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On Campus - Stories
November 10, 2000 - Vol. 53, No. 22



"Light Within" by
Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein,
1998, mixed media,
acrylic on fabric

Art exhibit dealing with violence opens Sunday

Twenty painted quilts and a very large hand-constructed book dealing with the woes and sufferings of those economically, politically and socially dispossessed, created by the Colombian-born artist Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein, will be exhibited at the Anderson Gallery from Sunday, Nov. 12, through Dec. 17.

Mejia-Krumbein will attend the opening reception for "La Suite del Silencio," which will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12. She will remain at Drake through Tuesday, Nov. 14, as a visiting artist in the art department and as a guest lecturer in the Women's Studies program, which is a co-sponsor of the exhibition.

Both the reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public. The gallery, which is in the Harmon Fine Arts Center, is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday thorugh Sunday.

Mejia-Krumbein was born in Medellin, Colombia, and attended art and music school there. After marrying her German-born husband, who was studying in Colombia, she moved to Germany for eight years. She and her family emigrated to the United States in 1988. She now teaches art at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif.

Growing up with violence as part of her cultural background, Mejia-Krumbein has been aware of social issues from a young age. Her work deals with violence, both physical and mental, and the theme of women's ever-changing roles. Her mixed-media paintings on fabric are highly expressionistic.

Using figurative expressionism as a vehicle for personal reconciliation, Mejia-Krumbein charges her work with emotion and, simultaneously, with an underlying hope for peace. "By working with cheap and worn materials - rag, paper, burlap - Mejia-Krumbein emphasizes the universality of art and the human issues she deals with," said Loulou Kane, director of the Anderson Gallery. "Her themes and materials are accessible to all, regardless of social or economic status. Her images are provocative and dark and at the same time highly moving and poetic. They demand our attention and compassion."

Mejia-Krumbein has had solo exhibitions in Bonn, Germany; Monterey, Mexico; South Lancaster, Mass.; Washington, D.C. (Colombian Consulate); and Riverside, Calif. She also has been in group shows at the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., as well as in Santa Fe, N.M., and New York City.
International students to perform

The International Students Association will present "Mosaic: International Night 2000" on Saturday, Nov. 11. The event will start with a cultural show and fashion show at 6 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main followed by a food fair at 7:30 p.m. in Hubbell North. The evening will conclude with a semi-formal dance in Parents Hall at Olmsted Center from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Tickets for just the cultural show and fashion show are $7 while tickets for the entire International Night are $10. They are on sale this week at Olmsted Center and will be available at the door as well
Service Week concludes with campus clean-up Sunday

As part of Service Week 2000 at Drake University, the Drake chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, the nation's largest service fraternity, has organized a campuswide clean-up for faculty, staff and students that will start at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, at Olmsted Center.

"We want to spruce up the campus and raise awareness of the problems caused by littering," said April Barkley, service vice president of the Drake chapter.
As part of Service Week, Nov. 6-12, members of Alpha Phi Omega donated approximately 150 hours of community service and conducted a food drive in conjunction with Combat Hunger.
Board of Governors renamed

The Drake University Board of Governors recently voted to change its name to the Drake University Board of Trustees, a more traditional way of referring to a university governing board. The Board of Governors also voted to phase out Drake's existing Board of Trustees, which in recent years has functioned primarily as an advisory group.

Five life members of the previous Board of Trustees are moving to the new Board of Trustees while other former trustees are joining the President's Council, an informal advisory panel established this past summer by Drake President David Maxwell. In addition, some of the former trustees are becoming members of Drake's eight national advisory boards and of the various committees of the new Board of Trustees.

"This action is creating exciting new opportunities for former trustees to connect to the University in ways that are more meaningful to them and to the University than attending two meetings a year," President Maxwell said.

The idea to dissolve the previous Board of Trustees originated with Drake alumnus Ronald Roark, chair of that board. He took the proposal to the Board of Governors Committee on Board Affairs after the former Board of Trustees voted to explore ways for members to become more involved with the University.

The Committee on Board Affairs appointed a subcommittee to study the issue. The subcommittee was chaired by Drake alumnus Benjamin B. Ullem, now chair of the new Board of Trustees. Roark and Drake alumna Karen Goodenow also served on the subcommittee.

"It turned out that the best way to get people more involved was to phase out the old Board of Trustees," Roark said. So that's what the subcommittee and, later, the Committee on Board Affairs recommended to the Board of Governors, which approved the measure at a meeting Oct. 28.

"These changes create a more efficient governing structure for the University while saving time and money and getting the former trustees more directly involved with Drake," Roark said. "With the two boards, we had a very cumbersome organizational structure that was terribly confusing to the public. People had a hard time figuring out what the two boards did."

