REBECCA GARNER
Staff Writer
Inequality and injustice have become too prevalent in certain aspects of society, and, in an effort to combat these negative qualities, the Pepperdine Volunteer Center and Intercultural Affairs Office have organized the 2008 Week of Peace, Hope and Justice.
The organizations have established a series of events, which began on Monday and will continue through tomorrow, designed to help educate students about important current issues at home and around the world.
Sara Ashmore, a PVC intern, and Andrea Rodriguez, the PVC’s Camp Kilpatrick Coordinator, set the theme of the week.
“In previous years, Pepperdine has focused on international issues,” Ashmore said, “so this year we decided to focus on the many issues of inequality going on domestically.”
Ashmore and Rodriguez put a special emphasis on immigration, partially because of its importance in the upcoming elections.
“It’s a hot topic,” Ashmore said. “People should know.”
Today, the focus of the week will be inequality of healthcare. To highlight this wrong, a screening of Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary “Sicko” will show in Elkins Auditorium at 10 p.m.
The film discusses the American healthcare system and compares it to those of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.
The week will end with an all-day showing of a documentary on inequality in education, which features five to ten first-generation college students at Pepperdine.
SGA President Andy Canales, a first-generation Pepperdine student from El Salvador, is featured in the film.
“I just shared my background and talked about growing up in inner-city L.A. and going to public schools,” Canales said of his part in the video.
The film will be played in the Sandbar all today.
The events kicked off Monday, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with a screening of the film “Amazing Grace.” The film details the life of British abolitionist William Wilberforce, and was followed by a panel made up of the film’s producer, Ken Wales, and School of Law professor Ed Larson.
Tuesday’s events focused on immigration in the United States, beginning with a luncheon in the Fireside Room, which included a discussion with immigrants from the Malibu Labour Exchange.
The guests were given the opportunity to talk to students and faculty about their personal stories. Five immigrants from countries such as Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador spoke about how they came to America, their struggles and how they send money back home so that they can send their children to school.
That evening, an expert panel discussed immigration in Elkins Auditorium.
On Wednesday, about 60 students from the Social Action and Justice (SAAJ) classes went on an “Urban Reality Tour.” The students were split up into five teams and sent on public transportation to organizations in Santa Monica and Downtown Los Angeles to learn more about what they do.
Ashley Nolan, Associate Director of the PVC, said she hopes that this week will encourage people to do more than just learn about the problems with which our world is faced. She wants it to encourage them to take action.
“Education and action need to collide,” Nolan said.
01-24-2008
