The UCLA Daily Bruin, CA
Sept 25 2005
Groups campaign to educate campus
By Saba Riazati
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
A group of several UCLA students sit together inside a small office.
They aren’t playing cards or discussing their plans for Saturday
night like most young adults would do during a lazy summer-vacation
day. Instead, they are planning how to educate the thousands in the
UCLA community on the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
Members of the Armenian Students Association, and many other student
organizations on campus, initiate projects to educate and take action
on issues that they feel need attention.
Issues tackled by student groups range from the ongoing genocide in
Darfur, rising textbook prices and energy-preservation campaigns.
UCLA has over 800 registered organizations on campus, and many
students find themselves involved in one of these groups and
dedicating their time to its cause.
Educational campaigns are nothing new for established student groups,
and they often play a huge role in the existence of the organization.
Last year, the Armenian Students Association facilitated a weeklong
awareness campaign, including a candlelight visual commemorating the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
Student groups with similar goals and interests will often pool their
resources to host large-scale programming and potentially impact more
students.
For instance, this year, the Aremenian Students Association, the
Darfur Action Committee and the Jewish Student Union are planning a
genocide awareness film screening, to educate students on the
holocaust, the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and the current ongoing
crisis in Darfur, a region in western Sudan.
Early last year, the Darfur Action Committtee was four people working
out of a small apartment. By the end of the year, their
letter-writing campaign was mailing over 300 student letters to
elected officials every week to draw attention to the Darfur crisis.
Some students feel so passionate about their causes that their
educational and career goals may temporarily have to take the back
seat.
Adam Sterling, a fifth-year Afro-American Studies and political
science student, also a Darfur Action Committee steering member,
chose to stay a fifth-year at UCLA, picking up a minor just so he
could continue to work to engage the UCLA community in campaigns of
letter-writing, fundraising, education and divestment.
“I stayed because we believe that humanity should come before
politics and all arguments aside; we are working to stop a genocide.
That’s why I believe in this cause; that’s why I’m back,” Sterling
said.
“Its been a great experience because we’ve been able to work with so
many different clubs. … We got to see the UCLA community come
together,” Sterling said.
Fourth-year political science and ecology, behavior and evolution
student Greg Wannier has been involved with the California Public
Interest Research Group since his first year at UCLA, and he is now
the organization’s state chairman, in charge of collective efforts
all across the state.
CALPIRG’s initiatives have educated thousands of students on
California campuses, and the organization implements a variety of
programs, including organizing letter-writing campaigns directed to
elected officials on matters such as lowering the energy usage in
universities.
Currently, there is a bill in Congress as a result of CALPIRG’s
efforts, proposing to mandate solar panel usage on campuses
nation-wide.
“When I originally joined, it was because the issues seemed
interesting, but being with (CALPIRG) has made me more of an
activist,” Wannier said.
Last year, CALPIRG was successful in pressuring and negotiating with
textbook companies to produce cheaper paperback textbooks, without
color or images, to cut costs for students.
CALPIRG’S large campaign this year is focused on what they have began
planning as the “campus climate challenge.”
The long-term campaign calls universities across the country to
reduce energy consumption by 90 percent by the year 2050.
“I enjoy being a part of CALPIRG because I feel like we are effective
and can actually make a change,” Wannier said.
“(Being in CALPIRG) has taught me how to organize, coordinate and
really be a leader,” he added.
While there is a seemingly endless list of student organizations that
do advocacy work, as third-year history student Annie Voskerchian,
public relations director of the Armenian Students Association, said:
“We’re all different groups, but we all have one similar goal – to
raise awareness and educate (the UCLA community).”
“Personally, it’s been a learning experience for me in organizing,
planning and reaching out (to the UCLA community),” Voskerchian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress