A Week of Civic Learningby the

Scottsdale Community College Genocide Awareness Week Team

June, 2014

Center forCivic Participation

The Maricopa Community Colleges’ Center for Civic Participation is delighted to publish this booklet, which describes a civic learning event that has taken place for the past three years at Scottsdale Community College, Genocide Awareness Week. We share it with other colleges in The Democracy Commitment in hopes that they can replicate such an event on their campuses. Alberto Olivas, DirectorCenter for Civic Participation

Preface

History and Development of Genocide Awareness Week

The Power of Partnerships

Community Organizations

Getting the Word Out

Practical Event Planning

Children of the Model Ghetto

Genocide and Contemporary Cinema

I Never Saw Another Butterfly & the Sole Survivor Project

Chalk It Up To Students

Genocide Awareness Week Schedule

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A Week of Civic LearningTable of Contents

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Preface

As President of Scottsdale Community College, one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges, I am proud of the civic leadership that has been shown by our faculty and staff in planning and delivering Genocide Awareness Week. For the past three years, a planning team of faculty, staff and community partners, led by John Liffiton, English as Second Language Faculty and director of our Honors Program, has assembled a week-long program of speakers, panelists, art exhibits, theater productions, films, and participatory events to focus our attention on genocide. This signature event combines first-person survivor accounts, talks by advocates, classroom discussions, interactive displays and projects on campus, theater and film presentations. In addition, other faculty teach about the issue of genocide in their courses and direct students to participate in the week’s events, thereby reinforcing the civic learning. The theme chosen by the team for Genocide Awareness Week 2014 says it all: “Understand, Act and Protect.” Genocide is a major public policy issue confronting all of us, and this week of civic learning and democratic engagement on the issue has become a truly transformative event for our college, and our community.

Thanks to our district’s Center for Civic Participation, the chapters in this booklet describe the history of how Genocide Awareness Week came to be at our college, how it has grown over the years, and the many steps the planning team has taken to bring this robust program to our students and our community. As you can imagine, such a week-long program requires a high degree of collaboration among a good number of partners to both envision and execute. The stories of these partners – how the issue engaged them personally, and the role they played in making the week happen -- are recounted in these pages. Our college is proud of the rich partnership that has developed around Genocide Awareness Week, and we are so pleased that their story can be told. It is our hope that, by reading these chapters, other community colleges can learn about how such a rich civic learning experience can be created for their campus and community.

Jan Gehler, PresidentScottsdale Community College (SCC)

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It would be easy to say that this all started with a phone call, but that would be premature. Whereas a phone call was

the catalyst, it was something that happened a few years earlier; something that stayed with me, something that is still with me and something that will never leave me. As faculty in the English as Second Language Department at SCC, in 2006, I was fortunate to be asked by the American Association of Community Colleges to go to Macedonia and help a university set up a program. It happened to coincide with Spring Break and I decided to go someplace I had never been – Prague. I flew into the airport in a snowstorm; shortly thereafter, the airport closed due to blizzard conditions. The following morning I woke up and was walking the streets in knee deep or higher snow. I came across a kiosk that was selling tours and saw that one was to Theresienstadt, also called Terezin, which I booked for the following day. Upon arrival the following day, there was only one other tourist and our guide. We drove 45 minutes by van and finally stopped in front of the museum in the ghetto. When we disembarked, the place appeared deserted, the weather was bad, and so I walked alone in total silence through the museums and ghetto. By the time I was ready to walk to the camp about half a mile away, the sun had come out, but there was still no one around. I was moved beyond compare by what I saw and the feelings and emotions that were running through me – running to my very soul.

Walking under the arch and reading the same Arbeit Macht Frei phrase that thousands of others had seen as they walked into the camp, only to ultimately be murdered, was a profound moment. It was only intensified upon seeing the rooms with wooden beds and the

area with a gallows to the side of the shooting range used for executions. One of the most difficult things to comprehend was the location of the swimming pool for the children, wives and families of the officers who ran the camp. It was located in front of a brick wall behind which the firing squads shot their victims. Across the street was a two story building with a balcony where the commanding officer could watch his children playing in the pool while not 30 yards away men, women and children were being killed. Children playing in the pool would have been one of the last things the prisoner would have seen on the way to his or her death. If that does not affect someone… it most certainly had a very profound and lasting affect on me. So when I received a phone call asking if SCC would be interested in hosting a teacher training session with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC (USHMMDC), I was able to say I would do my utmost for them.

Soon I was in contact with Kim Klett who runs the training sessions, and who informed me about what she and the museum would require. Dr. Jan Gehler, SCC’s President, was wholeheartedly behind the event and so SCC proceeded to do everything possible to help make the event a success. Working in collaboration with Kim during a campus tour to discuss what she needed for the sessions, each department certainly rose to the ocasssion and ensured that nothing was overlooked. Employee buy-in and initiative are key elements to the success of any event and SCC’s employees believe that Genocide Awareness is an essential part of a good education.

History and Development of Genocide Awareness Weekby John Liffiton

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Genocide Awareness 2012

The first event was not a week, but a simple two-day, teacher-training session that primarily required logistical preparations such as reserving a large room,

working with the Facilities and Media Departments to ensure that the room was set up as needed (round tables for ten, computer, speakers and an overhead), working with Security to have doors open at the appropriate times. It was all very basic and our personnel are so good at their jobs that everything went off without a hitch. It simply took advance planning to reserve the room and make all the arrangements.

I was worried that the event was planned for June. Summer in Arizona is exceedingly hot and so it’s vacation time for many. I didn’t expect high attendance numbers so I worked with our Marketing Department to spread the word in addition to Kim sending out the information to all of her contacts. As usual, they did a superb job and more than 130 people attended. The museum was very pleased, especially since only the day before a large university had only 30 people in attendance for their event.

Genocide Awareness Week 2013

In the post-event discussions and report, I suggested that we change the date to sometime in the spring because it would be cooler and before teachers left for vacation. The

Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Daniel Corr approved and Kim came up with the brilliant idea of having it in April, which is Genocide Awareness Month. We looked at the

calendar and for obvious reasons, decided to stage the event between Passover and Easter. In the discussions, Kim and I were thinking perhaps we could increase the size of the event and not only offer the teacher-training workshop on the Friday and Saturday, but also offer other speakers and events that would compliment the workshop. We met several times and were also in constant contact via email.

