On November 10, I attended the final Democracy Café of the semester with my club, Model United Nations.  The final café focused on the election results and people’s reactions to it.  After discussing the actual numbers and figures, there was an open dialogue where people to voice their opinions and concerns.  Political science Professor Claire Abernathy led the discussion.

When we went over the results, we discussed not only the overall results but the states and demographics.  We also compared them to the 2012 election, primarily comparing Clinton’s voter turnout with the turnout for Barack Obama that year during his reelection campaign versus Mitt Romney.  This year there was a significantly lower voter turnout among most demographics, which I didn’t find too surprising considering most people were unhappy with their choice in candidates; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the two most unfavorable presidential candidates in US history.  Clinton won big in most categories, especially with women and millennials, but Trump’s victories with males, whites, and the uneducated was able to overpower Clinton’s other victories “bigly.”

After we discussed the results, we discussed mainly policy before getting into personal concerns.  Most people agreed that Donald Trump’s actual policy probably would not pass Congress as he does not have much support from the Republican establishment (or the Democrats, obviously) who now run the Senate and the House of Representatives.  The Republicans will, more than likely, be able to pass their agenda though, and Donald Trump will most likely sign anything the Republicans send his way.  This might include repealing Obamacare, overturning Roe v. Wade, increasing Military and Defense spending, and destroying women’s health care and taking away their reproductive rights.

I spoke up a few times during the final portion of the café when we discussed our concerns.  My concerns were very similar to most of the students; minorities are going to be terrorized.  Not even specifically by Donald Trump or the Republicans, but by the radical supporters who got Trump into the White House, like the KKK.    Someone brought up the point that we should try to look beyond personal opinions and whatnot and focus on policy, but I, like several others, do not think that’s possible.  We agreed that considering the majority of Trump’s campaign was based on very personal attacks, it would be nearly impossible to just focus on policy, and even if you could look to Trump’s policy, you can’t look past the personal attacks his supporters who now feel validated are making.

Overall, I would say the café was certainly a success and it was very nice to have a controlled yet open dialogue about everything.  I was totally devastated when I found out Clinton conceded to Trump and the results had been difficult for me to talk about, but the café helped me to talk about it, and seeing that I was surrounded by who people agreed with me and disagreed with Trump made me feel a lot better about the future for this country.

Amanda Schuler
Gen 1033: Life of the Mind
Professor Lenard
2 December 2016

Freshman Blogging Project
Run Rudolph Run
The Run Rudolph Run was an event was a great experience to exercise, raise money for families in need, and enjoy the Christmas spirit. This 5k run along one of Stockton University’s nature trails around Lake Fred was part of the Honor’s Programs charity fundraisers which raised money to give a family in need money for the holidays. The social was held on Saturday, November 19th, 2016 and hosted by Stockton’s Honors program. The fundraiser was led by Kate Volpe, the current Director of Service Project. Ms. Volpe coordinated the event which involved making posters, sending out flyers to local schools, and purchasing Christmas decorations to sell at the fundraiser. The overall experience was very upbeat and festive.
The event began in the Townsend Residential Life Center where all of the student volunteers set up tables for the runners, and made trail signs. Music was playing the volunteers split up into groups. As the event began and runners arrived, everyone settled down. Ms. Volpe assigned the groups to different stations; either inside or outside. She asked everyone to participate to make the event a success. While some people took pictures, and collected money from the runners, I was in a small group that help signs up along the trail as the runners passed by. After the race, all the volunteers gathered to share feedback in order to make the next run an even bigger success.
In my person opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. I was very inclined to volunteer because I thought that the festive idea was very creative and was for a good cause. Overall, the Run Rudolph Run hosted by Stockton’s Honors Program and led by Kate Volpe was a great way to raise money for a good cause while having fun.

At 4:30 p.m. on September 19, 2016, the students at Stockton University were presented with the opportunity to listen in on a special, one-time, informational session hosted by the Holocaust and Genocide Studies department. The pronounced speaker, Doctor Stanton, introduced herself and provided background regarding herself as well as her family history which astoundingly leads to the 19^th century suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a revolutionary figure. With further information, it is noted that the professor’s academic career had circled around prestigious schools beginning at Harvard University, continuing at Yale University, and ending at University of Chicago before setting up her own program at Stockton University. Thus, her credibility accounts from her multiple years of schooling and focused studies. Her major projects, as of now, include the Cambodia Project, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, George Mason project, the publication of numerous genocide- researched articles among many more. However, her purpose today was to educate the audience on her take of the ten stages of genocide watch. This lecture was a revision of her original publication, 7 Stages of Genocide which she explained was a concise two-page paper that was able to include all her points without drastically carrying out unnecessary details. An important note that is mentioned is the lack of information of studies and her new website that attempts to solve this trivial matter, www.genocidewatch.com.

