political science update - benedictine university political science update fall 2012 model un for...

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Political Science

UPDATE

FALL 2012

A Note from the Chair

2 Political Science Update Fall 2012

With 2012 being a presidential election year, the fall semester is a busy one for us. The Department, the Political Science Student Association (PSSA), and the Center for Civic Leadership (CCL) have all been engaged in fostering awareness and excitement around the elec-tion. The Department sponsored a campus-wide debate viewing for the first debate, and PSSA hosted another de-bate watching event and will host an evening on Election Day to watch the returns. PSSA has run voter registration drives, and the Department and CCL collaborated to run another cycle of election judge training in partnership with the DuPage County Election Commission. We signed up more than 100 students to serve as election judges in 2012. CCL sponsored this fall the second in its Presiden-tial Election Speakers series. Having featured David Ax-elrod in the Spring, the CCL brought former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to campus in September. Mr. Steele spoke to an audience in excess of 500, and participated along with our Dr. Tammy Sarver on a panel on the role of religion and religious issues in the campaign. The Center for Civic Leadership has also hosted other speakers and panels devoted to its new Anti-Hunger campaign. Focused on the rising problem of hunger in DuPage County, the CCL and the project hope to make long-lasting inroads through awareness and engagement, to reduce and ultimately end the problem of hunger in the County. Our Department continues to be active in other ways as well. We featured a lunch with the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, former Congresswoman Con-stance Morella. Rep. Morella spoke on the problem of declining civility in public discourse, both in official cir-cles in Washington and in society at large. She had an en-gaging Q&A session with our students. Our two Mock Trial teams are preparing for their competition. This year features an intriguing civil case. Under the guidance of Dr. Sarver and Brett Natarelli, the teams are prepared to participate in more scrimmages and competitions this year, and we hope to make this a regular feature of the program for years to come. Our Model UN program just learned that we will be representing Russia at the NMUN Conference in New

York in March. We hope to have a full delegation of 30 students in New York, from which we will take a small-er group to represent Russia at Northwestern Polytech-nical University, our partner institution in Xi’an, China, in May. With trips to New York and to China, and rep-resenting a permanent member of the Security Council, our students will have an exciting Spring!

I also urge our students, alumni and friends to be alert for some exciting events coming fast and furious. December 7th, we are hosting a bean bag tour-nament as a department. We hope to have a strong turnout at 8pm in upstairs Krasa. Alumni, please make sure you keep us up to date with your current contact information, and in particular your email address! We want to be

able to remain in touch with you so you may learn about our events. — Joel M. Ostrow, Chair

Political Science Update Fall 2012 3

@ Political Science Student Association (PSSA)

Benedictine University

Please feel to check in with either The Political Science Department or The Center for Civic Leadership at:

* www.ben.edu/plsc and www.ben.edu/ccl

*email us at [email protected] *call us at 630.829.6460

A Note from the Chair


Spring 2013 Courses


PLSC C101 (3) Global Affairs: An introduction to major issues in con-temporary world politics, including military security, ethnicity and nation-alism, the international economy, international institutions, the environ-ment and comparisons of a variety of countries and regions. PLSC C102 (3) American Government: An introduction to the American political system: its foundations, institutions, political processes and policy areas. PLSC 103 (3) Introduction to the American Political System: Introduces students to the American political system: its foundations, insti-tutions, political processes, and policy areas. Special focus on the role of citizens in America - how one can participate, when participation can make a difference and how one can even begin a career in government service. Course intended for Political Science majors and minors. Credit will not be granted for both PLSC 102 and PLSC 103. PLSC C105 (3) Law and Politics.: An analysis of law, justice, rights, court procedures and legislation. Includes development of various con-cepts of law and individual and group rights. PLSC 205 (3) Judicial Process: An introductory course, required for all majors and minors, designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the judicial process in the US.

