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News........................................2

Opinions..................................4

Features...................................5

Sports....................................6

Kalamazoo, Michigan

MUN Heads to Montreal

This past weekend was the annual McMUN (McGill Model United Nations) Con-ference in Montreal, Canada. Students in Model UN trained since first week of fall quarter on the language, the format, the procedures, and tactics to become great debaters.

Model UN is a mock United Nations where students take on the role of a historical figure or a delegate from another country and work to find solutions on real-life problems. Participants become versed in “Parliamentary Pro-cedure” and learn how to act as a member in the United Nations assembly.

This conference had many different committees from a Communist Committee set in 1937 to a Crisis Committee

STUORGS

sean bogueindex staff writer

MUN puts training to good use at McGill Model

United Nations in Montreal, Canada

MUN on page 3

The IndexONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STUDENT

JANUARY 28, 2015

VOLUME CXXXIV ISSUE XIIITODAY’S HIGH: 34 DEGREES

EST. 1877

Emily Walsh / Index

English Faculty Offers Reading

ACADEMICS

Students, faculty, and the Kalamazoo

public enjoyed readings from the

English Department, including

unpublished works

The annual English Depart-ment Faculty Reading took place in Kalamazoo College’s Olmsted Room in Mandelle Hall on January 15th, 2015. Students and faculty alike at-tended, and the event was also advertised off-campus, avail-able to any English enthusi-ast in Kalamazoo.

The department chair, Bruce Mills, introduced the reading.

“We strive to engage with our students as whole, mul-tidimensional beings and to encourage them to bring that wholeness to their work with us,” said Mills. “In turn, we bring the wholeness of our-selves to our scholarship, re-search, creative work, and

community involvements.”The work shared by faculty

members came in a variety of different forms; poetry, prose, excerpts from ongoing research. Marin Heinritz shared first: a short essay called “Keening.” Amy Smith gave well-meaning and heart-felt advice to Shakespeare’s women. Ryan Fong shared an excerpt from his research on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mills recounted his childhood in Iowa. Babli Sinha compli-mented her research on Merle Oberon and Rita Hayworth with images of the drastic changes in the actresses’ ap-pearances on projector slides. Andy Mozina shared comedic prose on Kalamazoo’s resi-dent “truthers,” or members of the 9/11 Truth movement.

The Faculty Reading began in the mid-90s. The idea behind it was to find a way to celebrate the work being done by faculty while also sharing it with students. In the past, the event primarily featured poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Now, all forms of work being done by faculty, including research,

READING on page 3

green dickinsonindex staff writer

Personal Profile: Sam Ettewin

A transfer student from Michigan State University, Sam Ettewin’17 is glad that he made the transition.

“At Michigan State, it would be hard to stay in touch with people. Here, it is very easy to make connections with people.” Sam speculates that he has met a wider variety of people going to a small school than he did at MSU because “at state people make con-nections and then stay in that friend group due to lack of transportation, ability to see people, etc.”

Sam’s favorite thing about Kalamazoo is the interac-tions he has with the people. “People are more engaged in things, they don’t want to just go to class and never talk about it again, they want to discuss and move the materi-al outside of the classroom.”

He’s also a member of various clubs such as Ka-lamadudes, K Desi, LSO, WoodWard and Photography Club. “It is easier to be apart of many clubs and groups here because everything is so close to each other. In ad-dition, it is easier to have an influence in them due to the smaller amount of members.”

“At Michigan State Univer-sity, I felt that what I learned in class I could have looked up online or in a book. At Kalamazoo, you are pushed harder beyond the basics. It helps that the class sizes are smaller as professors are able to give more feedback on as-signments. At Michigan State, professors would skim as-signments and cross them off. It helps the GPA but not the skill. It is also nice that there isn’t a grad school here because professors aren’t split between grad school classes and undergraduate classes. It is easier to make connections with professors.”

megan rigneyindex staff writer

QPOCC Hopes to Connect Campus Groups

Queer People of Color Co-alition (QPOCC) began with the hope to create a commu-nity and raise awareness on campus on the issues that face queer people of color in the middle of Fall Quarter 2014.

“Queer people of color often feel displaced on campus, in their communities and in other queer groups,” said Prachi Goyal ‘17.

According to Goyal, Cesar Gutierrez ‘14 wanted to start QPOCC for a long while but he knew that he would be leaving after fall quarter so he started it while he was still here.

