Egypt, as anyone who keeps up with the world knows, has recently undergone some extreme political upheaval, starting with peaceful protests that quickly escalated to violent riots, and ending in the resignation of its President. We in America watched on YouTube as protesters went from demonstrations in Tahrir Square to looting museums, as Egypt attempted to contain the revolution by cutting off communication one aspect at a time. We listened to Mubarak’s initial refusal to step down and weren’t too surprised when he finally did. We have sat in our safe houses and couches and viewed Egypt’s transition from an autocratic government to a temporary military rule.

But there were Gettysburg College students there in Egypt as these events were unfolding, and I was lucky enough to score an interview with one of them. Tom Skaggs, of the class of 2012, was studying abroad at the American University in Cairo until he was prematurely pulled back due to the rising dangers of living in a country on the eve of revolution. These are his words, transcribed as accurately as possible, about his all-too-brief time in Egypt.

So tell me a bit about why you decided to go to Egypt in the first place.
Egypt just stuck out as really cool place, a sort of combo between Africa and Middle East.

How long were you actually there? What did you think of it for the time you were there?
I got in, had orientation, and then left. Friday the 28^th—the “Day of Rage in Egypt” as it was known on the television.Their campus puts Gettysburg College to shame. It really does. It had tons of fountains.

View from Tom's dorm window of the 'burbs of New Cairo.

Where were you in comparison to Tahrir Square?
Campus was far enough from Tahrir Square—which is known ”freedom square,” and is very symbolic to the Egyptians—but the police had set up a perimeter around it, keeping the protesters away.

Were there any Egyptian students at the university? Did you know anyone involved?
I knew two Danish guys who went down there Friday and watched, someone else from the school got shot with rubber bullets—which are not like American rubber bullets. These had a rubber center and were coated with steel.

Where were you when the first major protests erupted?
The one on Friday, the big one, I was on campus in New Cairo, 20-30 minutes from downtown, where the riots started. One of the students told me about it the day before, that through Facebook a group was formed—the plan was apparently to have everyone demonstrate after the noon prayer. We could see how crowded it was headed towards downtown. Then we lost SMS, Facebook, twitter, and all internet access, we figured cellular service would be next. I had no idea they could just shut down the internet. The military took over a cell service, sent out texts to everyone saying things like, “Protect your property, don’t let anyone steal from you.”

Anxious students gathered around the TV on the night of January 28th, the 'Day of Rage in Egypt.'

What was your reaction as it happened?
There was excitement, almost, we wanted there to be a revolution and for Mubarak to step down. The closest thing I’ve experienced is September 11, you’re almost in awe as this is going down, we basically—all of us stood in front of the television for about 12 hours, from midday to about one am, just watching the events take place.

Did you have any dangerous encounters?
No, not near us, rumors about what was going on. We were pretty removed, but there were rumors of protesters in the nearby shopping districts. We were strongly encouraged by our RAs to stay on campus, and there were security guards provided by the school, but there was no one from the school to tell us what to do except by landline contact. All information was from people talking to people, landline telephones, and cable.

When did you start thinking you’d have to go home?
After Friday’s riot they started instituting curfews—6pm the first night, and so on, and after about two days I figured I’d be going home. The college had decided to start the semester at some point, but the American Embassy wanted most Americans to leave—they were pretty adamant about that, ‘strongly advised’ it, but even the Embassy never said we had to leave.

Tom said, “I was freaked out on the bus, watching the tanks in the window—if they saw me taking pictures—”

How did you get out of Egypt? Did you have a difficult time evacuating?
The school got a bus for us, we drove to the airport through pretty bad traffic because there were tanks and armored personnel carriers everywhere on the expressway. The farther out from town we got, the stronger the military presence was. We went through four military checkpoints where they slowed it down and looked at the cars, and then there were tons police and military at the airport. America had its own hall, told to bring food and water for three days—we were told it would take that long to leave, and at least 12 hours to get a flight, but we were out of there really quickly, after only two days. The people from the state department handed you a blank ticket, a promissory loan, some paperwork, then it was like you get on the plane and you’re gone.

What was the first thing you did when you got out of the country?
I got out of the gate in Istanbul and had to get a Turkish visa, then I grabbed a cheap hotel room with a friend. But cell phones still didn’t work in Istanbul, so first we went to an internet café and contacted our families.

Do you wish you could have stayed in Egypt?
I wish I could have been down there for more of the protests, I really would have liked to have seen some of the events. I do wish I could be there a full semester, but most of the abroad students left except for a few graduate students—including one from Gettysburg…I haven’t heard from him since.

Oh my!
[laughs] Only because I don’t have him friended on Facebook.

Do you have plans to try and study abroad again? What are your plans for this semester?
This semester I’m trying to make like my fall of senior year, and hopefully go back to the American University in Cairo  next year. And I’m skipping all of the orientation stuff, just jumping right back into it. It is a fascinating place, and I was learning so much. I can’t wait to go back.

