New org tackles globalization
To the Editor:
Corporations are influencing the lives of billions, for better or worse. The massive spread of globalization is not only a topic of hot discussion but also a striking reality. Corporations are shaping the lives of workers, affecting the environment, and evolving as key players in the global political arena. Human destiny is in the hands of mighty multi-national corporations. Many Macalester students end up working for these corporations around the world. But how much do we really know about these corporations, their motives, their policies, their sinews, and their inadvertent impacts?
These are the main rationales that finally caused us to charter Corporate Platform (C-Plat), a newly formed student organization at Macalester focusing on various corporate issues. This is an attempt to provide a meaningful platform for the Macalester community to gain an insight into the corporate environment and relevant developments.
We have weekly meetings in the Campus Center, Room 215 every Tuesday at 7 p.m. All Macalester students are encouraged to come. We hope, as a group, we can make a significant difference. See you all there.
Israfil Khosru ’04
Bibek Pandey ’04
WPI overlooked at Macalester
To the Editor:
The news article (Front Page, Nov. 2) about the World Press Institute’s “What’s News” forum on Oct. 15 failed to acknowledge the depth and breadth of the WPI program. The fellows of the World Press Institute do not merely tour newsrooms and stay with American host families, but for the duration of the four-month program visit various governmental, educational and cultural institutions of the United States as journalists working under First Amendment conditions. While newsrooms naturally play an important role in the program (such as those of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times, to name a few), this year the fellows were able to visit the Pentagon, Lower Manhattan’s “Ground Zero” and the headquarters of The Arab American News in Detroit all in the wake of Sept. 11. The experiences of the 2001 fellows ranged from living on an out-state Minnesota farm to visiting the Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco to viewing first-hand the real-life drama of Mexican immigrants and the Chula Border Patrol in San Diego. They met individuals and explored cities from the full, diverse spectrum of the United States.
I was very disappointed by this oversight and the late timing of the article. The annual “What’s News” public forum at Macalester is no doubt an important moment of reflection for the group, but a mere overview of its quotable moments fails to do justice to such an important, unusual and perennially below-the-radar program based at Macalester.
In my three years of working for the World Press Institute, I’ve realized how fortunate Macalester is to serve as the headquarters of such a unique program committed to global understanding and communication. Now in its 40th year, WPI has over 460 alumni spanning the globe. A network of these journalist alumni is available on the web at
For those interested, the Star Tribune also ran an article about the history of WPI in their Oct. 26, 2001 edition.
In closing, I encourage all of you who are able to attend next year’s “What’s News” public forum to do so. Go and see for yourselves just what amazing and diverse insights WPI has to offer.
Jane Turk ’02
Program Assistant
World Press Institute
Study abroad still safe, secure
To the Editor:
From Ireland I have had trouble keeping up with the current events on campus, but I have gotten the sense that there are some people who will not be studying abroad because of all the shit going down.
I just wanted to tell you all that from someone who has been away from home since the very beginning of all of this, no one should let themselves be deterred from studying abroad because of what happened. I know it must be hard to leave home now, but trust me, it is worth it alone in the perspective you get from being outside the U.S. I am in Ireland, possibly the most pro American country you will find, and I still get such a different sense here than would be possible at home.
Take faith that no program aimed at American students will be anything less then safe, because it is the livelihood of all who work on them. It has been hard as hell to be away from home, especially with family in New York, and with friends who have lost people they love. But I don’t for one minute regret it, and I don’t think you will either.
Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg ’03
Peace and Conflict Studies, Ireland
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