The main goal of club is to further build a communi-ty. In the future there will be

STUDENT LIFE

forums with other people of color groups on campus to discuss queer issues. In the spring, the group hopes to have an HIV/AIDS Awareness Week, since it’s an issue that isn’t talked about on campus and it affects everyone, espe-cially queer people of color.

Besides other people of color groups, QPOCC hopes to partner with the Health Center and the Counseling Center in order to spread more awareness on the health and mental issues that the com-munity faces.

“The club is a baby now,” said Goyal. “There is no leader and it like a family. We don’t want to force social justice on people but we want to create a supportive environment.”

Membership varies from week to week but current-ly there 20-25 people on the Facebook page. QPOCC meets in the Arcus Center every Wednesday at 5 p.m. and which lasts for less than an hour.

viola brownnews editor

Gilmore Wins Acting ScholarshipGrace Gilmore is

the first Kalamazoo College student to win the Irene Ryan

Scholarship

Grace Gilmore ‘15, is the first Kalamazoo College student to win the Irene Ryan Scholarship. She is featured above in the fall production of Romeo and Juliet.

GILMORE on page 2

Grace Gilmore ‘15 recent-ly won the KCACTF region III Irene Ryan Scholarship that involves over 250 other

undergraduate and graduate students from school in Il-linois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. “No one at K has ever won, so I was amazed that it was me,” Gilmore said.

The Kalamazoo com-munity is proud to see one of our own excel in their field of passion. “You audi-tion with two scenes and a monologue,” Gilmore said.

“I was, of course, shocked [to win].”

Gilmore can be consid-ered a K theatre legacy, and she may have gained her talents through genetics and her environment. Both of her parents attended K and majored in theatre and she has been acting since elementary school. Sadly, she has no secrets of her own success to offer to as-

piring thespians, but en-courages everyone to give theatre a try.

“Acting is hard and takes a lot of time and discipline both on and off stage. If someone makes it look easy then they are a good actor,” Gilmore said.

She plans to put her seam-less acting skills to another

janelle grantindex staff writer

artsWhole Foods: A Display of IronyA shimmering glass of rosé stuck out like a gem among a display of tomatoes in the produce section... PAGE 3

featureIndex Staff Abroad Offer Insight on their ExperiencesI got aboard a plane at John F. Kennedy airport with my surprisingly under-fifty-pound suitcase... PAGE 5

sportsMark Ghafari is Living His DreamTo say that 2014 graduate Mark Ghafari led a storied basketball career at Kalama-zoo College would... PAGE 6

opinionOscar Nominations Show Stunning Lack of DiversityThe nominations are in, and everyone is talking about who will go home with the gold statuette after the... PAGE 4

Queer People of Color Coalition begins winter quarter as a “baby, ” has

big plans

Megan Rigney / Index

PAGE 2 News 28 JANUARY 2015

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

New Yorkers ski through Prospect Park on Monday, January 26th, in preparation for Winter Storm Juno.

on the web The News in Brief THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAYWinter Storm

JunoWhat: Expected to be a historic storm, Juno failed to live up to the hype. The storm closed the East Coast’s public transit and national travel.When: Tuesday, January 27Where: New England

Saudi Arabian King DiesWhat: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud died after a bout of pneumonia. Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz was appointed as the new king.When: Friday, January 23Where: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mormons Change StanceWhat: Mormon leaders announced support for LGBT anti-discrimination laws, but say they expect those laws to protect religious groups as well.When: Monday, January 12Where: Salt Lake City

Fidel Castro Supports ThawWhat: Former Cuban leader voiced half-hearted support for the newly developing agreements between Cuba and the US.When: Monday,January 26Where: Havana, Cuba

Koch Brothers Spend BigWhat: Billionaire brothers plan to spend $889 million on the 2016 Presidential elections. Koch money could overtake political parties as most influential source of funding.When: Monday, January 26Where: Washington, D.C.

Deflategate ContinuesWhat: The NFL has focused its search for the culprit on a Patriot’s locker room attendant. The Pats have declined involvement. When: Monday,January 26Where: Boston, Mass.

1 President Obama ended his trip to India early to pay his respects to de-

ceased Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. Obama spoke on the importance of human rights in India and Saudi Arabia.

2This week marks the 70-year anniversary of the liberation of Nazi

concentration camp Aus-chwitz. Ceremonies will be held to honor those lost.

3 Exonerations of US criminals hit an all time high in 2014. 125 cases

were overturned, suggesting a shift in attitude from prosecu-tors on wrongful convictions.