Over the course of the next couple of months, we decided that in order to attract a wider audience, we would need to offer a variety of different subjects and events. We decided on displays, art exhibits, a film and lectures from survivors, academics, authors and experts. In a desire to demonstrate that genocide is more than the Holocaust, we branched out to other genocides i.e., Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda. Honoring the fact that SCC is located on Native American tribal land, we felt that we must offer something on indigenous peoples as well. Once we had an idea of where we wanted to take this event, it was necessary to start finding speakers. We made a grid of time slots for the morning, afternoon and evening and started beating the bushes.

Because Kim has been planning and instructing the teacher training sessions, she is exceptionally well connected to the community. In her eager and professional manner, she was able to contact and recruit an Auschwitz survivor and a retired US Army officer who had landed in the first wave on D-Day and later was a liberator at Auschwitz. She was able to recruit Robert Sutz, a very well known Holocaust artist, who agreed to set up his exhibit of busts, paintings and pastels of survivors and what they had experienced. Darfur and Beyond was contacted and they agreed to help to secure Camp Darfur, a mock refugee camp of five tents, each set up as a small museum on a different genocide. Kim also secured the Million

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Bones Project to come and set up an area where visitors would be able to make a “bone” that would be displayed on the National Mall in Washington DC. Things were coming together nicely, but there was still more to come.

Sometimes things happen due to sheer luck and because word gets out. I am Chairman of the Board for the Arizona Council for International Visitors (AZCIV) and when discussing this project with a board member, another member suggested that I contact the Armenian Church. This turned out to be a wonderful idea and Father Zacharia of St. Apkar was more than happy to not only secure a speaker but fund the travel. Through those connections we secured Dr. Richard Hovannisian from UCLA, an academic and author who is one of the leading experts on the 1915 Armenian genocide by the Turks. He was brilliant and his lecture was very well attended, not only by students and faculty, but by Armenians from all over the metropolitan area.

Something similar happened at an Honors Program Committee meeting, a colleague at a sister college in our district said that she was a cousin of a young artist who was killed, along with her mother and sister, at Auschwitz, and whose original artwork was found after the war. This new connection meant we ended up with another art exhibit, Sonja’s Legacy. My colleague Shereen Lerner from Mesa Community College, was happy to lecture on the paintings and the history behind them and one of them was selected as the primary illustration for the event.

In the end, connections were vital in securing speakers, law enforcement, elected officials and professors on a wide variety of subjects. We worked with non-profits and local businesses. A committee representing the many involved groups was formed to coordinate the growing number of connections, speakers and events. One committee member had the idea to work with state and local officials on decreeing April Genocide Awareness Month in Arizona. Ultimately, the Mayor of Scottsdale and the Governor of Arizona both signed official decrees that were read out respectively by the Mayor and the Secretary of State at the opening event.

Another connection occurred by happenstance. Matt Myers, of SCC’s Motion Picture & Television Department, was just completing a documentary on Ella Weisberger, a Terezin survivor. Through Matt, we were able to fly her in from New York as a speaker. The documentary did premier at SCC, followed by a presentation from Ella including Q&A. We worked with the SCC bookstore to coordinate book signing sessions and make available books by all the authors. On that night, every single copy of The Cat with the Yellow Star by Ella Weissberger sold out within 15 minutes. That wasn’t the only film, however. Through the USHMMDC, we were fortunate to have Jennifer Moss fly out and premier her documentary, Missa’s Fugue, which is a must for all Holocaust educators.

All was coming together nicely, but planning does not mean implementing and that is where Facilities, Security, Marketing, and Media stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. Those departments were brought on board, participated on the committee and supported one another. Email and phone conferences were essential, but there were also in-person meetings, initially monthly and later bi-monthly. SCC is a digital campus and so all reservation and facility set up forms were done on-line as were Request for Sponsor forms. It was essential to make sure that all guests on campus were insured and that security was increased and prepared in case of deniers or hecklers. Freedom of Speech areas were designated and Campus Security did a risk-study in conjunction with the tribal police. Marketing designed the flyer, schedule, posters, banners, and the website. Marketing also conducted interviews, took photographs and managed all press releases. We had good coverage from local media, both print and television. Media staff had computers ready for the speakers if they had PowerPoint or Prezi

presentations. There was also a Skype connection to New York with an elderly Czech escapee who had served as an OSS agent in Europe fighting the Nazis.

When the week arrived, all the hard work paid off and our expectations were exceeded with more than 1300 attendees

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at the lectures alone, and thousands more visited the static displays and art exhibits. Middle schools, secondary schools, college faculty and students from the Phoenix area as well as towns as far as one hundred miles away came on field trips. The event, however, was not just for students and faculty, and hundreds of local community members attended. Of particular interest were the lectures by the survivors and academics/authors, the art exhibits and the FBI who generously provided two squads that spoke on domestic terrorism and civil rights. On another evening, the Phoenix Police Department and the Anti-defamation League spoke about Arizona gangs and white-supremist groups, which was most informative and attracted a lot of people. In short, Genocide Awareness Week 2013 was an enormous success. So much so that Dr. Gehler, decided to make it a signature event.

Genocide Awareness Week 2014

Now it was time to learn from our success and to make something that would be equally successful, yet different. Bearing that in mind, the committee decided

to add genocides that had yet not been covered and schedule more and different speakers. The bar was raised and the search area for speakers was widened beyond Arizona’s border.

The Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) professed a desire to support the event. With MCLI’s support, both financially and logistically, our committee grew and expanded its search for a variety of different speakers. This is a key issue as speakers need to be experts, but also accessible and affordable. It is difficult to procure famous film stars and best-selling authors without paying exceptionally high dollar amounts. Using agents is one way to obtain speakers but even speakers at a more affordable level can quickly drain a modest budget. We fosuced on securing speakers who were local and/or willing to forgo an honorarium.

Many of the speakers that were recruited for GAW 2014 were found through university lists of programs and classes, published articles or via journalists and people who had contacts. Some committee members are connected with local dignitaries and that is of exceptional value, something to remember when assembling a committee. Some of the speakers were familiar with GAW 2013 and contacted us about speaking again. Non-profits are aware of the conference and support it financially and via their social media sites. In return we prominently use their logos and they introduce speakers and set up their own tables; it’s a win-win situation. Two of these have been: the Arizona Council for International Visitors (AZCIV) and the Welcome to America Project (WTA) which have donated money and marketing for recognition of their organizations. As the event continues and grows, however, it will be necessary to find businesses and other organizations that are willing to contribute larger amounts, contribute annually, or both.

