2011 Sessions
FOCUS SESSION I: 1:15-2:15 P.M.
“Oh, yes, I can.”
Lorrie Woycik, Special Olympics • Mueller Hall: Refectory
Special Olympics has provided a voice for those with special needs and given them a chance to speak out for justice in our society. A brief overview will be provided of the importance of Special Olympics in the lives of the athletes to reveal an “I can” spirit after having been on the outside looking in. The athletes will speak about the way they were treated in school by their peers, and how it affected their lives.
Basketball Diplomacy: Yao Ming as China’s Cultural Ambassador to the World
Richard Huckabee, Daniel Hoyle, Chuchu Wang, Yuchao Zhou,
Valparaiso University Students • Harre Union: Brown and Gold Room B
This program introduces audiences to the basketball career of Yao Ming, the first Chinese athlete to ever join the NBA in the United States, and explores how his trials
and triumphs, both on and off the court, have helped promote better understanding between China and the United States. A panel of two American and two Chinese students explores how Yao Ming’s example led to cultural exchanges, created career paths, and drew attention to charitable causes. This session will employ a range of materials, from Yao’s biography to commercials featuring Yao to the sports documentary titled, The Year of Yao.
Gendered Image of Athletes in the Media
Professor Lissa Yogan, Valparaiso University • VUCA: Room 1412
This session will discuss the ways in which the media emphasizes stereotypical gender images of athletes and the effects that these images have on the public’s perception of how men and women should perform on and off the field. The emphasis is on the perpetuation of gender inequalities within the field of sports.
“Juegos de sueños, sueños de realidad”: Games of Dreams, Dreams of Reality
Marissa Longoria and Alex Merlo, Latinos in Valparaiso for Excellence (LIVE)
Neils Science Center: Room 224
The session will focus primarily on Latino and Latina athletes, and how they have
played an influential role in the present day, not only in sports, but in others’ lives.
Most importantly, it will show how they made their dreams a reality.
The Welcome Project: Collecting Stories of Difference
Professors Allison Schuette, Liz Wuerffel and Dena Hein, Valparaiso University
Harre Union: Alumni Room
Recently, Valpo has renewed its commitment to recognize and affirm our existing and increasing diversity. Such an endeavor will bring struggles and joy. In this session, we will practice telling and listening to stories as part of an ongoing project to illustrate the complexity of living together with difference. Facilitators will provide examples and guide participants through exercises to help generate these stories. Opportunities to record the stories in an audio booth will follow.
Beyond Jackie Robinson: Sports and the Color Lines
Professor Alan Bloom, Valparaiso University
Neils Science Center: Room 234
This lecture/discussion will take the Jackie Robinson story and put it in the broader historical context of the integration of sports. Indeed, integration has been a complex process that goes way beyond one man’s story. This session will examine the actual efforts to draw the original color line in the late nineteenth century, as well as the efforts to integrate sports long after Jackie Robinson was retired. It also will explore some of the painful ironies of this history, such as the demise of the Negro leagues.
Awakening to Equality
Professors Karl Lutze and Mark Bartusch, Valparaiso University
CCLIR: Community Room
This session will explore the early years of pastoral ministry of Valparaiso University’s own Karl Lutze, who found himself as “a young white pastor” called to serve African-American congregations and communities in Muskogee and Tulsa, OK “at the dawn of civil rights.” This will be an opportunity to learn about the importance of forging relationships between church, community, and other organizations for positive change.
Sports Mascots and Native Americans
Professor James Kingsland, Valparaiso University
Harre Union: Victory Bell Room
This participatory session will involve a debate over the revival of the controversial University of Illinois mascot, Chief Illiniwek, following the 2007 announcement by the Board of Trustees that he would no longer symbolize the University. Audience members will be invited to weigh in on whether the Chief is a mascot or a symbol, a respectful tradition or simply another racist caricature.
FOCUS SESSION II: 2:30-3:30 P.M.
Students from CORE 110-BB, Valparaiso University
Harre Union: Brown and Gold Room B
Students from Professor Bridget Kies’ fall 2010 CORE class will discuss their experiences playing sports against international students from Interlink and each other as a way of learning about community building. Although initial reactions to the idea of sports in the humanities classroom ranged from excitement to terror, soccer and volleyball served to unite the class, and healthy competition against international students resulted in great cross-cultural exchange.
Title IX and Women’s College Sports
Professor Amy Atchison, Valparaiso University • VUCA: Room 1412
This session will examine Title IX, emphasizing the historical context, as well as pros and cons of the legislation and outcomes. The session will include discussion on Title IX. Participation from those attending is encouraged.