Women’s Basketball Falls to CalvinBy Nick Marsh

The team fell 73-60 to nationally ranked Calvin College. Despite a strong first half from the Hornets, the visiting team never gave up the lead.

Men’s Basketball Beats AdrianBy Spencer MacDonald

The team beat Adrian 46-40, following a second half slump. The defense of the Hornets was strong.

EDITORIAL BOARDEditor-in-Chief..................Colin Smith Publication Manager.........Graham Key News Editor.......................Viola BrownFeatures Editor..............Trisha Dunham Opinions Editor..................Emily Pizza Arts Editor...............Kamal KamalaldinSports Editor.........Spencer MacDonaldLayout Editor.............Claudia Greening

The Index encourages reader response in the form of letters to the editor. The Index reserves the right to edit for clarity, length, grammar and libel. Also reserved is the right to not print letters to the editor. Signed letters are preferred, but unsinged letters dealing with sensitive issues will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editorial board. Letters should be submitted via email by midnight on the Sunday before the issue in which they are to appear. Please contact the Index with any further issues, comments or inquiries. Please keep letters under 300 words.

We, the Index staff, produce this publication to accomplish the fol-lowing goals: The Index will serve as a means of communication between students, administrators and members of the community. We will respect all opinions and present them in an unbiased manner. The Index will inform and entertain readers and address trends and issues important to its audience. Although we are a staff comprised solely of unpaid student members, we will strive to make The Index accurate and truthful to adhere to all standards of professional jour-nalism. We recognize and respect the privileges given to us under the First Amendment, including the freedoms of speech and of the press. The Index is a form of editorial expression and we, the staff have the authority to make our own content decisions. We will provide a sounding board for the campus community; therefore the opinions expressed in by-lines, opinion articles and letters should not be considered to be the opinions of the newspaper staff as a whole.

ITHE INDEX

EDITORIAL POLICY

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

Photo Editor....................Robert Manor Staff Photographer.........Megan RigneyStaff Writer.........................Sean Bogue Staff Writer......................Mary Burnett Staff Writer.................Green Dickinson Staff Writer.......................Janelle Grant Staff Writer......................Elise Houcelc Staff Writer.......................Elyse Kaplan Staff Writer................Emaline Lapinski Staff Writer........................Shelby LongStaff Writer.........................Nick MarshStaff Writer..................Katherine Rapin Staff Writer.......................Mimi Strauss

GENERAL STAFF

test in a couple of weeks when applying to graduate school for acting. “I would love to act professionally and eventually teach at a grad-uate level,” said Gilmore.

Professor of Acting Lanny Potts said “this is a really big deal.”

Gilmore’s outstanding theatre success hasn’t been talked about all that much, and not everyone is okay with that. Raphael Wieland

’18 would love to hear about K student’s success stories.

“Hearing about the merits of my peers would give me a sense of pride,” Wieland said. “It may even give me some ideas of interests to pursue. I would think that

there would be a place for such prized honors to be displayed for the campus to see or a something on the Hornet Hive.”

The K community would like to support Gilmore, but they just didn’t know any-

thing about the scholarship. “If I received something that’s a ‘really big deal’ I’d want to share it with people on campus,” Wieland said.

Students may not find theatre a viable major or trade, but Gilmore gives

credit to the field. “Public speaking, think-

ing creatively, and collabo-ration are taken for granted today, but they are such es-sential tools to being success-ful,” Gilmore said. “Theatre teaches all of that and more.”

GILMORE FROM PAGE 1

Senior Out-Acts Others, Wins Scholarship FROM THE COVER

Associated Press

28 JANUARY 2015 News PAGE 3

English Department Hosts Annual Reading

Model UN Attends Montreal Conference

on the Lebanon Crisis of 1958 and everything in between.

Dallas Pallone ‘17 repre-sented an elected president in Senegal and enjoyed the ex-perience since it relates to his academic growth.

“I was able to learn more about Senegal and other African nations, which is not something that happens enough in main-stream education in the United States. Overall, McMUN was a great experience this year that pushed me to new levels of learning and cooperation,” said Pallone.

After the Friday and Satur-day night committee meetings, there were various activities to enjoy. Pub Crawl, the annual event of going from bar to bar collecting free beer, happened on Friday and was a blast for

MCMUN FROM PAGE 1

everyone who went. The next night was the McPartay, a larger dance and night out at one of the hottest clubs in Montreal.