Tom’s time in Egypt provides us with a firsthand point of view that few others ever have the chance to experience. I’m grateful he took the time to answer my questions and provide some of the pictures he took while he was there.

If you want to read about the events happening in Egypt while Tom was there, check out this article:
Protests and Tomb Robbers: Egypt Deals with National Turmoil

Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with the Supervisor of Direct Services at Survivor’s Inc., a local organization dedicated to assisting and advancing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Growing up, my mother would tell me stories about how her father would abuse his wife and children on a regular basis.  In an effort to lend some light on the issue of domestic violence and advertise the number one resource for victims in the area, I personally interviewed the supervisor.  I learned a great deal about what Survivors Inc. does, the issue itself, and how individuals can help out.  I hope you will learn from the following transcript just as much as I did during the interview.

Troy Candiotti: Thank you for meeting with me.
Supervisor of Direct Services: Of course.

TC: Does Survivors have an overarching goal?
SoDS:  Yes.  Our Vision Statement is to support those who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault.  And we’re striving to create a world in which violence is unacceptable.

TC: Was Survivors founded in response to a particular incident?
SoDS: The Founding Mothers got together because of the need to have this type of service in this area.  A domestic violence and abuse shelter and it was founded in 1985.

TC: Is this the only organization of its kind in this area?
SoDS: We are the only organization of our kind in Adams County.

TC: What types of people typically come to you asking for support?  Do they fit into any particular demographic?
SoDS: Domestic violence spares no one, regardless of socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity, religious background, sexual orientation.  It is something common among all areas.

TC: Does the problem of domestic violence get the recognition and attention that it deserves?  Why or why not?
SoDS: Absolutely not.  I think a lot of it has to do with the mentality and unfortunately that good old boy framework that is still in action in society today, where there is a lot of gender bias toward women.

TC: Does getting rid of that bias fit into your goal?
SoDS: We have community educator who goes out and makes presentations throughout the community with different community agencies and throughout the school district, to help educate and change current belief systems.

TC: Can you describe what the scale of the problem is?
SoDS: In this county last year we serviced 589 victims of domestic violence.

TC: Do you believe that that is a small percentage of the actual cases out there?
SoDS: Yes.  Absolutely, because a large majority of our victims choose not to report or seek help because the lethality levels may increase for them if they seek help and that may escalate the perpetrator of the abuse. Fear is a very real thing that occurs with our victims.  They may also fear reporting because they may not have any financial stability as well in leaving that situation.  They fear that because they may not have any monetary resources.  That is why we work very hard to spread the word about our shelter.

TC: What about the children that are caught in these situations?  Do you provide services for them?
SoDS: Yes we do.  We can provide individual service for children; counseling, advocacy, and we have a children’s group that meets weekly.

TC:  Why are you here? What brought you to your current job?
SoDS: That’s a very interesting question.  I have dealt with this on a professional level.  I have been in the social services field going on two decades now, where I worked with cliental with mental health issues, or drug and alcohol issues, and I see domestic violence and sexual assault as a recurring theme with these populations that I’ve worked with. I am also a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault.

TC: Which came first, being a victim or working with victims?
SoDS: Being a victim.

TC: Did that motivate you to go into this field?
SoDS: I think that it made me really take a look at how I wanted to advocate for other victims because I understood emotionally and mentally what a victim can go through and I understand how often victims can be re-victimized by systems themselves when they are trying to get help.

TC: Can you tell me a specific story of one of your victims, so as to put the reader in a victim’s shoes?
SoDS: I can give you some generalities, not specifics.  But once we had a victim and her children show up at this office in pajamas.  Mom had nothing on her feet.  She was a victim of severe, severe physical abuse.  While her abuser was in the shower, she took herself out of the home with her three small children and found her way to our door and was accepted for shelter services obviously so she could be safe and she is standing today on her own two feet, independent, free of that abuse, has a fantastic job, is going to school part time, and has her children.  She had tenacity and a lot of courage and bravery.

TC: This is the offices, but what is the shelter like?
SoDS: Our shelter is in an undisclosed location and that is that way because it is a domestic violence shelter.  It’s a very homey environment.  We’ve made it very homey because this is their home.  We want them to feel at peace and very comfortable.  We have many folks that come in with the clothes on their backs, and that’s all they have so we provide them with linens, towels, brushes, combs, the hygiene products, any type of products they need.  We have clothing vouchers we can give folks to go to different churches and different thrift stores, free of cost on the voucher to assist them in getting clothing and other items. We also have a lot of things that are donated new to the shelter.  We have boxes of new clothes that can go through as well.

TC: Is it mostly women that you see?
SoDS: We see a majority of women in our program but, for our shelter, we do not allow adult men to stay at our shelter.  However, we do have contracts with some of the local hotels, and we can house gentlemen in the hotels for emergency shelter as well.  We don’t deny services based on gender.  We just can’t allow an adult male victim to come into the shelter because that can be a trigger for the adult women and children.  We have several men that call for counseling for sexual assault issues as well as for legal advocacy.  We can assist them in getting protection from abuse orders as well.

