Community inaction
Efforts to reach out in Norwood and Evanston ‘disheartening’
Katie Rosenbaum
Campus News Editor
SGA, working along with the Community Building Institute, is attempting to build ties to local community leaders and councils because previously these relationships have not been firmly established.
This year, SGA’s Community Affairs Committee, led by Sarah Virkler, is attempting, with the help of Pickett Slater Harrington of the Community Building Institute, to build relationships and ties with the communities of Norwood and Evanston.
“Xavier seems to be focusing on itself a lot more than it is focusing on the community and now more than ever is the time Xavier needs to reach out,” says Virkler.
Virkler says “it has been difficult to establish and maintain relationships with the community” and “was hoping to make more progress this year than we have. It is kind of disheartening.”
This year, Virkler has met with the West Norwood Neighborhood Association and has made contact with the Evanston Community Council, although she says that it has been hard to establish a relationship with the Evanston Community Council.
There may not be a list on paper of the accomplishments of the Community Affairs Committee, but they have begun to strengthen relationships, says Virkler.
These relationships with the community are crucial in order to understand and work with surrounding communities, says Harrington.
“Young people bring energy, enthusiasm and creativity, but they need to think of the community as a partner and sit down and talk with community members to understand what they can work together on,” says Harrington.
After these relationships are built, then students can work with community members to set goals and projects for the community, says Harrington.
Previously, SGA has focused on projects that help serve the community, especially children, says Virkler.
However, she does not think that this is the best approach for community relations.
“Helping children is an important relationship in the community, but it is not addressing concerns actually existing in the community itself. Instead it is putting a band-aid on other things that exist.”
This year, SGA has tried to begin projects in order to build ties with the community; however, they have faced roadblocks.
SGA wanted to begin a project that helped local restaurants and businesses. The Community Affairs Committee wanted to contact local businesses, including The Speckled Bird Café, where there could be a night or weekend where Xavier students could go to these businesses and receive a discount. The businesses would also benefit because they would attract new customers.
However, since there were previously no ties between these local businesses and SGA, this project has not been fulfilled, says Virkler.
Virkler sees student roles in building relationships with the community as important to the university. The administration has to deal with the business aspect, but as students “we have to find where our place is” in building relationships with the community.
Once SGA can begin to form more solid relationships with the community, the “Community Affairs council will be able to share their relationships with tons of student groups on campus who want to help in the community but do not have contacts,” says Harrington.
These relationships that Xavier builds will not just help the community, but will allow Xavier to benefit as well.
Harrington says that he has worked with a marketing class in the William’s College of Business. They helped to design a marketing strategy for a local school. This allowed the school to benefit from the marketing strategy, and Xavier students had an opportunity to develop a real marketing plan.
Although SGA is trying to build relationships with surrounding communities, members do not attend community or city council meetings.
Harrington says that he attends the Evanston Community Council meetings and tries to attend the West Norwood Neighborhood Association meetings as well.
However, Brian Watson, former president of the West Norwood Neighborhood Association says that representatives from Xavier have only attended a few of the meetings.
Keith Moore, First Ward City Council Member of Norwood, says that Xavier representatives do not attend meetings unless something directly related to Xavier is on the agenda.
“The relationship has improved since I have been in office. When I first entered office a few years ago, the relationship between Xavier and Norwood was acrimonious, but now we have begun to work together to solve problems,” says Moore. He also says that Xavier has spent much of its focus on their relationship with Evanston, but this is due in part to both Xavier and Norwood. Norwood faced budget problems and could not make this relationship a priority in the past, Moore says.
Harrington says that relationships between Xavier and the community are “still in the learning process. We aren’t going to get everything perfect but the attempt is there to create basis for understanding each other and move forward.”
The Community Building Institute, SGA and others in the Xavier community build relationships between Xavier and the community as “Xavier is coming to an awareness that the health and vitality of the university is linked to health and vitality of surrounding community. You cannot have thriving university and struggling community and vice versa,” says Harrington.
The Community Affairs committee has shifted its focus this semester, to strengthening relationships between groups on campus.
Women’s Center unveils new exhibit
Kelly Shaw
Senior News Writer
Erika Breese
An exhibit that aims to publicize the work of women’s peace efforts around the world, 1,000 PeaceWomen, is now open for public view in the Xavier Women’s Center.
The project was created by PeaceWomen Across the Globe, a group that hopes to work against exclusion of women in decision making processes, especially in areas of the world where there are violence and poverty. All 1,000 women were nominated together for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, but did not win.
“1,000 PeaceWomen serves as a powerful educational tool showcasing the complexity of peace and women involved in peace movements,” said Dr. Jennifer Wies, director of Xavier’s Women’s Center. “The stories of hope and activism will resonate with individuals of all ages and across diverse groups. It truly exemplifies how we can be people for others in our local and global communities.”
The PeaceWomen group defines their four main objectives as: increasing visibility and support for women peacebuilders; facilitate connections between peacewomen, channelling solidarity and helping expand knowledge and skills; and popularizing the PeaceWoman concept of peace and peacebuilding.
A goal shared by the PeaceWomen and the Xavier Women’s Center’s is to redefine the word “peace” to mean more than the absence of war. Instead they define it as “a long-term pursuit of justice and human security.”
The Women’s Center opened in fall 2007, and invites both men and women in the Xavier community to center women and gender issues. The PeaceWomen project coordinates with the center’s mission to educate and provide resources for women, so that they may be able to utilize their talents.
Junior Krista Kutz regularly frequents the Women’s Center, and recently visited the PeaceWomen exhibit, which she described as touching.
“It was extremely overwhelming. I felt like 1000 faces of people working for peace in totally radical ways from all around the world were looking at me,” Kutz said.
The exhibit, which includes 40 women from the United States, is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Kathryn Rosenbaum
Editor-in-Chief
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Senior News Editors
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