“State sovereignty drives college students crazy,” said Erica Vanneste ’17 of her MUN experience.

Different colleges from the US and Canada attended this conference which lasted from Thursday until Sunday of this

past week. Anyone interest-ed in politics, debate, foreign affairs, is encouraged to join Model UN.

are encouraged.Some faculty, who had in-

tended to share their work, were unable to attend and therefore had their work read

for them by a colleague.Shanna Salinas had her

work read for her by Mozina. Diane Seuss, who helped to organize and publicize the

event, was ill and had her poetry read for her by Gail Griffin, a former K College English professor, now retired. Griffin brought the event to

a close with a reading of her own work.

These readings provide a brief glimpse into the work done by K’s English Depart-

ment faculty and alumni on their own time. An event like this that’s been going on for about 20 years now deserves a spot on our calendar.

READING FROM PAGE 1

These readings provide a brief glimpse into the work done by K’s English Department faculty and alumni on their own time.

A shimmering glass of rosé stuck out like a gem among a display of tomatoes in the produce section. A bearded, glasses-and-woodsy-but-ton-down-wearing charac-ter walked by, pushing his cart with one hand, carrying a tulip glass of porter in the other. Several aisles away, a man peered at the nutrition label on a package of rolled oats while sipping from a stout bottle of Lagunitas IPA.

Drinking while grocery shopping (‘drocery’ shopping is a tempting quip) is the norm at the Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park Chicago, where you can purchase alcohol from one of three bars conveniently dispersed throughout the store.

“I get one drink and meander through, and then by the time I check out I’m done,” the woman drinking rosé told me. After wandering the first level, I decided I might also need a drink to tackle the sheer amount of decision-making required when shopping at this monstrosity of a grocery store.

Within the 75,000 square-foot, three-story market there are hundreds of thousands of products to choose from. Boxes of tea occupy an entire aisle, in addition to the loose leaf in the bulk section. There are well over fifty varieties of chocolate bars, including Sulpice’s Cake Batter White Chocolate and Lily’s Stevia Sweetened, to choose from. The deli makes over thir-teen styles of sausage – from ‘chicken chorizo’ (an intrigu-ing oxymoron) to ‘Mediterra-nean lamb.’

Opposite the main en-trance, in the back of the store, a mini food court offers

Whole Foods: A Display of Irony

katherine rapinindex staff writer

Green Dickinson / Index

Courtesy of Erin Bensinger

Read Katherine’s whole story at...www.thekzooindex.com

OpiNiONs PAGE 4 28 JANUARY 2015

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The opinions expressed herein are solely the works of their authors and do not necessarily constitute the official position of The Index. Letters to the editor are welcome, but may be edited for length, grammar and libel. Please direct submissions to

our email: index@kzoo.edu. For our complete editorial and submissions policy, please visit www.thekzooindex.com

Angelina Jolie at the premier of her latest film: Unbroken. Jolie did not receive an Oscar nomination for the film.

Photo By Eva Rinaaldi

The nominations are in, and everyone is talking about who will go home with the gold statuette after the biggest night in Hollywood. But the buzz isn’t only about what the stars will be wearing and who’ll be disappointed—it’s also about the stunning lack of diversity in this year’s nominees.

Not a single actor of color was nominated in all four acting categories, and no female directors, screenwrit-ers, or cinematographers have been recognized.

This may come as no sur-prise to some. After all, ac-cording to the Associat-ed Press, members of the Academy are about 94% white and 77% male with a median age of 62. But after the pos-itive, (although not perfect by any means) recognition of actors and directors of color in the 2014 Oscars, it’s still shocking and upsetting that this diversity could not be continued.

Did the Academy simply

give up, shrugging their shoul-ders while saying, “Well, we gave them Lupita Nyong’o and Steve McQueen last year, so that’s good enough?”

The snubs are insane. Al-though “Selma” was nom-inated for Best Picture and Best Original Song, neither director Ava DuVernay or star David Oyelowo were nominat-ed for awards. Although Ro-samund Pike was nominated for her incredibly terrifying performance in “Gone Girl,” Gillian Flynn, author of the novel and who also wrote the screenplay, was overlooked.

Angelina Jolie’s epic “Un-broken” will not be winning her a little gold statuette. But by all means, let’s allow Bradley Cooper to be in the running by playing a Muslim killing, fake baby holding U.S. army sniper.