TC: So, you provide legal services also?
SoDS: Legal advocacy.  We’re not lawyers, but we can assist victims in getting protection from abuse orders.  We’re the first step in that process and then we coordinate with local attorneys.  We also provide medical advocacy in the hospital.  Not only in the Gettysburg hospital, but the Hanover hospital.  And we will be called for anyone, male or female, adult or child, who presents to the hospital as a victim of abuse, sexual or domestic abuse.

TC: What are the specifics of your job?
SoDS: I am the Supervisor of Direct Services at the Shelter.  I oversee the client services specialists that are on staff there.  I supervise eleven staff persons, including the community educator.  So supervision is part of my job, quality assurance is another.  I also will step in and deal with residents if need be when we have staff who are sick or off.  I can counsel and provide advocacy services as well.  Other responsibilities are I coordinate with service personnel to make any repairs that are necessary to the shelter.  I will do the shopping myself, along with staff, for groceries and such, hygiene products, anything we may need at the shelter.  I supervise the staff to ensure that they meet the twenty hour requirement for training hours every year as well.  I keep up to date on local resources and events that are upcoming in the community that can either help our agency or victims and I disseminate that information to staff and our cliental as well.  And other duties as assigned there.  There was so much in the job interview I can’t remember it all.

TC: You have used the terms residents, clients, victims, etc.  What is the official terminology that you use?
SoDS: Our folks at the shelter we refer to as residents.  They are clients and victims as well.  We also sometimes refer to them as survivors.  We have resident cliental and non-resident cliental, folks that come from the outside to have counseling with us and legal advocacy.

TC: What do you consider your operating area?
SoDS: We have Survivors come in from different counties; even different states to access our services because they may need to seek shelter services but the shelters in their areas are full.  They may be so desperate for safety that they come all the way to us.  We have several folks that have come to us from Maryland, and quite a few from New York, and throughout the state of Pennsylvania.

TC: How long have you been the supervisor for?
SoDS: I came to Survivors in May of 2009.

TC: And you like what you do?
SoDS: Certainly, or I would not be here.

TC: How do you get the word out, advertise, and let people know you are here?
SoDS: Through press releases, through our quarterly newsletter.  We also have a website and are on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.  So there’s a lot of social networking that goes on as well, via different media outlets.  A lot of PSA’s are developed.  We have a lot of flyers that are developed and posted throughout the county and at the colleges as well.  We do a lot of presentations in schools and with different community groups.  I will step in and do some of those as well when our community educator has another engagement.  Word of mouth can be helpful as well.  We have a lot of Survivors that find out about us through a friend or relative and call our 24 hour hotline.

TC: Do you have any large annual events?
SoDS: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  We had a candlelight vigil last Wednesday.  We have a lot of events in February, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  Each year we also have a large silent auction as well in June and that tends to be our big event of the year.

TC: What about finances?
SoDS: We are funded through grants, primarily.  That’s probably about 95% of our funding; grants from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, stock grants, the Victims of Crime Act.  And we are a not for profit agency as well.

TC: What can people do to help?
SoDS: That is a good question.  There are several ways in which individuals in the community can help out an organization like Survivors.  They can help by donating items that are on our wishlist.  We put out a quarterly newsletter that has our wishlist on it.  It includes food items, diapers, anything to make the shelter more comfortable.  Mainly what we ask for are items our cliental could use.  They could also assist us through monetary donations and/or donating gift cards.  That’s very helpful because that can very much help a victim that may come in with just the clothes on their back and they may not be able to find things that they are in need of out in the thrift stores in the community.  So they may need to have to purchase these items and if they have no money, we can obviously do that for them, but it really helps us out if we have gift cards that we can give them so that way they can pick out items that suit their own tastes in terms of clothing.  They can also help, if they choose to, by coming in and doing one of two of our annual trainings to become a domestic violence or sexual assault advocate.  It’s  sixty four hour training. We have a fall class and a spring class.  It comprises eight Saturdays, eight hours a piece.  And then they can become certified.  They can then volunteer at the shelter or if there is a position open and they want to apply for it, the y can do that as well.  There are many ways to help.   They can also be a voice in the community as well, against violence.

TC: Once again, thank you for meeting with me.
SoDS: Of course.  You’re welcome.

The Survivor’s main offices are located just inside downtown Gettysburg.  Their 24 hotline is 1-800-787-8106 and their main office number is 1-717-334-0589.  You can contact the author of this article if you would like to contribute to the conversation or otherwise by e-mailing me at candtr01@gettysburg.edu.  Spread the word.  There is help out there for those who need it.

The Forum’s Xavier Harding was lucky enough to interview Gettysburg College’s president Janet Morgan Riggs on her return to the classroom.

Xavier Harding: What exactly is the course you’ll be teaching? What parts of psychology will it cover?

Janet Morgan Riggs: I will teach Psych 214, Social Psychology.  The course focuses on the impact of other people on behavior and examines topics such as interpersonal attraction and impression formation, prosocial behavior, aggression, attitude formation and change, conformity, etc.

Xavier: What made you want to go back to teaching?

JMR: I miss it!  Though I’ve visited a few classes, I haven’t taught my own course in 4 years.  I miss being in the classroom and establishing a close relationship with a group of students.  I think being back in the classroom will provide me with a good connection to both the student and faculty experience.  So when the psychology department invited me to teach this course, I decided to take  them up on their invitation!

Xavier: Being President of a college sounds like a full time job in itself. How do you think you’ll handle adding being a professor to your plate?

JMR: I’ve given this a lot of thought.  My biggest concern is my travel schedule.  I spend a lot of time off-campus, and I didn’t want to commit to teaching a class unless I could really give it the appropriate time.  I’ve scheduled this class to meet just one afternoon a week, with a back-up time on another day for those weeks when I can’t be on campus for the regular class time.  I’ll make time for office hours before and after class.  I’m sure I’ll do most of my course preparation and grading outside of the normal work day.  We’ll just have to see how it works out!

Xavier: Why that course in particular?

JMR: Social psychology is my area of specialization, and the psychology department said they would like to offer another section of it next year.

Xavier: What teaching experience do you have prior to President?

JMR: I’ve spent most of my career here at Gettysburg as a full-time faculty member. I began in the psychology department in 1981.    I’ve taught 21 of the 29 years since then.

Xavier: Are you considering teaching more courses in the future?

JMR:I would like to, but I will have to see whether or not this works well enough for me and my students before making a decision for the future.

Xavier: Great, and when does your class start?

JMR: I will be teaching this class in the fall of 2010.

Christopher Zappe cuts a striking figure. The photograph on Bucknell University’s personal website details a jovial man, sharp jaw, eyes alight in academic invitation, and fingernail smile cocked amiably. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell, and recently designated Provost here at Gettysburg, has his B.A. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Decision Sciences. As a man who acknowledges the possible variability of change, a byproduct of his education, Zappe is wholly excited about this new prospect and cannot wait to embrace the wide spectrum of Gettysburg College culture.

Question: As the current Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell University, an education institution with an additional College of Engineering, what would you like to bring academically to our small liberal arts college?

Answer: “I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience in reviewing and revising liberal arts curricula, hiring and promoting the development of outstanding faculty, and building support for new and existing academic programs and co-curricular initiatives.   I believe that my work as the Dean of Arts and Sciences and as a tenured faculty member at Bucknell has served as excellent preparation for my role as Provost at Gettysburg College.”

Question: What, if at all, are some policies, academic or otherwise, that you would like to see instituted at Gettysburg? To the best of your knowledge, are there any current policies that you would like to alter?

Answer: “I am eager to learn more about existing academic policies at Gettysburg in the opening months of my appointment which begins in early July.   I believe that it is premature for me to suggest changes to any current policies without a complete understanding of the policies.   I look forward to discussing academic policies with faculty, students, and staff members in the coming academic year.”

Question: How will you use your past experiences, at other institutions, to distinguish yourself amongst individuals in the current Gettysburg Administration?

Answer: “I look forward to collaborating with my new administrative and faculty colleagues, along with members of the Gettysburg student body, to energize the development of the academic core of the College.  At Bucknell, I have demonstrated that I am very capable in working with a number of diverse constituents in building and nurturing the institution’s academic core.  I look forward to continuing my passionate commitment to the liberal arts at Gettysburg beginning this summer!”

Question: As the Provost, you will be responsible for maintaining the academic program and curriculum at Gettysburg College. This necessitates an ability to moderate both faculty and student proposals. How would you both bridge a growing gap between the Administration and the student body, and promote interaction between the two?

Answer: Please know that I am committed to understanding the interests and aspirations of the Gettysburg faculty, students, and administration.   I would like to learn more about the perception that there is a growing gap between the Gettysburg student body and administration.   Clearly, I am dedicated to promoting mutual understanding, respect, and productive engagement among all members of the Gettysburg campus community.

As the future Provost, Zappe is more than willing to utilize his inherent abilities in order to assess issues at Gettysburg and aid in its accentuation. He is committed to furnishing the inherent empathy which exists between all students, faculty members, and administration.

Sitting around a table talking about Plato and The Republic, student Abraham Apfel never felt more like the stereotypical college student. “We didn’t have any iced mochas though,” said Apfel. “We didn’t have berets either,” replied Professor Brett Rogers. Although discussing Plato may seem like the pinnacle of the classic college experience, the class Democratic Labors in Athens and America is not the usual college class because it combines role-playing games and history.

The class just finished playing their first game, which was a simulation of 403 BCE Athens. The way the game is set up is that there are two factions of generally opposing characters, as well as six Indeterminates who are characters with specific or specialized agendas. The main goal of the game is to pass legislation that fulfills the characters’ goals. In order to get the highest score possible within the game, plotting, politics, and alliances are methods often used by the players. “By the fifth session everyone’s a mastermind,” said Rogers, the professor who brought this historical role-playing class to Gettysburg.

