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Photo by Carrie DeRuyter
Archaeologist Gloria Everson presents
some of her Mayan research to the public
in GSC on Tuesday evening.
The Augustana Augie alumna shares research
Forum
Gov. Janklow
gets a piece
of Garrick
BEN SCHUMACHER .
MIRROR CO-EDITOR
Gloria Everson believes that one
of the reasons archaeologists may
not fully understand some ancient
Mayan architecture is because any
message they left behind was not
meant for us. •
Everson, a 1990 Augustana his-tory
and English major, also spent
much of her time at Augie in Dr.
Adrien Hannus' anthropology and
archaeology classes. She was back
in GSC Tuesday evening present-ing
the research she's been con-ducting
on the Mayan culture.
After some confusion concern-ing
the time of the presentation (the
Argus Leader had said the lecture
would begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
night, rather than at 7, when it was
scheduled), 56 people watched a
slide show and overhead presenta-tion
guided by Everson. She said
that the history the ancient Mayans
left behind was not intended to be
found by Americans. It was meant
for Mayan ancestors.
"The time of the gentleman
scholar is over," Everson said. "We
need to give back to whom the
message is for."
Everson described the site of her
fieldwork at La Milpa in Belize for
the audience, which was originally
scheduled to be Hannus' "High
Cultures of Central and South
Erin Hallstrom
Augie senior
selected as
Fulbright
Scholar
BY BRIAN ALLEN LIESINGER
MIRROR STAFF WRITER
The fear of not knowing what to do
after graduation haunts many seniors.
Parents express the necessity of join-ing
the work force. Those who just
cannot get enough schooling will
contemplate graduate school. Others
will just try to avoid loan payments.
One senior at Augustana College
has seized a unique opportunity to
broaden her base of knowledge after
graduation. Erin Hallstrom, who
majors in psychology and' modern
foreign language, has been awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship to participate
in a nine-month program in Norway.
The Fulbright Program was initiat-ed
in 1945 when Senator J. William
Fulbright of Arkansas proposed it to
the U.S. Congress to provide means
for ambitious Americans to learn
Erin Hallstrom
continued on page 11
America" class, but was open to
the public. One of the most remark-able
findings her team discovered
during its time in Belize were addi-tional
Mayan plazas, 3.5 kilometers
in each primary direction from the
central site. The plaza in Everson's
assigned area included palaces,
administrative buildings, a monu-s
ment and a couple of small pyra-mid
structures. The plaza, located
on the highest point east of La
Milpa, was aligned with a clear
view of the temple in the main city,
and was in a direct line with the sun
during the winter solstice.
Everson worked closely with
several full-blooded Mayans dur-ing
her time in Belize. In addition
to discovering archaeological and
architectural structures, her team
also encountered many looters'
tunnels. Looters often dig into
archaeological sites and extract
artifacts which they can sell to pri-vate
collectors for large quantities
of money. Everson described her
confusion on this issue. She said it
was easy to say, "Don't take those
things! Those are important to
your culture!" Yet archaeologists
often remove artifacts which then
sit dormant in museum vaults
unseen for years or forever. Who
was she, a white American, to tell
Mayan ancestors what they ought
to be doing with Mayan artifacts?
BY KARI PETRYSZYN
MIRROR VARIETY CO-EDITOR
On Saturday, March 31, a sym-posium
was held here at Augus-tana,
the first of its kind to be in
this institution. Named after the
ancient discussion recorded by
Plato in a book of the same name,
the conference consisted of Augie
students presenting their original
research.
With the help of numerous fac-ulty
members from all depart-ments
on campus, over 40 students
presented on subjects ranging
from God and the nature of suffer-ing,
to educational strategies to the
intricacies of specific chemical
processes. •
Many students presented
research they had already complet-ed,
while still others took up new
areas of study specifically for the
symposium. This was one of the
things Assistant Professor of Phi-losophy
Dr. Michael Waddell, one
of the seven members of the steer-ing
committee for the event, hoped
would happen.
"We wanted to encourage stu-dents
to undertake this kind of
research, and when you've got a
format for presenting it, it provides
an incentive for getting involved in
the first place," he said.
Another of the committee's
goals was to raise the level and
visibility of intellectual conversa-tions
on campus.
"We all have conversations
Everson said one of the
problems is a lack of educa-tion
in this Third-world area.
It is Everson's hope to soon
write a bilingual book (Eng-lish
and Spanish, the two pri-mary
languages in Belize) at
the fourth-grade level that
would describe some of the
history of the Mayans so that
archaeology can be brought
into the schools there.
"If you don't give back to
the people, you're not doing
anthropology or archaeology
the responsible way," Ever-son
said.
Everson decided to
become an archaeologist
after an interim trip to Mexi-co
while at Augustana. She
continued her graduate work
at Tulane University and
recently received her Ph.D.
in archaeology with a focus on
MesoAmerica.
"There's not that many profes-sions
where you can be at work and
have a pack of monkeys playing
overhead," Everson said. She also
noted that visiting the latrines
could be exciting too. Sometimes
pit vipers could be found there.
Senior Jon Carlson is in Hannus'
"High Cultures of Central and
South America" class. He was
pleased with the presentation.
about big things with our friends,"
Waddell said, "but these things
kind of happen around the edges.
We talk about important things in
class, but its important as a col-lege,
especially as a liberal arts
college, that we have important
conversations in big public venues
like this."
Guided by scholars of their spe-cific
subjects, students were able
to work with professors in a way
they would have otherwise not
been able to do. Senior Adam Iver-son,
who presented a philosophy
paper on the search for and attain-ment
of happiness, said that it was
very helpful to have a guide for
material he really didn't under-stand.
"It was very good to have your
questions responded to immediate-ly
and to get away from the class-room
where there are certain pre-tenses
to be avoided," he said.
Junior Nichole Miller presented
the results of her 10-week-long
chemistry research she had com-pleted
this past summer on eac-tions
of combustion kinetics and
found working closely with pro-fessors
and other graduate students
on something like this not only
creates new ideas but helps to clar-ify
existing ones.
"Having other ears that say,
`Wait a minute, that doesn't make
sense,' gives you a passage to that
which you've never thought of
before," she said.
"I thought it was very informa-tive,"
Carlson said. "I think that
since she was an Augustana gradu-ate
it was neat to have her come
back to lecture." Carlson said
many speakers in the anthropologi-cal
world often speak above the
heads of the listeners, but that
Everson did not. "She really did a
good job of coming to our level. It
was a fascinating lecture on the La
Milpa site in Belize."
Bother Iverson and Miller
agreed that just the opportunity to
present to a public body was an
invaluable experience.
"Just to practice presenting to
people who may not know in depth
what I'm talking about was a great
experience," Miller said, "because
as a professional chemist its some-thing
we have to do anyway."
Waddell said that's not the only
practical life experience the stu-dents
got from the event as many
of them became in contact with
influential scholars around the
world as a result of the research
they began for the symposium.
"It opens up doors for people
who want to go to on to graduate
school opens up lines of communi-cation
between the scholars here
and the scholars elsewhere," he
said.
In addition to the student
research, the symposium also host-ed
Dr. David O'Connor, an associ-ate
professor of philosophy from
the University of Notre Dame. He
gave two addresses entitled "Is
Money Killing the Professions?"
and "Ancient Wisdom and Modern
Love," to further facilitate impor-tant
conversations among students
and faculty, and also to serve as a
bridge between Augustana with
other communities of learning."
All-in-all, Waddell estimates
Symposium
continued on page 11
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Friday, April 6, 2001
Volume 89, Issue 16
First Augie symposium
opens students' minds