Mirroring: Identifying and Mitigating Diversity Issues in the Workplace
and Everyday Life
Samantha Cornwell and Halina Hopkins, Day at the Races
Mueller Hall: Refectory
Through skits, interaction, role-playing and discussion, Valparaiso University’s Day at the Races theater troupe will show what kinds of diversity issues contemporary workplaces face today. Audience participation is encouraged.
Teamwork and Sports on Indian Reservations
Professor Ronald Janke, Valparaiso University • Harre Union: Ballroom A
Professor Janke will talk about his work on Indian reservations and his field trip classes to Indian Reservations in the West during this past summer and at earlier times. Valparaiso University’s past efforts to help Native Americans and strategies that other academic and sports groups may use to help the poorest places and people in the United States will also be discussed. The strategies that have been used on Native American reservations include summer basketball camps, student teaching, nursing training, social work practice, and engineering projects.
Intersectionality (Our Multiple Identities) and Privilege
Stewart Cooper and Natalie Muskin-Press, Valpo Counseling Center
Neils Science Center: Room 224
Historically, the concept of white privilege – that solely being Caucasian in the United States led to significantly more privilege while being non-white blocked privilege – was an important foundation of the civil rights movement. In subsequent years, gender was added to form a 2 by 2 matrix of privilege. Research now shows that this theory is too simplistic and inaccurate. The intersectionality of our multiple identities interacts with settings to determine levels of privilege. The session will include an experiential exercise on privilege and identity intersectionality and a discussion of how this theory has been playing out in professional sports.
40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
Migel Nunnery, ARC, Valparaiso University • Neils Science Center: Room 234
William Rhoden’s 40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete (2006) is reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the “conveyor belt theory,” according to which African-American athletes are granted scholarships, removed from their familiar environments, and then are challenged to meet extremely high standards of success. Due to the limits on upward mobility facing young African-Americans, their experience is one of victimization. The presenter will draw upon his own experiences to explain how he has transitioned from a state of victimization to one of empowerment.
Community, Canals, and Soccer
Tim Staub and Nick Lindeke, Engineers Without Borders
Harre Union: Alumni Room
The presentation will include video clips of a soccer game played in Masaera, Tanzania, on the Engineers Without Borders 2010 trip. Following the video, the presenters will share their personal thoughts about how the soccer game versus the villagers was an important part of the relationship-building process with the village. Following the personal thoughts, the session will be open for questions.
The Ink of a Scholar
Demetrius Amparan, Valparaiso University Student
CCLIR: Community Room
The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr. Students will enter this session with open minds about many of the social issues that affect our society today. They will then break off into groups for eye opening workshops that reveal truths in peoples’ lives and potentially change their perceptions of others. Writing workshops will include Demetrius Amparan and Deja K. Taylor (National Poetry finalist and HBO Poet).
Black Magic: The Story Behind the Integration of College Basketball
Professor Phillip Powell, Valparaiso University, Latrice Jones and
Ashley Anderson, Black Student Organization (BSO) • CCLIR: Room 205
In a time when African-Americans were excluded from NCAA sanctioned athletic events, many coaches and players were instrumental in successfully integrating college basketball including former NBA stars Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, and Bill Russell. Most of these players were first recruited by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) but chose to compete at predominantly white institutions.
This session will be designed to discuss the contributions of such coaches and players, and many others who helped shape the history of college basketball.
Social Justice Organizing is a Contact Sport
Professor Ruth Needleman, Calumet College of St. Joseph, and Professor Chuck Gallmeier, IU Northwest • Harre Union: Brown and Gold Room A
Social movements are built on relationships, division of labor, and teamwork. Movement work requires you know your strengths and weaknesses, play to your strengths and play strategically for the long haul. A big star might attract attention but cannot carry the game alone. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a star but he built neither the movement nor its power. This session will examine how movements develop and why teamwork founded on relationships matters. This session will include group work and drama.
Book Discussion: Outcasts United
Cynthia Rutz, Teaching Resource Center, Valparaiso University
Harre Union: Heritage Room
Outcasts United by Warren St. John is a book about a soccer team made up of refugees and the growing pains of the small Georgia town that has become a haven for people fleeing from war-torn countries. Jordanian-American Luma Mufleh, the team’s coach is a woman who sees great potential in these kids from Africa and the Middle East. The book details Luma’s struggles to mold these kids into a team and the town’s struggles to accommodate its new citizens. Luma Mufleh will be the keynote speaker at MLK Day.
Little Town of Bethlehem
SALT (Social Action Leadership Team) • Mueller Hall: Room 140
This documentary film follows three men of different faiths as they promote non-
violence in Israel and Palestine. The film examines the struggle to promote equality through nonviolent engagement in the midst of incredible violence that has dehumanized all sides. Sami’s story begins as a young boy living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; Yonatan’s starts on an Israeli military base; and Ahmad’s begins in a Palestinian refugee camp. A discussion follows the film.