Chemeketa Community College

It’s intercultural movie night in the Multicultural Center on the Salem campus. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the film begins at 7 p.m.

Chemeketa Community College sold $50 million in bonds Friday, Oct. 24.

The sale is the first resulting from the passing of a $92 million bond measure in May 2008. The measure was approved by voters. The sale was also a breakthrough for the college, which had planned to offer the bonds last month just as the municipal bond market began to freeze.

Sale of the bonds also puts the college on track to keep the commitments made to the community when it asked voters for approval, said Craig Smith, a vice president at Chemeketa, and it’s chief financial officer.

“Supporting the construction of new facilities at community colleges is one of the most immediate ways to pump good-paying jobs into the economy as construction gets underway,” said Smith. “On the back end, the college will have increased capacity for more students who will graduate from the college prepared for highly-skilled work.”

Smith and consultants with the college have been monitoring municipal bond markets on a daily basis for the past month. By biding its time, the college succeeded in finding buyers who had pulled money from the stock market and were searching for a place to put it.

The bond measure will fund the construction of a health sciences building and additional classroom space on the Chemeketa Salem campus; an emergency response building, for the training of EMTs, firefighters, and police officers, in Brooks; and a new McMinnville campus to replace the existing modular facility.

Join Chemeketa instructor Jill Rupert Monday, Oct. 27, to find out. Rupert will be reading and discussing poetry in the skybridge between buildings 1 and 9 as part of the Soapbox Poetry Series.

Free Trade, Human Rights and Immigration 

Most recent talk about immigration is cast in which resources might be drained from the U.S. as a result, but it is rarer to hear the stories of what motivates immigrants to seek out a place in this country.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, about 60 participants in the Free Trade, Human Rights and Immigration forum got to hear first-hand about the conditions many present-day undocumented workers flee in hopes of finding a better life, and the realities that immigrants face once they set foot on American soil. The forum was part of Chemeketa’s series of Pizza and Politics events.

Bishop Medardo E. Gómez-Soto, a bishop of the Resurrection Lutheran Church of the Salvadoran Synod, spoke of his experiences as a young pastor in his native El Salvador and how it led him dedicate his life to human rights work.

“I observed many injustices and a lot of suffering, a poverty not lived in the United States,” said Gomez-Soto through an interpreter. “I began to wonder if God existed. If he was blind and deaf, or simply made exceptions for some people and not others.”

Gomez-Soto said the poverty wracking El Salvador seemed to be at its worst during a 12-year civil war fought between the government and guerilla groups. But he observed something else amidst the deterioration and decay that plagued his country. Hope.

“It made me realize I had to be the one to show them God existed. If we don’t oppose injustices, evil will reign forever. We have to act,” said Gomez-Soto.

When a truce was signed in 1992, many expected to see a balancing of the scales.

“We thought we’d be able to work together to create justice, but things have gotten worse,” said Gomez-Soto.

About one-third of native El Salvadorans now live outside the country having sought new lives in the U.S., Canada and Europe. United Nations officials cite an 80 percent unemployment rate within the country. Worst of all, said Gomez-Soto, people are losing hope.

He encouraged those in attendance to organize to fight injustice.

“A disorganized people can be played with and not respected. Only the people can save the people,” he said.

Gomez-Soto shared the stage with Carrie Tracy, an attorney and director of the Immigration Project for the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations. Tracy spoke briefly and introduced the audience to a board game that highlighted the struggle immigrants face even if they apply for legal immigration. Players assume the lives of actual immigrants and must roll their way to citizenship. Only two of the six players end up on a path to citizenship, the rest take a spot on the “undocumented limbo loop.” After 15 minutes of play, no one in the room achieved U.S. citizenship.

“We want to see laws for immigration changed or a change to the way they’re enforced,” said Tracy.

For more information on the Northwest Federation of Community Organizers, visit nwfco.org.

(Photo by The Chemeketa Courier’s Michael Yu)

Join the writers and researchers behind the League of Women Voters nonpartisan Voter’s Guide for discussion of the Oregon ballot issues (all 12 of them) on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the Multicultural  Center. The conversation begins at 1:30 p.m., pizza and soft drinks will be provided.

Also, let’s hear it for Chemeketa’s civic engagement team. Between classes visits, table displays and even a roaming registration cart, the team managed to sign up 1,426 voters to participate in the Nov. 4 elections. Team members are:

Trey Ward, Nathan Carrick, Anna Putman, Taylor Dunne, and Brittany Stevens.

Sorry for the lapse here at the end of last week.

Chemeketa’s 1st Nation Club is looking for members. Anyone with in interest in Native American culture should stop by the Student Center in Building 2 and fill out an interest card, or call 503.798.8902.

Students with an interest in horticulture should stop by the Horticulture Club meeting. Members meet each Monday at 4 p.m. in the greenhouses on the Salem campus.

One of the major goals of the Chemeketa Votes campaign is to motivate voters and potential voters to cast their votes from a position of understanding. With that in mind, we offer the audio clips below from the debates held on campus Oct. 2 between secretary of state candidates Kate Brown, Rick Dancer and Seth Woolley and Marion County clerk candidates Bill Burgess and Randy Franke.

 

 Brown-Dancer-Woolley debate: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Burgess-Franke debate: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Richard Riggs, a member of the Chemeketa Board of Education and a candidate for state representative, will be discussing issues of education in 2008 election tomorrow, Oct. 15,  in the Multicultural Center from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Vicki Berger, the current officeholder of the District 20 legislative seat Riggs is seeking, will  talk about education issues in the upcoming election on Thursday. She is scheduled in the Multicultural Center from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

A summary of the goings on during the first Pizza and Politics event, on the importance of voting, can be found here (click on the voting is essential tab).

Also, today is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 elections. If you’re not registered yet, voter registration cards will be available throughout the day in the Building 2 lobby.

Chemeketa’s Taylor Marrow III recently presented a program on the history of lynching in America and the social underpinnings that allowed such acts to take place. The audio clip below lasts about an hour, but it’s time well spent.

Warning: The presentation includes graphic descriptions of lynching and other violent acts.

 

 Taylor Marrow on lynching in America: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Teatro Milagro will be performing Zapatista twice on the Chemeketa Community College Salem campus Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Show times are 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium, Bldg. 6. Admission is free.  The play is sponsored by the Chemeketa Multicultural Center.

From the playbill:

 From the moutains of Mexico’s southeast, a small band of Zapatistas made their first strike at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve 1994. With the help of the Internet, news media and hundreds of international NGOs, their struggle still continues for indigenous rights, territorial rights, women’s rights, everything for every oppressed group that is willing to stand up for their beliefs. “I am Mayan in San Cristobal, gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa - any human being in this world who is exploited, marginalized, oppressed, resisting and saying enough! Ya basta!”