PLSC C215 (3) Model United Nations: Benedictine’s award-winning program offers simulation techniques to develop an under-standing of the processes and operations of the United Nations. The course culminates with the students participating in the National Mod-el UN conference in New York. Students learn the art of diplomacy, negotiation and become informed on important global issues. PLSC 218/318 (3) Nationalism and Terrorism: This course applies theoretical and analytical tools from the fields of Inter-national Relations and Comparative Politics in an attempt to understand the two most serious threats of global security in the post-Cold War world - nationalism and terrorism. Most of the death due to political violence in recent years has been di-rectly or indirectly linked to nationalist movements of terrorist methods. It is critical that citizens in democratic states be in-formed on these matters, to understand what they are and are not, in order to be responsible citizens. Prerequisites; PLSC 101, 102, 105 or 210. PLSC 231/331 Constitutional Law II: A study of the Constitution as a living and changing document underlying our entire system of government; the role played by the judiciary in developing Constitu-tional law. Prerequisites: PLSC 102, 105, or 210. PLSC 397 (1-3) Internship: Federal, state and local government insti-tutions in the area serviced by the University offer opportunities to gain practical experience. Prerequisite: junior or senior standing and the con-sent of Dr. Joel Ostrow, faculty coordinator.

Thank you Alumni for all your support for the Political Science Department and the Center for Civic Leadership.

It is your donations that keep essential programs like our Diplomacy in Action Award which helps students participate in the Model UN program, who other wise couldn’t. Your contributions also help our growing Mock Trial program take more teams to more invitationals so that they can refine their judicial skills.

Donations to CCL help bring engaging speakers to educate, recruit, and train high school aged and undergraduate students to become interested and active in the political and governmental systems. They also fund our Public Service Fellows program ena-bling them to gain exposure to service opportunities and promote civic engagement.

If you are interested in joining the Department Alumni Network please email us at [email protected] If you have opportunities for internships for our students. Please contact us at [email protected]. If you would like to make a donation to the Department of Political Science, please visit ben.edu/donorimpactreport There is a jump link on this page that says “make a gift online” that will direct you to where you can give to the designation of your choice : Student Awards and Stipends (fund 15000) Mock Trial (fund 15001) Model UN (fund 15003)

Without your help, we couldn’t give our students the best educational experience possible — Thank You


Model UN For decades now, Benedictine University has had the

honor of participating in the National Model United Nations (NMUN). The conference is a simulation of the actual United Nations, where each school (delegation) represents a country or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and debates various topics according to their assigned delegation. This annual con-ference is held in Times Square, New York at the Sheraton Ho-tel! Benedictine generously covers almost all expenses for this trip, and for those who may need financial assistance there is a “Diplomacy in Action Award” available so that no one is ex-cluded for financial reasons. The university counts MUN as a core elective, three-credit hour class, PLSC-215.

This year, we have the distinct honor of representing

the Russian Federation under the student leadership of Kevin

Webster and Ginan

Akel. Another great op-

portunity of this class is

that you may also get the

opportunity to travel to

Xi'an and Beijing, China

over the summer and

represent Benedictine

there as part of the delegation. It is an incredibly unique and

exciting experience to take this class and attend the conference

and we hope that you can make it fit into your schedule.

- Ginan Akel

MOCK TRIAL

It’s that time of year where Benedictine’s “other team”

begins their season. This team exchanges pads and balls for

rules of evidence and suits. They don’t compete on an athletic

field, but instead shout objections and break down witnesses in

the court room. This team is the Benedictine Mock Trial team.