What does this tell the modern movie-going audi-ence? The Oscars are one of the biggest nights in Hol-lywood: millions of Amer-icans from all walks of life tune in every year. The face of America is changing, but

our stories are not. In a “post-everything”

society, we should be expect-ing our media to reflect the changes around us. But what we’re given instead is the same formula: scruffy but lovable white man goes on the hero’s journey and perhaps finds love along the way.

What we say with these nominations is that these are the stories worth telling.

There’s a common argument that because only white men are making films (or games or television shows or books), and they’re the ones who get the recognition. But that’s not what’s happening here. The lack of diversity isn’t because women and people of color aren’t making films, because that’s not true. The lack of di-versity is due to the barriers women and people of color face in Hollywood.

Steps need to be taken to correct this overwhelming whiteness, and celebrating a much more diverse group of films during the Hollywood’s biggest shindig would be a great start.

emaline lapinskyindex opinion writer

And the Oscar Goes to...

Gun enthusiasts look over handguns at a Houston-area gun show.

Everyone has their own opinion on whether guns should be more readily avail-able to ensure the safety of people in instances such as school shootings. Or, for others, if they should be put under heavey lock and key to keep the guns out of the hands of the people who might do harm with them. These argu-ments arose here at K after a group of students were held at gunpoint by a man on campus who stole their phones and was later caught.

If we apply the “we need more guns” thought process to this, it will not end well. It could have been a really terri-ble confrontation and no one wants that.

If we apply the “guns kill people, people don’t kill people” logic, it probably wouldn’t have changed a thing. Guns find their way into the hands of the bad guys no matter how difficult you make it to find. In either case, this scary event would not have been any better.

From a broader view, let’s take something larger, such as the Aurora, Coloardo shoot-

ing. This tragic incident ended many innocent lives and left the country in a split over what should be done when it comes to gun control.

Many people claimed that this could have been avoided if any only someone in that theater had had a gun. They could have pulled it out and taken the gunman down before he caused as much damage and death as he did.

The other half of America believed that if there were stricter gun regulations, the guns that the shooter got hold of may not have been avail-able or at least made it much more difficult to purchase.

Each solution has disadvan-tages. Having another person with a gun in that theater would not have solved any-thing. There is little chance that he or she would have been able to ready the weapon, fire without hitting any innocent people, and take the gunman down. Having a full-out fire-fight in the middle of a small-town theater does not sound like something anyone would want to have happen.

The other side has equally little ground on this matter. Having stricter gun regula-tions would have no guaran-

tee that it would have deterred him in any way.

If I had to choose a side, I would go with the “more guns” side of things.

Now before everyone jumps on the “you heartless creature, think of the kids” bandwag-on, let me explain.

It is almost impossible to correctly regulate guns to be 100 percent effective against crazed gunmen. The guns will always fall into the bad guys’ hands, regardless of how reg-ulated they are. There are markets and places where people can freely buy fire-arms. This means that reg-ulating them could possibly keep them away from people who can use them for good: such as ex-cops, former mil-itary, or gun enthusiasts.

If there is a gunman shoot-ing people down in the middle of a crowded street, I would much rather have less regulat-ed guns control laws so that the possibility that a ‘good guy’ having a gun and neu-tralizing them is significant-ly more likely.

People who want to do harm will still do harm. Putting reg-ulations on them may make it harder to get, but it won’t stop the shots from being fired.

sean bogueindex staff writer

Gun Regulations Won’t Stop the Shots From Being Fired

Recruiting Article Unfairly Portrayed Coaches, Team

Letter to the Editor

After reading the recent article about the football tours in the Index, we are upset and feel that it is necessary for us to express our opinions.

As two students who have volunteered as tour guides nu-merous times, we never once have felt uncomfortable or un-qualified. Not once have we ever felt that we were chosen to create an image of the school based on our race or appear-ance. We enjoy giving tours as a favor to our friends and as a favor to the school in hopes of enrolling future students.

We feel as if the article was blown out of proportion and the football program, as well as the coaches, was displayed in a negative manner, and it saddens us to know our friends on the football team feel at-tacked and are upset that their

image is being affected.We do not feel that the

article was fair in making assumptions of diversity and looks when the football program chooses tour guides. The group of guides is less than ten girls, which is not even a notable fraction of the students on campus.

As juniors, we have never felt unqualified providing these tours because of our experi-ence on the campus. We are given a sheet that guides us through what buildings to go to, and the coaches make sure to tell us important facts or information that we should mention on the tour. If one of the tour guides did not feel qualified or felt uncomfort-able, they could have easily declined.