One interesting development was in the planning of the opening event, which is a very important evening for starting the week off on a succesfull note as well as for publicity purposes. This year we were able to secure a Rwandan survivor and three US ambassadors, two retired and one still serving in the government, to speak on a panel moderated by a local government official. The committee decided on a bank of questions which were forwarded to ambassadors and our point of contact. The questions were for the most part unacceptable and had to be rewritten, not because the ambassadors didn’t want to speak on genocide but because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the government. This is something the committee hadn’t taken into account so a conference call was held and everyone discussed the goals and desired ambiance of the opening evening. The questions were reviewed individually to avoid overlap, to determine what could be said, to determine how the answers would lend themselves to the spirit of Genocide Awareness Week as well as what could result in follow up questions from audience members. The Mayor agreed to welcome the audience and, there were over 130 in the audience for this panel discussion.

Having that caliber of speakers as well as controversial art exhibits and lectures brings up another very important subject that must be covered: security. It was imperative to have appropriate security for the speakers, the audience, the exhibits and the facilities while also complying with legal requirements to have areas set up for free speech, which were designated nearby. There are rules that anyone who wants to speak may do so if they register in advance and do not disturb anyone by

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stopping them, unless it’s of their own free will. For the last three years, there have not been any incidents, but it is best to approach the event planning process with the idea that it is only a matter of time. With that in mind, Campus Security has risk assessment meetings with the local police force and extra police are placed on duty. Phi Theta Kappa and honors students volunteer to sit in the art exhibit areas to deter theft or vandalism. As GAW grows, it will be increasingly important to be more and more vigilant with each annual event and continued media coverage.

The marketing department at SCC has been an exceptional partner due to their hard work and organizational skills. They have not only designed the posters each year, but developed the website, sent out press releases and arranged for interviews and media coverage. GAW 2014 was in over a dozen different newspapers and covered by two TV stations. There were Facebook and Twitter updates and the website was continually kept up to date with any and all changes. The department was helpful from the beginning and listened to what was needed from the very first meetings held in July, a full ten months before the event.

Overall, while the theme for GWA 2014 was the same, the content was different and much more varied. As before, the Holocaust and Armenia genocides were covered along with indigenous peoples, but the Mayan genocide in Guatemala was new. There were different art exhibits and a variety of professors, authors from all over North America happy to sign their books. We also worked closely with Darfur and Beyond who set up a Million Bones display in the center of campus. Whereas in 2013 we Skyped an escapee and OSS Agent in New York, this year we Skyped Carl Wilkens in London. In 2013 we had partnered with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, this year we had a workshop entitled “Understanding Genocide through Peace-building in the Community College.” During the lunch on the first day, we had a NGO Fair to bring in more people and to offer educators resources. Many educators from the metropolitan area are able to use the workshop for state accreditation and at the post-secondary level, faculty attended in order to gain Faculty Professional Growth. Aside from workshops, lectures and art exhibits, we also had a reception with entertainment from Burundian and Rwandan drummers, and two performances of the play I Never Saw Another Butterfly. In the end, all of the planning, teamwork between different departments and long hours made Genocide Awareness Week 2014 a great success with a 28% increase in attendees to the lectures. In 2013, there were over 1,300 people who came and in 2014 there were well over 1,600. SCC already has several people lined up for GAW 2015 scheduled to start on April 13, 2015. We hope to see you there!

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I am always amazed by the way events happen. Somebody has an idea, shares it with others, and

everyone seems to bring something to the table. This is how Genocide Awareness Week began. As a teacher at Mesa Public Schools, and a member

of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Regional Education Corps, I approached John Liffiton about holding our teacher’s workshop at SCC in 2012. He was happy to accommodate us, and the conference was well-attended. At that point, John asked if I would be interested in helping plan the first Genocide Awareness Week, and I jumped on board.

Planning a week like this only works if you have dedicated, passionate people involved, and this is the strength behind the program. We have worked with so many like-minded yet diverse groups, which also brings hugely diverse audiences. John brings SCC students, Shereen Lerner gets those from Mesa Community College, I help in bringing teachers, and this year, Anti Defamation League (ADL) students and the film series. Megan O’Connor has the refugee population and those who volunteer with The Welcome to America Project, Cory Williams has her Darfur and Beyond contingency, and Doreen Romney brought One Million Bones both years. This also helps when we line up speakers. While we try to bring

different speakers each year, we do get some interesting overlaps. At the 2012 teacher workshop, for example, we had Claude Gatebuke, a Rwandan survivor, speak to the teachers, then brought him back this year to speak to ADL students and to the general public on opening night. At the 2013 Genocide Awareness Week, we brought Carl Wilkens, the only American to stay in Rwanda during the genocide, to speak to the teachers. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this year, we showed Carl Wilkens’ film, I’m Not Leaving, and talked to Carl via Skype as part of the ADL film series. Thus, we are building continuity with relevant topics, but never presenting the same discussion twice.

I am truly honored to work with such an amazing group of people and to have the support of President Gehler, and the Maricopa Community Colleges system. It could not happen without everyone adding their expertise, talents, and knowledge. It is also important that we include the artistic element, exhibiting the art of Robert Sutz and Sonia’s Legacy, the One Million Bones installation, as well as this year adding drawings from children in refugee camps in Chad and the Before I Die Wall. Burundian drummers bring the music, and this year Randy Messersmith added a theatrical component. This is also a necessary approach to reach our audiences on a different level, and is what I think makes this event so successful.

The Power of Partnershipsby Kim Klett

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we participate in an organization called Darfur and Beyond. Much of what the world remembers about the Rwandan genocide are grim tales of betrayal

among neighbors and of the slaughter of innocent civilians. There are other stories of people who resisted the urge to kill and who risked their lives to save the lives of others.

When genocide broke out in Rwanda in 1994, Carl Wilkens refused to leave Rwanda, even when urged to do so by his family, his church and the United States government. At the time, Carl was a missionary with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, living in Rwanda with his wife Teresa and three children. As Carl and Teresa listened to pleas for help from mission stations around the tiny country over the radio, they decided that Carl would stay and Teresa and the children would evacuate.

