Students Turned Away From Guest Speaker's Presentation

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10/13/05

By Lori Rupert,
Photo Editor

Throughout September, posters around campus advertised for the Dr. Robert Mendler presentation. Both the freshman seminar in thinking and writing classes and the connections classes were encouraged to attend the presentation and hear Mendler speak.

According to Wilda Kaylor, associate director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE), “Every student should hear a survivor speak, as long as they are available. Survivor stories are very personal and real.” Along with wanting the freshman to experience this, NCCHE wanted to extend their goal from last year: “To build an audience, and make Holocaust education campus wide.”

Mendler, a returning guest speaker, was scheduled to appear on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 in 206 Admin. When the night arrived, three classes worth of people were seated, plus an additional 30 students. Two classes were waiting in the hall to be seated. However, there was no seating left and no possibility of standing or sitting on the floor, due to fire safety codes. The classes in the hallway were turned away, and not able to see the Mendler presentation. “Not everyone was turned away. The unfortunate part is we did have to turn people away,” Kaylor said.

Along with the freshman that came, two classes worth of upperclassmen were present; one was a class that originally occurs in that room, and the other was Sister Lois Sculcos’ senior seminar, whom the presentation date was originally set for.

According to Kaylor, the room was selected partly for its size. “A smaller room sets the setting, keeps Dr. Mendler comfortable, and enables everyone to hear him,” Kaylor said, “We had a really good sizable audience, it feels good that they came…I regret that we couldn’t accommodate them all, but it just wasn’t possible.”

According to one of the students that got turned away, Emily Gearhart, freshman, the classes were not actually required to attend, but it was strongly suggested, and it was worth 10 points on their Co-Curricular Transcripts(CCT). “…it was a really good opportunity to not only learn about the Holocaust, but also to add points to our CCT,” Gearhart said, “When we were told that we had to leave, I was extremely confused at first…I don't believe it's fair that we got turned away…”

Erin Mitchell, freshman, another student who got turned away, feels the same as Gearhart. “I was actually excited to see this presentation and the fact I would be getting credit for it seemed very appealing. Being turned away was frustrating because I wanted to see the presentation and I had already made arrangements to miss the class I would normally have at that time…I missed both my drawing class and the mendler presentation,” Mitchell said, “I don't think that it was fair to have students turned away…most teachers were not informed about reserving room for their students and urged their students to go if they had the chance.” Mitchell also noted that she would have received 10 points on her CCT as well.

According to Kaylor, students will have more opportunities to hear survivors speak, and next year, in order to avoid another situation like this, specific events will be targeted to specific audiences, instead of the campus in general.

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