It is a very exciting year for the Mock Trial program. Expectations could not be higher for this surging program. Last year despite internal problems early in the year the team was able to win “The Spirit of AMTA” award as well as notch pro-gram changing victories over University of Wisconsin and Mich-igan State. The team is led by ex-lawyer and distinguished Bene-dictine University professor Dr. Tammy Sarver and current law-yer and Mock Trial ex-superstar Brett Natarelli. The team this year has six returning members; Jerry Barrera, Heriberto “Herbi” Diaz, Kevin Webster, Jay Pollack, and Co-captains Amr Kawji and Jimmy Moffitt. They are joined by a talented

group of rookies which include; Maya Kanaan, Aaron Youngblood, Michael Brown, Kyle Mains, Kinga Hodoro-wicz, Nick Mishwich, Brian Tsang, Curtis “Buddy” Noles and Paul Powel. With this combination of talent and experience anything short of a national tournament run would be a disap-pointment.

This year the team will argue a civil case. The case is Andy Allen v. Neptune underwater expeditions. Andy Allen and her daredevil of a spouse Lee Allen decide to celebrate their 5th Anniversary with a scuba diving trip. They first decided to make arrangements with Neptune’s CEO Hayden Hathaway to set up a video conference before the trip. There is a disa-greement on both sides as to what exactly was discussed in this call and what degree of preparation was required. When the Allen’s finally got to the trip they began to participate in multiple dives with the crew. Lee Allen was clearly struggling in these dives but kept insisting on continuing. All these dives led the “Hepburn ship wreck” dive. This dive is significantly the most challenging of all the dives and takes recreational divers to the depth of 190 feet. On the day of the dive Andy became ill and was unable to be Lee Allen’s dive partner. Andy wanted Lee to sit out but a disgruntled Lee demanded the Neptune crew accommodate him. When the divers enter the water a terrible storm is unleashed. While underwater, one diver becomes entangled in the ship wreck because of the harsh waves created by the storm. One of Neptune’s employ-ees attempted to free the diver, but a miscommunication hap-pened between Lee and the Leader. Lee dove into the wreck but did not resurface…

The team must argue both sides of key questions such as who is to blame? What degree of preparation is necessary? Should Neptune have known about the storm? Was alcohol involved? Was Hathaway’s action motivated by greed? Should Andy have done more to keep Lee from diving?

The Team will compete in its first tournament Octo-

ber 27th at Bradley University. Participation in tournaments

lead up to a regional tourna-

ment with hopes in earning a

spot at the National tourna-

ment. It is an exciting year for

this surging Benedictine team

and hopefully they can add

some more hardware and

recognition to this excellent

University. With all the talent

one things for sure nobody will

be mocking this team’s trial.

—Jimmy Moffitt


Benedictine Model UN ( BUMUN)

Mock Trial

Political Science Student Association (PSSA)

& Department Events

On October 3, 2012 the Political Science Student As-sociation held a viewing party for the first Presidential De-bate. The event was a great success thanks in no small part to the P.S.S.A. Executive Board.

About forty stu-dents turned out to watch the first presidential de-bate. Students enjoyed utilizing one of the uni-versity’s new tech-loaded class rooms in Kind-lon Hall where they were able to

watch the debate on 5 large screen HD tvs, while enjoying Buffalo Wild Wings. Of the students in attendance, two-thirds were non-majors. This was really exciting for the department and PSSA as we reach out to our student community to en-gage and educate. The most interesting part of the evening was that a good portion of the students remained afterwards to discuss for about 15 minutes their thoughts on the debate. Dr. Hardy did a great job drawing out the non-majors in the questions portion and keeping the majors from dominating the conversation. We also had some great raffle prizes that the students enjoyed too throughout the evening. We are looking forward to providing more events for the whole Benedictine Community to learn about and discuss political issues in a friendly environment. Our next opportuni-ty will be November 6th 2012 in Coal Ben at 7pm where PSSA will be hosting Elec-tion Night Watch Party. The event will be held in Coal Ben at 7pm. All are welcome to watch the polls come in on the big screen TVs in Coal Ben. We will have food, drinks, and some prizes for peo-ple that stop by. We should be there until about 11 or midnight. Even if you can’t make it,