In response to the quote

questioning why the football program chooses female tour guides, we feel it is necessary for everyone to understand that Coach Van Nickert always uses the same joke, “I brought these girls here because they’re better looking than we are.” He does this to lighten the mood and make the recruits and their families laugh. We are always thanked by each football coach for guiding the tours, and by no means is their intention to use “pretty” girls to lure in recruits.

We feel the school should support the football team and their recruiting process because, with the number of men on the team, it seems to be working.

Andriana Evangelista and Brigid Walkowski are K juniors.

Iwww.thekzooindex.com

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PAGE 528 JANUARY 2015 Features

I got aboard a plane at John F. Kennedy airport with my surprisingly under-fifty-pound suitcase stored in the luggage along with a large green pack that had seen me through LandSea on August 31st. To say I was scared would be an understatement. To say I was terrified would be an under-statement, too. All I knew was that my French was barely enough to get me through lan-guage classes at K, let alone studying, making friends, and living with a host family in Strasbourg, France.

Exactly five months later on January 31st, I will board a plane in Frankfurt, Germany with many dirty clothes accu-mulated from traveling for a month straight, many souve-nirs as well as many souve-nirs (“memories” in French), and much more confidence. I’ll have visited eleven new countries, made seventeen new friends, and learned a new language.

If I have learned one thing

Mallika Mitra while traveling in Europe.

(Mallika Mitra / Index)

from study abroad it’s this: it’s okay to be uncomfort-able. It’s actually good and helpful to be uncomfortable. This discomfort can come in many forms, but for me it’s included leaving a friend at a train station in France just weeks after we arrived, saying “la même chose” (“the same

thing”) after my friends ordered food so I wouldn’t have to order in French, and getting com-pletely and seemingly help-lessly lost just three minutes away from my apartment.

It’s come in the form of nearly walking in front of every passing car on the streets of London because I expected

them to be in the opposite lane, trying to use franks where I should have used euros, and pounds where I should have used korunas, and making con-versations with Australians in Switzerland who were on their way to New York.

I found discomfort in trying to navigate the farmland of

Belgium, and the busy streets of Madrid and Barcelona. Dis-comfort was on the subways in Paris, under the tents of Ok-toberfest in Munich, along the Berlin Wall, and across the bridges of Amsterdam.

Discomfort began to feel constant, and I stopped minding it.

I began to feel accomplished after navigating difficult situa-tions, and courage when facing them. So when I fly back to the United States and begin to feel more and more comfort-able with each longitude line I cross, I will miss the discom-fort and the lessons it taught me while abroad.

An Uncomfortable Experience in France

mallika mitracontributing writer

Paul Tshele ‘15, a degree seeking international student from Zimbabwe was looking for a college beyond one just for pure academics to attain his quest for education. He pictured a college where students from different cul-tures would come together to acquire knowledge and develop wholly culturally. He finally thought Kalama-zoo College was the right en-vironment for him to pursue his degree.

Tshele, a Political Science major at Kalamazoo College, knew the college through his professors at Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) where he studied his Associate of Arts Degree in Political Science. He decided to transfer to Kalamazoo College in pursuit of his major.

Kalamazoo College admits degree international students from different countries. Ac-cording to Eric Staab, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, higher number of applicants are from China, South Korea, Vietnam, Jamaica and Thai-

land. He also noted that the number of degree seeking in-ternational students has been increasing gradually from 2006.

Besides degree seeking, Kalamazoo College also re-ceives visiting internation-al students on a yearly basis. Kalamazoo College seeks for students who are in their 2nd or 3rd year of a 4-year program with a “B” or 3.0 average GPA on a 4.0 scale to participate in the Universi-ty Partner Exchange Program (UPEP). English language proficiency tests are always done to ensure that all visit-ing students can communi-cate in English. The visiting international students’ under-standing of the liberal arts is also important to enable them know what to expect once in Kalamazoo College.

All visiting international students are required to live in the dormitories and eat in the cafeteria on campus. According to Margaret Wie-denhoeft, transition to the American food is the most challenging part to most in-ternational students. This has been the greatest challenge for most of the visiting stu-dents. The International stu-dents must also meet the re-

quirement of being unmarried and younger than 25 years of age. Joe noted that this was a criteria used to select them.