The mission statement of her group reads, “ predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide a and other forms of mass murder, seek to have awareness and influence public policy concerning potential and actual genocide, purpose is to build an international movement to prevent and stop genocide.” Her dialogue on the prevention of genocide followed the three basic steps: 1.) Early warning, 2.) Rapid response, and 3.) Courts of accountability. The last step carried three subdivisions: A.) Lack of our international institutions to predict any potential attacks, B.) Lack of responses when a drastic event takes place, and C.) Lack of political will. The latter subdivision is exemplified by the bombed Syrian runways which invoked little to response on behalf of the country’s allies, at least to an extent to prevent an issue from such an event repeating history. Based on the third step entirely, another example of courts of accountability includes the members of the United Nations Security Council’s votes to withdraw UNAMIR troops from Rwanda. These are simply steps for prevention and examples on which these steps were not abide by for the act of genocide and other forms of mass murder.

However, the focus of the session revolves around the ten stages which are detailed below with an interpretation of each one of these case. With each stage that increases in severity and importance, there is also listed the possibility of prevention. This demonstrates that not only has Doctor Stanton identified the causes, but also used her research to seek potential solutions.

1. Classification– This begins as a division between groups in which there becomes an “us vs them” playground.
   1. Prevention– The search for common ground will deter the first step as well as the promotion of transcendent identities such as nationality and humanity.
2. Symbolization– An example of this is a blue and white checkered scarf which may be viewed as a killing sign
   1. Prevention- The best solution is to eliminate race, religion, and ethnicity on ID cards, refuse to use hate symbols, and outlaw the public display of hate symbols
3. Discrimination– This occurs when a dominant group uses laws such as the Jim Crow Segregation Laws
   1. Prevention– The best solution is to stop the political system from creating such rules.
4. Dehumanization– This occurs when one group denies humanity to another group and there is the use of hate propaganda in printed and mass media as exemplified by the classification of “Tutsis” in Rwanda as cockroaches.
   1. Prevention– Condemn hate speech
5. Organization– This is usually by the state using trained and armed militaries against state responsibility. ID cards cannot be declared unofficial without judicial review in certain areas as was the case in Rwanda in 1989
   1. Prevention– The best option is to outlaw membership in hate groups, deny leaders their visas for foreign travel, impose arms embargos, create commissions, and prosecute arms.
6. Polarization– In this case, extremists will call moderates in their own group “traitors” and arrest, imprison, and kill them. There are laws forbidding mixing with the targeted group.
   1. Prevention– The best solution is to mix the groups in order to avoid isolation of any set of people.
7. Preparation– The leaders plan their final solution such as the video with Jews before their persecution.
   1. Prevention- The use of journalism, NGO’s, government intelligence networks, and publicly exposing plans should be a good start.
8. Persecution– People are headed off to deaths, especially in camps.
   1. Prevention- There should be diplomacy using regional allies, targeted sanctions on leaders, financial sanctions, a political asylum, relief and arms assistance, and regional military association.
9. Extermination- There are organized genocidal measures, massacres, and mass rape/ torture.
   1. Prevention- The best method is rapid armed international intervention and the use of the United Nations Security Council.
10. Denial- This occurs when the perpetrators deny that the genocide took place such as the mistreatment to the Native Americans.
    1. Prevention- There must be trials of these perpetrators.

These ten stages were able to show how thoroughly researched the project was and how as the severity of the step increased, the intensity of the prevention did as well. Dr. Stanton quickly concluded the lecture after these ten stages were detailed and discussed. From this, I was able to reflect on the importance of awareness for any issue in general, not necessarily on an international scale. In my opinion, due to the information I learned and the interest which the session sparked, I would probably attend this again as well as recommend it to others. All in all, the 10 stages of genocide watch series was a great session and very educational, for any type of study or major.