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

EXCLUSIVE LUNCH FOR MAJORS AND MINORS WITH WOODROW

WILSON VISITING SCHOLAR CONSTANCE MORELLA

On October 22, 2012 the Political Science De-partment held its annual Major/Minor Lunch with this year’s Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar, Congresswom-an Constance Morella, (R-MD). The hour long luncheon was filled with discus-sion about Congresswoman Morella’s experiences on Capitol Hill from 1987 to 2003. The story of her career was very enlightening, as she witnessed the extreme po-larization of Washington take place first hand, over the past 20 years. However, her talk was largely focused on initiatives that she worked on with members of the op-posing party and how bipartisan compromise is achieva-ble even in today’s political climate.

Election Judge Program

With a presidential election approaching, this year the Political Science Department provided a great oppor-tunity to students to fulfill service requirements by work-ing as an election judge in DuPage County. Serving as an election judge offers students the opportunity to perform an important function in our democracy, and enables them to be involved in their community. Since 2010, we have had a partnership with the DuPage County Election Commission (DCEC) to train election judges to serve across the county. The program began under a grant through the United States Election Assistance Commis-sion. We committed to training and placing 100 judges in a two-year period. Thanks to the support of the Benedic-tine faculty, staff and administration, and of course of the students, we trained over 550 and placed over 640 elec-tion judges, with nearly 100 students serving multiple times. With a presidential election approaching and the World War II generation fading from the scene, election commissions face critical shortages that result in long lines and inefficiency at polling places. The DCEC con-tinues to have a tremendous need, and our partnership, as per the original terms of the grant, continues. This year we have trained and are in the process of placing 62 students within DuPage County as election judges. More students will also provide services as poll watchers on Election Day.



Political Science Student Association (PSSA)

& Department Events

6 Political Science Update Fall 2012 Political Science Update Fall 2012 7

“There is certainly fear in this country right now” During a 90 minute address that included criticisms of both parties, former Republican National Committee Chair-

man Michael Steele delivered a critique of both parties and the nature of presidential campaigning. “What we’re witnessing today, I think, is less a battle of political titans than more pre-cisely a redrawing of battle lines over two competing political philosophies over how to rule.” Mr. Steele, now a political analyst for MSNBC, also addressed the issues of racism and poverty, noting that people don’t wake up in the morning saying “I think I’d like to be poor today.” Throughout his talk he stressed the feeling of uncertainty in the electorate, and the challenges to our econo-my and system of governance. “Americans are concerned

about the direction of the country, our ability to care for our-selves and our future, our children and their children.”

Following about 30 minutes of prepared remarks, Mr. Steele fielded questions from an audience of about 250 people, touching on topics like voter identification laws, vote suppres-sion, the challenges of the two-party system, and his experi-ences working as a conservative commentator on a liberal ca-ble news network. Earlier in the afternoon, Mr. Steele, joined by Dr. Sarver, Loyola University’s Azam Nizamuddin, Pastor David Boumgarden of River Glen Presbyterian Church and Distin-guished Fellow, Mr. Jim Ryan; participated in a Religion and Politics panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Dr. Har-dy who engaged the panelists in discussion about where the role of religion lies in government. After the hour long panel, students and faculty were able to ask panelists their interpreta-tion of governmental issues in light of specific religious beliefs. Mr. Steele’s talk was as part of CCL’s Presidential Election Series 2012 - Andy Rainville

CCL joins forces with BenU Athletics CCL partnered with BenU Athletics to bring Former NBA player, Chris Herren, “Basketball Junkie” to discuss her-oin’s deadly grip late August. Herren shared his story and ad-dressed the dangers of drug use and addiction in a talk aimed at teenagers, young adults and parents. “The Herren visit served as an effective warning to young people about drug use and the risk of serious addiction," said Phil Hardy, Ph.D., "To

fulfill our responsibilities to be good citizens, it is imperative that we teach young adults about addiction and the devastating effects that drug and alcohol abuse can have on their lives." The Center for Civic Leadership hopes to partner in the future with BenU Athletics to bring speakers who can educate our community and empower our students.