Even though the students in the class “were unsure how the game was supposed to run,” said student Ryan Tunkel, “most people were willing to dive right in.” The gung-ho attitude of the class materialized with a student storming the podium in rage, a coup, and an attempt to strip someone of their right to vote.

There was even a student who stayed so well in character that Tunkel “spent until a couple of days ago thinking he was playing the game making very poor decisions and putting a lot of people off until I realized he had been in character the entire time,” he said.

While staying in character is an important aspect of the game, “the person’s personality definitely comes out in their role,” said Apfel. Even though the player does have control over which actions they will take, Tunkel said, as a democrat, his “votes are often pre-scripted and to deviate from them would cause me to lose the game and act out of character.”

Another aspect of character is wardrobe. “We all had some very nice dresses on,” said Apfel, referencing the period dress that most students wore to class. “One person that is playing a war hero has come in every day with a sling and battle wounds created from make up,” said Tunkel.

Political strategy also proved to be a very central aspect to the game. One student brought cupcakes into class in order to bribe the other players. The near necessity of making alliances with other students causes the students in the class to know one another better. “Enough wheeling and dealing is necessary in the game that you need to know everyone and there was a lot of meeting outside of class,” said Tunkel. Apfel agrees that the very nature of the class causes everyone to get to know one another better.

Although the format and concept of the class are outlined in the “Reacting to the Past” series, Rogers incorporated many adjustments for his class. For example, he didn’t want his students to come away with the idea that there were cookie-cutter characters, or to categorize them like “we’re the red team, we’re the blue team,” said Rogers. People don’t always so cleanly fall into factions, he said, “it’s supposed to be messier.” Especially with this class, more people were pursuing individual legislation, as opposed to just dealing with the main issues, said Rogers.

This game also pushes both the students and the teacher to expand their knowledge of the time period. One student in the class “knows a shocking amount about Athenian real estate,” said Rogers. Also because of the active online community for classes like these, there is a sharing of knowledge about subjects scholars had never thought about before.

Because this class is unique in structure, there is difficulty for the teacher in planning out the course of the game. “You need a very active teacher to do this well,” said Apfel. There is a bigger sacrifice of time on the teacher’s part because they will need to spend more time talking to students or emailing with them. As a teacher, “you tend to overplan things, so it’s a really risky thing because you don’t know how the day’s going to go,” said Rogers.

While some people can’t even remember what they ate for lunch, freshman Mike Schneider can remember up to 600 digits of the natural log e. In order to facilitate Schneider’s hobby of memorizing, he began the Gettysburg Memory Club, which is headed to the national competition in March.

Memorization is not nearly as simple as most people believe it to be. There are many techniques and devices used in order to maximize memorization. “I knew we would be memorizing things, but I wasn’t aware of the techniques until I joined the club,” said freshman Vaughn Rennie.

One such technique is used in the game Numbers. Each competitor gets a sheet with 20 rows with 20 numbers in each row, making 400 total numbers. The object is to memorize the most numbers in order within 15 minutes. The device for this game is to “turn the digits into images,” said Schneider. For example, if the number 71 appeared on the sheet, the digits 7 and 1 both correspond to a letter, in this case 7 is K and 1 is either T or D. When Schneider plays this game, the number 71 always corresponds to the image of a cat because the sound K with T can sound like cat. This kind of technique is “the rookie system,” said Schneider. This is the technique Schneider teaches to the other club members. To accompany this method, there is a memory dictionary where each number is listed and is attached to images.

The more advanced version of this technique is to take three numbers at a time and make the first a character, the second an action, and the third an object. For example, if the numbers 71, 02, and 167 all appeared in a row, Schneider would make the 71 into his cousin, again, derived from the K sound. The second number he would turn into the verb “preaches,” and the third number would be the object, stagecoach. The string of numbers becomes an image of his cousin preaching on top of a stagecoach. “The key to memory is to take things and make them into silly and ridiculous things,” said Schneider.

The same type of technique is used for the game Cards. Again, the cards all have meanings or an individual can assign meaning to them. The King of Spades, for example, could be Obama, the seven of spades could be running, and the four of clubs could be a car. So the image associated with those three cards would be Obama running into a car. “At first [these techniques] seem really odd and strange, but they actually work,” said Rennie.

While the club officially has eleven members, only 3 students are participating in the national competition, including Schneider, Rennie, and sophomore Karl Utermohlen. Schneider, having participated in memory club in high school, has already attended nationals. Last year, 52 people competed and Schneider got 9^th place.

Schneider concedes that aspects of this hobby don’t “have much use in life,” an improved memory plus the techniques can help with school, especially when memorizing mathematical formulas, said Schneider. The game Names and Faces also helps in real life situations when meeting new people. The object of Names and Faces is to memorize 99 names and faces in 15 minutes. Now, when Schneider meets a new person, their name “just sticks” in his head. Schneider said that although it “may seem a little creepy” his goal is to memorize everyone’s’ phone numbers on his floor.