In his family’s absence, Carl witnessed events that have changed his life irrevocably. As a result of Carl’s decision to stand up to genocide, hundreds of lives were saved. His story demonstrates each individual’s ability to have a hand in stopping genocide.

Carl wrote the book “I’m Not Leaving” about his experience during the Rwandan genocide. The film, based on the book, was recently completed and made available to be shown at Genocide Awareness Week 2014 by Kim Klett.

To complement the film, Darfur and Beyond sold the books “I’m Not Leaving” at the event.

Trailer can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ZDLW7-J3k

To bring the film to your school or community: http://www.worldoutsidemyshoes.org/

Camp Darfur is an interactive awareness and educational event that brings attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and gives individuals

the opportunity to discover their ability and power to make a difference.

This traveling refugee camp raises awareness and examines Sudan’s Darfur region and its humanitarian crisis – genocide – by placing it in an historical context with Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, and Rwanda. Camp Darfur empowers communities to raise their voices and take action for the individuals of Darfur.

Camp Darfur created the space for us to raise awareness, take action and get the community involved in human rights. We encouraged students to learn about each genocides, represented by a refugee tent. At SCC we placed Camp Darfur next to the One Million Bones area. That way students could learn about past and current genocides followed by making a bone to honor those we have lost to genocide.

We included information that allowed the audience to take immediate action in helping the people of Darfur.

For information about bringing Camp Darfur to your event: http://www.iactivism.org/our-work/campdarfur/

Community Organizationsby Cory Williams and Doreen Romney

Darfur and Beyond presents Camp Darfur - 2013

Darfur and Beyond presents “I’m Not Leaving” by Carl Wilkens - 2014

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The Solar Cooker Project of Jewish World Watch is committed to protecting refugee women and girls from rape and other forms of violence. Women and girls who have fled the genocide in Darfur, Sudan are particularly vulnerable while performing the critical task of collecting firewood for cooking. Our mission is to reduce the frequency of these heinous crimes by providing women in refugee camps with an alternative cooking option: the solar cooker.

Darfur and Beyond brought in a solar cooker to demonstrate how the solar cooker works. We provided a visual on how a simple solar cooker could save lives in a refugee camp in Darfur and Chad. Some suggestions to include with the material about the Solar Cooker Project are recipes and easy instructions on how to build a solar cooker. To attract attention, it is a good idea to have brownies cooking when the student groups come through to learn about the project.

For more information about the Solar Cooker Project, please contact: Naama Haviv, Assistant Director, JWW Email: naama@jww.org Phone: 818-501-1836

Naomi Natale, an artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, came up with the idea of the One Million Bones Project. This project would be a visual petition

of 1,000,000 fabricated bones installed on the National Mall in Washington DC, to raise the awareness of genocide and mass atrocities continuing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Burma and Somalia. In the fall of 2010, Darfur and Beyond became the sponsor for Arizona participation in this project.

In 2013 all of the students, visitors and presenters of SCC’s Genocide Awareness Week were invited to make bones and become part of this visual petition. Bones were made with self-drying clay and then wrapped in plaster tape. We provided samples and photos for the students to use as a guide. Bones were made by high school and college students who came to the event to see the exhibits and learn. Bones were made by Carl Wilkins, the only American to remain in Rwanda during their 1994 Genocide; Oskar Knoblauch, a Holocaust survivor; and Robert Sutz, an artist making busts of Holocaust survivors.

Members of Darfur and Beyond took these bones, and along with bones from all 50 states and over 30 countries, helped to install them during a solemn ceremony on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on June 8, 2013.

Each bone was placed on the Mall with the full awareness that this bone was a representation of someone’s life and not just a piece of clay. The impact of this art installation was overwhelming. This visual petition was unlike other petitions which are signed and then stuck in a drawer. It made each viewer a witness of the cost of genocides and human atrocities, and they can no longer say they didn’t know. The installation remained up for the whole weekend. The bones are now housed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, until a permanent location can be found for the installation.

One of the exhibits of the Genocide Awareness Week 2014 was a mini-version of the installation, along with photos from that weekend. Darfur and Beyond, along with the organizers of 2014 Genocide Awareness Week, felt it was important for the students and visitors to see the final project so they could take pride and understand how they had made a difference. On Thursday, April 10, a bus load of Arizona high school students visited all of that week’s exhibits. They were so moved that many students and teachers asked how they could arrange for the exhibit to be brought to their schools. Darfur and Beyond is working on a school exhibit program for the fall of 2014.

Another lesson the students and visitors of the bone exhibit learned is that one person can make a difference. One person, Naomi, had an idea, and with help of many others this one idea became a reality. No one should think they can’t make a difference because they are only one single voice. Your voice along with the voices of many others does make a difference, and you should never give up on your dreams to help others.

For information regarding the bones contact: Doreen Romney, Darfur and Beyond, Phoenix,AZ

info@darfurandbeyond.org

Darfur and Beyond presents Solar Cooker Project - 2014

Darfur and Beyond presents One Million Bones - 2013 and 2014

When Cory Williams of Darfur and Beyond read Rebecca Tinsley’s book When The Stars Fall To Earth she discovered that they were drawings

done by children in the Darfuri refugee camps. These drawings told their stories of the horrors they had experienced at the hands of the Government-sponsored Janjaweed. In her research to find the drawings, it was discovered that they were located in the Wiener Library in London. Working with the team at Article 1 in London, some of the drawings were able to be copied and sent to Darfur and Beyond for display in the USA.

To get the detail of the drawings, they were printed as photos. Once the photos were completed with descriptions, they were turned over to Therese Tendick, Director of the Center for Civic & Global Engagement at SCC. Her students matted the photos and descriptions on black foam board and hung them in the main hallway at the Student Center.

The drawings came to exist during June and July 2007 when Article 1 team member Anna Schmitt conducted a three-week fact-finding mission to Eastern Chad. The aim of the mission was to assess the humanitarian, human rights and security situation in the region and to collect testimonies from Darfuri refugees and displaced Chadians.

While collecting testimonies from adults, women told Anna how their children had witnessed horrendous events when their villages were being attacked. This prompted Anna to talk to the

children. She gave the children aged 6 to 18 paper and pencils and asked them what their dreams were for the future and what their strongest memory was.

