Vol. 9, No.

1 Fall 2009

The Center for International Educations newsletter about international activities at Webster University www.webster.edu/cie 538 Garden Avenue (314) 246-7705

Crossing Borders

Websters Des Lee Scholar Appointed To UN by Brady Koch

Webster Universitys 2008-09 Des Lee visiting scholar in global awareness is living up to her job description, even after her departure. As Rashida Manjoo leaves her St. Louis appointment, she can look forward to her new position as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. Officially taking the position in late June, Manjoo is the principal person authorized by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate charges of violence against women, file annual reports on womens human rights in individual countries, and place international pressure on governments that fail to adequately address violence against women. Created by United Nations mandate in 1994, the position of rapporteur was and has been held by two people previously, including Radhika Coomaraswamy, a renowned human rights activist who now serves as a UN under-secretary General. A human rights activist, academic lecturer and lawyer, Manjoo spent her visiting professorship at Webster during its Year of International Human Rights celebration teaching three courses on human rights and leading a successful spring conference on American exceptionalism. Her current research interests include legal pluralism and transitional justice issues, with a primary focus on gender justice. Before Webster, the South African native taught in the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, a mere footnote in an otherwise impressive resume. She is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and a Research Associate in the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Town and was a member of the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), a constitutional body mandated to oversee the promotion and protection of gender equality. The humanitarian went on to serve for five years as the Parliamentary Commissioner. Prior to being appointed to the CGE she was involved in social context training for judges and lawyers where she has designed both content and methodology during her time at the Law, Race and Gender Research UnitUniversity of Cape Town and at the University of Natal, Durban.

Rashida Manjoo discusses the role of Muslim women in a modern world at the Musawah Global Meeting on Equality and Justice for the Muslim Family in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this past Feburary.

This is an extraordinary honor for Rashida that reflects her years off service to international organizations and her activism, teaching, and scholarship in the area of international human rights, says Warren Rosenblum, Assistant Professor in the History, Politics & International Relations Department at Webster University. Philanthropist E. Desmond Lee established the annual lectureship at Webster University in 2000 to help foster international understanding among students and within communities across Websters worldwide network of campuses. In this issue: Websters Des Lee Scholar Appointed to UN From Knowledge to Action Summer Camp Bridges China-America for Students International Opportunities for Graduate Students CI and CIE News

Manjoo was involved in setting up both a national and a provincial network on violence against women. She is the founder of the Gender Unit at the Law Clinic at the University of Natal and also the Domestic Violence Assistance Programme at the Durban Magistrates Court (the first such project in a court in South Africa) as well as working with the Provincial Executive of the Womens Coalition, a forum that was set up pre-democracy to formulate the Womens Charter (a document setting out the demands of women in a new democracy). The ageless scholar was also an active member of the Womens Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court and remains an Advisory Board member and is a member of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws Network.

From Knowledge to Action: International Human Rights and the Study of our Environment by Tara DePorte
Humans vs. Nature: Our Environment The environment often brings to mind pristine mountain streams, lush tropical rainforests, or frolicking penguins in the arctic. Seldom does one envision schoolchildren suffering from asthma in the South Bronx, communities recovering from flooding in Bangladesh, or women traveling far distances down dark roads for firewood in Kenya. Unfortunately, the environment is too often relegated to people-free, postcard images, rather than as the systems, resources, and life upon which we depend daily. As it is impossible to ignore human impacts on the environment, it is also impossible to ignore environmental impacts on every aspect of human life. The Declaration on Human Rights establishes that everyone has a right to life, liberty and personal security. Environmental variability and degradation affect all sectors of life and their most dramatic impact is the increase in vulnerability of the worlds poorest populations. Fundamentally, life on earth requires water, air, food, and shelter. If we think of these necessities for life in terms of human rights, can one achieve life, liberty and personal security without access to potable water, clean air, food security, and adequate shelter? Therefore, are they not basic human rights? There is no question that environmental stewardship is ethically, if not innately, linked to life, liberty and personal security. Human rights and the environment are codependent; without access to a healthy environment, human rights are inaccessible. The Responsibility of Knowledge Environmental Studies searches to understand the never-ending complexities of our environment. One might focus on core issues such as natural resource management, climate change, or biodiversity, but these are all directly linked to poverty, health, equity, migration, conflict, and education. Specifically, every component of human rights depends on our environment and is threatened by global environmental variability and degradation. In todays world of globalization and technology, we have knowledge of, if not direct links to, communities around the world. According to philosopher Kwame Appiah, Each person you know about and affect is someone to whom you have responsibilities: to say this is just to affirm the very idea of morality. Accordingly, we have knowledge that our actions directly impact the health of our localand globalenvironment, thereby threatening the human rights of many throughout the world. As our knowledge continues to grow, so do our responsibilities. Risk in an Inequitable World The risks affiliated with environmental degradation are a shared reality: We are all at risk due to the impacts variability and degradation of our environment cause. Whether it be in the form of climate change, heavy metals in fish, dwindling forest reserves, feces-laden water, or failing crops, environmental variability and degradation

