| Summary: | Spring 2011 Destinations Affected by Travel Alert • s •4 I:. 1' s•• •• •$ 3 •• of • •: : 0. .0 : ,0 • I,. • . I • e • • • •. t 4 so •• • • s• 4. • • S. t • a 4,, • ••• • • • • • .41,4, t4e • P4 e, 0 clf-r.r., The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Europe concerning the possibility of terrorist attacks in the future. The dotted portions of the map above identify destinations for exploration seminars, spring semester abroad, and May seminars that are affected by this alert. GRAPHIC BY SHELBY GOETTEMOELLER the CON CORD IAN CAV PUS N EWS NovEmBER19,2010 6 Heightened terror threat in Europe Global Ed:Terrorism threats not as tangible as other travel risks BY KELSY JOHNSON Staff Writer Spring and summer des-tinations for the Concordia College Global Education program recently received attention when the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Europe. The State Department issued the travel alert Oct. 3 in response to an increased threat of terrorism. The statement was not meant to deter people from travel to Europe, but to make them aware of a threat that has recently come to light in Eu-rope. The travel alert is in ef-fect until Jan. 31, 2011. "I'm glad the State De-partment has raised this con-cern," Per Anderson, associ-ate dean for global learning, said. "However, this does not mean we shouldn't travel to Europe." The State Department posted the alert in response to information that suggests that al-Qaida and other un-specified organizations may be planning terrorist attacks in Europe. In addition to the threat of terrorism, Europe has recently faced increased political unrest. Protests broke out in France in late October over a decision to raise the retirement age from 6o to 62. Life in Paris was disrupted by the pro-tests. Anderson said a terrorist threat, while real, is not as much of a tangible threat as other factors that may inter fere with a student's experi-ence while abroad. Terrorism in its nature is unpredictable. More realistic threats that students might face while abroad are transportation, traffic and alcohol abuse. Junior Grant Schneider experienced a combination of events while studying abroad in France in April. The volcano Eyjafjallajokull erupted in Iceland while he was touring Rome during a break in the semester. When he attempted to take a train back to France, he was stalled in southern France due to a transportation in-dustry strike. The unexpected turn of events didn't worry him, though. His only concern was the exam that he missed while he was delayed. "The people work around it in France," Schneider said. "It was kind of a French thing because they strike all the time." Schneider said he didn't need the assistance of the Office of Global Education to deal with his predica-ment. Instead, he maneu-vered through the situation with the resources available to him in Europe. Elna Solvang, associate professor of religion, is one of three faculty members who will take students to South Africa in May. Solvang said the risks are present in South Africa, but not any more than other places. As a faculty leader, she plans to keep students safe by dealing with the logistics of the trip, such as safe, reli-able transportation and ap-propriate locations to bring groups. "We're also keeping in mind that we're not travel-ing as tourists," Solvang said. "We are traveling as learners and respectful visitors." The Global Education Office receives intelligence reports from two sources: the U.S. State Department and iJET, a daily intelligence service designed for the trav-el industry. With these sources, An-derson monitors conditions in the various study abroad locations. He also compares these reports to British and Australian intelligence re-ports to get a complete and fair perspective on situations abroad. "Sometimes I will send a report to a partner abroad and say, 'What do you see,"' Anderson said. A new problem has given way in recent years through the widespread use of social networking sites. Students are in closer communication with their friends and family while abroad than they were before. Anderson said this be-comes an issue when parents call in to the Global Edu-cation Office with worries about their students' safety without the office's prior knowledge of the concern. "Students will be texting and tweeting and Facebook-ing before we have even heard about it," Anderson said. Anderson sees the study abroad program as a learn-ing tool for students to ex-perience the world with an appropriate amount of oversight by the Office of Global Education. For many students, this will not be the last time they travel abroad. "This is a kind of a dress rehearsal for what we want our graduates to negotiate," Anderson said. "There's no place in the world that is without risk." KU P P E R: Apple party idea a hit at education conferences Continued from page I The 35 members in at-tendance at the apple party were a good turnout for an education club meeting, Ilse said. "The Concordia Educa-tion Club has not been all that successful in the past in terms of numbers," Ilse said. "We have a hard time get-ting people to come to our events." At Education Minne-sota, Kupper and Ilse were placed in small groups to discuss different strategies of education club leaders. There was a question about what has been successful in their club. They told about the apple party and people seemed interested in their idea, Ilse said. By the end of weekend when the clubs met again, their idea had proven popular. `Almost every single club had an apple party planned," use said. Kupper said there arc fewer students from north-ern Minnesota in atten-dance at Education Min-nesota than those from the Twin Cities. This also led her to be chosen to' repre-sent Minnesota at the Con-nections Conference, she said. "I said it would be great to spread our delegates throughout the state," Kup-per said. Kupper was the only stu-dent from the northern part of Minnesota in attendance at the Connections Confer ence in Florida. The other three from Minnesota were from the Twin Cities area. She received free airfare to and lodging in Florida, as well as free meals and a night at City Walk, a down-town entertainment venue, at Universal Studios. Information binders are being made for future Edu-cation Club leaders at Con-cordia, so information Kup-per has learned from both the Education Minnesota and Florida conferences can pass to future education