When the children handed Anna their drawings, she was shocked to see the details of their memories of the attacks. While a handful of children had submitted drawings of daily life in the village or in the refugee camp, the majority of the drawings described the attacks on their village by Sudanese Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militia. Many of the drawings depict adult men being killed, women being shot, beaten and taken prisoner, babies being thrown on fires and Government of Sudan helicopters and planes bombing civilians.

The drawings collected by Article 1 amount to a form of criminal evidence from silent witnesses. The killings, bombing and looting shown in the drawings directly contradict the Government of Sudan’s version of events. The pattern that emerges from these drawings corroborates what we know has been taking place in Darfur and shows a worryingly similar pattern of attacks developing in Eastern Chad.

In November 2007, the drawings were accepted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague as contextual evidence of the crimes committed in Darfur and as such they will be used in the trials of the accused, as a graphic illustration of the atrocities.

For information about the drawings contact: Cory Williams, Darfur and Beyond, Phoenix, AZ

info@darfurandbeyond.org

Darfur and Beyond presentsDarfuri Children’s Drawings - 2014

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Getting the Word Outby Nancy Neff

W hen I joined Scottsdale Community College in March 2013, it was to direct a newly formed department called Institutional Advancement &

Community Engagement…or, IACE.

This unit comprises graphic design, web marketing, social media, internal and external communications, special events and development. The team is called upon to develop promotional and marketing campaigns for the many high-profile events across campus. This is the second year IACE has developed the marketing collateral for Genocide Awareness Week, which is a signature event held annually at SCC.

Having worked on the event the previous year, the team knew that getting an early start on planning was key. So, with the event scheduled for April 2014, the IACE team had its first planning meeting with the program coordinator in July 2013. Several tasks that would benefit from early planning and implementation included: 1) determining theme and message, 2) defining the scope of marketing strategy and collateral, 3) identifying potential internal and external funding sources, and 4) developing an overall project and communication plan for delivery of the marketing collateral and services. This event is free and open to the public, so our marketing strategy needed to reach both internal and external audiences.

This year’s theme, “Not On Our Watch,” was selected with the intention of conveying commitment by taking action. To support this, we recommended a type of social engagement vendor fair of non-profits and non-governmental agencies, whose focus is genocide prevention. In addition to providing very pertinent information, Genocide Awareness Week could also provide participants an opportunity for active engagement by including multiple platforms for advocacy.

Developing the overall project management plan began after our initial meeting with the project coordinator. The IACE team worked together to determine dates for deliverables, including a realistic and reasonable timeframe for design, proofing and printing. In addition, we added the dates by which social media, web presence, and press releases (including District

announcements) should all be disseminated. To meet the deadlines we worked as a team -- part of us researching while others were writing, still others editing. It was a true team effort.

Creating a comprehensive landing page on the SCC website plus promotional collateral were major deliverables encompassed in this project. With numerous programs, speakers, panels, displays and a major theatrical production as part of the week-long event, the landing page and collateral had to be comprehensive as well as easy to navigate. For the website, one challenge was condensing multi-page biographies, sent by the presenters, into five or six lines of text while maintaining the integrity of the presenter’s biography.

In order to compress the biographical information onto the single webpage containing the schedule of events, the web designer created a bio link so each presenter had a drop-down box highlighting his or her bio.

(http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/promo/genocide-awareness-week)

In addition to the web presence, the marketing collateral produced by IACE included fliers, posters, press releases, District announcements, promotion to local media, and social media. We have also been involved in assisting with oversight for the event planning.

In the weeks leading up to the event, Genocide Awareness Week at SCC was featured in numerous local media, including Jewish News, Arizona Republic, Newzap, Scottsdale Independent and more.

Engaging with faculty, students, non-governmental organizations, administrators and staff on this project has been a privilege. Through this process we were reminded that genocide is not relegated to history books, but is all too real and in the present. The need for greater awareness on this topic is profound; we are honored to have been part of getting the word out.

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Practical Event Planning by Susan Kendall

Iserve as Manager of Facilities Scheduling Services at SCC. Anyone who has planned a week long, multi-platform event involving food, speakers, entertainers and exhibits, such

as Genocide Awareness Week, knows that planning the event begins well in advance. They also know that things always change, sometimes completely, before the kickoff date. Worst case scenario is when things change in the immediate now. It is no wonder that many creative, fun events do not leave the imagining stage. There is a solution, but it involves what many dread—the planning committee approach.

Now I know what you are thinking, “Committees make everything more complicated and take too much time.” After 13 years scheduling special events for MCCD, I have come to realize that time spent in committee meetings can payoff, especially when working with first-time event planners. Yes, there will be long stretches where the conversation will not interest everyone. Yet the most effective prevention of disaster is being there the moment someone makes a suggestion that their area is unable to support. Guiding the conversation to alternatives months ahead is so much more effective than trying to pull off a miracle just before your event.

First, it is important whom you invite to the meeting table. Your best resource is an experienced event planner on campus. Even if they just act as a consultant, their insight from lessons learned will prove invaluable. Don’t know an experienced event planner on campus? Ask a facility scheduler and invite them to the table as well. Consider adding support service personnel such as Media Services, College Safety, or even Grounds, if you use exterior spaces. Small nuances of your event may be addressed before the event, instead of later, such as discovering as the presentation begins that a mouse is not standard issue with the laptop you requested. A service worker will understand more of what your event needs are by participating in planning.

Second, with a committee you have many heads looking at the event plans, which can lead to wonderful brainstorming and innovative ideas. Third, I have seen those few minutes when the committee discusses facilities and resources, or inviting the entire Phoenix valley to the event, as an opportunity to gently bring reality to the event dream. “Sorry, but we only have 300 exterior chairs for use at your event. If you really expect 2,000 attendees for the guest speaker at noon, you have to look into renting chairs.” Some may suggest using interior chairs (not allowed) or borrowing from another campus (sorry, they need

their chairs too). This is an opportunity to point out alternative resources and approaches that may work even better. We enjoy helping a first time event become even better by offering resources and support from the Facilities office.

Another advantage I see in committee planning is the chance to delegate. Seasoned event planners rely on others to carry part of the load. It is difficult to find motivation to repeat a successful event if you are too exhausted, or stressed out, to enjoy the big day.