Having worked for the Centre of International Pro-grams for 36 years, Joe Brock-ington, thinks it is the best idea for students to also come in from other countries, not Americans going out from the country. He thinks having it two-way is a way of facil-itating cultural interchange and cultural learning. “We want to make our universities, our courses, our faculties, our students more international-ized.” said Joe Brockington. “And to do that we need in-ternational students.”

According to Joe Brock-ington, the budget is the main limiting factor when running the international students program. It has limited the participation of visiting in-ternational students to twenty seven students. Kalamazoo College can only accommo-date few people on campus taking into consideration of its size. Most countries that are selected to participate depend on the ease of countries to form relationships/partner-ships, programs that Kalam-azoo College has to offer. Being a Liberal Arts College,

Kalamazoo College can only select students who have the ‘K spirit.’ This in turn limits the number of participants in this program.

Financial needs and the in-ability to travel and explore is a great challenge to most visit-ing students. Though students might be willing to travel, their financial status cannot allow. Visiting international students have limitations on the number of hours to work (20 hours per week) and this cannot sustain them fully to meet their desires of exploring taking into account that they are at K College for a year.

Margaret Wiedenhoeft, As-sociate Director of the CIP, said the degree seeking in-ternational students’ greatest challenge is getting VISAs again to get back into the U.S. after visiting their families. This has made most of them visit their families once in four years or even finish their four years and graduate without visiting them. The structure and intensity of the educa-tion system at K College is a factor that has made most vis-iting students to readjust them-selves and fit into it since they have limitations on number of credits to take with little flexibility. Visiting students

have an added responsibili-ty of being a teaching assis-tant (TA) for their respective native language which they get paid for the number of hours they teach.

“This program is tremen-dously helpful in the lan-guage department for TAs to be native speakers,” said Margaret Wiedenhoeft.

Visiting international stu-dents are also required to have an interest in taking courses in the liberal arts curriculum, which means they should be prepared to engage in course-work from a variety of aca-demic disciplines along with some courses in their major. Though Kalamazoo College has study abroad programs for its students, not all stu-dents are able to go abroad.

According to Margaret Wie-denhoeft, the goal of interna-tional students program is for Kalamazoo College to learn the cultural aspect of visiting students to complement what they are learning. “People that come from around the world have different world views, different ways of looking at things,” said Margaret Wie-denhoeft.

Joe Brockington noted that having visiting international students at Kalamazoo College

is like bringing a little part of the world into the campus. This enables students who have not gone abroad to ex-perience different cultures while in school.

"I really wanted to study abroad, possibly in the United States,” said Keabonye Mobe ’16, a 2014 participant in the visiting international program from Botswana. Keabonye, is part of a group of students studying with the program for one year. “As it is one of the most economically pow-erful countries in the world, the U.S. is something I knew I needed to know more about,” she added. But Keabonye feels frustrated that she has to be one year behind when she gets back home after the program. She feels the college is not flexible enough to let interna-tional students select classes that can be transferrable since she did not find her major here.

“We're serving the entire Kalamazoo College commu-nity—not just visiting stu-dents,” said Joe Brockington. “We're bringing more inter-national perspectives to this college and we're serving as a resource for students already here on campus. It's a great opportunity for American and international students alike.”

The Truth About International Students at Kelizabeth wanjalacontributing writer

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Traveling to a place with a foreign language

can be intimidating, but the experience is

powerful and nurturing

To say that 2014 graduate Mark Ghafari led a storied bas-ketball career at Kalamazoo College would be an under-statement. The 1,444 points scored in his four seasons with the Hornets along with the two-time All-MIAA se-lections, the 13 academ-ic achievement merits, and a preseason All-American award speak for themselves.

But none of these accolades, records, or spectacular perfor-mances can compare to Gha-fari’s recent entrance into the world of professional basket-ball, cementing him amongst the two percent of NCAA ath-letes fortunate enough to play their sport for a living. In the spring of 2014, Ghafari signed a three-year contract to play for Al Riyadi Basketball Club based in his parent’s home country of Lebanon after being spotted by an agent during his senior season at K.

“It’s every young athlete’s dream to play sports profes-sionally,” said Ghafari. “I had been to Lebanon almost every other summer when I was growing up and watched some of the professional teams play. I knew that I would have an opportunity to play there based on what I saw.”

