Assessing How We Define Diversity - Seattle University

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Campus O B S E R V E R public policy YouTube as a Social Change Agent? MPA student’s video focuses spotlight on human trafficking Can a website where viewers watch people crash bikes into walls or witness the latest celebrity slipup really help change the world? That was the question Patrick Bell pondered when he considered entering a YouTube contest sponsored by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). The contest, called “Change the World in One Minute,” asked master’s of public administration (MPA) students to produce a 60-second video on an important social issue. Bell, an MPA student at Seattle University’s Institute of Public Service, knew his topic immediately. Bell works with John Miller, a former Seattle congressman and now a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a nonpartisan public policy think-tank, where Bell is assistant to the president. Miller is a leading voice in the modern neoabolitionist movement against human trafficking. From Miller’s inspiration came Bell’s YouTube video, “Modern Day Slavery: Slaves Among Us.” It won third place last spring and has since been viewed by several thousand YouTube visitors. “I was startled by the sheer number of people estimated to be in the bonds of slavery,” says Bell. The antislavery group Free the Slaves puts that number at 27 million. “It’s startling that it’s happening here in modern, industrialized countries,” Bell says. “It’s not just a Third World problem.” According to the United Nations, victims originate from as many as 127 countries, though most come from Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine. After being captured or tricked into enslavement, they may be forced to work almost anywhere in the world, but the majority end up in India and in African countries, according to Free the Slaves. “This isn’t just something you see on Law & Order,” Bell says. The NASPAA contest offered Bell a chance to make an important global issue more real to potentially millions of YouTube viewers. To create his video, Bell compiled images and statistics from sources such as Harvard University and the U.S. State Department. He then added narration and a haunting soundtrack contributed by a co-worker at the Discovery Institute. “I hope my video will drive people to get on this agenda,” he says. Laurel McFarland, executive director of NASPAA in Washington, D.C., says videos by Bell and the other entrants help raise awareness In “Modern Day Slavery” (video stills shown) Patrick Bell presents powerful images of human trafficking. of the power of a master’s in public administration or public policy. It was a deliberate choice to have YouTube broadcast that message, she says. “We saw it as a way of allowing these students to use the modes of expression for their generation.” Limiting entrants to just 60 seconds for their weighty subjects was also a conscious decision. “It’s characteristic of the digital space,” McFarland says. Jon Hickey, a University of Washington MPA student whose Continued on top of next page 14 | Campus Observer
topic was immigration reform garnered first place with his video; Jenny Frasco, an MPA student at Grand Valley State in Rockford, Mich., who entered a video about the Iraq War received second-place honors. Winners received gift cards or cash prizes, and the opportunity to show their videos at the NASPAA’s annual conference in Seattle in October. Civic engagement has been an important part of Bell’s life since his undergraduate days studying political science at Pacific Lutheran University. He has volunteered for Washington state gubernatorial and Senate candidates and is working on global warming issues for his MPA class. Bell is also preparing his application for a Fulbright Scholarship with the U.S. State Department. Choosing SU for his graduate studies has been pivotal in maintaining his commitment to social justice and public policy, Bell says. “Seattle University attracts a certain caliber of students and people who want to be active. There are so many opportunities on campus to pique their interest.” Bell is passionate about raising awareness of human trafficking and sexual slavery, but on a personal level, his work has taken his education and career in a surprising professional direction. He’s become the resident digital video expert at the Discovery Institute, creating more YouTube videos for institute projects. He also volunteers as an adviser to YouTube aspirants, including fellow classmates and friends. —Julie Monahan MAKE YOUR OWN YOUTUBE VIDEO Here are the necessary steps to produce your own YouTube clip that could be the next Web sensation: · Digital video editing software, such as Windows Movie Maker · A webcam or digital camera · Digital audio files It’s also good to have an identifiable topic or subject matter that appeals to a broad audience. These simple yet powerful tools help meld communications technology with public policy. “If you can master both,” Patrick Bell says, “you can move mountains.” View Bell’s YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3rE2AJTIzyo%20. SU Wins GNAC Academic All-Sports Award Athletics resurrects tennis, baseball and other programs Seattle University’s studentathletes continue to be on top of their game. Our athletes combined to post one of the top two cumulative grade point averages in six sports to earn the 2006–07 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Academic All- Sports award. It’s the second Academic All-Sports award for SU, which earned its first in 2001–02. “This honor is an indication of the academic excellence our studentathletes share along with their athletic talent,” says Provost John Eshelman. GNAC commissioner Richard Hannan said, in an e-mail statement, “The entire athletics department should share in the accolades for the academic performance your athletes have brought to the department and the institution.” The Academic All-Sports standings are based on the cumulative grade point averages of all the athletes on the official team rosters. Of the 10 SU teams competing in the GNAC, nine posted cumulative grade point averages above 3.0, including women’s basketball (3.189). Members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference include SU, the University of Alaska–Anchorage, University of Alaska–Fairbanks, Central Washington University, Montana State University–Billings, Northwest Nazarene University, Saint Martin’s University, Seattle Pacific University, Western Oregon University and Western Washington University. In other news, the athletics department recently announced it would add baseball and men’s and women’s golf and tennis to the department over the next two years. The addition of these sports will increase the number of intercollegiate varsity offerings to 19. Coaches for golf and tennis will be hired in January 2008, with the intention of building the teams to begin play at the start of the fall 2008 season. The university will hire a baseball coach in July 2008, giving that coach a full year to bring together a squad to begin varsity competition in the 2009–10 academic year. All five sports were previously offered at Seattle University, with several nationally known studentathletes such as John and Ed O’Brien in baseball, Janet Hopps and Tom Gorman in tennis, and Orrin Vincent and Pat Lesser Harbottle in golf. SU Magazine Fall 2007 | 15
Page 1 and 2: FALL 2007 Connecting Seattle Univer
Page 3 and 4: Volume 31 • Issue Number 3 • Fa
Page 5 and 6: People PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI global
Page 7 and 8: my dissertation and start looking i
Page 9 and 10: PHOTO COURTESY OF LORENZO VIGIL WIT
Page 11 and 12: PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI CATCH MORRIS A
Page 13 and 14: fair trade In Good(s) Conscience SU
Page 15: Faculty R E S E A R C H Dating Pool
Page 19 and 20: Khaled Jaraysa, ’08, is providing
Page 21 and 22: Khaled Jaraysa with his Seattle hos
Page 23 and 24: Real diversity occurs when Jacob Di
Page 25 and 26: With diversity comes Monica Nixon,
Page 27 and 28: T r U E c R i M e Writer Pierce Cou
Page 29 and 30: ex-grunge rocker-turned-prosecutor.
Page 31 and 32: photo COURTESY OF MEG BEADE Volunte
Page 33 and 34: Alumni Events Monday-Wednesday, Dec
Page 35 and 36: Children’s Fund to help provide a
Page 37 and 38: Though she is a full-time staff mem
Page 39 and 40: class notes Richard Greiwe in 2006
Page 41 and 42: Belize trip Alumni are invited to e
Page 43 and 44: Emelissa Baluyot will serve as 05an
Page 45 and 46: Brigade (amphibious). He also serve
Page 47 and 48: the good word by pat o’leary, s.j

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