A toga is not the usual classroom attire. In Professor Brett Rogers’s new class, however, dressing in costume is not only encouraged, but required.

The class, Democratic Labors in Athens and America, “combin[es] role playing and history,” said Rogers. Over the course of the semester, the students will participate in two simulations or “games” that correlate to their readings in the class.

The class will study “two democracies at arguably fairly turbulent times,” Rogers said. The two democracies studied are 403 BCE Athens and 1913 Greenwich Village, both of which were time periods that faced many challenges to democracy.

The class is structured that there is about three weeks of reading historical texts and then three weeks of playing the game.

A game is based on both of these time periods where students are assigned roles and then must portray that role through costume, drama, and historical accuracy. Each role has a series of objectives the student must try to meet throughout the course of the game. Depending on how the game goes, history can change within the simulation.

“People read stuff but don’t really get what’s going on,” said Rogers. If a student is able to “play through a position,” it might change the way he or she thinks about the text, he said.

A central element to the class is student involvement and direction. “The class is completely and totally student driven,” said student Alex Skufca.

Only three weeks into the course, said Rogers, the students “don’t talk to me, they talk to each other.”

” Professor Rogers only interjects to clarify historical points or add something to our understanding of the text. For example when class discussion brought up the classic nature versus nurture, Rogers explained the Greek origins of that agreement,” Skufca said.

The fact that the class is able to run things on their own already may be credit to the “shockingly unique group of people” in the class, said Rogers.

He said this group is the most excited and motivated group of students that he has seen in a while.

The students also seem to enjoy the atmosphere in the classroom.

“I realized that everyone in the class cared just as much as I did [about] what Socrates was saying,” said Skufca.

This camaraderie among the students in the class will hopefully transfer over to the games. Although the game will not start for another one or two weeks, students are already excited about participating in the simulation.

“I am planning on going as far as I reasonably can [in the simulation]. The major obstacle is simply finding the costumes and props, not working up any desire to wear them. I have that in spades,” said student Ryan Tunkel.

Because the game operates on a points system, people who do not dress up will not do as well in the class. Likewise, if a player does not meet his or her objectives, their score will be markedly lower than other players.

The class model is based on the book series, “Reacting to the Past,” which was created at Barnard College. A professor at Barnard discovered that his students could understand and interpret the text better if they acted it out and so he decided to pursue the idea.

In order to start this class at Gettysburg, Rogers received a grant from the Johnson Center for Creative Teaching. The Johnson Center grants loans in order for students and teachers to pursue experiential and collaborative education. The hope of the Johnson Center, Rogers said, is to discover methods of teaching or learning that can be continued. Rogers hopes that if this semester works out, the class will be offered again, although “no two classes turn out the same.”

In addition to getting the grant, Rogers has gone to different lengths to make the class the best it can be. Because he specializes in classics, he felt comfortable teaching the section of the course on Athens, but needed to learn more about Greenwich Village in the early twentieth century. Therefore Rogers spent part of his summer in Greenwich Village getting the feel and historical basis for that section of the class.

Even though the class is designed to be student run, there is still a lot of preparation to be done on his part, Rogers said.

“You can tell that Brett has put a lot of work into making this course and it is going to be very exciting and something truly different to a normal learning experience,” said student Amy Shinko.

“This is your education to take charge of,” said Rogers.

Dr. Brett Rogers was not born, contrary to the dubious implication of the headline, under any remarkable circumstances. His life sprang into existence as most do, the perfunctory mechanisms of peculiar biological plotting, with the firmaments of family already established in a California suburb.

“I was born in Escondido, California, it’s a terrible suburb northeast of San Diego, in 1977,” Rogers said. “So that makes me… just before Star Wars came out… I beat Star Wars by a couple of months. So, I would like to think of myself as B.D. – Before Darth. If I had a numbering system, I was born two months B.D.”

Despite the witticisms conveyed by the Assistant Professor of both Classics and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as the often jovial atmosphere through which they were communicated, Rogers’s lively narrative is punctuated by a sweeping profundity, which belies the nature of humorous retorts.

As a senior at Orange Glen High School, Rogers was introduced to a host of different teachers and encountered academic subjects which he still avidly pursues today.

“I went to this public high school that had all of these freaks and geeks teaching in it, like amazing people,” Rogers said. “One of them was a St. John’s College graduate by the name of Richard Brown…and over the course of his 30 years teaching at Orange Glen High School…He had put together a humanities course that was modeled off his experience at St. John’s College, so it was meant to be a kind of hybrid of the humanities and sciences.”

Rogers cites Brown’s course as a notable academic influence, providing exposure to a large gambit of writers and a formidable onslaught of contrasting perceptions.

“One day we would be reading about The Iliad, the next day we would be reading about Stephen Hawking and Big Bang Theory…One day we would read Nietzsche, one day we would read The Quran, and it was this incredible intellectual experience,” said Rogers.

Subsequent to his four years at Orange Glen, Rogers enrolled in Reed College, a prestigious liberal arts institution located in Portland, Oregon.