classes, Ilse said. Kupper will be fulfill-ing her student teaching requirement for her educa-tion major in the spring, and said she plans to apply ideas from the Connections Con-ference to her experience, including information about proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind Act. Teri Langlie, instructor in the education depart-ment, has taught Kupper in three education classes, including a class last spring when Kupper completed her clinical teaching experi-ence at Dilworth Elemen-tary School. Langlie said Kupper is an organized, knowledgeable student who is passionate and caring about her voca-tion. "She wants to do what is best for kids in all situa-tions," Langlie said. Langlie said she is proud of Kupper, because she is the first student from Con-cordia to attend the confer ence in recent memory. "It's quite exciting for [someone from] our club to be chosen to attend a na-tional conference," Langlie said. BY BLAKE MACKENZIE Contributing Writer The Grant Center will shut down at the end of De-cember in preparation for construction on the Offutt School of Business, which is set to begin in late spring. According to Rebecca Amundsen, director of bud-gets and planning, "asbestos abatement" will begin over Christmas break with the skyway. The skyway work should be completed by the beginning of second semes-ter and will be functional for the rest of the school year, Amundsen said. The asbestos abatement for Moe Lounge and the rest of the Grant Center will begin around February. Construc-tion on the Offutt School of Business is not expected to begin until late April or early May 2011. The lobby where the skyway connects to the East Complex will remain open, but the rest of the Grant Center will be closed. According to Amundsen, the asbestos abatement is a normal procedure for the renovation of older build-ings on campus. "In buildings around campus, once you disrupt it, you get it out," Amund-sen said. "The entrance to the library had an asbestos abatement this summer." After the abatement, the demolition phase of construction will begin. Ac-cording to Amundsen, con-struction shouldn't affect students this school year. However, students living in the East Complex next school year can expect some minor disruptions. "The reality is, there will be some noise," Amundsen said. Construction will run from 6 or 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday dur-ing the school year. Amund-sen speculates that several other disruptions—such as parking congestion, possible temporary skyway closure, and plumbing shutoffs— may interfere with student life but will be handled with consideration for when stir dents will be on campus. Before being repurposed as the Offutt School of Busi-ness, the Grant Center has served the campus in other ways. Opening in 1968 with the East Complex, it was primarily a cafeteria until it ceased operations with the opening of Anderson Com-mons in the Knutson Cen-ter. It has also served as an events center, especially during the Knutson expan-sion. For the last two and a half years, it has played host to the Global Education of-fices. According to Per An-derson, associate dean for global learning and the di-rector of global education, the Global Education offices will be moving to the base-ment of Lorentzsen in time for the closing this Decem-ber. This will be the second temporary location in a row for the Office of Global Edu-cation, as the Grant Center was a temporary location after they were moved from the Welcome Center. "Moving is a challenge, changing students' habits is a challenge, but hopefully we'll be moving again before too long," Anderson said. The college is consider ing permanently moving the Global Education offices to the Normandy space adja-cent to Livedalen hall, but that move is not feasible at this time, according to An-derson. But he is ready for that move, if it comes. "Being more centrally located will be easier for ev-eryone," Anderson said. The Office of Global Education isn't the only or ganization being displaced by the Offutt School of Busi-ness. Sunday Night at East, a student-led worship service that meets in Moe Lounge in the Grant Center every Sunday night, will also have to look for a new place to go next semester. Soren Poffenberger, one of the co-coordinators for Sunday Night at East, doesn't know where their new location will be yet. As of now, they are looking at moving to the Normandy or the Lab The-ater in the Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre. Poffenberger, a resident assistant in Erickson Hall, hasn't heard any concerns about construction from residents yet. However, if the skyway gets temporarily shut down, that may be dif-ferent. "It wouldn't be the worst thing, but there'd definitely be complaints," Poffenberg-er said. Another organization af-fected by the construction is Catering by Concordia, which also uses the Grant Center. Bill Fradet, catering and conference manager, said the Grant Center is only used around four times each year and will be most missed during homecoming, when demand for event space is at a premium. And Fradet knows – he has been work-ing for catering since he was a student living in Erickson during the mid-198os. During Fradet's time, the Grant Center also housed a short-order grill called the "Kiosk," a lounge with a pool table, and a sun deck connected to the cafeteria. East Complex was designed to be eventually expanded to include two more dormi-tories, but student desires for campus apartments out-weighed the need for more traditional residence halls, and the campus expanded in that direction. Fradet never thought while he was a student that East Com-plex would one day be home to classrooms, much less a school of business. He en-joyed his time in Erickson and the Grant Center caf-eteria. "Everyone knew every-one," Fradet said. "It wasn't uncommon for people to walk down in their slippers and pajamas." According to Fradet, the last few events scheduled for catering in the Grant Center before its closing took place over homecoming weekend. One of these events was a homecoming brunch for the class of 197o, a class that saw the construction and open-ing of the Grant Center. "It's interesting that one of the last groups using the building was one of the first using the building," Fradet said. Grant Center to close Offutt School of Business construction to begin spring 20 I
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