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.