BRANDEIS 10-MEMBER DELEGATION TO RWANDA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A consensus among undergraduates from various class years and academic disciplines has emerged that the Brandeis community needs to do more to globalize our commitment to social justice. As a group of diverse students, we propose a Brandeis delegation to Rwanda, of 10 members, for 2 weeks in June 2009.

The delegation will consist of students from the social sciences, humanities and physical and natural sciences; staff, faculty and administrators, creating an unprecedented campus integrating initiative. This trip will allow students to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to one the most difficult challenges the world faces today: sustainable development. Science majors will spend a good portion of the trip working with health clinics, farmers, environmental groups and universities on the ground in Rwanda, to enhance their understanding of applied science in the developing world. Likewise, students in the social sciences will visit and work with central banks, government institutions, nonprofit organizations, and international agencies working on the ground to get a better picture of the political, economic and social challenges to development.

Faculty will serve as mentors on the trip, lending their experience in a variety of fields to give the experience a robust academic frame. But they too will learn as much as the students on this trip, complementing their research and past experiences by appreciating the realities on the ground. Faculty members will also connect with researchers at the National University of Rwanda.

Once the trip is completed, the members will spend the next year disseminating their experiences to the campus at large, in workshops, multimedia, publications, and in the classroom. In that same period, the members and the broader campus will work together to create solutions based on the needs assessment completed during the trip, and work to help Rwandans achieve their development goals. In essence, this trip is the ultimate campus wide experiential learning project.

Ultimately, this trip offers a tremendous opportunity for this campus. It brings together members of our community from their diverse corners to globalize Brandeis' commitment to social justice in a meaningful and academic way.

1. Why do you thin your proposal will benefit the student body at large?
This initiative has several benefits to the student body at large. It touches our pillars of dedication to academic excellence and commitment to social action by providing students an opportunity to take what they learned in the classroom and apply it bettering the world they are a part of.

This trip enhances the student learning experience in a way that no other program ever has. It allows students from different academic disciplines to collaborate on a project that would help a developing country reach its targets. Never before have a biochemistry major and an anthropology major been able to work on a joint initiative to apply their academic expertise.

This out of classroom experience will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for students who have never traveled to a developing country to understand the lethal inequalities in our world. But moreover, the trip to Rwanda will provide these students a way to learn how to how to rectify these inequalities.

But the benefits don't just end there. Everyone on campus, not just the delegation members, will take away essential lessons from this initiative. As the delegation members return to campus, they will begin an ongoing dialogue with their peers about what steps the Brandeis community can take to realize our commitment to social justice. Students and faculty will be invited and encouraged to work with delegation members to apply classroom lessons and real world knowledge gleaned from the trip to create policy proposals to help communities in Rwanda escape the poverty trap.

This trip also creates university-university partnerships between Brandies and Universities in Rwanda, allowing for student exchange, joint curricula and classes (via internet and distance learning), and joint research ventures in the future.

All of this is achieved through an interdisciplinary, experiential learning project that both unifies our campus and puts our commitment to social justice into action.

2. Why and how do you think your proposal will benefit in short and long term?
There are several short and long term benefits to the Brandeis community by undertaking this important and ground breaking effort.

Short Term:
Brandeis students will be able to apply what they have learned in the classroom in the field as part of this 10 member delegation to Rwanda. As they explore that country and its myriad challenges to development, along with faculty, they will also learn priceless lessons that no text book or in class lesson can reveal. The faculty will also learn, complementing their research and tempering their expertise with new insights.

Long Term:
While this trip will have tremendous benefits to the Brandeis community in the short run, it is the long run value that makes this project unique and essential to our commitment to social justice. When the delegation returns, its members will work together to disseminate the insights and lessons from the global south to their peers. This will initiate a long term dialogue about what this University can do to help resolve the inequalities that are killing millions in Rwanda and across the developing world. As the project grows, the entire campus will be able to take advantage of partnerships with universities, government institutions and communities in Rwanda to learn how to apply classrooms lessons to real world challenges.

This project will also help build Brandeis' name, by putting us at the vanguard of our global peers. This will enhance our study abroad programs and boost recruitment from the developing world. This project will encourage informed student activism and provide a powerful precedent of integrating the campus behind a truly global initiative. Most importantly, it will allow Brandeis University to put its commitment to social justice into action, by providing an interdisciplinary, experiential learning opportunity.

3. Whom have you consulted for the proposal?
We have reached out to diverse array of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, clubs, administrators and even the members of the Board of Trustees. This proposal takes their views and inputs into account, turning their enthusiasm and expectations into action. Faculty from the politics, economics, anthropology, environmental studies, the Heller School and IBS expressed their support and interest in this trip.

Science majors were particularly excited to have the opportunity to travel to a developing country and put their expertise into action; something the majority of them felt was otherwise precluded by the rigorous science curriculum here, which does not readily accommodate study abroad programs or non-laboratory summer work.

Manu administrators and trustees were impressed by the communal aspect of the project, which makes room for any member of the Brandeis community, regardless of academic field, class year or place in the university structure.

4. Please list any peoplep we can contact as references in regards to your proposal.
Myra H. Kraft, Brandeis University Trustee and Chair of the Students and Enrollment Committee
Marty W. Krauss, Brandeis University Provost
Lorna J. Miles, Senior Vice President for Communications
Daniel Terris, Director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life
Eva T. Thorne, Prof. of Politics
Angelique Kanyange Rwiyereka, M.D., M.P.H., Heller PhD Candidate (Social Policy)
Sam Vaghar ’08, IGS
Steven P. Patriarco '08, Biology, Environmental Studies
Casara Nemes '08, Sociology
Neal Ludevig'08, Sociology
David Drayton '09, Economics, IGS, Politics
Rajiv Ramakrishnan '10, Politics, IGS, Economics
Seth Werfel ’10, Economics, Politics
Benjamin Bechtolsheim '10, Politics
Allyson Goldsmith ’10, Sociology
Gabriel Verzino ’10, HSSP, Legal Studies
Ria Chada '11, Computer Science
Nathan Ross '11

5. Any further explanations if necessary.
Please see the attached budgetary pages and the power point presentation submitted with this proposal, detailing the operational breakdown and scheduling information for this project. We have also raised $1500 toward the trip at this point.

The application process for delegation membership will be designed and implemented in the coming months.

ADDITIONAL ATTACHMENTS
- Budget Breakdown

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