Campus Y

During Race Relations Week 2009, the Students for the Advancement of Race Relations (SARR) hosted an event pertaining to racial profiling. During the summer, the highly publicized arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a controversial topic that brought to light discussions about whether or not racial profiling still exists in America. As a result, we thought that having a discussion about the state of racial profiling in Chapel Hill, in North Carolina, and in the United States would be a relevant topic and would be an appropriate event to have during Race Relations Week. With help from the UNC Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Gold-N-Love (Gentlemen of Leadership and Distinction & Ladies of Virtue and Excellence), LINC (Linking Immigrants to New Communities) and Minority Affairs of Student Government, SARR planned an interactive and engaging forum. An esteemed panel consisting of the two members Chapel Hill Police Department, a Staff Attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina and a member of the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center. Throughout the course of the night, the hosts of the forum asked the panelists numerous questions about topics ranging from how they would define racial profiling in their own words and if they thought that someone who practices racial profiling for the respective profession should be considered a racist. After the panelists gave their responses, the questions were opened up the audience. The members of the audience also had an opportunity to ask the panelists their own personal questions. The event turned out to be one of the most successful events during Race Relations Week 2009.

Cathy Brooks (former EASE co-chair, Class of 2002). I just got back from India, where a spent a year with my husband (we just got married!) while he was working on his Fulbright research. It was an excellent year because it gave me the opportunity to travel all over India and pursue various interests (volunteering, leading groups, teaching English). Before that I was working for a couple of years at a company based in St. Louis and leading group tours around the world. It was a fantastic job because I got to see many countries in a short amount of time, but eventually got tired of the constant traveling. I never thought I would say that!

With the support of a UNC travel fellowship and personal fundraising, I was able to travel to India and South Africa in order to aid impoverished communities and improve education quality. In India, I lived in a rural village of Rajasthan for six months, where I taught and assisted at the preschool and primary school. This was an extremely challenging feat since the school had absolutely no resources (classrooms, desks, books, pencils, etc.). I started fundraising to improve the condition of the school. I also spent two weeks at a rehabilitation center for freed child slaves, which was a great continuation of the anti-slavery work I began in the fall 2003.

Since graduating in 2003, Melissa has enjoyed island life. After receiving the Phillips Travel Scholarship at UNC, she spent the summer working on a photo essay in Tokyo. She prolonged her stay in Japan for a year, teaching English on an island off the coast of Nagasaki under the JET Programme. The experience was life-changing and a time of intense cultural exchange that she highly recommends.

From the simple country life, Melissa then moved to her next dream island: Manhattan. She currently interns as Assistant Editor at a small production company, making clip shows for the Kellogg Foundation's Youth Innovation Fund, a grant program that gives high school youth the power to affect their communities via philanthropy.

During her undergraduate days at the Campus Y, Melissa served as Minister of Technology (2001-02) and the Minister of Information (2002-03), and she still misses the Y to this day.

Jason works at Advocates for Children and Youth in Baltimore, MD. The mission of ACY is to identify, promote and evaluate policies and programs that improve the lives of Maryland children in measurable, meaningful ways. The agency's goals include ensuring that children have access to:

• High quality, accessible health care at an affordable cost
• Quality educational and education-support programs
• Homes, schools and communities that are safe and provide positive development
• Adequate economic assistance to fulfill basic needs
• Assistance in achieving economic independence

We all have times in our lives when we see or experience things that open our eyes to the world, and also make us aware of the human condition. Such was a time for me when the ACMF beneficiaries came from Cambodia for heart surgery. The few days I spent with these eight children were many things – fun, heart-wrenching, exciting, stressful, inspiring, and real – all at the same time. And as much as it seems they were given the biggest gift by having their life-saving heart surgeries, I can't help but think that all of us involved experienced the most rewarding gift of all.

I will never forget their faces when I met them the first night with a "Welcome to Singapore" sign written in Khmer. They climbed off the NKF van in their thin pajamas, eyes wide open from a night of firsts: first plane ride, first ride in a bus across a bustling lighted city, first time in a huge city, or a new country even. For most, it was even the first ride in an elevator.

If you are a Y alum, we would like to hear about your current situation and how you are continuing to live the Y's commitment to social justice and pluralism. Email us your Alumni Profile at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please include a brief bio and photos.