MU holds first Social Justice Involvement Fair
Various organizations hoped to get students involved.
Published Sept. 4, 2009
The first Social Justice Involvement Fair at MU was held Thursday, advertising the various Social Justice organizations MU and the Columbia community have to offer.
"It was our brain child," Feminist Student Union President Lauren Carter said. "This is the first annual (Social Justice Fair). I feel like it's always hard when it's the first of anything to get word out about it, but we'll see how it goes. I'm optimistic."
Between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. students could tour the fair to learn about issues dealt with by different groups and find ways to get involved.
"It was really interesting getting organizations to become involved," Carter said. "Because we were reaching out to community organizations and on-campus organizations. We're trying to do coalition building throughout Columbia and intergenerational things with our group."
Carter said there were 25 groups that responded to the FSU's invitation to the fair, though about 18 groups were present.
"We just wanted the social justice organizations to have a time and a place to come together," Carter said. "Fight for their cause and get people involved with it."
Junior Kara Oberkrom said she heard about the fair while she was at Starbucks.
"I was thinking about volunteering," Oberkrom said. "I've actually used some of these resources. I work in a residence hall so we bring in people from (the Social Justice Center)."
Carter said encouraging students to get involved is the purpose of the fair.
"Most of the organizations have listserv signups," Carter said. "They have information about their first meetings and events they sponsor on and off campus. It's easy for people to walk through and say, 'That's the cause I want to fight for, give me the literature about it so I know what to do.'"
Joining a social justice organization gives students something to do, junior Emilia Mense said.
"I like the Center Project, Mustard Seed (Fair Trade) and the Feminist Student Union," Mense said. "It's nice to get involved."
Barbara Willis, internship coordinator at the Civics Leader Internship Program, said these are the types of students she seeks out for her internship program.
"The people who are passionate about doing things," Willis said. "These are the people I want."
Muslim Student Organization member Majdee Islam said he's excited to have a Social Justice Fair.
"It's cool to see what different organizations are on campus," Islam said. "To make people aware of their issues and what they stand for."
Islam said one of the main problems is awareness; people don't know things that are happening around the world.
"Awareness is the first step," he said. "There are a lot of social injustices in the world; the more people can become aware of them the better it is for the problems we have."