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The BYU-Hawaii Enactus 2013 team, formerly known as SIFE, has won the regional competition in Seattle and is now heading to the national exposition in May 21-23 in hopes of winning the Enactus World Cup in Mexico. Yet members of the team say, as the Enactus motto says, "We all win."“Enactus is an international non-profit organization that brings together student, academic and business leaders from all over the world, who are committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need,” said Alberto Solar, a junior in business from California.“Enactus is a community of students who are committed to using entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape our world for the better,” said Britton Winterrose, a junior in business from Washington. "Each of us has a desire to do meaningful work, to apply our time and energy and bring purpose to our lives and value to the lives of others. The potential to create positive change regardless of culture or nationality is the center of our common humanity." Tien Shu Lee, a student majoring in business from Taiwan, said, “There is no I in team,” which is what Enactus believes in. It stands for entrepreneurial action and “for us to be able to see an opportunity and create value out of it, and [to be] willing to commit at 100 percent as a team to make it happen for the greater good, a passion that can inspire others to act. Our talent is used for opportunities to help families and communities." Commenting on Enactus, Kaman Pang, a senior majoring in marketing from Hong Kong, said, “Enactus sounds like such an amazing organization. It amazes me how countries from all over the world are able to come together as one and help transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world.” Solar said, “The national competitions are a showcase of how our students are transforming lives and enabling progress through entrepreneurial action. April to July of this year, Enactus teams will compete across cities where business leaders serving as judges will evaluate the quality of the projects. This is a dynamic and inspiring event that encourages creativity and rewarding results as it improves peoples lives.”

The BYU-Hawaii Human Rights Organization hosted a forum for visiting Executive Director for the United Nations Patrick Madden to speak about the U.N. and its impact on improving human rights issues. Vaianui Iro, a junior in political science from Tahiti, attended the lecture as a teaching assistant in the Political Science Department as well as a student interested in a future career within the United Nations. Although Iro started out as a business major, he said he felt drawn to the Political Science Department after taking a U.S. Political System class taught by Professor Troy Smith. “I just felt like I needed to be a part of social change and to interact with others who were in that line of work,” said Iro. When asked what social issue presses most on Iro’s mind, he said, “Coming from an island nation, an issue I feel particularly passionate about is the ocean rising. I’d like to look at more of the ways I can make an impact environmentally with promoting green energy and reversing some of the already rising tides through global warming.” Iro will be interning in May with graduate students from the University of Hawaii as part of the Human Rights groups and looks forward to being a change agent within politics in the future.Working for the United Nations Association, Madden is in the process of touring the country visiting various campus chapters to inform students about the important impact the United Nations has in bringing together governments and NGOs and the ways they can get involved in making a difference. Combatting issues such as poverty, disease, and women’s rights in 2000 the United Nations works to bring together governments and NGOs to collaborate on setting goals for global development. Madden informed students about new opportunities interning at the General Assembly in the U.N. and encouraged them to follow internal news sources like “The Interdependent” that highlights issues and initiatives being taken on by the United Nations.Andre Obata, a senior majoring in ICS and communication from Brazil, said he came to the lecture because he hopes to work in matters of diplomacy. After having witnessed some of his own country’s political issues, Obata felt empowered to study the social politics of government. Obata said, “Personally I feel more attention needs to be paid to land rights as many governments infringe upon natives by taking their land away.” Obata is looking forward to an internship this summer with the Democratic Office in Honolulu, all the while keeping close ties with the Human Rights Club back at BYUH to keep informed about how he can apply his cultural studies into the political consciousness. “Recently, the [Brazilian] government took a big portion of land to build a hydroelectric plant and right now, many people just don’t seem to care. It’s a big issue though because thousands of people have been displaced which has resulted not just in a loss of land, but in a loss of culture,” said Obata. Ashton Rummler, a senior in political science from Idaho, was one of those who helped organize the event. “The purpose of the Human Rights Club is to raise awareness on campus about these issues and to go home to our friends and families and teach them what we have learned and how we can go about making a difference.” Iro agreed with Rummler in showing the power one voice can have in making a difference in the world around us. “There’s politics in everything, and if you want your voice to be heard, going into political organizations like the UN or even other NGO’s is the best avenue to get out and really make a change in the world,” he urged.

In efforts to promote and enforce that no language takes precedence over the French language, the Office Québécois de la Langue Français (OQLF) in Montreal, Canada recently cited several restaurants as noncompliant due to their use of foreign words such as “pasta” and “steak” in their menus. These citations are creating a national controversy referred to by some now as “pastagate.” According to CBC, Maurice Holder, the owner of Brasserie Holder in Montreal, was even asked to go as far as to place tape over the “on/off switch.” Other infractions included taking down signs and wall art given to owners as gifts that contain English words.Some Quebecois are outraged demanding that the agency has gone too far in promoting the French language to the detriment of globalization and assimilation that naturally occurs in language. "I love Quebec... but it's not getting any easier," said David McMillan, owner of Montreal's Joe Beef, told the National Post after the Italian restaurant was cited for using the word “pasta.” "My wife is French. My business partner is French. My children go to French school, but I just get so sad and depressed and wonder, what's wrong with these people?"Still some are defensive when it comes towards the OQLF’s mission. According to the National Post, “linguistic nationalists worry that any erosion of French in Montreal could, eventually, lead to its disappearance.” Annaliese Kirchsner, a sophomore in marine biology from Canada, stands by OQLF’s zeal saying that criticism of Quebec’s movement to promote French is often misunderstood. “It has nothing to do with the dislike or banning of other languages. They just want to be able to bring their language further forward,” she said, “and I think that it fine because it is how they are and it helps bring in their culture, and their language is part of their culture.”Professor David Beus, who teaches upper-level French classes here at BYUH, said he can see both sides of the argument. “On the one hand, this is always happening with language in that it is a constantly changing process,” he said, “just as there are tens of thousands of English words that come from French that we don’t even take notice of.” Beus, who also teaches for the International Cultural Studies Department, was also ready to analyze what underlies beneath this cultural issue. “To understand where the agency is coming from and get to the heart of the issue, we have to ask the important questions of why it’s changing and who wants to change it. It’s a question of power, and language plays a huge part on shaping culture.”After further investigation, the OQLF has admitted its investigators were possibly too harsh in carrying out policy. OQLF representative Mark Bergeron, according to CBC was quoted as saying “maybe it's a little bit of zeal, but the important thing is we look at it more closely, and we come to the conclusion that there is nothing there.”