On November 18 and 19, the Honors Program hosted two events that focused on integrating members of the Honors community. The Honors Olympics and the Run Run Rudolph Run 5K events demonstrated the outcomes of hard work put together by Honors members, and how people that come together enjoy fun activities.

The Honors Olympics, which took place on November 18 in I-Wing gym, consisted of free pizza, different sports, and overall teamwork building activities. We first played “knock-out”, a basketball game that determined who would be the team captains. They ended up being two freshmen who showed enthusiasm, and also motivated their teams before each sport took place. The activities we played included dodge ball, volleyball (with a blow-up beach ball), a hula-hoop game, and a relay race. Although my team lost, it was an evening filled with fun, laughter, and friendly competition.

On November 19, the Honors Program hosted Run Run Rudolph Run, a 5 kilometer race that took place throughout Stockton’s trails around Lake Fred. Volunteers and runners woke up bright and early, and arrived at the TRLC near the freshmen housing. All the proceeds made during this fundraiser were to offer a local family a more joyful holiday. Volunteers spread out throughout the course, offering runners support as we raced.

Unfortunately, halfway through the course, another runner and I made a wrong turn and got off the planned route. By the time we returned near the TRLC where the finish line was, we were still one mile short of reaching the approximately three miles required for a 5 kilometer run. Nevertheless, we persisted on running around the freshmen quad until we completed all 5 kilometers. It delayed our time a bit, and we partly ran a different route than intended, but we still finished—sweaty, but accomplished.

Following the race, the first place runner won a basket filled with various snacks, while the rest of the runners hydrated inside the TRLC. The volunteers joined us, and we enjoyed the sounds of Christmas music playing in the background.

We then returned several hours later to reflect on the positives and negatives of the run. The director of events considered our suggestions for next year, such as advertising the event better so that there would be a better turnout. Despite less than twenty runners participating in the race, the event came together organized and full of spirit. This comes to show that the honors community truly puts their best efforts forward in integrating members of Stockton. Because the Honors Program is centered around service learning and helping the local community, we go above and beyond what is expected so that we get the most out of our college experiences. Learning also takes place out of the classroom, so events like the Honors Olympics and Rudolph Run reveal our underlying desires for high achievements.

As the semester comes to a close, all the events I have attended, even those not required for the Honors Program, have made positive impacts on me that I will always cherish.

-Jillian Umali

          Every Tuesday from 3 to 5 PM, Stockton’s Circle K club takes members to the South Jersey Horse Rescue. This facility, located about 20 minutes from campus, is dedicated to the rehabilitation of all horse breeds. The horses come from all different backgrounds: some are abandoned pets; others are ex-racehorses. A primary goal of the rescue is to provide care for all horses, regardless of how damaged—emotionally or physical—they are when they arrive at the facility.

              The first time I went with Circle K to the horse rescue, I met Ellen. Ellen is one of the people who maintains the facility. Not only does Ellen care for the horses, she also handles administrative tasks and trains the horses. Recently, Ellen has been struggling with multiple health problems. Due to a recent operation, she cannot currently perform heavy labor. This means she can no longer muck out the stalls, fill feed bags, or rake the grounds. Most people would revel in the opportunity to rest and recuperate, but Ellen is eager to return to working. Though she may not love the smell of horse dung (who would?), she loves the positive effect her labor has on the rescue horses.

              While at the rescue, we Circle K members take care of the jobs Ellen cannot currently do. The last 15 minutes of our visit is dedicated to grooming the horses. During my last visit, I brushed two blind and deaf miniature horses. One might think to be blind and deaf would be detrimental to the morale of the horses. Yet the content nickers of the miniature horses showed me they are quite happy to be living at the rescue.

              In my visits to South Jersey Horse Rescue, we Circle K members have not only helped the horses, we have also helped Ellen. Our labor provides obvious benefit to the horses. Yet less obvious is the effect we have on Ellen. By caring for her beloved horses, we relieve her worry that the horses will be neglected. Moreover, we show her that other people share her love and respect of the rescue horses. I recommend anyone who loves animals and doesn’t mind getting a little dirty pick up a shovel and volunteer at the South Jersey Horse Rescue.

On Saturday, November 19th at 9am I attended the Reindeer Run. It was hosted by the honors program here at Stockton and we hope to make it an annual event. The Reindeer Run was a 5k run around campus to raise money for a local family’s christmas. It started at the TRLC where refreshments were available to the runners and antlers could be purchased. The event was able to raise over two hundred dollars for the family, making it a success for its first year, and the reindeer theme was a perfect way to get people into the cheery holiday season.

