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The Brown and White Vol. 128 No. 20 Tuesday, April 21, 2015 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ From the panel discussion on race with Sybrina Fulton—the mother of Trayvon Martin— this fall, to the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration keynote speaker Michelle Alexander in January, the Lehigh community has been engaging in discussions about injustice. The Prison Project is one of the avenues for students and faculty to experience firsthand some of the issues that these talks addressed. The Prison Project allows 23 students and two faculty members from Lehigh to visit the Northampton County Prison in Easton each week this semester. While there, students and faculty tutor individual inmates, many of whom are studying for their General Educational Development tests. Lloyd Steffen, a professor of Chabad at Lehigh was established in 2008 with the dream of creating a “home away from home” for the Lehigh Jewish community. Since then, it has seen growth that cannot be contained in its current 2,500-square-foot townhouse on Evans Street. A new house is being built in order to provide the much-needed space to accommodate and expand Chabad’s growing programs and events. “At our first few events, we had between two and 10 students,” said Rabbi Zalman Greenberg, the director of Chabad at Lehigh, in an email. “Fast forward to 2014. On Rosh Hashanah, we hosted over 200 students in our backyard, and on Feb. 20 we hosted ‘Shabbat 250’ at the Comfort Suites Hotel, where over 250 students and faculty from the Lehigh community participated in the largest Shabbat dinner in Lehigh history. In short, we are bursting at the seams.” The new house, called the Joachim Schaufeld Center for Jewish Life, will be located near campus at 306 Wyandotte St. It is an 1866 historic mansion that once served as a Lehigh fraternity house. Over time, it was neglected and when Chabad took ownership, it was in need of renovations. Greenberg said the construction is in its final stages and is expected to conclude sometime in June. The 10,000-square-foot home will include a student lounge, large dining room for 200, state-of-the-art kosher kitchen, synagogue, Judaic loaning library, terrace and guest suites with parking. The Chabad House will also serve as the Rabbi’s family residence. The synagogue in the new Chabad house will be the only one in South Bethlehem, according to Jackie Grant, ’15. “Although we hold weekly and holiday services in our current location, having a Synagogue will be very exciting and will encourage more students to attend services,” Grant said in an email. Several members of Chabad have watched it grow exponentially over the years and go from a handful of students at dinner to not having enough room for everyone attending to sit. “I am very excited about the new house and what it will do for the Jewish community at Lehigh in the years to come,” Michael Lefkoe, ’15, said in an email. “Chabad has been a key part of my time at Lehigh. As a senior, I have witnessed the Jewish community become much more active and vibrant over the past few years, and Chabad has no doubt helped fuel this positive change.” religion studies and the university chaplain, helped start the Prison Project in 2008 as part his course “Practical Justice,” which he was teaching at the time. In the course, students integrated knowledge of three different social concerns — medical care, public education and America’s prison system — through on-site service learning opportunities, one of which was tutoring inmates at the Northampton County Prison. “When the course was over we had this great relationship with the prison, so we just decided to keep this thing going,” Steffen said. The Prison Project is a progressive step toward a rehabilitative prison system instead of a purely punitive one. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ official website, as of March 2015, there were 53,560 people incarcerated in the state. These inmates are housed in state correctional institutions, community correction centers, community contract facilities, federal prisons and county prisons—such as Northampton County Prison. Unlike state correctional institutions, county prisons are not regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Instead, the Office of County Inspections and Services inspects each county prison separately. Out of the 26 state correctional institutions in Pennsylvania, 18 were over capacity as of March 2015. Mary Foltz, an assistant professor of English, participated in the Prison Project during the Fall 2012 semester. “Although the state does have funding and wonderful staff members, they don’t have the resources to tutor each inmate who is interested individually’” she said. “That is really what Lloyd created— a project that addresses a need.” Molly Fitzwilliam, ’16, said one rewarding part of the Prison Project was being able to see the inmates make real progress toward their GEDs. Tutors are, as frequently as possible, kept with the same inmate from week to week so that they can develop a relationship with each other.However, because most inmates at Northampton County Prison have short-term sentences, and because working with a tutor is voluntary, some Lehigh volunteers frequently work with different inmates. Deena Davis, a professor of bioethics, said participating in the project was challenging because she is used to preparing for her classes in advance. With the Prison Project, she said she never knew what material they would cover on any given day. Even if she could not perfectly explain the GED material, which was recently made much more challenging, Davis said she still Prison Project provides tutors for inmates Megan Burke/B&W Staff The new Chabad house is located on Wyandotte street and is currently under construction. The front doors of the house were preserved from the original house. Chabad set to move into new, larger house Since Chabad joined the Lehigh community in 2008, its numbers have grown. In June, construction will be completed on a new building for Chabad to accommodate the community. By ZARA RUSTOMJI B&W Staff See PRISON Page 4 See CHABAD Page 3 Dollars spent on Pennsylvania prisons in 2013-14 53,560 $1.9M Number of incarcerated inmates in Pennsylvania Lefkoe also said, like a hermit crab that has outgrown its shell, Chabad at Lehigh has outgrown its current house, and it is time to By KAREN KONKOLY B&W Staff New location to accommodate growing numbers
Object Description
Title | Brown and White Vol. 128 no. 20 |
Date | 2015-04-21 |
Month | 04 |
Day | 21 |
Year | 2015 |
Volume | 128 |
Issue | 20 |
Type | Newspaper |
Source Repository | Lehigh University |
Coverage | United States, Pennsylvania, Lehigh, South Bethlehem |
LCCN | 7019854 |
Source Repository Code | LYU |
Digital Responsible Institution | Lehigh University |
Digital Responsible Institution Code | LYU |
Issue/Edition Pattern | Semiweekly |
Title Essay | Published twice a week during the college year by the students of Lehigh University |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Date | 2015-04-21 |
Type | Page |
FullText | The Brown and White Vol. 128 No. 20 Tuesday, April 21, 2015 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ From the panel discussion on race with Sybrina Fulton—the mother of Trayvon Martin— this fall, to the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration keynote speaker Michelle Alexander in January, the Lehigh community has been engaging in discussions about injustice. The Prison Project is one of the avenues for students and faculty to experience firsthand some of the issues that these talks addressed. The Prison Project allows 23 students and two faculty members from Lehigh to visit the Northampton County Prison in Easton each week this semester. While there, students and faculty tutor individual inmates, many of whom are studying for their General Educational Development tests. Lloyd Steffen, a professor of Chabad at Lehigh was established in 2008 with the dream of creating a “home away from home” for the Lehigh Jewish community. Since then, it has seen growth that cannot be contained in its current 2,500-square-foot townhouse on Evans Street. A new house is being built in order to provide the much-needed space to accommodate and expand Chabad’s growing programs and events. “At our first few events, we had between two and 10 students,” said Rabbi Zalman Greenberg, the director of Chabad at Lehigh, in an email. “Fast forward to 2014. On Rosh Hashanah, we hosted over 200 students in our backyard, and on Feb. 20 we hosted ‘Shabbat 250’ at the Comfort Suites Hotel, where over 250 students and faculty from the Lehigh community participated in the largest Shabbat dinner in Lehigh history. In short, we are bursting at the seams.” The new house, called the Joachim Schaufeld Center for Jewish Life, will be located near campus at 306 Wyandotte St. It is an 1866 historic mansion that once served as a Lehigh fraternity house. Over time, it was neglected and when Chabad took ownership, it was in need of renovations. Greenberg said the construction is in its final stages and is expected to conclude sometime in June. The 10,000-square-foot home will include a student lounge, large dining room for 200, state-of-the-art kosher kitchen, synagogue, Judaic loaning library, terrace and guest suites with parking. The Chabad House will also serve as the Rabbi’s family residence. The synagogue in the new Chabad house will be the only one in South Bethlehem, according to Jackie Grant, ’15. “Although we hold weekly and holiday services in our current location, having a Synagogue will be very exciting and will encourage more students to attend services,” Grant said in an email. Several members of Chabad have watched it grow exponentially over the years and go from a handful of students at dinner to not having enough room for everyone attending to sit. “I am very excited about the new house and what it will do for the Jewish community at Lehigh in the years to come,” Michael Lefkoe, ’15, said in an email. “Chabad has been a key part of my time at Lehigh. As a senior, I have witnessed the Jewish community become much more active and vibrant over the past few years, and Chabad has no doubt helped fuel this positive change.” religion studies and the university chaplain, helped start the Prison Project in 2008 as part his course “Practical Justice,” which he was teaching at the time. In the course, students integrated knowledge of three different social concerns — medical care, public education and America’s prison system — through on-site service learning opportunities, one of which was tutoring inmates at the Northampton County Prison. “When the course was over we had this great relationship with the prison, so we just decided to keep this thing going,” Steffen said. The Prison Project is a progressive step toward a rehabilitative prison system instead of a purely punitive one. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ official website, as of March 2015, there were 53,560 people incarcerated in the state. These inmates are housed in state correctional institutions, community correction centers, community contract facilities, federal prisons and county prisons—such as Northampton County Prison. Unlike state correctional institutions, county prisons are not regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Instead, the Office of County Inspections and Services inspects each county prison separately. Out of the 26 state correctional institutions in Pennsylvania, 18 were over capacity as of March 2015. Mary Foltz, an assistant professor of English, participated in the Prison Project during the Fall 2012 semester. “Although the state does have funding and wonderful staff members, they don’t have the resources to tutor each inmate who is interested individually’” she said. “That is really what Lloyd created— a project that addresses a need.” Molly Fitzwilliam, ’16, said one rewarding part of the Prison Project was being able to see the inmates make real progress toward their GEDs. Tutors are, as frequently as possible, kept with the same inmate from week to week so that they can develop a relationship with each other.However, because most inmates at Northampton County Prison have short-term sentences, and because working with a tutor is voluntary, some Lehigh volunteers frequently work with different inmates. Deena Davis, a professor of bioethics, said participating in the project was challenging because she is used to preparing for her classes in advance. With the Prison Project, she said she never knew what material they would cover on any given day. Even if she could not perfectly explain the GED material, which was recently made much more challenging, Davis said she still Prison Project provides tutors for inmates Megan Burke/B&W Staff The new Chabad house is located on Wyandotte street and is currently under construction. The front doors of the house were preserved from the original house. Chabad set to move into new, larger house Since Chabad joined the Lehigh community in 2008, its numbers have grown. In June, construction will be completed on a new building for Chabad to accommodate the community. By ZARA RUSTOMJI B&W Staff See PRISON Page 4 See CHABAD Page 3 Dollars spent on Pennsylvania prisons in 2013-14 53,560 $1.9M Number of incarcerated inmates in Pennsylvania Lefkoe also said, like a hermit crab that has outgrown its shell, Chabad at Lehigh has outgrown its current house, and it is time to By KAREN KONKOLY B&W Staff New location to accommodate growing numbers |
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