While his grandparents and several other family members living in Lebanon aided Gha-fari’s transition into the new culture, he admitted that the move was not as easy as he would have hoped. Apart from the language barrier and cul-tural differences, Ghafari was suddenly ostracized from most of the people in his life along

SPORTSPAGE 6 JANUARY 28, 2015 THE INDEX

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Photo Courtesy Mark Ghafari

Mark Ghafari ‘14 completes a layup during a game for Kalamazoo College last winter.

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with his home in Michigan.“It was a really, really big

adjustment for me,” said Ghafari. “Most of my family is back home in America, most of my friends are back home in America, my girlfriend is back home in America so it was tough on a personal level to say goodbye to all of them, and it still is tough.”

An equally imposing, but exciting transition awaited Ghafari on the basketball court. He was suddenly tossed into an arena packed with fans and playing with and against players with greater skills and pedigree than his former NCAA Division III opponents. Ghafari’s team alone, Al Riyadi, is filled with NBA-caliber talent.

The team’s center, Loren Woods, played six seasons in the NBA while one of the team’s recent acquisition, Brian Cook, played with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neil on the Los Angeles Lakers as a part of his 12-year NBA career. Ghafari has also had the opportunity to be men-tored by fellow Al Riyadi Point Guard Ali Mahmoud, who is the starter for the Leb-anese National Team and is considered as one of the coun-try’s all-time greats.

“The higher level of com-petition helps me but it also hurts me,” said Ghafari. “You have to adjust to play against them but at the same time you get to play at a much higher level of players so they make

me a better player while I’m on the court.”

Despite these challeng-es, Ghafari has been able to make an immediate impact on the team and provided depth off the bench early in the season when Mahmoud suffered an injury. During this time, Ghafari saw nearly 20 minutes a game where he averaged around seven points, three rebounds, and three assists. Even though Mahmoud has now returned to the lineup and Ghafari sees fewer minutes, his work ethic and contributions remain un-changed.

“Playing with him is an unreal feeling,” said younger brother and current Kalam-azoo College senior Carl

Ghafari. “First of all, he’s obviously an amazing player and the connection we had on the court was like no other. He is a workhorse and if he wants something, he will go and get it. That’s just who he is.”

While Ghafari original-ly planned to play out his three-year contract in Lebanon and then enter the profes-sional world as a financial analyst, the lure of making a career out of basketball has been stronger than he had anticipated. Although it is a tempting opportunity, Ghafari remains focused on preparing his options for returning to the US after his stint with Al Riyadi is over, even though he admits that anything could happen.

“I’m just preparing myself for life after basketball,” said Ghafari with a smile. “As of now, I have my three-year con-tract so I’m going to see how that goes and where ever life takes me after that, we will just play it by ear.”

But the younger of the Ghafari brothers has a much different take on his older brother’s future plans.

“He wants to do this for five to ten years,” said Carl Ghafari. “This is his dream. He loves basketball and that’s why I’m so happy for him. It reminds me of when we were little kids and I would tell him he was going to make it to the NBA. Now to see him become a professional basket-ball player has been amazing.”

Ghafari Lives his Dream

After squandering a 13-point lead early in the second half, the Kalama-zoo College Men’s Basket-ball team (7-9, 2-3 MIAA) came roaring back in the last minute to defeat the Adrian Bulldogs at Anderson Ath-letic Center by a score of 46-40. The Hornets were carried late in the game by

the play of senior captain Adam Peters, who scored five of his eight points in the final minute and stuffed the stat sheet with an addi-tional five rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Jake Whitney also was a spark for the Hornets off the bench, scoring nine points on an efficient 4-6 shooting per-formance. It was Peters, however, who stole the show for Kalamazoo.

“Adam Peters is our guy,” said Head Coach Eric Dougal after the game. “That’s what your best player is supposed to do. In the guts of the game he wants the ball, he gets it, he finishes, and he ends

the game.”Despite only shooting 33

percent from the field and a feeble 22 percent from three-point land, the Hornets were able to keep the Bull-dogs at bay with a great de-fensive showing, holding Adrian to only 27 percent shooting.

“As I told the guys in the locker room, we’re not pretty,” said Dougal. “But we don’t need to be pretty to win basketball games. It’s all about who wants it more and tonight we had the heart to get it done”.

The Hornets return to action on Saturday at 1pm as they take on the Dutch-men of Hope at home.

Kalamazoo Rebounds to Defeat Adrian 46-40

spencer macdonaldsports editor

The Men’s Basketball team defeated Adrian 46-40 after struggling

early in the game’s second half