The Adventure Begins
I am a Global Learning Medallion Scholar earning my
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
from the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Below I share my Global Learning experiences during my FIU campus life.
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
from the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Below I share my Global Learning experiences during my FIU campus life.
THE POINT SYSTEM
Starting March 2020, the Global Learning office offered students the opportunity to virtually earn medallion points. There were many virtual events offered by community partners that we could take advantage of including suggested videos, podcasts or webinar series that were shared in newsletters and on social media. One of these opportunities were offered through The Tuesday Times Roundtable (TTR). Below is a sample of just a few of the many topics i chose to involve myself in to expand my knowledge of global learning.
Some topics I was able to enjoy included Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill and all about Podcasting. Alot of these events were really impactful but, one of the ones that caught my interest the most was the conversation with Jorge Ramos on Journalism and the dangers of being neutral. This experience was not only fascinating but, hearing first hand about his interviews with former President Trump and Venezuela's President Maduro was real shocking. This discussion was about neutrality, impartiality and balance in journalism. To give you some background, Jorge Ramos is a Mexican-American journalist and author. Regarded as the best-known Spanish-language news anchor in the United States of America, he has been referred to as "The Walter Cronkite of Latin America". Jorge Ramos spoke about the day that he heard an interview where former President Trump mentioned that Mexicans where criminals and bad people. Being the great reporter and journalist he is, he jumped to the opportunity to interview. He called his office a couple of times, to no avail. He decided to write him a letter explaining that he was formally requesting and interview and the reasons why. He including his contact information so they could coordinate. A couple days later, Mr. Ramos received many texts messages to which he was not understanding why he was receiving them nor where were they coming from. He later discovered that Trump had twitted his letter which included his personal cell number so, he was bombarded by many groups of people attacking him.
This only added fuel to his fire and Mr. Ramos did not give up. He researched and found out that Trump was holding a press conference in the near future in a rural town in Idaho. He took his camera crew and sat front row to ask him all the questions that Trump did not give him the opportunity previously. When it was time for reporters to ask questions, he got up, introduced himself and started asking his question and immediately Trump silenced him and said he was speaking out of turn. Ramos continued the question and the only reply he got from Trump was "go back to Univision". Now, as we all know, Univision is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by Univision Communications. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. When Ramos would not stop his question, Trump asked his body guards to get him out of the room, and they did. They grabbed Ramos and when he was shoved out the door, Trump's bodyguard simply and rudely said "leave my country." Ramos replied "I am an American citizen, this is my country", and then they slammed the door. The rest of the story including how Trump waited for everyone to leave to then pull Ramos into a meeting is only for those who got to attend this great discussion.
Talks like these open your eyes to the world and to global learning.
This only added fuel to his fire and Mr. Ramos did not give up. He researched and found out that Trump was holding a press conference in the near future in a rural town in Idaho. He took his camera crew and sat front row to ask him all the questions that Trump did not give him the opportunity previously. When it was time for reporters to ask questions, he got up, introduced himself and started asking his question and immediately Trump silenced him and said he was speaking out of turn. Ramos continued the question and the only reply he got from Trump was "go back to Univision". Now, as we all know, Univision is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by Univision Communications. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. When Ramos would not stop his question, Trump asked his body guards to get him out of the room, and they did. They grabbed Ramos and when he was shoved out the door, Trump's bodyguard simply and rudely said "leave my country." Ramos replied "I am an American citizen, this is my country", and then they slammed the door. The rest of the story including how Trump waited for everyone to leave to then pull Ramos into a meeting is only for those who got to attend this great discussion.
Talks like these open your eyes to the world and to global learning.
COURSE EXPERIENCES
Out of all of the global learning courses i took, I think my all time favorite one was Hospitality Industry Law. I never thought I would enjoy law as much as i did with our Professor. He really did make this class interesting, fun and very educational. One of the assignments that had a real impact in my global learning was a the Mock Trial we had to act as the defendant and prosecuting lawyer. If you ever have the opportunity, I would greatly encourage you to take a law class. It will change your perspective on life and debates. Below is an example of my verdicts based on the injury case that involved Royal Caribbean:
Catamaran Drowning of Cruise Ship Passenger
Issue 1:
Are Plaintiffs Nicole Woodley, Woodley’s minor children and Clarice Lee entitled to damages for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress?
Yes, they are entitled to damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Psychological trauma can be devastating whether it is from being involved in an incident like this one and witnessing a loved one’s death. This kind of trauma can have a lasting impact on those who suffer from it or survive. Research on this area of medicine continues to evolve and are beginning to accept the concept that witnessing a traumatic event can cause serious harm to an individual.
Since Out Island Charters, hired by Royal Caribbean acted negligently, they not only caused the death of Mrs. Sibblis but, also inflicted emotional harm to her family as a result. Nicole Woodley and Clarice Lee along with three other minors eventually made it to the beach; however, Mr. Sibblis had been separated from them as they struggled to get the young children and themselves safely to the beach. Going through that struggle was already traumatizing because they probably were thinking that any of them could have died along the way. This is not what they paid for. They wanted to have a good and safe time, that should have been supervised by contracted vendor, OIC. Instead, they all were struggling to get to shore alive but, one of them would not make it. If you have ever been on a cruise, you would know that their excursions are extremely price. If you pay good money, you expect to at least have life vests and not just some flimsy foam noodle to help you swim. Sometimes, the excursion is worth the money. Sometimes, it comes at a very high price. This was the case with this incident. Barbara’s family found her face down in the ocean. Her the family witnessed her non-responsive body being brought from the ocean on to the beach. They suffered shock, fear, and horror in their own struggle to safely get to the beach, and in witnessing the unsuccessful attempts to revive Barbara Sibblis, and in witnessing her dead body causing extreme emotional distress.
Issue 2:
Was Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. negligent or in breach of contract in their duty of care, duty to warn and misrepresentation to the Plaintiffs?
Yes, Royal Caribbean was negligent in regards to the incident that caused the death of Barbara Sibblis. It is a settled principle of maritime law that a ship owner owes passengers the duty of exercising at least reasonable care under the circumstances. This duty applies whether the paying passenger was injured in the vessel or in a scheduled port-of-call. Before and after a passenger boards the vessel, Royal Caribbean offers, arranges for, recommends and markets excursions operated by Out Island Charters. Through a bid of contract, Out Island Charters gave Royal Caribbean information regarding each excursion including: tour operator information, tour pricing, timing, accessibility, safety policies, licenses, permits and prior accidents and injuries that have occurred on its tours. The accessibility and safety policies were not put into place during this incident but have had prior injuries.
When recommending and selling the “A Golden Eagle Sail away” shore excursion, Royal Caribbean’s employee on board the cruise ship at the shore excursion desk identified the excursion as easy and perfect for the young and older ages of their group. How do you expect a 5 year-old to swim in the ocean safely to the beach with just a foam noodle and no other safety or protective gear? Would they have known this before, they would not have put themselves through that risk.
Royal Caribbean did not inform them, that the sail boat would disembark the passengers into the ocean in deep water with only foam noodles as a floatation device to get to the beach with bad weather conditions. The revenue from these excursions forms a significant portion of the overall revenue generated by RC and is an integral portion of its business plan and model. As such, Royal is liable for the negligent acts and omissions of their agent OIC and should pay for breaching their contract in their duty of care and warn.
Issue 3:
Was Out Island Charters (the Catamaran operators) negligent or in breach of contract in their duty of care, duty to warn and misrepresentation to the Plaintiffs?
Out Island Charters was negligent, careless, and breached its duty of care by performing negligent acts and/or omissions, including, failure to provide a safe shore excursion; not providing an excursion with proper equipment and personnel; not selecting a reasonably safe shore excursion to operate; not exercising reasonable care in the operation and performance of the “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion; not monitoring passengers to determine if they were in trouble or needed assistance/rescue–particularly when swimming in deep water; by employing unfit, incompetent, and inexperienced employees to operate the shore excursion. They also hired staff, who were incapable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the excursion, promoting unsafe shore excursions to its passengers; not conducting an adequate and proper investigation of the “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion, Failing to properly and adequately train the crew members used for the subject “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion. The shore excursion employees did not provide an adequate safety briefing to the passengers prior to disembarking them into the deep ocean water to get to the beach. Nor with an adequate warning regarding the sea and weather conditions. Because of this, Mrs. Sibblis died and her family is severely scared for life.
Catamaran Drowning of Cruise Ship Passenger
Issue 1:
Are Plaintiffs Nicole Woodley, Woodley’s minor children and Clarice Lee entitled to damages for Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress?
Yes, they are entitled to damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Psychological trauma can be devastating whether it is from being involved in an incident like this one and witnessing a loved one’s death. This kind of trauma can have a lasting impact on those who suffer from it or survive. Research on this area of medicine continues to evolve and are beginning to accept the concept that witnessing a traumatic event can cause serious harm to an individual.
Since Out Island Charters, hired by Royal Caribbean acted negligently, they not only caused the death of Mrs. Sibblis but, also inflicted emotional harm to her family as a result. Nicole Woodley and Clarice Lee along with three other minors eventually made it to the beach; however, Mr. Sibblis had been separated from them as they struggled to get the young children and themselves safely to the beach. Going through that struggle was already traumatizing because they probably were thinking that any of them could have died along the way. This is not what they paid for. They wanted to have a good and safe time, that should have been supervised by contracted vendor, OIC. Instead, they all were struggling to get to shore alive but, one of them would not make it. If you have ever been on a cruise, you would know that their excursions are extremely price. If you pay good money, you expect to at least have life vests and not just some flimsy foam noodle to help you swim. Sometimes, the excursion is worth the money. Sometimes, it comes at a very high price. This was the case with this incident. Barbara’s family found her face down in the ocean. Her the family witnessed her non-responsive body being brought from the ocean on to the beach. They suffered shock, fear, and horror in their own struggle to safely get to the beach, and in witnessing the unsuccessful attempts to revive Barbara Sibblis, and in witnessing her dead body causing extreme emotional distress.
Issue 2:
Was Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. negligent or in breach of contract in their duty of care, duty to warn and misrepresentation to the Plaintiffs?
Yes, Royal Caribbean was negligent in regards to the incident that caused the death of Barbara Sibblis. It is a settled principle of maritime law that a ship owner owes passengers the duty of exercising at least reasonable care under the circumstances. This duty applies whether the paying passenger was injured in the vessel or in a scheduled port-of-call. Before and after a passenger boards the vessel, Royal Caribbean offers, arranges for, recommends and markets excursions operated by Out Island Charters. Through a bid of contract, Out Island Charters gave Royal Caribbean information regarding each excursion including: tour operator information, tour pricing, timing, accessibility, safety policies, licenses, permits and prior accidents and injuries that have occurred on its tours. The accessibility and safety policies were not put into place during this incident but have had prior injuries.
When recommending and selling the “A Golden Eagle Sail away” shore excursion, Royal Caribbean’s employee on board the cruise ship at the shore excursion desk identified the excursion as easy and perfect for the young and older ages of their group. How do you expect a 5 year-old to swim in the ocean safely to the beach with just a foam noodle and no other safety or protective gear? Would they have known this before, they would not have put themselves through that risk.
Royal Caribbean did not inform them, that the sail boat would disembark the passengers into the ocean in deep water with only foam noodles as a floatation device to get to the beach with bad weather conditions. The revenue from these excursions forms a significant portion of the overall revenue generated by RC and is an integral portion of its business plan and model. As such, Royal is liable for the negligent acts and omissions of their agent OIC and should pay for breaching their contract in their duty of care and warn.
Issue 3:
Was Out Island Charters (the Catamaran operators) negligent or in breach of contract in their duty of care, duty to warn and misrepresentation to the Plaintiffs?
Out Island Charters was negligent, careless, and breached its duty of care by performing negligent acts and/or omissions, including, failure to provide a safe shore excursion; not providing an excursion with proper equipment and personnel; not selecting a reasonably safe shore excursion to operate; not exercising reasonable care in the operation and performance of the “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion; not monitoring passengers to determine if they were in trouble or needed assistance/rescue–particularly when swimming in deep water; by employing unfit, incompetent, and inexperienced employees to operate the shore excursion. They also hired staff, who were incapable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the excursion, promoting unsafe shore excursions to its passengers; not conducting an adequate and proper investigation of the “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion, Failing to properly and adequately train the crew members used for the subject “A Golden Eagle Sailaway” shore excursion. The shore excursion employees did not provide an adequate safety briefing to the passengers prior to disembarking them into the deep ocean water to get to the beach. Nor with an adequate warning regarding the sea and weather conditions. Because of this, Mrs. Sibblis died and her family is severely scared for life.