2010 Summit Special Section

Familiarity, branding is the downfall of the battle against big business

Commentary by Sean Harris ’11
THE ROUNDUP

Everyone knows McDonald’s food is bad, right?

With kitchens that smell like blocked arteries, the fight against fast food has been waging fiercely as of late, and with the Summit on Human Dignity being focused in on the issue of food, Brophy students are likely to carry this hamburger hate in the same fashion as they adorned Nike “Slavery” shirts last year.

However, every person who says they hate McDonalds and their evil unhealthy food has also had the concept of McDonald’s shoved down their throats until it has become a staple in our culture. And therein lies the problem.

Keady brings Team Sweat awareness to students

All of Brophy was stunned by the cold hard facts that Jim Keady, the founder of Team Sweat, revealed March 1 in Robson Gymnasium.

Keady shared the knowledge he has learned over the past 13 years with the Brophy students during the Summit on Human Dignity, and many were shocked by how much they did not know about Nike.

Apparently, the Indonesian workers for Nike are extremely underpaid and can barely make enough money to purchase the absolute necessities for survival, including food and water.

Globalization becomes a relevant issue for students

When the Summit began this year, I had this feeling people had some idea what they were getting into.

Corrupt corporations and the exploitation of workers was something students were not completely naïve to. We were aware that there were problem with companies like Nike, but it never bothered us to the point where we inconvenienced ourselves over it.

The point is we were faintly aware of the problems.

Take action against unjust low wages

This year’s Summit on globalization spoke about how we must be citizens of the world and how we must help those who are oppressed by big business, though doing this may conflict with political ideas.

It is important for one with strong views who may oppose the suggestions presented by the speakers of the Summit to remember that the Summit is not on globalization; it is a summit on human dignity through the lens of globalization.

The main focus of this Summit, and the ones of the past, was to realize that there are people all over the world being robbed of their dignity.

U.S. economy’s nose dive rooted in sub-prime mortage deals

Over the past few years, the economy has taken a wild course and dropped into a recession, what some economists call the worst since the Great Depression.

Although it is rather a complicated concept to understand why the economy went into a recession, there is an explanation.

Jonathon Jarvis, an interaction and media designer, managed to lay out the situation in his animated short film “The Crisis of Credit,” which can be found on YouTube.

Economic focus delivers important message

Brophy has traditionally put on a fairly good Summit.

The topics have been controversial to say the least, but this is to be expected from topics which carry such importance.

Each has also been covered very well, and stimulated much discussion and argumentation.

Student committee prepares workshops, field trips

About 20 Brophy students ranging from sophomores to seniors engage in a back and forth conversation in room K-10 in early January trying to get the last minute details ready for this year’s Summit on Human Dignity.

This group of students, officially known as the Student Summit Planning Committee, has been working hard since October to offer students a Summit they can not only relate to, but enjoy and learn from to make changes in their life.

Summit to make room at the table

In this time of economic recession, many people are slowly realizing the impact the United States perpetuates on the world around it.
This theme is the subject of this year’s Summit on Human Dignity: globalization.
The official title of the 2010 Summit on Human Dignity that will run from Feb. 22 to March 5 is “Room at the Table: Globalization, Economic Justice and Human Dignity.”
Read more for complete coverage on the Summit.