The restructuring of the boards is in keeping with Drake's review of all of the University's academic and administrative programs, Roark said. "The self analysis started at the board level and is working all the way down through the University."
Decades of research culminate in new book by Prof. Coleman

William S. E. Coleman, professor of theatre arts, will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Voices of Wounded Knee, at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13, at Borders Books & Music Cafe, 4100 University Ave., West Des Moines.

Professor Coleman and his wife, Linda Robbins Coleman, FA'76, spent nearly 30 years gathering documents about the Wounded Knee Massacre from collections in the United States and abroad to create the book, which was published recently by the University of Nebraska Press.

The project dates back to in 1971, when William Coleman was traveling in South Dakota in search of information about Buffalo Bill Cody. He had a chance meeting with Benjamin Black Elk, who told him about his father, Black Elk, who had toured Europe with Cody in 1889-90 and witnessed the massacre at Wounded Knee on Dec. 29, 1890.

That encounter set Coleman on the trail of firsthand accounts of the events that led up to the massacre and the massacre itself. He found letters and testimony that had never been published or critically examined. He ended up bringing together all of the available sources -- Lakota, military and civilian.

"While much has been written about Wounded Knee and what happened there, this is the first account in which the participants have been allowed to tell the story almost entirely in their own words," according to a review in Library Journal.

Coleman reconstructed the massacre moment by moment, placing contradictory accounts in direct juxtaposition, allowing the reader to decide who was telling the truth. When asked what conclusions he has reached, Coleman said, "I do think that I've proved that it should not be called a battle; it was a massacre."

His balanced treatment suggests that the massacre grew out of decades of broken treaties, cultural misunderstandings, power struggles between the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Army, and erroneous and inflammatory reports by irresponsible members of the press.

The book has been well-received by other authors and historians. "This book's high value is in its completeness," said Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Troy Johnson, co-editor of Red Power: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom, said, "The material is exactly what is called for -- a chance for the Indians to speak about their past and the events that surrounded Wounded Knee. This is an important book."
Artists, educators to discuss controversial art Monday

Artists and educators Antonia Contro and David Henry will discuss "Art that Hurts/Art that Matters" on Monday, Nov. 13, at Drake University. Their presentation, which is free and open to the public, will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall.

Contro and Henry will explore the responsibilities of presenters, artists and educators when it comes to art that raises issues or is deemed controversial. They also will examine the question of what creates controversy in contemporary culture and how that controversy might, in fact, contribute value and alter culture.

A nationally recognized painter, Contro was associate director of museum education at the Art Institute of Chicago before directing Marwen, a non-profit organization that provides free art education as well as college and career planning to more than 2,000 inner-city students in Chicago. Henry is also an artist and head of education at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design.

"Art that Hurts/Art that Matters" is sponsored by Drake's Cultural Studies Program and the Drake Center for the Humanities.
Wanted: Nominations for dean

The College of Arts and Sciences Dean Search Committee is seeking nominations of people qualified for the dean's position. Names and addresses of nominees should be sent to professor William P. Dougherty, chair of the search committee and the music department.
Thanksgiving buffet planned

Faculty and staff are invited to attend a Thanksgiving Grand Buffet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, in the upper level of Olmsted Center. Reservations are required. For reservations, call x3175. The cost is $6.75 plus tax for cash payments or $6.25 plus tax with a club card. Club cards may be purchased at the Drake Dining Services Business Office.
Nov. 19 concert to feature hundreds of Drake students

All four Drake University choral ensembles and the Drake Symphony Orchestra will present Franz Joseph Haydn's magnificent oratorio, "The Creation," at
8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines.

"The performance will feature approximately 300 singers and instrumentalists, including more than 60 area residents who are members of the Drake University/Community Chorus," said Aimee Beckmann-Collier, director of choral activities.

Soloists will include soprano Leanne Freeman-Miller, assistant professor of voice; baritone James Taylor, assistant professor of voice; and Justin Montigne, FA'98.

Tickets are $6 for students and $12 for non-students. Tickets are available at the Drake Fine Arts Box Office (x3841), the Civic Center Box Office and Ticketmaster outlets.
President Maxwell speaks at 'Get Wired' breakfast

President David Maxwell served on a panel of local leaders at the recent "Get Wired" breakfast sponsored by the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute. Other panelists were Des Moines City Manager Eric Anderson, Polk County Manager Teree Caldwell-Johnson, Nosotros Group President Laura Castro De Cortes, and Progressive Designs General Manager Tony Burrell. Drake was a finalist for the "Get Wired" Community Champion Award, which went to Business Publications Corp. and Anderson Erickson Dairy.

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