“The first day of class you sing the first line of The Iliad in ancient Greek, which I still inflict upon my students periodically,” said Rogers. “The humanities class [at Reed] ended up becoming a really formative cultural experience for me.”

As an undergraduate, Rogers was privy not only to a vast array of academia, but also the unusually potent crucible of social innovation.”

“To give you a really concrete example: in 1993 a bunch of students at Reed were involved in what’s called the Barbie Liberation Organization,” said Rogers. “What they did was take a bunch of talking G.I. Joes and Barbie dolls that they bought, switched the voice chips and snuck them back into stores so that when parents bought them for kids for the holidays, the kids would open up and Barbie says like ‘Dead men tell no tales!’ Since age 18 that [the effects of the BLO on gender perception] has always been a part of how I think about the world.”

Rogers also spent time, throughout his four years at Reed, cultivating an already burgeoning musical passion and performing in the band Atomic Swerve, which, in his words, was an “homage to Lucretius,” the prolific Roman poet.

“If all my academic work is highly self-critical, my musical stuff is decidedly not,” said Rogers. “I don’t know music theory that well, so for me music is about what I hear…I’m a total music harlot.”

Rogers credits the “architectural sophistication” of Radiohead as a significant influence, and currently can be seen straddling the tenuous line between musical eclecticism and harmonic ingenuity as a member of The Gettysburg Pirate Orchestra.

“We’re a combination of Blue Grass, Americana, Folk, and Pop,” said Rogers. “We’re five distinct personalities…who all bring different ideas to the table. We have nothing to do with pirates, fans dress up…we encourage them to make paper hats.”

After the completion of his undergraduate education, Rogers attended graduate school at Stanford University, where he studied abroad at the American School in Athens.

“I went because they paid for it,” said Rogers. “It’s always good when you can trick your grad school into paying for things.”

Despite the explicit acknowledgment that “it was the right thing,” Rogers expressed regret about making the transition so hastily.

“I didn’t quite get all of the Portland out of my system,” said Rogers. “For me, college experience should be defined in some sense by what the culture of the campus does. I sort of ask myself about Gettysburg. What makes a Gettysburg student, a Gettysburg student? How do we do that in a way that is good for everybody?”

When asked above the possible achievement of passion at Gettysburg, Rogers, who began at the College in 2008, had this to say:

“I see a potential for it. Gettysburg is interesting, it’s clearly in a state of transition. First it’s this 1832 school [with] traditional education…and…then…the battle changes the landscape a bit and it becomes a regional college. Then sometime in the 70s or 80s they decide, ‘No, we want to be a national college,’ and so…we’re still in some sense feeling the effects of that.”

It is important to note, at this ill-placed juncture in the profile, that Rogers’s explicit achievements are mirrored by philosophically complex implicit tenets. Any fragment of conversation, as any who have spoken to him can surely attest, is motivated by melodic fervor and animated by a stringent belief in empathy.

“I value empathy… and trying to think through the different perspectives in a way that is not sympathetic,” said Rogers. “I feel like sympathy is interesting because it is really easy to claim it, but you haven’t been in the other person’s shoes. I am more interested in what I have to do to myself to sort of have a deeper connection to your suffering.”

“I hate the golden rule,” Rogers continued. “It fails to ask the question, well what does the other person want…it always assumes that the other person wants what you want. I am interested in a revision: ‘Do unto others as they would like done unto them,’ which means you have to get to know them. That is the moral issue that underlies everything I do.”

Perhaps as a consequence of such an inveterate belief, in conjunction with the wayward construction of fate, Rogers has adopted an iterant personality, living in almost all four corners of the United States.

“I lived in the Southwest because I was born there,” said Rogers. “I lived in the Northwest because it wasn’t the Southwest, and I love Oregon.” I lived in Georgia because that was my first job out of grad school, my second being at Gettysburg. I lived in the Bay Area because I went to Stanford, and I spent part of the summer in New York because I’m sort of obsessed with it. You learn something new about the U.S… [it] is such a fascinating, weird place.”

Both movement and pop culture have played seminal roles in Rogers’s life, and he credits the former with his initial involvement in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

“I would say the cool thing about growing up in Southern California is that you grow up with a relationship to pop culture that is grossly tied to the production of it,” said Rogers. “And so, I grew up reading comic books, pretty avidly, and watching a lot of television and film and really into music…I grew up in a series of very particular moments that ended up having an impressive impact on the way pop culture is shaped.”

It is that notion, as well as Rogers’s inherent belief in acceptance and empathetic interaction, which, either directly or indirectly, influenced his desire to teach.

“I was into this the whole way,” said Rogers. “What’s the better place to attack, do you attack culture or legislation? Legislation always lags behind culture, so if you can change how people think, persuade other people that there are better ways to think, then the legislation will follow. [I want to] invite people to approach their lives differently, and hope that they will invite me to approach my life differently. I have to be flexible too.”

