PAGE 10 • THURSDAY, MARCH 9,1995 • INDEPENDENT
Evin Hall now utilized for convent outreach programs
by Maiy Watson Independent staff writer
Evin Hall has become the center for several outreach programs since its close as a dormitory in the spring of 1994.
The former dormitory is now back in the hands of the convent. The sisters use the bulding as living quarters for the monastic community and guests, community ministry offices and a soon-to-be art gallery.
The art gallery, which will be open to the public, will display the work of members of the monastic community and their guests.
Currently, there are a few works on display, and once the gallery is completed, Evin Hall is hoped to be a place where all of the artwork of the monastic community and its guests will be on display.
Since the renovation of Evin Hall was completed last fall, the Benedictine sisters have developed the building into six different departments, which include Studium, Development, Vocation/Formation, Spiritual Ministries, Heritage Research and Environment/Justice.
Studium, the largest of the six departments, is a collaborative group fostered by the sisters, especially S. Evin Rademacher.
"Sludium is a interdisciplinary, intergenerated, interfaith and inlct^uliural collaborative forum encouraging and linking creative talents in spirituality, liturgy, the arts, research and concerns for justice and ecology," Rademacher said.
S. Doloris Super, one of the Studium members, said that the new building allows for much-needed room in a beautiful building for the housing of these and other such community
ventures.
"Everything coming out of Evin Hall is enriching to us and is making its way into the broader world," Super said.
The west wing of Evin Hall, which now serves as a place for scholars, consultants, artists, musicians,
toward greater cultural diversity.
Last week four Tibetan nuns and monks from this dialogue project joined the sisters in prayer and reflection during their visit to the Studium project.
These, as well as other activities, continue to be in the making within the
PHOTO BY KIM KRAMER / INDEPENDENTSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Theresa Schumacher, OSB, takes time out from her office duties at Evin Hall for a smile. After closing as a dorm last spring, the building has been re-opened by the convent for outreach programs.
researchers and dreamers to come together, includes the offices of various sisters.
This idea moves in full force every day, as gender-inclusive Liturgy books written by S. Delores Dufher continue to be published and sold, and as various scholars are invited in to write and create within the Benedictine environment.
Six writers have already joined the program this year.
Other projects include an Eastern-Western dialogue project which invites a variety of Eastern cultures in to share their different views in an effort
walls of Evin Hall.
S. Marlene Meierhofer, vocation director, has an office in Evin which she uses for her work with Benedictine Friends, a student-sister connection program, as well as for her work with CSB Campus Ministry.
These kinds of interactions are aimed at building a stronger awareness of the sisters in the college and in the community," Meierhofer said. They create a kind of familiarity allowing both the sisters and the students to see the richness of each other's work."
Shopowners deem drug law unconstitutional
Drugs / from page 9
store near campus, well confiscate the material and deal with it, but it's not at the top of our list of priorities."
Cochran, who heads the department's drug unit, says that police used to visit stores several times a year to check on inventory.
"We don't have that luxury anymore," he said, blaming an outbreak of crack cocaine dealers in the area. "Ninety percent of our time has to go directly to dealing with the drugs."
The Athens police officer does add, however, that store owners found in violation of the federal law will be arrested.
Last October, New York City police raided 27 Manhattan head shops, arresting 36 people and seizing more than 70 million items, which ranged from crack pipes to tiny plastic bags.
The entire law walks a very fine line," said Allen St. Pienre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Are police going to arrest you after you sell some plastic baggies because they can be used for storing pot or cocaine? It all becomes this incredible game of semantics."
St. Pierre, though says he believes the ruling will not stand.
"Pretty soon, though, more local courts are going to realize that the ruling has no true basis in the Constitution, and they are going to start letting people get
off," St. Pierre added. Then the whole thing will go back to the Supreme Court, and they'll have to do it all over again." Manhattan federal Judge Robert Sweet recently provided St. Pierre with some legal ammunition after he threw out charges against three men who were aiTested for selling drug paraphernalia. Sweet, called the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Controlled Substance Act
"I thought this was America where
people had the right to do whatever
they wanted in private."
• Ralph, a used-CD store owner in Normal, 111.
"unconstitutionally vague."
In his ruling, Sweet staled that "many objects that fall within the statute's terms have dual purposes. . .Differentiating between purposes is at best guesswork and the statute's broad language offers no guidance."