So what is the best advice I can offer anyone planning a truly first class special event? Spend time with your event scheduler, invite them to your committee meetings, speak in person with service providers often, and start planning early. The earlier you plan, even if the plan changes, the better your chances of making alternate arrangements. Finally, remember to delegate whenever possible, check with everyone from maintenance to the VIP speaker ahead of time, then relax and enjoy yourself. It does not take a miracle to have everything go as planned—just do not count on it every time. Do make note of both the disappointments and joys--then start planning for next year! All of these steps were taken in the planning for GAW 2014!

BONUS TIP: Create an event timeline and add contact information for everyone working the event, including College Safety, so everyone has it the day of the event…Just in case.

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Children of the Model Ghetto by Matt Myers

A few years ago, as faculty in the Motion Picture and Television Department at SCC, I was shooting a marketing video for a Holocaust awareness group. I

was introduced to the incredible story of Ela Weissberger and Terezin. I was midway through a long series of interviews when I stepped into the hall to clear my head. A poster of Brundibar faced me. A voice behind me brought me out of my revelry. “It’s quite a remarkable story isn’t it?” I turned to see the group’s president standing by my shoulder. I admitted I hadn’t seen it. She proceeded to tell me the unlikely story about a children’s opera that had been performed publicly in a concentration camp 52 times, and about the only cast member who had survived all of the performances, Ela Weissberger. She had played a cat in the production.

That evening my wife Trish arrived home and deposited a load of books on our dining room table. She excitedly spilled the story I had heard earlier in the day. She had been to dinner with a friend and a composer who were working on a musical project about Terezin. Trish said we had to tell this story. I of course agreed (she is my producer after all).

Before she turned 15, Ela studied art with the famous painter, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. She performed a leading role in an opera and rubbed elbows with renowned composers and musicians. She appeared in a film directed by the famous movie star Kurt Gerron. Ela was an intriguing character indeed. Especially since all of this happened during her years in the Czech concentration camp Terezin.

The next morning we called Ela and asked if we could interview her. She asked what we planned on doing with the interview. I admitted I had no plan at all; we just had to hear her story. A couple of weeks later we were sitting in her living room in Nyack, New York. A few days later we were invited to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with “her girls” in the Krkonose mountains of the Czech Republic. Her girls were her roommates from room 28 in the children’s home at Terezin. Every year they gather in the Czech town of Spindleruv Mlyn to celebrate life. After a week of celebrations, interviews, outings and revelations we had the bones to the documentary Children of the Model Ghetto, and my children had eight new grandmothers.

From Trish:

Children of the Model Ghetto conveys compelling oral histories and accurate historical accounts, some of which are documented nowhere else. Several of the participating survivors are Holocaust educators, and expertly explain their own experiences in the context of historical events.

Their stories weave a timeless testament to the consequences of extremism. While Holocaust deniers and modern-day anti-Semites maintain separate agendas, they share with individuals throughout the world some core ideas, like the glorification of violence, and the manipulation of masses through identity politics. This story shows the human consequences resulting from such ideas. In so doing, it spotlights current world events.

Children of the Model Ghetto shows that the step from prejudice to genocide is surprisingly small; but the same can be said of the step from prejudice to tolerance.

Furthermore, this program teaches that each of us possesses the strength and courage to survive adversity. What is surprising is not that nearly 7 million Jews perished in the “Nazi machine,” but that any at all survived. Those participating in this project share an enhanced appreciation for family, friends, and life in general.

I have to agree with her and not just because she’s my producer and wife. The stories the women told transformed my understanding of the Holocaust and genocide in general. Numbers confuse the conversation; 7 million here, a hundred-thousand there; but coming from these vibrant, amazing women the stories became personal for me in a way they never had before. These were young girls between 10 and 15 years-old who had survived the atrocities of war and hate yet hadn’t lost their love for life. They created good lives for themselves, their husbands and their children; and they continued to give – to me, my wife and my children. More than anything else Ela and her girls showed me and anyone who watched the documentary that one human spirit is stronger than a mass bent on hate and destruction.

Last year we finished the documentary just in time for Genocide Awareness Week. Ela visited the campus, signed

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copies of her children’s book The Cat with the Yellow Star and shared her stories of adversity, friendship, supportive teachers, family and what it means to be a survivor. Ela considers it her responsibility to tell all who will listen how she and her friends survived through their love of art, music and each other. She touched that audience just as she touched my family: with hope and love.

Genocide and ContemporaryCinema by Darrell CoppIntroduction:

In the spring of 2013 I redesigned my HUM/THE 210 Contemporary Cinema course at SCC around a new desired learning outcome. The course redesign was

in conjunction with the scheduling of SCC’s first Genocide Awareness Week in April of 2013. It was my attempt to mesh my course curricula with this comprehensive, well-planned consciousness-raising event. The results of the genocide-infused curriculum were overwhelmingly positive, inspiring me to refine and repeat it in conjunction with the second Genocide Awareness Week in April of 2014.

I have long used the medium of film as a window to the world through which my students may be exposed to ways of life that are different from their own. While it is important that students see reflections of their own lives on screen, it is more important to me that they come to understand and empathize with the lived experiences of people around the world who are different from themselves, especially those who are less fortunate. Genocide Awareness Week affords me the opportunity to link important course content covered in the confines of my classroom to a larger, campus-wide event dealing with subject matter that expands upon what they learn in my class, and

by extension, connects them to all of humanity. The complex topic of genocide, an amalgam of history, race, culture, geography, human relations, economics, politics and pathos, is tailor-made for study in a Humanities course.

In HUM/THE 210, my new desired learning outcome was for students to become educated about and involved in ameliorating the crisis of refugees funneling out of war torn nations throughout the world, and for students to reflect on their experiences in written and oral forms. The desired learning outcome would enable students to make a visceral, real-world connection between the two-dimensional figures on a movie screen and the living, breathing realities of the lives of refugees and genocide survivors in our own community, deepening empathy and understanding of others who might otherwise remain mere abstractions. A secondary outcome was for students to become involved in their local community while simultaneously giving them an enhanced global perspective through their interactions with refugees.

Method:

Beginning with the first class meeting in January my students were introduced to the topic of genocide as one of the main themes we would be covering during the semester. The syllabus introduced their attendance at Genocide Awareness Week events as a requirement of the course. Students also learned that we would be spending about six weeks of the semester on films, readings, assignments and discussions about major world genocides.

Because I am also an enthusiastic proponent of service-learning, my students were also introduced from day one to the course’s service requirement, which was chosen for its relevance to genocide awareness. Students were asked to spend one day in service to a local agency called the Welcome to America Project (WTAP). The WTAP is a nonprofit organization that creates community connections and builds bridges of neighborly understanding by providing furniture, basic necessities, education and additional resources to newly arriving refugees. Most students spent several hours on a Saturday delivering furniture to various refugee families. Although the refugees served by WTAP are not all fleeing genocide, many are, including a large influx of refugees from war-torn countries such as Congo and Somalia. WTAP Executive Director Megan O’Connor accepted my invitation to guest lecture, introducing students to WTAP, explaining their mission and goals, and orienting students to the value of their service to WTAP and its relationship to the topic of genocide.

Bob Sutz and Ela Weisberger

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In addition to various readings, writing assignments and class discussions, I screened five genocide-themed films in class: Hotel Rwanda (Rwandan Genocide), Europa Europa and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (The Holocaust), God Grew Tired of Us (Sudan) and The Killing Fields (Cambodia). Students were asked to write short personal reflection papers on each of the films and on one or more Genocide Awareness Week events they attended.

Results:

At semester’s end, all students completed an anonymous outcomes survey in which they were asked to gauge whether they had:

A. Transformed or grown significantly,

B. Learned something of value but remained essentially unchanged, or

C. Remained unaffected, or affected in a negative way, by the curriculum.

Of 36 total respondents encompassing the Spring 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters:

29 students (80%) chose A, indicating that they had transformed or grown significantly; seven respondents (20%) chose B, indicating that they had learned something of value while remaining essentially unchanged; no respondents chose C Remained unaffected or were affected negatively.

Students were also asked to share specific examples of ways in which their lives or views of the world changed as a result of the genocide/service learning curriculum. Selected responses:

—I didn’t even know the definition of genocide when I began this course, however I’m very glad that I was educated on the subject in the way it was presented through film and volunteering. The movies gave an image of everything that happened while the volunteer portion gave the personal

connection. I have changed my views by looking up refugees and hope to continue to volunteer in the future.

—I previously only associated the word “genocide” with The Holocaust. I was unaware that genocide is still occurring in the present day.

—It has inspired me to find ways to help people involved in genocide and pay more attention to events around the world.

—I think that this class has made it clear that one person can do a lot of good in the world. Although the world is full of hatred, one small act of kindness can truly make the world a better place.

—I see the world differently. My eyes are open to different cultures and lives that will forever be changed. Listening to the refugee stories and working with them was awesome. I now hate when people discriminate (against) others because of religion and I no longer judge them.

—I have found a passion in the volunteering aspect and want to widen my knowledge even more. I’m watching more documentaries on Netflix and hope to go abroad one day.

—I learned about world events I knew nothing or little about, and was humbled every time I came to class by the travesties and heroic journeys millions of people faced because of a single difference between themselves and their persecutors.

—Coming into this class not knowing about genocides that have occurred worldwide, I have finished this semester with knowledge and feelings I did not have before. This class showed me a whole new world.

—Before coming to this class I knew nothing about genocide. It truly opened my eyes to things going on outside of my own little world. I want to continue to learn more about it, and do my part to change it all in some way thanks to your stellar class.

Finally, students were asked to share something important about genocide and the refugee experience that they will remember after the class ended. Selected responses:

—The people I worked with were the most thankful, awesome, and nice people. I almost thought there was no hope for this planet… but now I know there are helpers everywhere.

—I learned to really step back and escape from my little world and remember there is such terror out there. And going to WTAP and hearing the story from someone who lived it makes me grateful for (living in) Scottsdale and my life. Joining an anti-bullying organization and signing up for more WTAP is my life. I (heart) this class!

Megan O’Connor and the WTA

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—Not to take where I live for granted.

—I will remember the selflessness of some of the individuals I learned about.

—The Lost Boys (were) what stuck with me the most. I still today, everyday almost, check CNN and other various news sites to check on the current, horrible state of Sudan.

—Something important that I will take from this class is being more understanding (of) others from different countries. I will definitely respect them more for the difficult times they went through.

In addition to completing the outcomes survey, students were required to do a final presentation in which they were asked to reflect upon the films and genocides we studied, Genocide Awareness Week, and the service-learning experience at WTAP. The final presentations were an eclectic mix of exceptional reflections on the course content. They included:

• An original song (words and music) about Africa and genocide, performed live in class

• A Baha’I student of Iranian descent who taped and presented an interview with his father about his escape from religious persecution in Iran

• An epic poem performed with an accompanying Power Point presentation.

• An original oil painting presented with an interpretation of what it represents.

• An outdoor interactive exercise in which all students role-played Cambodian refugees trying to make it to the Thai border.

• A seven-minute original video with accompanying original soundtrack demonstrating the evil of genocidal thought.

• An original website about genocide with links to WTAP and many other sites and organizations.

• A diorama of a Sudanese refugee camp• A monologue from Spalding Gray’s Swimming to Cambodia.

Conclusions:

Weaving service-learning and Genocide Awareness Week seamlessly into the course competencies for HUM/THE 210 Contemporary Cinema took a fair amount of planning on my part, but the results were more than worth it. As an educator, I feel a profound sense of duty to reveal the world to my students, many of whom arrive in my class with little knowledge of current events or life outside the United States. The number of great films that have been made about the world’s genocides enables me to teach my students about

film, while the films teach them about genocide. Genocide Awareness Week enables me to teach my students about the Rwandan genocide, show them a powerful film about the genocide such as Hotel Rwanda, and then have my students attend a GAW presentation that makes that genocide more real and multifaceted, less abstract in their minds. This year, for instance, many of my students attended a presentation by a Rwandan genocide survivor named Claude Gatebuke, who gave body and voice to events they would otherwise only have seen on screen. Films can be a powerful teaching tool, but meeting a person in the flesh and witnessing the power of his story reinforces the fact that these are not fictional events, but all-too-real tragedies that have affected the lives of millions.

Genocide as a topic is a tough sell to both students and faculty; too many of us would rather not “go there.” What so many fail to realize, and what events such as Genocide Awareness Week teach us, is that after delving into the depths of tragedy we surface with a renewed appreciation for our fellow man, breathing deeply of the beauty to be found in stories of survival, selflessness, overcoming, healing, and opportunities for growth.