result in global increases of forced migration, inequitable resource allocation, disease, and death. The level of vulnerability we each face varies with our ability to adapt to these risks. For those of us with personal or community-based financial resources, support systems, and well- established infrastructure, we are at less risk for compromising our human rights to liberty and personal security when faced with environmental challenges. According to the Human Development Report, vulnerability describes an inability to manage risk without being forced to make choices that compromise human well-being. In 2006, more than one billion people were living in conditions of extreme poverty (less than U.S.$1 a day), with 2.7 billion living with less than $2 a day. However, poverty reaches far beyond income generation; it transcends access to natural resources such as water, food and fuel, access to and quality of education, and the ability to live free from diseaseparticularly those diseases for which cures exist. According to the UN Millennium Project, every year eleven million children die most under the age of five and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. Accordingly, in vulnerable communities, environmental degradation and variability result in lower school enrollmentparticularly for girlsincreased levels of malnutrition, a higher propensity for natural resource-related conflicts, and much more. Current global energy demands, rapid land-use change, over-consumption, and the burning of fossil fuels continue to increase the vulnerabilities of communities throughout the world. If left unchecked, our daily choices reinforce global inequities and obstruct human rights. Developed countries have had decades to exploit natural resources with minimal accountability. As a result, we are forcing the worlds poor to disproportionately suffer under the consequences. Allowing already vulnerable populations to deal with the impacts of environmental degradation-of which they have had minimal contribution to this pointonly exacerbates inequity and injustice. It is important for us all to consider the following: inaction is a form of action. This is particularly true in the case of the impacts of our environment on human rights. Our actions and inactions today will greatly impact human development in the years to come: we have technology; we have financial resources; however, we lack sufficient collective action. One of the goals of higher education is to create spaces for learning, dialogue, and action. Learning more about the earths systems, and our involvement in them, is a first step. It is up to students and faculty alike to overcome apathy and to challenge us all to acknowledge our privileges, opportunities, and responsibilities. Can we reduce waste and over-consumption by honestly determining our needs vs. wants? Before we act, do we take into account the impact we have on our environment and others? Are we willing to apply our knowledge to make a difference? These questions are critical in ensuring international human rights across cultures for current and future generations. As declared in the Human Development Report, we are all facing an ethical challenge: Just as we do not discount the human rights of future generations because they are equivalent to ours, so we should accept a stewardship of the earth responsibility to accord future generations the same ethical weight as the current generation.

An adjunct professor at the Webster-Leiden campus in the Netherlands, Tara DePorte specializes in climate change, gender and natural resources, scientific communication, and other environmental issues. She has a B.A. in Human Impacts on Ecosystems from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Climate and Society from Columbia University. DePorte is also the Program Director of the Lower East Side Ecology Center (www.LESEcologyCenter.org), a NY-based environmental non-profit.

to interact with locals at the Cultural Square. The day before we had to leave for Beijing, a closing ceremony was held for us at the Confucian Temple. Our trip to China was definitely a wonderful and unforgettable experience. We got to meet and become good friends with some very special people that treated us like family. The Department Associate for the Confucius Institute at Webster University, Jie Fan recently returned to China as a chaperone for Webster-sponsored students in the Chinese Bridge Summer Camp. Born in China, Fan was raised in the states, attending elementary school in New Jersey, middle and high school in Colorado. She attended Colorado State University for her undergrad and went to China for her grad school. Currently, Fan is working on another Masters and is taking courses at Webster.