There were numerous volunteers at hand at the event, including myself, that were that for encouragement for the runners along the path. There were signs everywhere making sure the runners knew what way they had to go and the volunteers along the path had artsy themed signs to hold up when the runners passed by. I enjoyed cheering the runners on and helping them push themselves. I personally am not a runner at all, so being able to volunteer at the event instead helped me find a way to get involved.

Although the run was fun to be involved with and raised over two hundred dollars, there were not a whole lot of actual runners. Since it was the first year this event had been held at Stockton it was understandable, but in the future I hope there are many more participants. It was a fun event to be apart of, there was lots of energy for a saturday morning on a college campus, and I think as it becomes more well known over the years as an annual event on campus it will become more popular. Raising funds for the less fortunate while being able to push yourself to your limit physically is all done in such high spirits that it is hard for me to imagine any of the runners this year not returning next year.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Election Day. 7 PM. Seated in the Board of Trustee’s Room of Stockton University’s campus center, I am prepared for a long night ahead. I am one of many students here for the election results party. A livestream of CNN’s election coverage plays on a large projection screen. The size of the screen only emphasizes the magnitude of this election. For many of my peers, today marks our first time voting in a presidential election. The results that will roll in tonight have our influence attached to them. For the first time, we are not silent observers but rather active participants in deciding the next president of the United States.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Stockton has provided its students multiple opportunities to stay up-to-date with the election’s status. Every debate has been broadcasted in the Board of Trustee’s Room, the same room in which the results are being shown tonight. As someone who has attended every debate-watching party, I can conclude that tonight’s attendance trumps that of every other night. Early in the night, the room has the feel of a celebration. There is pizza, there is cake. All of the tables are filled and still more students file in. Regardless of who wins, tonight is the celebration of American democracy.

Analysts have predicted that this election will be called quickly. Earlier today, I had been casually scrolling through news headlines on my computer. One political analyst declared the election could be called as early as 9:05 PM. As the night goes on, the results begin to tell a different story. This election is going to be harder to call than many believed.

As midnight approaches, we remaining spectators are kicked out of the campus center and directed to F111. As a student of the Honors program, I find it all too appropriate to watch the election results in the same classroom in which we hosted a political debate only days earlier.

As 1 AM nears, CNN’s only breaking news is that the states that were too close to call an hour ago are still too close to call. However, shock is in the air. In Pennsylvania, Trump has just surpassed Clinton by a very narrow margin of votes.

At 1 AM, we are asked to leave. As we tiredly shuffle out of the room, we wish each other a good night, a safe trip home. Regardless of which candidate we support, we are all hanging on the results of this election. Now, we must return to our homes and our dorm rooms as the results continue to stream in. Though we all head in different directions, I’m sure we all contemplate the potential outcomes of this election and what they will mean for our America.

The Warrior Champions film was a one-time event held in the Performing Arts Center on September 3rd, 2016. The winner of multiple film festivals, the Warrior Champions was a extremely motivational documentary. Shadowing the lives of a group of wounded American soldiers with disabilities due to combat, the film sends a powerful message of triumphing in the face of possible defeat. There was national pride in everything these veterans did and said on screen. They felt nothing but pride to have represented their country on the battlefield, even at the cost of a limb.

Specifically four members of the group of wounded soldiers were determined to keep on fighting for their country. Due to their injuries, they could not fight on the battlefield anymore, so they took their fight to the olympics. The film follows the hard work these soldiers have to put in in order to achieve their dream of going to compete for the United States in the paralympics. The fight these soldiers put up to be able to do the most simple things like get dressed in the morning is remarkable. It was very eye opening for the audience to see things they take for granted every day to be such a difficult feat for the veterans.

Former soldier Melissa Stockwell lost one of her legs in combat, and as a result decided to take up the sport of swimming. Melissa put so much heart and soul into swimming that she decided she wanted to train to swim at the paralympics in Beijing in 2008.  Having only one leg to kick with was a huge disadvantage for her to overcome. However, Melissa did not settle with mediocre times, and sought to be the best she could be.  Being a swimmer myself, her particular story was fascinating to me.

