didnt like that I was young and already

Iconsistently
sick.
Charissa Martin on her health problems
that led her to a second major.

Webster photography
student captures the
expressions of people
eating things they hate.

Page 6

Page 5

The News Source For Webster University

THE JOURNAL
March 25 - April 8, 2015

Volume 68 Issue 12

International activist

websterjournal.com

WU student earns scholarship

for year-long class in Germany
By Jacob Claspille
Contributing Writer

Webster University senior

political science major Jenna
Hopkins will be spending next
year as a part of an exclusive
scholarship group.
Hopkins is one of 75 students in the U.S. to receive
the scholarship to study in
Germany and take part in an
internship for the 2015-2016
year.
The scholarship is through
the Congress-Bundestag Youth
Exchange Program (CBYX).
The year-long program consists of a two-month language
study, four months at a German university improving
upon language skills and a
five-month internship for a
German company.
The scholarship itself covers all airfare, all six months of
language study, housing in the
pre-internship phase, health
insurance,
program-related
travel and a monthly stipend
to cover basic living costs.

BRIAN VERBARG / The Journal

Webster University Professor Chris Parr has been an activist for decades and lets his passion drive him to lend a hand to the oppresed or those in times of need.

Webster professor shows up to fight for human rights

By Tim Godfrey
News Editor

Webster University Professor of Religious Studies Chris

Parr had no plans on the night
of March 14 and thought the best
way to spend a free night during
spring break was to head to Ferguson. He figured he would go
out for an hour or so to help celebrate the resignation of Ferguson
Police Chief Tom Jackson and be
home before midnight.
An hour later, Parr was inside
the Ferguson Police Department
sitting in a jail cell, charged with
failure to comply.
Word of his arrest reached
his family back in New Zealand,
an occurrence they felt was inevitable. The oldest of four children,
Parr said he was the troublemaker
of the bunch.

They werent terribly surprised, Parr said.

Parrs sister, Deirdre Parr Carryer, posted on Facebook, It had
to happen one day: my brother
Chris has finally been arrested for
protesting (it only took how many
years, bro?).
Parr drove to Ferguson and
found protesters celebrating the
resignation of the former Ferguson police chief. Parr said getting
Jackson to resign was one of the
goals of the protesters.
Brenna Whitehurst, a junior
psychology major, was there that
night. She arrived in Ferguson
around 8 p.m. and took part in
the celebration.
When I first got down (to
Ferguson), there was pizza, there
was hugging and dancing, having a good time. Then the protest
started, Whitehurst said.

According to Whitehurst, she

was with friends in the street when
a police officer instructed them to
get out of the street or face arrest.
After an argument resulting in an
officer trying to grab one of her
friends, Whitehurst said the levels
of animosity between protesters
and law enforcement grew.
People were pissed after
that, Whitehurst said.
While Whitehurst left around
10 p.m., Parr was just arriving and
saw a blockade of police shields
and masks. Standing shoulderto-shoulder and without warning,
Parr said police started moving
toward the protesters, pushing
them into the street.
While others moved out of
the way of the oncoming wall,
Parr stood his ground and was
met with opposing force from a
shield. Parr said no policemen

said anything to him, only following the first shove with another.
After the second shove, Parr
found himself behind the police lines and was put into zip-tie
handcuffs. While his fingerprints
were taken, Parr heard an officers
radio go off.
Officer shot, officer shot,
Parr recalls.
Whitehurst and Parr would
find out the following morning
that two policemen, one of them
from Webster Groves, were shot
by a gunman outside the Ferguson Police Department.
No patience for racism
Parr was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, and like
a lot of New Zealand boys, he
dreamed of playing for the
See Activist

Page 3

The application process

Hopkins was made aware
of the CBYX program by her
former employer Brendan Wehye and Webster German Professor Paula Hanssen.
Hopkins said both were
supportive of her applying,
and they knew it was something that she would like to do.
Hanssen said it was Hopkins mindset that fit best.
I think she is very open
to new things, Hanssen said.
She is open to new ideas and
new cultures. And even though
Germany is a western culture
like ours there are some
other big differences, and she
is pretty open to that.
Hopkins is also one of
three students under Hanssen
to have won the award.
No language barrier
Hopkins is no stranger
to the German language. She
took four years of German in
high school, along with four
semesters here at Webster University and in Vienna, where
she studied abroad.
I want to be able to take
away a better understanding
of the language and a better
appreciation for different cultures, Hopkins said.

Hopkins desire to learn

about other countries cultures has taken her all over
the world. Along with Vienna,
she has travelled to southern
France and participated in a
backpacking trip through Ireland, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. She has also traveled to Turkey and Israel for a
spring break trip.

want to be able to
Itake
away a better

understanding of
the language and a
better appreciation
for different cultures
Jenna Hopkins

Senior political science

major

Leaving her mother

Despite Hopkins excitement after receiving the CBYX
award, her family knew she
would be leaving for a year.
Hopkins remembers the
phone call she made to her
mother after hearing the good
news.
I was so excited that I got
an email back. I, of course,
was just talking to her really
fast and really happy, and her
response back to me was so
monotone. It was just like, Oh,
congratulations Jenna. Thats
great, Hopkins said.
I was like, mom, you just
killed all of my excitement,
Hopkins said jokingly.
But because of her previous travels, Hopkins knows it
will be hard.
Her mother, Bev Hopkins,
remembers the phone call a
little differently.
I was like, Ah, yeah, thats
so exciting! And then the tears
came. I told her that they were
tears of happiness and joy. I
know how much it meant to
her to have this, Bev Hopkins
said.

Contact the writer:

websterjournal@gmail.com

Multicultural meeting of the minds

Webster hosts international students

for the first Global Leadership Summit
By Macy Salama
Editor-in-Chief

Webster University students

from around the world traveled
to the Webster Groves campus
for a week over spring break. The
occasion was the Global Student
Leadership Summit (GSLS), the
first event of its kind in Webster history. Though it was the
first time in the States for many
students, the location they were
most eager to seeto confirm
the rumors from their hometownswas a visit to Walmart.
During spring break, Webster University spent an estimated $40,000, according to
Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Ted Hoef, to pay for the
airfare of 19 Webster University students from study abroad
campuses to come to Webster
Groves. The summit was held as
part of the universitys centennial events.
Students had a five-day

schedule of events to reach the

objective of the summitimproving cohesion in leadership
throughout the Webster University campuses. The schedule
included a campus tour, a day
out on the town, team building,
group dinners and leadership
presentations produced by student groups.
During some free time, SGA
president Gaby Deimeke said
abroad students from her presentation group asked to go to
Walmart. Deimeke said the students could not fathom a place
where items were so cheap, with
so many options.
They really wanted to go to
Walmart. We even took a picture in front so they had proof,
Deimeke said.
Out of 55 applicants, only 30
students were chosen to attend
GSLS, 11 students being from
the Webster Groves campus.
Undergraduate centennial
representative Michael Grosch
proposed the GSLS at the end

of 2013. Grosch said he predicted more people would apply

but was pleased overall with the
outcome.
Its hard to tell someone to
give up their spring break to do
work. We didnt want it to be a
vacation they needed to want
to be there, Grosch said.
Grosch said seeing his idea
come to life was a great experience, but he was overwhelmed
by the amount of direct feedback given to him.
I can lead and plan things,
but I have never been in the position of people coming up to
me and saying thank you and
good job . . . I almost didnt
know how to respond to it,
Grosch said.
Students came from Thailand, Geneva, Shanghai, Ghana,
London, Leiden, Vienna and
St. Louis. All the participants,
including the Webster Groves
campus students, were housed
at Eden Theological Seminarys
West Hall. Hoef said the rela-

Photo Contributed by Gaby Diemeke

International students at the Global Student Leadership Summit sign the 100 outside East Academic Building on March 12.

tionships he saw between the

students made the experience
special to everyone involved.
We knew it would be good,
but it was transformative, Hoef
said. It was a completely other

level to have the students face to

face.
Deimeke said the summit
was more beneficial than she
expected. She said the personal
relationships made would help

the cohesion and communication expand globally.

Deimeke said the retreat
had already shown an improvement in the process of
See Summit Page 2