuelan Refugees. The organizer, Savannah Powell, says she began helping the Venezuelans in August because there isn’t a resource infrastructure in Bloomington. The Bloomington Refugee Support Network works to gather food, clothes and resources. Powell says, it was time to do something fun.
“We decided that we wanted to do a celebration to welcome them to the community,” she said.
The event had food, music and three different cultural dance performances. Indy Hula a polynesian hula group, Ritmos Latinos a cuban salsa group, and the Saida Sisters a Kizomba group.
At the event, Powell says Venezuela has been undergoing a humanitarian crisis, which leads families to flee to America. Powell says, these are families who have fled to Bloomington after unimaginable circumstances.
“It is evident the extreme violation of human rights,” Powell said. “Because of this, lots of Venezuelans are fighting for the only solution to save their lives and the lives of their families is to flee their country.”
Powell says she has been working with undocumented people and refugees since she was 13 years old. She says she grew up in a spanish language immersion school and has spent much of her life with a passion for helping immigrants.
“The United States has been one of the countries who has received the most Venezuelans with open arms and many Venezuelans have found refuge and safety here and they have been able to find asylum here to save their lives,” Powell said. “We want to welcome these new members to our community.”
Powell says she would like to thank the volunteers and food donations at the event. The International Dance Night to Welcome Venezuelan Refugees raised $626 for the families who came to Bloomington.
(10/16/17 5:26am)
Students gathered at Woodlawn Field on Friday, October 13, in attempt to break the world record for the number of people stopping, dropping and rolling at the same time as apart of the National Fire Prevention week. Assistant Director of the IU Insurance, Loss Control and Claims office, Mel Lane, says the record is currently 1,719 people.
“We’ve got 30 minutes to go and we’ve only got about 150 people, so I think we’re gonna be a little short,” Lane said. “It is to remind folks it's the last day of Fire Prevention Week, which is a national event, that’s what our real purpose is.”
The event had free t-shirts, free drinks, fire trucks, raffles and the Bloomington Fire Department's very own Sparky the Fire Dog.
IU Freshman Laysha Greene came to the event. She says this event is important because it teaches people how to stop, drop and roll.
“Fire safety is something that's very important and a lot of times in situations where danger is imminent we freze up and don't know what to do, but we've been taught how to stop, drop and roll,” Greene said. “So, if we ever do catch on fire, we’ll know what to do.”
Bloomington Fire Department’s training chief, Tania Draffrone says the more they get the word out about fire prevention, the better.
“Who doesn't wanna get a free t-shirt and just come out and take part of a world record attempt?” Draffrone said. “You’ll never know when you’re going to have to use it so it’s better to have that tool in your toolbox.”
The world record attempt will happen again during next year’s National Fire Prevention Week. To close the event, Mel Lane said at least IU had 200 more students attempting to break the stop, drop and roll record than Purdue.
Listen to the full audio story below.
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(10/06/17 4:24am)
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The Indiana University Democrats invite president of the Monroe County League of Women Voters, Kate Cruikshank to their weekly meeting this past Wednesday. She speaks about her research on political gerrymandering, and why she believes the redistricting system needs to change.
Gerrymandering is the process of manipulating district boundaries to favor one specific political party during elections. Cruikshank says it’s not fair.
“Fair representation is just the bottom line," she said. "If we don’t have a direct connection between people and the people who represent them reflecting their views, what have we got?”
Cruikshank says there is a massive problem with gerrymandering right here in Monroe County. When she first became the president of the League of Women Voters, Cruikshank says she was in shock to realize there were seven representatives for Monroe County because of gerrymandering.
Cruikshank’s presentation outlined different ways gerrymandering works. She says it makes the election less about the candidate and more about the political party.
“This is craziness," Cruikshank said. "It’s just a forgone conclusion, I mean why vote?”
The IU Democrats wrote letters to their representatives after Cruikshank’s presentation. They are asking for redistricting reform to ensure their vote counts and elections are fair.
Cruikshank says she is working with representatives to pass a bill. It would create an interim study committee on redistricting for fair representation. She says her research began on this principle idea.
“I care about democracy," Cruikshank said."It’s so key, it’s so key.”
The IU Democrats meet once a week. For more information, visit their website at iudems.org.