Anti Hunger Initiative The anti-hunger initiative is well on its way here at

Benedictine University. The Center for Civic Leadership has begun the process to feed food inse-cure children and their families in Dupage County. CCL Director Jim Ryan, CCL Fellows Tyler Marcum, Thais Molina, Kinga Hodoro-wicz, and Andy Rainville, Priya Roberts and Pro-fessor Hardy are teaming up with the Northern Illi-nois Food Bank and the People’s Resource Center to feed as many food insecure children and their families as possible. CCL’s

goals are to raise awareness of the food insecurity in Dupage County, begin the biggest food drive Benedictine has ever seen for this fall semester, raise money to donate to The Northern Illinois Food Bank, and be able to provide volun-teers for the various food pantries in the area. This initiative is trying to combat the very real problem of food insecurity in the DuPage County. There is a great need for food and money donations, and for more volunteers at the food pan-tries. The Child Anti-Hunger Campaign initiative started with a keynote speaker and a panel discussion here at the university to educate faculty and students about the cause, scope and severity of the problem. Msgr. Michael M. Boland of Catholic Charities was the keynote speaker and Kim Pe-rez of the People’s Resource Center, Candance King of The Dupage Federation on Human Services Reform, and Hester Bury of the Northern Illinois Food Bank were our guest panelists. Msgr. Boland presented the national crisis and the guest panelists brought it closer to home focusing on food

insecurity in Dupage County. CCL’s Director and Fellows having been teaming up with faculty and students to launch the a drive on campus. Until right before Thanksgiving CCL will be ac-cepting canned food items all over campus to distribute to various food pantries; however, the fun is not over. To spice things up CCL has created a contest for student or-ganizations to see which group can bring the most canned food item by the end of the drive. CCL has broken down the groups into categories and given each category a cer-tain pair of food items to bring. The group winner in that category will win a prize, provided by the Political Science Department! Among other students, CCL is encouraging students to donate as much as possible and the center is working on incentives given by professors to their stu-dents. Canned food items are not the only thing an indi-vidual can bring to the cause; Northern Illinois Food Bank and the People’s Resource Center also accept cash dona-tions. According to them, “one dollar can equal to six meals.” It just goes to show you that one dollar can go a long way. Aaron Youngblood and the Black Student Union have already contrib-uted a substantial amount of money to the cause. With their great success with the “Pie in the Face” contest, the BSU has already raised about $600.00 for the cause. Shout outs to our very own Poli Sci professors, Drs. Sarver J.D. and Har-dy, for participating in the contest. In the Spring semester CCL will focus more on financial dona-tions rather than canned food items; however both are welcome to be donated at any time and can help those individuals in need. We encourage our alums to get involved with this project and we welcome your suggestions about and con-tributions to this initiative! — Kinga Hodorowicz


Department of Political Science FALL 2012 Benedictine University 5700 College Road Lisle, IL 60532

Address Service Requested NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

PAID LISLE, ILLINOIS PERMIT NO. 18

BAGS TOURNAMENT FRIDAY DECEMBER 7th BAGS TOURNAMENT FRIDAY DECEMBER 7th BAGS TOURNAMENT FRIDAY DECEMBER 7th

Registration A 2-Person Team

$20 per team with

valid Student IDs

$40 for all other teams

BONUS! * Cash Prizes for

1st 2nd & 3rd

Place Winners

* Raffle prizes including

a plasma tv!

* Cash Bar

ALUMNI AND STUDENTS COME OUT TO CELEBRATE ALUMNI AND STUDENTS COME OUT TO CELEBRATE

WHILE SUPPORTING POLITICAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS!WHILE SUPPORTING POLITICAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS!

To register: please either call the Political Science Department at: 630.829.6460 or email

political science update - benedictine university political science update fall 2012 model un for...

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