But whatever the Supreme Court ultimately decides, most store patrons who have suddenly found supplies depleted are confident they'll be able to find other sources.
Til just have to leam how to make a better bong," says Ted, a sophomore at the University of Virginia. "As long as they don't outlaw plastic tubing, 111 be alright."
Alternative spring break trips
Trips / from page 8
This month, David Parker will head to Abiquiu, N.M., to help provide services and tutoring for a community of Native Americans. Parker, a sophomore at Wichita State University, will be one of five WSU students headed to a Navajo reservation for spring break.
"Certain people enjoy certain things. I enjoy working with people, so for me, this is a way to relax. It's a way to get away from everything else," said Parker. "It's satisfying, but it's relaxing, too."
Parker says he's not sure what his duties will be yet, but figures they'll range from digging irrigation ditches to raking leaves. "Well do some tutoring on the reservation, too," he said. There's a lot to do, but they are things that need to be done."
Rev. Richard Lewis, WSU's campus minister, organized the trip. While he admits that participating students gain a sense of service and accomplishment from their work, he says that's only half the story.
"It's a great way to learn about other cultures. There's so much tradition and history that really can't be learned from any textbook," Lewis says. "These students are walking by history, and they may not even know it."
Lori Garrett, coordinator of community services at Hood College in Frederick, Md.( agreed.
"Students get to see issues that affect other cultures firsthand, and that makes a lot of difference," said Garret, who organizes community service trips for Hood students during academic breaks. "Even if students see something in their own town, it's much more real than reading about it in a newspaper. Social situations become much more urgent because all of a sudden they have a human face."
This month, Garrett will accompany 11 Hood students to Baldwin, Mich., where they will participate in a Habitat for Humanity project. Hood students will be building panels that will be used to construct houses during the summer.
Garrett says that alternative spring breaks may be growing in popularity because of the national attention that service programs like AmeriCorps are receiving.
UA lot of students want to do some sort of community service but they just can't squeeze it into their schedule," she said. Taking the time to do something different during their time off is really remarkable. It's a sacrifice for the students, but it seems like no one really seems to mind."
For those students who want to transfer the source of their knowledge from textbook to terrain, Augustana College in Rock Island, 111., offers an 11-day trip to Texas and New Mexico to study various geological sites.
"We try to get a good look at as much as we can," said Prof. Richard Anderson, organizer of the trip. "We are talking about places where the continent is pulling apart, so there are a lot of exciting things to see."
Anderson, who has spent his spring break with students every year since 1973, says the trip is available to geology and non-geology majors alike.
'Well be camping in state parks and seeing things that are incredibly different from anything we see around here, so it's a rewarding trip for almost anyone," he said. "It's not exactly a day at the beach, but we think it's a lot of ilia"
Other alternative spring breaks include:
• Students from Northland College in Ashland Wis. will be traveling to Breckenridge, Colo., to teach skiing to disabled people from around the world.
• Many college campuses are involved with Habitat for Humanity. This spring, Sweet Briar College students will be working on a home near campus in a joint-effort with the organization 30 Babson College students will travel to Greenville. S.C.. where they will build two houses in one week. Students from DePauw and St. Joseph's universities will help build houses in Appalachia. Students from Maryville University will head to Mobile, Ala., to help build homes for elderly residents.
• Students from the University of Evansville in Indiana will travel to McCray County, Ky., to join other Workforce "95 volunteers in repairing houses in a rural community.
• More than 60 students from St. Louis University will be spending their spring break working at homeless shelters across seven states.
Over 150 students from CSB and SJU will be traveling to 13 different sites across the United States over spring break to help with volunteer projects in the following areas:
Borderlines Urban Plunge Woodland Trust Project Shalom House/Catholic Worker Ghost Ranch Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity St. Anthony's Parish Turtle Mountain Reservation Christian Appalaican Project Christian Community Project Creative Community for Nonviolence
Tucson, Ariz,
Minneapolis and St Paul, Minn.
JeHco, Tenn.
Kansas City, Kan.
Mbiquie, N.M.
Cleveland, Ohio
Grayson County, Texas
Corpus Christd, Texas
Belcourt, N.D.
Kentucky
Alamosa, Colo.
Washington, D.C.
