Dimond Academic Commons celebrates official opening

By 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16, the foyer of the Dimond Library had become as crowded as the corridor in front of Holloway Commons during exam time.

Students, faculty and members of the UNH community had gathered not to eat, but to celebrate the official opening of the Dimond Academic Commons, a new feature of the Dimond Library that combines current resources with the technology of Computer and Information Services in a new central location.

Various UNH representatives who were instrumental in the creation of the DAC—interim UNH library dean Dianne Tebbets, UNH provost and vice president Bruce Mallory and Student Senate speaker Katherine Steere—spoke to the crowd of people, stating the benefits of the new DAC and the necessity for a “commons” within UNH.

Tebbets explained that the DAC project made it possible for students to get all of their information and technology needs within the library. Because of the DAC, she said, “Students can just work on their work.” Tebbets also made clear that, since the DAC has only been completed up to phase one of the project, library users will see “enhancements all the time” at the library.

The DAC has been a collaborative plan between the library and CIS for over three years. According to Terri Winters, director of academic technology for CIS, those working on the project included not only library and CIS staff, but also undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members, who made up the DAC Working Group and offered their ideas on what the DAC should include.

“The students told us the type of services they needed and wanted, and how they worked best in the library,” Winters said. “The faculty (told us) how they expected their students to use the library for research and class projects.”

discriminatory incidents currently on display in the Bias Gallery

Every year at the University of New Hampshire, beginning in the fall, a new crop of intolerance, hate and ignorance is harvested. The seeds are carefully planted when nobody is paying attention, and then, suddenly, the crop sprouts and soon grows out of control, thriving on a new layer of prejudice-rich manure and soil. And, every year at UNH, the campus community has a chance to view and reflect on this new crop.

Each year, UNH’s Office of Residential Life brings the Bias Gallery—a collection of discriminatory incidents that have occurred on campus over the last couple of years—to the dorms. The gallery is currently making its way across campus. It has already been featured in several dorms within the past couple of weeks and still has several more to visit. The gallery addresses the diversity engagement section of the University’s mission statement. According to a document on the Office of Residential Life’s Web site, the Bias Gallery is “very powerful,” and should be shown in every dorm at least once a year.

The Bias Gallery is essentially a collection of photographs of bias-related incidents that have taken place at UNH, mainly within the dorms. It is typically set up in a dorm lounge, where students walk through silently, viewing and reflecting on the acts of discrimination displayed.

Jay Tifone, hall director of Jessie Doe Hall and faculty member of UNH Residential Life, feels that it is significant for students to view.

“I think it’s important for students to see the Bias Gallery because it’s a tangible example of the ignorance and hate that occurs across campus,” Tifone said. “I often hear students say as they’re leaving, ‘I had no idea that this happened on campus.’ If you’re in a majority group and your friends are too, you might never see such discrimination occurring.”

A document released by UNH’s Affirmative Action and Equity Office states that, between Nov. 5, 2006 and April 15, 2007, there were 39 bias or hate incidents reported on the UNH campus, 28 of which occurred in residence halls. Thirty of these incidents were perpetrated by UNH students.

Catholic priest gets political at UNH

In the polarized climate of contemporary American politics, it is common to hear people citing the need for a political middle ground, one where pressing issues such as global poverty can be debated without the influence of party politics. What is uncommon is for these words to come from an outspoken Catholic priest, to a room of college academia on a largely secular campus, such as the University of New Hampshire.

Jim Wallis, a giant in the sphere of social activism and politics, spoke in the Holloway Common’s Squamscott Room on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at an event titled, “Voting Our Values: Peace, Poverty and the Planet.” The event was organized by the UNH Discovery Program and was part of the University Dialogue on Democracy.

Wallis is a public theologian, Catholic priest, political activist and bestselling author. His most recent book, “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It,” was on The New York Times bestseller list for four months.
Wallis is widely viewed as a key leader of the “religious left,” although he forswears any party labels. The religious left is a blossoming political movement whose followers hold strong religious beliefs and share left-wing ideals, which is at odds with a recent trend in American politics that identifies Republicans as the “party of values.”

Although he is clearly a player on the political stage, Wallis asserts that he is above party politics, saying, “People of faith should not be in any political party’s pocket.”

“He’s a balancing voice,” said Julie Tracy, a Democrat and associate chaplain at the UNH Catholic Student Center. “He calls the left and right back to the center to debate the important issues.”

Zach Clifton, a Republican and UNH graduate student, said he is skeptical of Wallis’ sincerity. He cited his well-known support of the Democratic Party, and said that the claim of “higher purposes” can be a rhetoric device for those who are motivated for political reasons.