Our friend Chamelia Sari–a lawyer from Weymouth, MA and Jakarta, Indonesia– recently took what sounds like a trip of a lifetime–spending Thanksgiving in Point Barrow, Alaska, on the North Pole. Before she left, when I asked her if she were going for work or fun, she said it was a mission: she wanted to find out what it was like to be in a place where the sun did not rise.

Chamelia’s travel companion was Arjun Banerje, of india, who has lived and worked in Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. Currently, he is working on a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Chamelia originally posted the following report on Facebook; I thought it was well worth sharing further.

–Anita M. Harris

I’ve been to North Pole
before. Yes, that North Pole where Santa usually drives his snow cart and gives
Christmas presents to good and nice kids – if they behave all year.

But Point Barrow? Never knew such place existed, not until my evil twin texted me two weeks ago when I was still in Taipei–crying desperately, saying that he needed someone to company him. He knew my endless love for Alaska and so he trapped me with it.

Point Barrow is the
northernmost part of the US – “Top of the World”, they say. It’s located at
71°23’20” N 156°28’45’W.  By air, it takes
16 hours from Seattle to get there. There are no direct flights. We needed to
stop three times: in Juneau, Anchorage, and Prudhoe Bay –before landing at Dead
Horse Airport at Barrow. We left at 6 AM – and arrived around 7 PM local time.

Since it is the northernmost
part of the world, the weather is extremely cold. The temperature was -18° Celsius
when we got there but it felt like like-28° Celsius. But we were eager to visit
Barrow, especially in the wintertime. A friend of mine, a native I had met in
Juneau looked me in the eye – he still couldn’t believe when I told him was
going to visit Barrow, and wished me luck.

Barrow will have no sunlight
for almost two months. The last sunset was on November 18th at1.49 PM. The next
sunrise in Barrow will be on January 23, 2020. It’s a phenomenon called “polar
night”. Which means that the people who live in Barrow will lives in dark for
two months. Morning, noon, afternoon – night – all dark.

Considering the cold weather, we stayed at King Eider Inn, a hotel located 100 meters from the airport. Yes, we stayed right across the airport (yay!!!). Don’t imagine the airport is be like Changi in Singapore or Hamad International in Doha, Qatar. It is small and simple. But one thing for sure is that the people who work in Deadhorse Airport are very dedicated and professional. And punctual.  

When we woke up the first day and walked around to see the city at around 10.00 AM, we it was amazing. Dark all over. Thick snow everywhere. No trees. Only tundra can survive there – even during the summer. We looked at one another in disbelief that we that we had actually made it to Barrow. We laughed to ourselves like Carey and Daniels from Dumb and Dumber.

A friend in Juneau had warned me that there would be no restaurants open during Thanksgiving. I had brought some frozen food but we really craved hot soup, that day. So, while we were busy taking pictures, we walked all over like lost children and hoped for a miracle: that  that we would meet some generous  local people  who would feel sorry for us and invite us to eat at their place and celebrate the Thanksgiving with their family.

Did you know that God is always good all the time? We did not have to wait too long for our prayers to be answered. He led us to wonderful Inuit people who celebrate Thanksgiving with their local community. I met and interacted with native people!!!! I almost cried with happiness and felt so blessed with this opportunity.

We got invited to serve local people – Inuit whose ancestry in Barrow goes back more than 1,100 years. We helped Jim, his wife and his community distribute fish, geese and caribou meat to their people.

Jim is a sea captain who successfully caught a whale this year with his five team members. It was such an amazing feeling to be able to interact and make friends with this community. To see their sincere and loving faces. To get to know Jordan, a little rascal that stole my heart – and his lovely family.

Inuit people are known as whale hunters. They have a tradition of hunting whale every year, with the catch distributed to people in the community. All of it. Even though only five or six people risk their lives to catch the whale (sometimes people get killed while hunting) – they willing to share it equally with all members of the community. I saw it with my own eyes. I even experienced it myself. They distribute the whole catch. If only politicians in the city would think and act like the Inuit people how wonderful life would be. No corruption, no unfairness.

Our amazing journey ended with another surprise. We were finally be able to reach Point Barrow, the place that is extremely cold.  Not even my five Columbia Omni with heat layers could help me this time. Herman, a new local friend, lent us his Itaga – the traditional Inuit winter jacket made from Mouton fur. You can see in the picture what it looks like.

By snow mobile, Herman led us to Point Barrow. We rode the snow mobile for an hour and a half. I kept praying to God during the trip…

First, because my evil twin does not know how to drive, and there was a big possibility that we would be thrown from the snowmobile and get into the cold Arctic Ocean.

Second, a hungry Polar bear might eat us alive. Herman had to carry a weapon in his backpack while riding the snow mobile, just in case we saw a Polar bear on our way.

I remember reading a story on the internet:  If three people are chased by a bear, they have to sacrifice the slowest person in the group. I was the only one in our group with short legs. And my heavy, bulky winter jacket and layers underneath it made it difficult for me to move. That meant they would have to leave ME if a hungry bear found and chased us. Not good. Not good at all.

While we were enjoying the cold – with an unreal view in front of us – Herman pointed his fingers and said “Hi, look – there are polar bears there!”.
“ What ???!!! Polar bears??? “
“Yes, it is a polar bear!!! And not only one – but three of them!!! “
We saw a mama Polar bear and her two cubs playing in the freezing Artic ocean. Herman looked at the two of us with his small eyes, smiling and said, “The two of you are very lucky.”

We did feel lucky. My happiness in Barrow was complete when we had a chance to taste the delicious Chinese foods – right in Barrow. I missed my fluffy blueberry pancakes and yogurt– but I got so much more on this trip. And I will always remember a handsome, smart husky that we met when we walked back to our hotel.

Juno, I love you and hope to see you again someday :). We’ll never forget this wonderful journey.

I like quotes. Sometimes, they do make sense.

 It is true, life is an adventure. As Lori Deschene has said,

Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most exciting moments in life take us completely by surprise.

Camelia Sari, Point Barrow, November 2019.

Last week at swissnex, the Swiss Consulate in Cambridge, university communications and institutional research experts  expressed frustration at the ways in which university rankings are established–and doubt about the accuracy and usefulness of most rankings.

Urs Hugentobler, head of Institutional Research at ETH Zürich/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology–the top ranked university outside of the US– described the vagaries of ranking systems and especially the nebulous “reputation” category, which both impacts and is impacted by a university’s ranking.

Norbert  Staub,  head of internal communications and deputy head of corporate communications at ETH, emphasizzed the importance of  managing a university’s reputation in order to attract students, donors, funding, faculty and the like–all of which influence and are influenced by  rankings.

Roundtable participants  Dawn Terkla,  Associate Provost for Institutional Research and Evaluation at Tufts University,  and  John Scanlon,  an institutional researcher at Harvard,  described the challenges involved in responding to differing requests from numerous  ranking agencies and in evaluating the meaning of rankings when results change from year to year.

Hugentobler pointed out that rankings  ordinarily do not change substantially over the short term–but Terkla  said that one year, Tufts saw a 30% decline when a ranking agency changed its methodology.    All of the participants agreed that rankings that can be inaccurate, haphazard and difficult to influence.

Gina Vild, associate dean for communications and external relations at Harvard Medical School said that while it is not easy for a university composed of many smaller organizations to raise its overall ranking, it may well be possible for individual units  to raise their rankings through communications outreach.  In fact, she said, even a crisis, if well-handled, can  help raise rankings by increasing an institution’s name recognition and enhancing its reputation.

Joe Wrinn, former director of news and public affairs at Harvard, emphasized the importance of honesty and transparency in dealing with crises and the media.

But several participants   cited examples of  rather nefarious tactics–such as inviting huge numbers of unqualified applicants to apply for admission and then turning them down in order up appear more selective and, thus, obtain higher rankings. And before the meeting, Hugentobler mentioned that it is not uncommon for Asian universities to contact those in Europe–at the very least  enhanging name recognition should they be contacted by a ranking company.

As moderator, I asked if any of the participants knew of instances when the rankings had been used to encourage positive change within a university; no one responded.

When I mentioned that it seemed like universities are held hostage by the rankers,  Terka said that if universities don’t  respond,  they will likely be ranked anyway.  Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, agreed–saying that sometimes university units are ranked even if they don’t exist.

When I asked what can be done to remedy the situation, both Terkla and Scanlon mentioned that institutional researchers often communicate with ranking agencies in order to ascertain what information is being sought. Terkla said that an organization comprised of  institutional research experts frequently discusses the rankings.   James Honan,  senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, advised:  “Educate your trustees” so they understand what rankings do and do not show.

HarrisCom Group member David Rosen, former Chief Communications Officer at Brandeis and  Harvard Universities, the University of Chicago, and Emerson College, posted a blog on various  international ranking systems and how communicators can influence results at eduniverse.org:

—Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is president of the Harris Communications Group, a strategic pr and marketing communications firm specializing in health, science, technology, education and energy.