I Never Saw Another Butterflyand the Sole Survivor Project by Randy Messersmith

When, in the spring of 2013, I heard that the SCC Honors program was undertaking a new community service project called Genocide Awareness Week,

I wanted to somehow get my students involved. Having taught high school theatre for ten years until becoming Theatre Arts Director at SCC in 2006, I had produced the compelling story of The Diary Of Anne Frank and saw what a strong impact it made on the students involved in the play as well as on the audiences who witnessed it. So I was interested in getting my college acting students connected to this project in some way.

I was familiar with a one-act play by Celeste Raspanti called I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a story of survival of the children from Terezin concentration camp in Prague.

We did a staged reading of the play with scripts in hand for GAW 2013, and opened our classroom to audiences to attend the reading, with a discussion of the play afterward.

This year I wanted to take it a step further and do a full production of the play for GAW 2014, and with financial backing from the SCC Honors program and SCC Theatre Arts, we were able to make that dream a reality. We rehearsed all

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semester, meeting only two days a week during class times, up until our performances outside at the Two Waters Circle Amphitheatre on April 11 and 12th, 2014.

Doing this play would become a rich and meaningful learning experience for the students beyond what they may have known about the Holocaust. Our THP212 Acting students would be the cast, and the THP213 Introduction to Technical Theatre, THP203 Theatre Production, and THP250 Properties students would be the designers in make up, costumes, props, stage management and sound design.

We started by researching the time period, the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Terezin ghetto, and learning more about Friedl Dicker- Brandeis, the teacher at Terezin upon whom the play is based. I think we sometimes make assumptions about the level of knowledge students have about the Holocaust, and I certainly learned a great deal myself about Terezin and its function as a transit camp, which was far different from what we know about the reality of Auschwitz and other death camps.

My goal by producing the play was to try to teach the students how working on a historical piece of theatre, based on a true story, can provide a broader context for understanding. The Holocaust was not about names and dates, it was about real people, and in this case about real children, 15,000 of whom came to Terezin, and of which only 100 survived.

While researching the play I came across a documentary called The Paper Clips Project, about an 8th grade class in Whitwell, Tennessee that collected 6 million paper clips and placed them in a rail car as a memorial to the Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. I showed this documentary to my class, and it had a profound affect on them, and me. It brought to light that crimes against humanity cannot be represented by a mere number. We handed out paper clips to the audience and had them wear them at our recent performances and instructed them to visit the One Clip At A Time website.

I brought in guest speakers to speak to the class, and to watch our rehearsals and provide feedback on our authenticity of Jewish ritual and pronunciations. Our speakers had either been survivors or had visited the actual Terezin camp, and once again provided the grim reality which was needed in order to connect the students of a 2014 culture to the message in the play and make it real for them.

I also cast four children from the Scottsdale metropolitan area and incorporated them into the production during the final week of rehearsals. These students were also able to be a part of the project and experience working with college students in a college theatre production.

As part of the set design, I wanted to incorporate empty shoes that would be strewn about the lawn in front of the stage, to represent the people that had to take off their shoes before heading into the gas chambers. The class decided to create a community service project and do a shoe drive across campus and in the community we called the Sole Survivor Project. We collected pairs of shoes from various resources and used them as part of the set design on the nights of performances, then they were donated to charities including Souls4Souls and Operation Homefront. While this was a great idea, it added to the work load to create and decorate shoe bins, get them to all the buildings on campus and off, and then routinely collect them and box them.

With over 300 people attending the production and from the feedback I have received so far, I believe the project was very successful. I look forward to reading the students’ reflection papers on the process One word of advice: when you get actively engaged students with bright, creative ideas they will demand that you meet them at their level of enthusiasm, which might mean quite a few more hours on the project than you anticipated. Then again, that’s what we are looking for, isn’t it?

The Cast and Production team of I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY produced by SCC Theatre Arts for Genocide Awareness Week, April 2014.

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Miriam

Chalk It Up To Students by Therese Tendick

Leave it to students to come up with a great idea for getting other students involved! That’s what happened when, as Director of the Center for Civic and Global

Engagement, I approached our Student Leadership Forum (student government) with the question “How do you want to get involved for Genocide Awareness Week?” I heard comments like “We need something cool, something that will get more students involved.” Well, how about interactive public art? With a little searching, the Genocide Awareness Week (GAW) intern and SLF Student-at-Large Catherine Dantas came up with the idea of a “Before I Die” Wall. And with that, the idea took off!

As with many campus ideas, it became a very collaborative project. Catherine explained that the Before I Die wall (http://beforeidie.cc/site/scottsdale/) was initiated by a young woman on an abandoned house in New Orleans after she lost someone she loved. The idea is that people are compelled to grab a piece of chalk and fill in the blank after “Before I Die, I want to __________” with meaningful, reflective goals. The members of SLF thought that through the wall, students would have the opportunity to express their hopes and dreams as well as reflect on people who, as victims of genocide, did not have the same ability to hope and dream. The project was also created to engage students in discussions about issues such as human rights, civil dialogue and freedom of speech.

In collaboration with a Performing Arts Center carpenter, it was built with the help of a local refugee and painted by student members of SLF. The GAW intern worked with the carpenter to design the wall and purchase all of the materials. To

accommodate information about GAW and make it mobile, it was constructed as an 8’X6’ box of chalkboard painted walls on wheels. With the help of instructions and ideas from the website, pre-cut stencils and appropriate paints and supplies were purchased in preparation for Stencil-Painting Day. As a fun team-building afternoon, SLF members painted (and they got better as the afternoon went along!) six different sets of stencils on the walls.

Before rolling it out to the campus, we assigned SLF members as Wall Monitors and prepared a schedule and thorough instructions for monitoring, photographing and cleaning the wall. To create the mini website as well as contribute to the college social media, it was important to have good photographs of the sentences and students writing on the wall. For example, reflections on GAW presented in written thoughts desiring the Turkish government’s apology for the Armenian genocide, and speaking out against genocide.

We found that monitoring for inappropriate words, while time-consuming, was also critical. It did, however, provide a good point of departure for discussions with the SLF students about encouraging freedom of speech with civility. As our campus works with students from all over the world, these acts of civil engagement and responsibility can be seen as foundations for genocide awareness, teaching conflict resolution, and helping to make our students better world citizens. One idea for next year is to work with marketing, ethics, and/or psychology faculty to use the Wall as a teaching tool for their classes to come, read, interpret and discuss.

So leave it up to the students --- It can result in some great expressive and creative ways they will “leave their mark” on the world!

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