The Carletonian

Last Saturday night, Peter Gwinn ‘93, founder of Carleton improv group Cujokra and currently a writer for the hit Comedy Central series “The Colbert Report,” gave an informal lecture in the Concert Hall. Gwinn also gave a workshop for the current members of Cujokra.

Question: Under the current Carleton room draw system, some people are much better off than others. Is this fair?

Last Friday, thirteen Carleton bands competed for two coveted spots on the stage at Spring Concert in Carleton’s Battle of the Bands.The event, which took place at The Grand in downtown Northfield, pitted a heavy lineup of student bands against each other starting at 9:00 and continuing until 1:00, a schedule that granted each band 18 minutes on stage. After a frenzied four hours of music, dancing, and a little bit of moshing, the winners were revealed.

Student bands Duck Bus and Sorpresa will be joining Dr. Dog and the Cool Kids for Spring Concert sixth weekend.

“It was pretty amazing to win,” said Duck Bus guitarist Andy Rooks, ’10. “I didn’t see it coming. We were pretty convinced we were going to lose because we won last year.” The band broke a recent trend, however, by winning the contest for the second consecutive year.

This seventh week students will vote on a resolution to create a new CSA “Green Fund.” Applicable to products ranging from locally-grown produce to carbon offsets for car trips, the fund would pay the difference between sustainable and standard products. Although the referendum does not specify the size of the fund, it is expected to start at about $1,000 and grow in future years if it is successful.

“EthIC does not try to give the students an ethical framework to look at the world, but it tries to help students have the tools that they need to help address ethical issues,” says EthIC director Professor Mike Hemesath. Some programs planned by the new associates include an Ethical column in the Carletonian, where associates can answer ethical questions students ask, a film series and Ethics Bowl.

On Monday April 28, senior fellow at the Hoover institute and professor of political science and sociology at Stanford University, Larry Diamond gave a talk entitled “Can The Whole World Become Democratic?”

Diamond’s lecture focused on the third wave of global democratization in which 97 countries out of 196 made the transition to democracy. During this period, democracy became a global phenomenon, everywhere but in the Middle East.

For the third straight year, Carls walking through Sayles on Monday probably noticed that the Great Hall had been transformed into a large salon; students, faculty and staff alike were sitting in chairs getting their hair cut. Carleton’s ACT center organized Cuts for Cancer, the annual event designed to raise awareness about cancer and cancer treatments, raise financial devotions to give to organizations devoted to cancer research, and provide hair for children suffering from long-term or permanent hair loss.

From April 10 to April 29, Carleton College organized and hosted “Contemplating James Baldwin: Language, Courage, and Tenderness,” a symposium that focused on the life and works of James Baldwin, one of the preeminent African-American Writers of the twentieth century. Sponsored by the Bryn-Jones Distinguished Teaching Professorship and the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, the event was organized by Carleton history professor Harry Wills, the David and Marian Adams Bryn-Jones Distinguished Teaching Professor of History and the Humanities.

Costa Rica claims the longest consolidated democracy in Latin America, yet the country has come to face new political and social challenges in light of the recently passed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Last weekend, members of the Carleton community examined the unique situation of modern Costa Rica in a series of events for the forum “Costa Rica at the Crossroads.” The events were part of the College’s annual Foro Latinoamericano.

Senior Mary Ellen Stitt, a Spanish major, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to travel to Brazil for 10 months after graduation, where she will teach at a music school for low-income kids. Although the Fulbright program has yet to inform her of her exact location in Brazil, Stitt said, “I’m hoping to learn a lot of music, Portuguese, and become better at teaching.”

The Wheels of Justice project rolled through Northfield, Minnesota and stopped for the weekend of April 26. The project is an ongoing effort to educate and promote action against “war and occupation in Iraq and Palestine.” The Wheels of Justice project ultimately seeks “to break the cycle of violence we must change our roles in these conflicts; as individuals and as a nation, we must move from instigator to negotiator, from enabler to resister.”

Members of Carleton’s Diversity Initiative Group (DIG) and campus administrators were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief this week after Rankin and Associates Consulting reported the participation rate in the Campus Climate survey.

Amid a final promotional push from peer leaders, and campus departments, 55 percent of the student body took the online survey by Sunday’s close.