Keep it on the D.L., but I strongly dislike the name change, too. Working here now, I am ok with saying Global College to new, incoming students, but when people ask me to talk about my experience, I can't do it. Just can't. I went to Friends World, end of story. I find myself getting really angry sometimes in my work when new students (without knowing better) ask me about my time at "Global College", etc. It's personal with me. At the same time, though, the name has been changed, and I want people to know that this program exists... I want our little program to survive.

I think it's a little much to say that this program is nothing like what it was, and is just another cheesy study abroad program. It certainly isn't, and if it ever becomes as such, then that's it for me. As you can see from some of the current student postings on this site (like the petition that went out, for example), we're still a bunch of passionate activists with wanderlust that seek to initiate social change. This program still attracts those with a deep curiosity about the world and a strong impulse to change things for the better. I disagree with many of the changes, but at the heart of it I would rather see Global College than no program like this at all.

As for South Africa, I think it's a better place than London for the study of peace and reconciliation (my area of concentration). The peace process there is alive and ongoing, and it offers an important example of one way to help reconcile a society with its violent past. The center will be located in Durban, not J'berg or Cape Town.

I see our role as alumni in these coming years as important- we will be the ones who provide a link to the past, and ensure that the core ethos of our program- Quaker principles of experiential learning, conscientious global citizenship, and the creation of agents of positive social change remain. It's just like it was with newbie graduates like me- there were the old school Friends Worlders still in the program that had been to Jerusalem and Ghana, there were the old school Friends World College alumns that popped up from time to time... there's even been a couple of Friends World Institute professors that I have run into during my time as a student. The worst disservice we could do to our school, I think, it to completely ignore it.

Just some thoughts on this grey Tuesday...