Brown students and faculty will lead 40 of Latin America's top university students in a pilot program aimed to support developing democracies in Latin America.
The program — the Brown and Botin Program in Leadership, Liberal Arts, and Public Service in Democracy's Extension — is a partnership between the Watson Institute for International Studies and the Fundacion Marcelino Botin in Spain. It is 10 weeks long, with the first week held at Brown from Oct. 3–9 and the remaining nine at La Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid.
The week will feature a variety of lectures, said Geoffrey Kirkman '91, deputy director of the Watson Institute and Brown's primary coordinator for the program. Topics for the lectures, which will be given by members of Brown's faculty including former President of Chile and Professor-At-Large Ricardo Lagos, will range from democracy, race in Latin America, the international financial crisis, civil society and public service.
"We've created what we think is a very exciting, high-level week for these students, but we also want them to get to know Brown," Kirkman said.
In order to allow the Botin scholars to make a more personal connection with life on campus, eight Spanish-speaking Brown students — almost all of whom are Latin American — volunteered to be peer liaisons after being recommended by their professors.
"We're just the friendly faces that they can come to with any questions and show them around what people our age are doing, too, " said Silvia Dos Santos-Pereira '12, one of the peer liaisons.
Students will also participate in a variety of non-academic, team-building activities, including a trip to a ropes course. The Brown Leadership Institute helped coordinate the activities to allow the scholars to participate in an "American type of team-building exercise," Kirkman said.
"After their week at Brown, they're going to Spain for an additional nine weeks. We really want them to bring them together as a group," Kirkman said.
The students hail from eight Latin American countries — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uraguay and Peru — as well as Puerto Rico. They were chosen for the program by first being nominated by the rector of their university, and then selected through an application process through Botin, Kirkman said.
Richard Snyder, director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and professor of political science will also be lecturing on democracy and development in Latin America.
"It's a wonderful opportunity to address and interact with a very exciting set of human capital — a group of young and energetic students," Snyder said.
He also noted the importance of discussing these issues with Latin America's potential future leaders.
"In particular for Latin America, most of the democracies are still fairly young and new, especially compared to the democracy in this country," Snyder said.
"There are social and economic problems facing these young democracies, and one important question for this program is, ‘What difference does democracy make?'" he added. "These are things we'll be looking at."
Kirkman added that it was a "bummer" that the students will be forced to stay at a hotel instead of on campus due to overcrowding in dorms.
"It's complicated — bringing students from all these countries to Providence and then to Madrid. There are a lot of logistical challenges to it," Kirkman said.
Despite complications, many Brown faculty and students said they welcome this opportunity to potentially begin a new program.
"We all want it to be a success, and if it as a success, this could be a new kind of collaboration that hopefully we can repeat in the future," Kirkman said.
