Our second day in Medellin began at a local university, EAFIT, for a meeting on criminality and the state with Professor Gustavo Duncan. Professor Duncan gave us a brief lecture on the the peace deal and delved into the complicated history of governance in Medellin and the rural parts of the country. An expert in the relationship between criminality and the state, he detailed the complicated ties between neighborhoods, citizens, businesses, and gangs. Professor Duncan shed light on...
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December 08, 2018 7:25AM
After a night of sleeping not in tents, but in hotel beds, the PBPL 85 group woke up rested and ready to start the first day in Medellin, the capital of Colombia's mountainous Antioquia province. On the bus ride in from the airport, we had sensed that Medellin had a different feel from Bogotá. In Bogotá, we had spent most of our time meeting with government officials, scholars, and NGOs thinking specifically about the peace process. Our time in Medellin on the other hand was dedicated to...
[more] December 07, 2018 7:55AM
We arrived at the San Jose del Oriente Espacios Territoriales de Capacitacion Reincorporation, or ECTR, as the sun set in the horizon. To the east we could see the mountains that lined the Colombian-Venezuelan border while to the west were the famous white caps of the Sierra Nevada range. We were greeted by several ex-combatants living at the ECTR, or reintegration camp, who formed the Terra Grata ecotourism project, as well as members of the Colombian military.
Throughout the...
[more] December 06, 2018 5:24PM
Mini-Grant recipient, Sydney Kamen '19, shares her experience attending the 4th African Conference on Emergency Medicine (AfCEM) in Kigali, Rwanda.
From November 7-9, 2018, I had the unique opportunity of attending the 4th African Conference on Emergency Medicine (AfCEM) in Kigali, Rwanda. This three-day conference convened leaders from across the African continent and globe to discuss, share, and collaborate on the theme: "Breaking Barriers in Emergency Medicine Education...
[more] December 05, 2018 10:15AM
PBPL 85 began the weekend with an early morning trip to the airport, on our way to sunny Valledupar. From there, the class traveled to Pondores, which is one of the largest ECTRs, or reintegration camps, in Colombia. A United Nations escort truck led the bus into the FARC camp and the two UN workers in the Caribbean district introduced the class to the eco-tourism team — PBPL 85’s host for the next two days. The 26 ECTRs serve as "Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation;” their...
[more] December 05, 2018 9:45AM
As a First-Year Fellow, Bill Cui ’21 interned at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the mentorship of Jay Matson ’91. Here is an excerpt from his final report.
This summer, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent regulatory agency under the Department of Energy. It is one of the key agencies that regulate natural gas, oil, and electricity industries. Its responsibilities include monitoring wholesale...
[more] December 04, 2018 11:15AM
The PBPL class started the day talking with Doug Mercado of the UN World Food Program (WFP). Mercado is currently based in Bogota, Colombia, and he works as the WFP’s Emergency Response Coordinator and coordinates the organizations food programs for Venezuelan migrants on the western border, but has worked on humanitarian aid before in Angola, Eritrea, and Bosnia among many others. The class had a lively discussion with Mercado on topics like how the new Duque administration is addressing...
[more] December 03, 2018 9:52AM
Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law, Rebecca Zietlow, spoke at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center during the fall term, delivering the Roger S. Aaron ’64 Lecture. She invoked values and constitutional inspiration, discussing the antislavery movement, reconstruction and individual rights.
Looking back on her career, she said her interest began after she started looking into cases on Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments,...
[more] December 01, 2018 7:50AM
Our third day in Colombia was filled with informative meetings and exciting events. The morning started off leisurely as our first meeting was not until noon. Students used this time to explore the surrounding area and to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Early on the sun broke through the clouds and dispelled the fog that can settle on Bogotá and the surrounding hillsides. This mild weather was a treat after a large rainstorm the previous day.
Our first meeting was with...
[more] November 30, 2018 1:47PM
Brittany Cleary ’21 interned at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) during the 2018 Summer Term. The following if an excerpt from her internship report.
This summer, I interned at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE), an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), is a nonprofit organization that provides vital reproductive health services to women (and men) regardless of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status,...
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