Nicholas Kristof

A few weeks ago, MSU hosted humanitarian and New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof as a guest speaker—you can see him on the right with members of the MSU Leadership Institute. He spoke to a large crowd in the SUB (Strand Union Building) Ballrooms - the room was packed with probably 1000+ people. I attended because in one of my classes (Lifespan of Human Development) it was an extra credit opportunity and in another class (Multicultural Education) it was a "Cultural Plunge" opportunity, which is a required assignment.

Despite my reasons for attending, I found the lecture very interesting. Kristof has been touring to promote his book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." However, Kristof's lecture did not promote his book as much as it called for support of the cause. He told many stories of his own experiences and those of people he had met, and at the end of the lecture held a Q & A session for anybody who wished to ask a question about anything.

I learned some things I had never known before about women and medical practices from Kristof's lecture. Some of the things I found most interesting about Kristof’s lecture related to brothels and female genital cutting. Women’s use in brothels is a form of slavery and over 800,000 women per year are transported between countries for this purpose—they are actually bought and sold as property. I did not realize such practices were so widespread, or even practiced at all. Another thing I learned which American women would never consider or worry about is female genital cutting, an apparently widespread practice which I had also never heard of involving the removal of some or all of the clitoris and labia. This sounds horrible and I can’t imagine why anybody would ever think it’s a good idea, especially when these women are expected to be mothers someday.

Listening to Kristof's lecture was a good experience; he is just one example of many well-known figures MSU hosts for the betterment of its students' cultural knowledge.

For a news article about Kristof's lecture and MSU experience, click here.