As a professor, philosopher, and student, Dr. Brett Rogers has experienced the distant din of classical Greece and Rome, as well as the pertinent clamor of pop culture. Each of these subjects impact his persona and create an interesting dichotomy, a convoluted concoction of the antiquated and the current. He has taken what was once unremarkable, as the tale began, and crafted circumstance to form something meaningful.

“Make a choice and own that choice,” said Rogers. “That ownership is important…and that’s much better than owning property.”

I sat down with seniors Courtney Small and Carolyn Perrotti, Co-Presidents of Gettysburg’s Chapter of “Colleges Against Cancer,” to get some more information regarding CAC and their presence on Gettysburg’s campus.
What are the goals of CAC?
CS: We want to educate the campus regarding the ways in which they can help the fight against cancer, such as through volunteering, advocacy and financial contributions.
CP: We raise funds and awareness for cancer research, education, patient services, and advocacy initiatives.
What are your main events during the year?
CS: Relay for Life is our biggest event, but we also host the “Pink Party” for Breast Cancer. This year we also started a Friendly’s Fundraiser and we had a great turnout!
CP: This year we are also branching out and hosting “Great American Health Challenge Activities” during “Health Week,” and speaking about Advocacy in political science classes. CAC and SAB are also hosting a second kickoff this semester in the Attic on Thursday, February 26th.
How many members do you have?
CS: We have about 50 members.
CP: 20 of them are executive members.
When and where do you meet?
CS: We meet on Wednesdays at 4:30 in McCreary 202.
CP: We also hold our executive board meetings on Sundays at 2pm.
What are you most looking forward to this year?
CS: Relay for Life being outside in the stadium! (Weather barring)
CP: RELAY! The club as a whole is very enthusiastic and dedicated! We have so many great, new ideas and I cannot wait to see everything come together.
As a group, what are your biggest strengths?
CS: I believe that our dedication to go above and beyond in order to help the fight against Cancer is our greatest strength.
CP: People are doing this because they care about the cause, therefore, we have a lot of motivation to work hard and to work together. Everyone is a team player and it makes all the hard work more enjoyable.
What has been your biggest struggle thus far?
CS: Our biggest struggle has been getting Relay for Life approved to be outside. But hopefully it won’t rain this year and we can actually hold the event outside!
CP: We have so many ideas and initiatives that I hope we can stay organized and accomplish everything that we want to!
What do you feel you contribute to Gettysburg College?
CS: I feel that we add to the sense of community that this school already offers so thoroughly. By getting so many students, faculty, and staff to participate in a common goal, it reaffirms the sense of community that we share at Gettysburg for a great cause that everyone has been affected by.
CP: So many people have been touched by cancer and this club gives students an opportunity to take up the fight.
Why should students join your club?
CS: Students should join CAC because we work so hard at this cause, but it always feels as though we are having fun doing it—we really enjoy making a difference.
CP: There are so many opportunities to be creative and start new activities within the “Colleges Against Cancer” club. I encourage all new members to take part in this worthwhile club.

1) What are the goals or mission statement of Sigma Chi?

The goals of the international fraternity are the cultivation of friendship, justice, and learning among its members. The fraternity also strives to be the preeminent college leadership organization. Locally, we hope to develop ourselves as students, citizens of the world, and leaders within our organization, on campus, and in the wider world.

2) How long have you been on campus?

The chapter itself has been on campus since 1863. They surrendered their charter in 2005. The current group was officially recognized by the international fraternity on December 22, 2007.

3) There are all kinds of rumors floating around about the history of Sigma Chi at Gettysburg, care to set the record straight?

Honestly, a lot of the rumors you hear are not the result of the wild rantings of crazy people. While it’s almost certain that the rumors you’ve heard are exaggerated to some extent, the chapter did have problems academically, socially, etc. It’s important to remember two things, though. First, those guys recognized that they had some problems and made the courageous decision to surrender their charter, which allows us to be here now. Second, that group of guys has no connection to the current group. We will have our own way of doing business, and hopefully it remains the right way for years to come.

4) When do you guys hope to get a house here?

The plan is to move back into our chapter house next fall; however, there are a couple more hurdles that need to be cleared before that will become official. I’m confident that we will take care of those things, though.

5) What is your favorite part of Greek life on campus?

My favorite part is the camaraderie that’s engendered among the members of the various organizations. I’m best friends now with guys who I didn’t know existed for upwards of a year here. I feel able to speak with some very distinguished people and on equal footing with them because of the bonds we share. These kinds of friendships and connections are very special.

6) Are there any upcoming events or philanthropies that you would like to talk about?

On November 6 th we are going to hold our 2nd Chili Throwdown to support the Campus Kitchens Project. For those who missed it last year, teams of students, faculty members, and administrators compete in a chili cook-off, judges by some of the schools big wigs. After the judging, members of the campus community are invited to come eat the chili until it’s gone, along with soda, water, and cornbread. Last year, we had 13 teams, and through sales of chili, t-shirts, and registration fees, we raised $720 to support Campus Kitchens. This year we hope to double the size of the event.