Summer Camp Bridges China-America for Students by Jie Fan

This summer, the Confucius Institute at Webster University sponsored eighteen students from Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois, and Utah to take part in the annual Chinese Bridge Summer Camp for UK and US High School Students organized by Hanban and Confucius Institute Headquarters. Chinese Bridge Summer Camp is an exciting two-week summer camp that offers high school students a unique chance to experience China on a personal level. After a long plane ride, we were warmly received at the Beijing Capital International Airport and checked into the Beijing Foreign Language School dormitories. During our three-day stay in Beijing, we went to Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, and Temple of Heaven. We also went shopping at the Hongqiao Market, also known as the Pearl Market. Hanban, Confucius Institute Headquarters, Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Beijing Foreign Language School held a spectacular opening ceremony with fireworks for the teachers and students. Chinese students and American and British teachers and students from other Confucius Institutes performed songs and dances. On the fourth day, we took a flight to Changchun in the Jilin province. Changchun is considered the number one foreign language middle school in China. The principles and teachers warmly received us. The students were very happy to be able to stay in a five star hotel that was used mainly by government officials and foreigners. We attended two welcoming ceremonies that were held for us by the Jilin Province Board of Education and the Changchun Foreign Language Middle School. Our stay in Changchun was filled with language and culture classes in the mornings. The students received Chinese names and learned to speak and write Chinese characters. They also took lessons in Chinese calligraphy, Tai Chi, Chinese paper cutting, and on the guzheng, a Chinese string instrument. Our classes ended once the weekend arrived and the Chinese teachers and students took us to the Changchun International Sculpture Park and Jilin Provincial Museum. We had a picnic and played games - such as tug of war - and dancing, at the Jing Yue National Park. We also took a boat ride on the Songhua Lake in Jilin City. The students also flew kites and got a chance

International Opportunities for Graduate Students by Kimberly McGrath

Much like conducting research or writing a thesisstudying abroad as a graduate student isnt easy. For Webster University Graduate students, however, there are always possibilities. Webster graduate courses are regularly offered in Geneva, Vienna, Leiden and London, and are available in the 8-week format. Some graduate courses are also available in Thailand. While the 8-week format is ideal for some graduate students, there are a variety of short-term programs for students to choose from. Short-term, or faculty-led programs, are created and instructed by Webster faculty, and organized through the Office of Study Abroad. Most programs involve online work (hybrid), along with an international component, and take place during the summer term. Shortterm programs have taken place worldwide, in destinations including Latvia, Germany, Namibia, Japan, Italy, Argentina, Egypt, Norway and China. Webster Universitys international campuses provide graduate students with a unique immersion into their subject of study, and a chance to participate in the learning experience. In order to be eligible to study abroad, Graduate students must have completed 9 credit hours at a U.S. campus, be in good academic and financial standing, and submit their application by the program deadline. Study abroad program deadlines vary for Short-Term programs, and are as follows for 8-week terms: Summer - February 15, Fall - March 15, Spring - September 15. Course offerings can be viewed from each campuss website. Click on the international campus icon at http://www.webster.edu/studyabroad , and then click on the course offerings link. It is important to look at these projected schedules, and then meet with your academic advisor to discuss your options. For information on applying International Opportunities continuted on page 4

Continuation of International Opportunities from page 3 for term abroad, visit http://www.webster.edu/studyabroad/apply. shtml. For detailed information on short-term programs, visit http://www.webster.edu/studyabroad/short/index.shtml. For more general information and resources, please visit www.webster.edu/studyabroad. Graduate students who cannot find appropriate coursework within Websters International campus network may seek other international experiences to complement their studies. This requires a much more significant amount of time, research and possibly funding on the part of the student. However, the following resources may be helpful. Fulbright grants: Graduate students may be able to design their own programs abroad through a US Student Fulbright Grant. The deadline to apply for this prestigious and competitive award is usually in September. Visit this site for details. NSEP Funding: Another financial aid opportunity that supports graduate students abroad is the Boren Fellowship of the National Security Education program. See this site for details. Overseas Research Internships: This program seeks to provide an international education option for students in technical majors and graduate students. Read more here. Other research opportunities: The Euroscholars Program offers the opportunity to participate in research at one of 12 high-quality research universities in the European Union. To get more detail on study abroad programs, or to discuss your options, call the Office of Study Abroad at 314-968-6988, or toll free at 800-984-6857.

Confucius Says... News From the Confucius Institute CIE Column News From the Center for International Education

Greetings from Tiananmen Square, the Peoples Republic of China! Westerns may best remember this Beijing landmark as the location of the infamous protests in 1989 known in China as the June Fourth Incident. Chinese Bridge Summer camp attendees: Morgan Jasperson, Katherine Stenquist, James Johnson III, Dominic Cavicchia, Garin Nicholas Kessler, Kevin Conrad, Thomas Rein, Emma Jane Napoleon, Moira Erica MacDougal, David Miller, Ashley Thomason, Stephen Garza, Jeffrey Johnston, Cristina Johnston, Lily Zdansky, Benjamin Webster, Teddy Murphy, Andrew Zheng, and chaperones Philip Pierce and Jie Fan.

Crossing Borders is published by the Center for International Education (CIE) of Webster University. The CIE seeks to promote the internationalization of Webster University by publicizing information about international activities and by providing support of international research and study. Comments and suggestions for the publication may be sent to: Brady Koch, Editor, Center for International Education, Webster University, 407 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119 or email jacksmat@webster.edu. Webster University Study Abroad Coordinator Kim McGrath tips her (St. Louis Cardinals) hat atop the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Mail To: