In 2003 the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) started a program called the Symposium Against Indifference. The Symposium “seeks to challenge the University community — as well as the wider Ashland community — toward a deeper understanding of difficult affairs and toward creative personal and corporate responses.”

Every other year, the Symposium has a different theme that is geared toward interest shown by students on campus and how these interests can be incorporated to different classes across campus. This year, the theme is “Engaging Latin America and the Caribbean.” A committee of six people met every other week to discuss theme ideas and set up events. In the end, they believed that this topic was general enough that faculty throughout the entire campus could find something that would incorporate the theme during their classes this year.

Throughout this school year there will be 16 different programs offered to students under this theme. The first program will be held on September 4 at 7 p.m. in the Hugo Young Theatre. Here students will watch clips of a documentary entitled, “Living on One Dollar.”

The creators of this documentary Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple will be presenting the documentary and discussing the idea behind their decision to live on one dollar a day for two months in Guatemala only traveling with a video camera to document their many life changing experiences.

Ingrasci and Temple began their journey in 2010 with their trip to Guatemala, but their efforts have since turned into a social action campgain called Living on One. This campaign was built to inform peers of poverty and inspire them to take action through engaging social media. Living on One has partnered with Whole Planet Foundation to “insure that 100% of the money raised for microfinance goes directly to empowering women borrowers around the world to bring themselves out of poverty.” For more information on Living on One, or for a preview of the documentary check out www.livingonone.org.

Other events throughout the year include multimedia presentations, a case study, and a choral presentation. Committee chair of the Symposium Dr. Chris Swanson has high hopes for this year’s theme.

“The main hope here is that students will find the different events engaging, that they will find interest in the events, that they will want to go to the events whether or not they receive bonus points from their professors for going to the events,” Swanson said.

Students can keep an eye out for brochures being passed out in their classes this fall with more information on the Symposium Against Indifference Engaging Latin America and the Caribbean.