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Lafayette Association of Fair Trade Advocates (LAFTA) hopes to foster discussion and educate the campus community about issues of international importance during Global Village Week April 24-30. All events, including three noon brown bags, are free and open to the public.
“The Lafayette community is very fortunate to have a very vibrant student body that is actively engaged in discussing all sorts of issues,” says Isaac Esseku ’05 (Hillside, N.J.), a double major in computer science and economics & business and executive board member of LAFTA. “These are more issues that will broaden the knowledge base of the community and provide an avenue for expression of opinions. Our goal as an organization is to educate the Lafayette community on global issues and this is another small step in that direction.”
Events begin Monday with a brown bag in Jaqua Auditorium, Hugel Science Center room 103, called “Religion and the Perpetuation of the Current World Order.” Kofi Opoku, professor of religious studies, and Rex Ahene, professor of economics & business, who both direct the Africana studies program, will address world issues and the ways they will change or remain the same. Potential topics include the new pope, the future of Islam and Islamic states since the creation of a democratic Iraq, John Bolton’s requests for U.S. leadership in the United Nations, and Condoleezza Rice’s calls for overall U.N. reform.
On Wednesday Arnold Offner, Cornelia F. Hugel Professor of History, will speak at a brown bag called “U.S. Trade and Foreign Policies in the Second Bush Administration” atInterfaith Chapel, Hogg Hall.
Esseku says the second brown bag will address the implications of decisions made by President George W. Bush’s second administration.
“Already we are seeing some major appointments such as Paul Wolfowitz to World Bank, John Bolton as U.N. ambassador, and Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state. The administration is barely three months old and we are seeing an aggressive push to institute key influence in the world,” he says.
On Thursday John McCartney, professor and head of government & law, will speak at the final brown bag, “Does Blackness Work for You: A Discussion of Affirmative Action,” atInterfaith Chapel.
Later that night, LAFTA will host a “coffee chillout” from 9-10 p.m. at Gilbert’s. Esseku says the evening will allow participants to discuss any issue while enjoying free coffee, cookies, and brownies.
During the week, Ten Thousand Villages, an organization that sells fairly traded arts and crafts, will have merchandise available for purchase in the Farinon Center.
Other LAFTA executive members involved in planning Global Village Week include Deanna Stoddard ’05 (Kingsley, Pa.), a government and law major; Matthew Verbyla ’06 (Unionville, Conn.), a civil engineering major; and Martha Osier ’06 (Nairobi, Kenya), a double major in economics & business and international affairs.