    Warrior Champions was a moving film that, when viewed, had the ability to touch everyone in the room in some way. A documentary about never giving up, it had the power to possibly change the lives of the viewers. It was impossible to walk away from that Stockton event without having been touched in some way.

On September 19, 2016, Dr. Gregory H. Stanton gave a lecture entitled “The Ten Stages of Genocide”. While I was not familiar with Dr. Stanton’s work previous to the lecture, I quickly learned that he holds a significant presence in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. This area of study is relatively new, having only emerged in the 1990’s. Dr. Stanton is at the forefront of this field. He is the current president of Genocide Watch, an organization that seeks to create an international movement to prevent and stop genocide.

The ten stages of genocide, as observed by Dr. Stanton, are as follows:

1)    Classification: identification of a specific population

2)    Symbolization: identification of races and/or religions with a symbol

3)    Discrimination: laws that separate one population from the general public

4)    Dehumanization: the use of hate propaganda to deny the humanity of a population

5)    Organization: the gathering and training of militias or other forces

6)    Polarization: the labeling of moderates as extremists and efforts to arrest, imprison, or kill them

7)    Preparation: formal plans

8)    Persecution: isolation of the victims by means of force

9)    Extermination: governmental cooperation with the planners of the genocide, allowing them to carry out genocidal massacres

10) Denial: minimization of the destruction by the perpetrators

Dr. Stanton indicated that a significant population mistakenly believes genocide no longer affects the world. While many assume genocide ended with the Holocaust, other episodes of genocide have since occurred. Lack of public awareness, however, is not the only reason it continues. A lack of authoritative international forces and political will to step in and stop genocide also perpetuate its existence.

 Currently, Dr. Stanton is working on a high school textbook to guide the development of genocide curricula. A major theme of Dr. Stanton’s presentation was that one of the greatest allies in the fight against genocide is education. Concurrent to Dr. Stanton’s presentation, our own Stockton University offers a spectrum of Holocaust and genocide resources. In doing so Stockton helps us to become global citizens. As global citizens, we have a responsibility to not only stop genocide, but to also remain vigilant as the threat of genocide is never truly extinguished.

On October 5, 2016 at 8:00pm I attended the Suicide Prevention Week dialogue. This event was sponsored by the active minds mental health club here on campus. The dialogue was a one time event this year at Stockton that featured a special speaker, Pablo Campos, that gave his own personal story of how he tried to commit suicide.

He started his story with background information on his family. His parents came to America from Guatemala in order to give their children better lives. As the youngest child, Pablo’s mother always joked that he was raised by his older sister and they two peas in a pod. However, Pablo said he remembers his childhood very differently. He explained that he remembers always being alone, playing with toys quietly in the corner. Pablo’s older siblings were bright, intelligent people with promising futures and talents. Teachers would always come up to him and compliment his brothers’ accomplishments, saying Pablo was soon bound to be an engineer at Penn State too. However, all comments like these did was burden Pablo with the weight of everyone’s expectations. The aloneness he felt from as young as he can remember, stuck with Pablo throughout his entire childhood, adolescent, and teenage years. He estimated that his depression formally started around seventh grade. Not long after, to combat this feeling, he turned to drugs and alcohol. The only good, positive thing in his life had been soccer, but by freshman year, he quit.

On a complete downward spiral, Pablo finally decided one day he could not take it anymore, and took some pills and went for a drive. He did not want to be alone anymore, he did not want to be a substance abuser anymore, he just wanted it all the stop. Pablo ended up getting spotted by a police officer for his reckless driving and speeding, but continued to drive for a while with the lights on behind him anyway. Finally, exhausted, Pablo decided to pull over, crashing his car into the guardrail. When the cop pulled his gun, Pablo yelled at the officer, “Shoot me please, just end it, please shoot me.” Thus this began years of going in and out of therapy, rehab centers, and advising.

Sitting in that audience and hearing this story from such an attractive, well-dressed, professional looking young man was shocking to me. The man in the story he told did not match up with the person I was looking at, and that’s when it hit me. I really cannot see mental illnesses. Any person, no matter their outwards appearance, can have inner demons no one knows about. Pablo said he never confided in anyone the depression he went through for years, everyday putting on an act of being like any other kid. Pablo’s complete turnaround of his life was so inspiring and gave me such hope that anyone I knew who was struggling would have a better life one day. I absolutely loved this dialogue and it really showed that you never know what is going on in someone’s life.