Echo March 11, 2005

              March 11, 2005
Volume 111
Issue 17
INDEX
SPORTS page 2
NEWS page 3
FEATURES pages 4-5
OPINIONS page 6
A & E page 7
COMMUNITY/VALUES page 8
Activist
Encourages
Change
Free The Children seeks to
free children from exploitation,
poverty, and abuse.
Kelly Sve
Contributor
Children rights advocate Craig
Kielburger tells students all over the
world that "we are the generation
we have been waiting for."
Kielburger, 22, spoke last
Friday at the 2005 Batalden Seminar in Applied Ethics, "It Takes A
Child."
At age 12. with a group of
friends, Kielburger founded Free
The Children, which has become
the world's largest organization of
children helping children.
Free The Children seeks to free
c h i 1 -    	
d r e n
from
exploitation,
poverty, and
abuse     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and to give children a voice in action and leadership.
Worldwide, Free the Children
has impacted the lives of more than
one million children.
The organization has built
an er 400 schools in places including Kenya. Nicaragua. Thailand.
Afghanistan, and India.
Kielburger shared at the Con-
v ocation how he and Free The
Children continue to work to make
a difference in the world.
'We are the lucky 1 percent of
the w orld in [posi]secondary education." Kielburger told the audience.
"We shouldn't fed guilty about that,
but we need to remember that to
those who much is given, much is
expected in return."
kielburger told sc\ oral stones
of people who have inspired him.
main of whom have been street
children or w ell-know n people like
Mother Teresa
Dane, while in rural Ecuador
building a school with a group, he
realized thai thev were not going to
ha\ e enough lime to finish.
They panicked and told an
elderlv woman in the community
this. She simply went outside and
y elled "'Minga!" then told them not
to worry, because a "minga would
be coming in the morning.
Kielburger and his group w ere
confused, but "the next morning
hundreds of people came from
now here to donate labor." he said.
They finished the school on
time, and Kielburger learned later
that "minea" means "a eomine
together of people to work for the
benefit of all."
According to Kielburger. there
is no equivalent word in English,
which he finds unfortunate, because
"language reflects cultural priorities."
Kielburger encouraged the
audience to take action for what
they believe, whether it's building
schools or finding your own path.
"We all have moments where
we want to take action," he said.
"We all have callings."
Kielburger's calling happened
when he was flipping through a
newspaper at the age of 12.
He was
looking
for the
comics
but came
across an
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ article
    about a
12 year-old Pakistan boy who had
been sold as a slave at a young
age.
The boy had escaped from the
carpet factory he worked in and
began speaking out against child
labor all over the world.
One day, the Pakistani boy
was shot and killed while riding his
bicycle.
Craig did some research on
child labor and shared this article
w ith his classmates.
He discovered that what had
happened to that Pakistani boy was
not an isolated story; about 250 million children go to work rather than
school everyday.
Kielburger then founded Free
the Children with a group of friends.
Sophomore Joelle Bickel recognized that what Kielburger wants
to do seems idealistic.
"People look down on idealism." Bickel said, "but Craig is
telling us that it's okay that we have
these goals, it's okay to be idealistic."
Kielburger's message deeply
affected audience members.
"Craig really inspired me to
take action and be bold in what I
believe in." said Brian Halaas. a
first-y ear student.
Kielburger insisted that, despite apparent barriers, anyone can
induce change.
"We are always being told that
we need to wait for change." he
said. But Free the Children exists.
because "we didn't want to wait."
Wrestlers Crowned NCAA
National Champions
Augsburg's full wrestling team poses for its championship photo, after winning the school's ninth NCAA
Division III national title in the last 15 years on Mar. 5 at St. Olaf in Northfield (full article on page 2).
Photo by Stephen Qeffre PB
Survey Shows Students
Don't Back U-Pass
Students who don't use the pass will still avoid paying
more for parking without a ramp being built.
Sarah Gilbert
Staff Writer
A recent MPIRG survey shows
that a majority of Augsburg students, faculty, and staff would not
access more public transit if they
were offered discounts through a
system similar to the U-Pass used
by the University of Minnesota.
MPIRG released its Augsburg
Transit Survey results last week,
which polled 261 students, faculty,
and staff in effort to find out how
often    	
students
a t
Augs-     ^^^^^^^^^^^
burg   	
make
use of the Metro Transit system.
"Our goal is to get an equivalent of the U-Pass," said Skippy
Erpelding, an MPIRG intem.
Students at the U of M pay a SI 0 fee
for the program, which allows them
to buy an unlimited transit pass for
155 per semester. Survey results
show that not many people would
use such a pass.
While 9 percent said they
would ride public transit more
if they received the discount. 72
percent answered "not at all" when
asked, "if you could ride the bus
an unlimited number of times all
semester for a flat rate would this
encourage you to ride the bus more
than you currently do?"
The survey also showed that 70
percent of students ride the bus one
time per week or fewer; 25 percent
ride the bus one to three time per
week; 13 percent ride the bus four
or more times per week.
Erpelding claimed the results
might be a result of many students'
backgrounds.
"There's a lot of kids who come
from small towns where the transit
system is less than ideal," he said.
Erpelding also noted that
many students drive cars and aren't
used to the new light rail system.
But Erpelding thinks attitudes
might change as parking hassles
increase.
"Eventually Augsburg will
have to build more parking to
make up for parking lost due to
construction." he said. "A parking
ramp might have to be considered; a
parking ramp would end up costing
15.000 dollars a space."
Erpelding said that the price of
parking will have to go up in order
to pay for the parking ramp.
All students would benefit
from a transit pass, he said, because
students who don't use the pass will
still avoid paying more for parking
without a ramp being built.
Environmental concerns are
also cited as reasons for a pass.
"At the University of Minnesota they've seen a 25 percent
increase in transit use." Erpelding
said. "That cuts down on pollution
as well as costs for students."
Nacho Diaz, director of Metro
Transit, said that, although the U of
M has a larger student population.
"Augsburg College has a very good
location for a program like that.
Augsburg's
smaller
population
     is  still
a very excitable number of students."
Student Body President Bobby
Brown added that, "students might
be hesitant because it's more money, but in the long run they'll pay
less."
Both Erpelding and Brown
agreed that the coal o! maintaining
a car along with the expense of
parking is more than the 65 dollars
they'd pay for the transit pass.
"Our goal is to get it lor next
year." said Erpelding, but "we'll
have to work really hard to make
that a reality. Hopefully, with the
help of [student] government, that
can be accomplished."
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