Anyone hoping to declare a Latin American Studies major this spring will be out of luck.

The Latin American Studies Steering Committee will not register any new majors because the Curriculum Committee decided not to vote on a proposal for a new LAS curriculum.

The LAS Steering Committee, chaired by History Professor Jim Stewart, has been working for a year and a half to redesign a major that many thought was insufficient. The committee hoped that final approval would come in Feb., in time to put the new major in next year’s course catalogue. The Curriculum Committee, however, has deferred all decisions about curricular reform because the committee is in the process of examining the school’s curriculum as a whole. {more}

Three Macalester students received prestigious awards the week before spring break. Jane Turk ’02 and Owen Kohl ’02 each received Thomas J. Watson fellowships. Andy Cantrell ’02 was granted a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

The Watson fellowship is awarded each year. Two Macalester students have received a Watson fellowship in each of the three years Macalester has participated in the project. This year nearly 1,000 students from 50 colleges applied for the award and only 60 students were selected. {more}

Macalester College Student Government voted Tuesday to allocate an additional $1,450 to pay for next week’s Israel-Palestine symposium after International Studies, Religious Studies and the President’s office all withdrew their funding for the conference.

Each citing different reasons, the three offices decided last week to stop supporting the conference. But by that time the scheduled speakers had already purchased their plane tickets, and it was too late cancel the event, according to Danny Schwartzman ’04, one of the organizers. {more}

The Council for Religious Understanding (CRU) has finished planning its biggest event this semester, a two-night conference that explores the Gendering of God. The discussions will take place on Thursday April 4 and Thursday April 11 in the Chapel at 8 p.m. {more}

Over-cautious administration doesn’t serve internationalism

This hasn’t been a good semester for the Macalester administration. First there was the controversy over whether the Palestinian flag should fly at graduation. Initially the administration, citing United Nations protocol, said no way, no how. But after the Macalester College Student Government issued a resolution in support of a broader flag policy, and after the controversy received national attention, the powers that be had a change of heart. Within two months the administration had reversed its decision. That move was certainly good for Isra’ Muzaffar, the student who led the charge to change the flag policy. But still, it begs the question:

Why can’t the administration ever seem to make up its mind? Or, at the very least, why can’t it at least appear to be consistent? {more}

Macalester lacks crucial environmental awareness

By DANIEL UNGIER

As Macalester students, the message that we are currently living in the midst of a growing worldwide environmental crisis carries a dull, familiar tone. We are all aware of the crises of resource depletion, population growth, climate change, and other mounting calamities. However, despite the growing urgency of environmental awareness in confronting today’s changing planet, Macalester as an institution has largely failed to incorporate an ecological perspective into its framework. Though we at least profess to emphasize multiculturalism and internationalism at this school, ecological literacy has been decidedly left out of our school’s postmodern agenda. {more}

On April 7, at 1:00 p.m. in the Olin Rice Atrium, there will be a staged reading of a play called “Combination Skin.” On one hand, the play pokes fun at the “tragic mulatto” literary trope, and on the other, it addresses some very complex issues that exist within the black diaspora. I happened to come across this play a year or two ago, while browsing through Contemporary Plays by Women of Color. After reading it, I knew I wanted to see it performed at Macalester before I graduated. Luckily, the Black Women’s Collective agreed to sponsor this effort, and this Sunday, a production of “Combination Skin” will be a reality. {more}

We might as well have picked up the March 15 issue of The Mac Weekly and read this Kafka-esque story:

HEADLINE: “Sociology professor temporarily denied tenure on secret student evidence; Macalester justice subverted by vigilante demand, due process killed by student hatchet job.”

ARTICLE: “Mudslingers of Sociology professor Terry Boychuk staged an eleventh hour protest on Friday at the Board of Trustees meeting in the Weyerhaeuser Boardroom, where Mr. Boychuk’s fate at Macalester was being determined. Terry Boychuk was accused by five protestors of sexual harassment and his tenure decision was tabled. The protestors have not revealed their secret evidence of sexual harassment, though they insist that it exists. The victims themselves did not file grievances against professor Boychuk. Many professors and students say that professor Boychuk has been denied his right to due process.” {more}