Student activists meet for three-day conference

By Ikuru Kuwajima, Staff Writer

Published April 19, 2005

A handful of student activists gathered for a three-day conference, exchanging ideas and learning skills for activism through a variety of workshops.

Silas Allard said the United Activist Network organized the conference, titled "GROing Activism in Missouri: A GrassRoots Organizing Conference," for two main purposes.

"One is to help educate student activists, build grassroots organizations and grow into larger groups," he said. "Another is to help the community of social justice and build up relationships between organizations."

UAN is an umbrella organization for many activist groups, including Amnesty International, Students for a Free Tibet, Students for Progressive Action, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Feminist Student Union.

The conference started Friday evening and ended Sunday evening. During the workshops, speakers from different organizations addressed various social issues and lectured on how to further develop each organization.

In one workshop, former Sustain Mizzou President Jared Cole presented information about recycling, even though Sustain Mizzou is not a member of the UAN. He showed pictures of the piles of recycled cans on newspaper, as the example of a successful activity that caught attention from the media.

Allard said UAN organized rallies about the Iraq war at Speaker's Circle this semester and set up booths on Human Rights Day last semester, but he said it is hard to define the organization's platform.

"Because it's a coalition group, it is hard to define our basic policy, so it's more like a forum for individual groups," he said. "We are just working for social justice."

The number of the UAN members is growing, and the conference brought more new people, Allard said.

"We had the most individual involvement yet this semester," he said. "There are some new members this time."

Young Communist League member Kristen Gann said she attended UAN's meeting for the first time.

"It's a good opportunity to learn more about the organizational aspect of activism," she said. "It has been a great experience."

Allard said this conference is UAN's last big event this semester and UAN will have one final meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"I would definitely say this conference was successful," he said. "We are trying to continue to grow activism."

Students for a Free Tibet Coordinator Trischa Splitter said there will be more activities next semester because UAN has been promoting each organization's agenda and cause.

"It will strengthen the activist community on campus and hopefully build leadership skills in every organization," she said. "We want to have more activities like this in the future."