Advocacy Groups Raise Awareness, Provide Resource for Students
By Brett Lewis ’09
News Associate Editor
Student advocacy groups play an important role in campus life. On Friday, January 25, the Darfur Awareness Club hosted Emily Holland, an employee of the International Rescue Committee. Ms. Holland spoke to students about her experience working with refugees in Darfur. CALSA hosted a special-pop skate on Sunday, January 27, and the Hispanic-Latino Forum recently organized a Caribbean-themed dance. But these activities are much more than Saturday night entertainment—they help to spread awareness about issues that directly affect students at Choate.
Each student organization must go through a long and tedious process before it can be recognized as a club. A major step in this process is the formulation of a mission statement. Often these statements do not mention that hosting SAC dances or buying food for a meeting can serve a larger purpose: to spread awareness among Choate students and, hopefully, to make a difference in the way students view themselves and each other.
CALSA is one of the larger advocacy groups on campus. It strives to provide a community support system for Choate students of similar race and to give them a chance to talk about any issues they encounter regarding their ethnicity, according to Roy Collins ’09, a Public Relations officer for the club. CALSA is open to students of any racial background, so it acts as an awareness group in addition to providing students with a support group. Every Sunday, the club meets to discuss controversial topics that, in such a diverse community, may need to be addressed. Topics this past fall included the Jena 6 and the rape of Megan Williams. As well, mission statements may not describe all club members. It can be difficult for club leaders to draw a group of people who are interested and passionate about precisely what the group stands for while simultaneously drawing the largest group possible—which often entails providing free food as an incentive.
Before Emily Holland came to speak for the Darfur Awareness Club, co-president Marla Spivack ’08 said she was careful to stress the presence of the speaker, rather than the free food that would be provided. But sometimes such enticements can be effective in attracting a larger crowd, which can in turn raise the level of discussion.
Apathy is not the only issue advocacy groups face. They can also face ignorance within the student body regarding their mission. Despite the efforts to raise awareness about sustainability and to reduce energy consumption with the Green Cup Challenge, there is still some resistance among the Choate community. Ally Week, organized by the Sexual Minorities and Straight Supporters group earlier this year to raise awareness, was successful, with students signing petitions and wearing pins in support of the cause, but members still had to face jokes and sarcasm regarding their message. Li-Ying Zhou ’09 had one such incident while passing out Darfur Awareness Club petitions for students to sign. “You wish you could be one of those people who strongly talks about an issue, but it’s hard when people don’t really care about what you have to say. It can be pretty awkward,” she said.
Despite some adversity and ignorance from students, advocacy and change can thrive at Choate. Students do not sit back when it comes to issues affecting the community. At the MLK Day program, Kevin Powell proved that young people have the ability to make a difference. Advocacy groups on campus prove Powell’s point.
The CALSA community came together at the recent World Camps soccer tournament. PHOTO/Lizzie Needham ’09
