By Ashlee Bishop

Resident Assistant Ms. Magan Collins hosted a 2 hour long informational in the Honors Hall cafeteria Monday, February 20, 2012 starting at 6 PM.  During the program, titled Thurgood Marshall College Fund, College Success: A Student’s Guide to Academic Excellence, students discussed personal goals and were directed to resources that could help them achieve their goals including scholarship opportunities. All-expense paid business conferences, internships, and career opportunities all made possible by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund were the main topics of the forum.

TMCF (Thurgood Marshall College Fund) offers students of its 47 member schools $4,400 scholarships per academic school year.

Deadlines and requirements vary for each scholarship. For more information and to apply candidates should visit www.thurgoodmarshallfund.net.

The Leadership Institute Conference and Recruitment in the fall, and Civil Responsibility Conference in the summer are also available to students of TMCF’s member schools. Member Universities Professional Institute Conference in the spring is for staff and faculty of members schools. The Leadership Institute which is held October 26-30 in New York City is tailored towards students who were looking for networking opportunities, informative workshops, plenary sessions with keynote speakers and career recruitment. The Civic Responsibility Conference which takes place in Washington, D.C. June 28 is designed for students interested in advocacy, lobbying and politics. From this event twenty-four students are selected for an eight week paid internship. The Member University Professional Institute Conference’s location changes every year, this year it will be held in Miami, FL. It will be held on March 18- 21 exclusively for faculty, administrators and staff of members of public Historically Black College and Universities. The 2012 Theme is Financial Empowerment. Alcorn State University’s personnel from the office of Financial Aid have been formally invited.

Internships as well as employment opportunities and much more are available at TMCF’s website. Each month ten students are selected by the Student Ambassador at their respective university to participate in the Talent Sourcing Database. In addition two students, one male and one female from each of the 47 member schools are also recommended for the Distinguished Scholar Award. To be eligible applicants must have a 3.0 GPA and must also email their resumes to their Student Ambassador. Ms. Magan Collins is Alcorn’s current Student Ambassador and her email address is mcolinstmcf@yahoo.com.

As Magan Collins, a senior Business Administration major prepares to graduate, the person that will take over the Alcorn State Student Ambassador position with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund has already been selected. Arielle Buchmann, a senior Mass Communication/ Broadcast Journalism is next in line for the 2012- 2013 position.

By Ashlee Bishop

The Office of Diversity and Equity Engagements hosted a Diversity Dialogue February 27, 2012 with the theme:  Speaking Truths. Dr. Derek Greenfield was the host. The event was very informal and comfortable for participants, with some continuing to serve themselves as Dr. Greenfield got the affair underway.  He started with a responsive activity in which no one of the 50 plus member audience seemed to be too shy to participate. Throughout the entire event guests were not seated for very long, due to the many interactive activities. The gathering was orchestrated to acknowledge and confront the biases that surround languages and accents.

“Everyone has an accent”, said Dr. Greenfield the Director of Diversity and Equity Engagement here at Alcorn State University. He went on to explain that an accent is simply a glimpse into a person’s upbringing and regional hometown, instead of a reference to their intelligence. He also spoke to the idea that if you allow yourself to be completely turned off by person based on the way the talk; you are also closing off

Attendants at the Diversity Dialogue program.

opportunities. He shared his experiences in other countries/cultures where it is better to speak more than one language, to be able to communicate with more people. Guests were urged to learn another language.

Dr. Dickson Idusuyi (Professor), Jeanelle Warren (Student), Andrea Vera (Student), and Douglas Curry (a Graduate Assistant in the office of Diversity and Equity Engagements) all gave personal testimonies of adjusting to, being ostracized and/ or finding a natural medium in American culture as it relates to language and accents.

Dr. Idusuyi told of the first time someone offered him a hot dog. Assuming that he knew what it was even though he is from a different background and culture. He told the crowd that it didn’t matter if it was hot, cold or warm, “we don’t eat dogs where I come from and I still to this day will not eat a hot dog”, said Dr. Idusuyi.

Andrea Vera, a student from Mexico, also spoke to people assuming that everyone understands common slang in American culture. She told everyone that her friends were the first to explain to her that there are more than formal ways of saying, “let’s go.” She said that after she and her friends had gotten ready for an event one of them said, “okay, let’s roll” and she thought to herself right now, right here? As the audience at the dialogue laughed she blushed saying I now know that means let’s go.  Even now she still gets nervous speaking in front of groups of people since there are some cultural aspects of the American language that are still hard for her to comprehend and remember.

Jeanelle Warren, form Jacksonville, Florida, spoke about being ostracized by members of her own racial background (African-Americans) for her accent of American English. She told of uncomfortable situations where people asked her, “Why do you talk like you’re white?” to which she would respond “I’m not talking like I’m white, I’m speaking

English.”

Douglas Curry, a New Jersey native, commented that he often juggles in his mind how much of himself and his accent he should release when speaking. He says that he adjusts his dialectic tone according to the environment and contemplates each thought before he speaks.

Afterwards, participants were asked to move to other tables and sit with people whom they were not familiar, and then asked to hold a small discussion at their respective tables. The topics discussed were: Internalizing and multilingual issues, How we can grow linguistically as individuals,

By Maurice Williams

Mrs. U’landa Danzy, known to students around the campus of Alcorn State University as Mrs. Danzy, was a hardworking woman in the Registrar’s office for 17 years. She passed on Sunday, March 4, 2012. Mrs. Danzy was born on August 25, 1969 in Natchez, MS. She was also a graduate of Alcorn State University where she received a Bachelors of Science degree in Mass Communications and a Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling in Elementary Education. Mrs. Danzy faithfully served in several capacities at Greater Faith Worship Center in Fayette, MS that included being President of the church choir, the youth ministry, executive secretary to the Pastor, the Rev. Hammitte, and an elementary Sunday school teacher.

            Around the campus, however, Mrs. Danzy performed numerous tasks. Not only did she work in the Registrar’s office, Mrs. Danzy was also a professor, teaching freshman and transfer students in Survival Skills and University Life. Within the Registrar’s office, she was described as “professional, proficient, and family oriented” by Mr. Smith, the head of the Registrar’s office. Around the office, peers described her as being brilliant.

            Within the Registrar’s office, Mrs. Danzy performed numerous tasks, which was quite a handful. Mrs. Danzy worked around the office with enrollment verification, reviewing residency changes, and uploading transcripts. She was also the team leader for imaging projects as well as did recordings for student team leading. She also worked with Freshman and Transfer students with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Aside from her work, Mrs. Danzy was someone anyone could get along with easily. She was passionate with her work as well as helping other people out.

By Taylor Rice

After a year and a half of being idle on campus due to financial issues, Alcorn State University’s Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) hosted its very first meeting on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. The meeting was held inside of the Industrial Technology Building in room #215. The prospective students in attendance set the necessary groundwork for the NABJ to have a successful future. “We need better presence on campus,” exclaimed Larry K. Sanders, one of the faculty members from the Mass Communications department in attendance that evening.

After acknowledging that recognition is a sure sign of involvement, Mass Communication majors began to bombard ideas on how that goal can be reached. Other topics being discussed were membership, grades, student involvement and events. Ashlee Bishop, a Junior Mass Communications major who was responsible for putting the entire meeting together stated, “With proper planning and utilization I believe that we can make Alcorn’s Chapter of the NABJ one of the best organizations on campus.”

Although the global economic crisis appears to have improved and is miles away, solutions for recovery are being sought after at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos -Klosters, Switzerland.

For the past few months the United States has been out of the spotlight pertaining to the economic crisis, while the crisis has been taking its toll on Europe. Despite the fact that the media continues to focus in particularly on Europe, the outcome will be just as severe in the United States as anywhere else in the Western World. After many discussions and debates at the World Economic Forum, many leaders of the global business elite have come to the supposition and concern that the Western model of capitalism has been unsuccessful and is soon to be pushed to the curb by up- and coming powers, specifically the Asian nations and Brazil.  After almost three years since this whole process started, the global leaders seem to finally be getting a wake- up call.

As the situation continues to worsen in the Euro-zone and Greece hits an ultimate low the whole world anxiously awaits the next step. The forum in Davos so far has resulted in at long last, discussing the possible failure of capitalism however now the uncertainty remains whether action will be taken.  Not only does capitalism need to be looked at in the Western world but more importantly a great deal revolves around politics and the world working together to fight this crisis.  Lastly, citizens need to embrace the change that may be upon us when it comes to what politics and the government have been in the past.  At this point, the Western world will be forced to seek long- term decisions instead of merely considering the present and the swiftest way to money.  New rules will need to be applied in order for businesses to become more productive.

All that can be done at this point is to await the action that will be taken in order to improve the politics and rise to this occasion. Optimistically, we will not continue to see the Western system crumble in front of our eyes, watch how the Asian and some Latin- American countries surpass us and carry on as we continue falling behind.