UMass Save Darfur Becomes STAND...

We have a very important announcement to make. As of the Fall 2009 semester, our group will no longer be the Save Darfur Campaign within MASSPIRG but instead an independent STAND (Student Anti-Genocide Coalition) chapter.

This difficult but important decision was made with the support of the MASSPIRG student leadership, the national STAND leadership, and the interns and volunteers within our own campaign. Attaining independent RSO status will allow us to continue fighting genocide on the UMass Amherst campus.

Before we elaborate on the reasons behind this transition, we think it's important to retell the story of our campaign and our involvement in campus activism.

Where We Came From

As many of you know, MASSPIRG is a state-wide student-funded, student-directed advocacy group on our campus that runs various campaigns like Global Warming, Hunger and Homelessness, and Cheaper Textbooks. Three years ago, a group of student activists within the Hunger and Homelessness campaign decided to start a new initiative, the Save Darfur Campaign. Since its inception, the Save Darfur Campaign has grown stronger and rallied more support from the campus and local communities. Under the guidance and support of MASSPIRG, we were able to hold fundraisers, awareness events, and advocacy drives. Some examples of our achievements include the UMass divestment from Sudan and over $3,000 of fundraising for civilian protection. Most importantly, through the MASSPIRG internship programs, we were able to foster student leadership and activism within our own group by teaching our members the skills to plan and execute their own events.

At the same time that we were doing great things within MASSPIRG, we were also a recognized chapter of STAND, the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition. STAND is the student branch of the Genocide Intervention Network; it's a national organization of high school and college students that works specifically on the conflicts in Darfur, Burma, and the Congo. Massachusetts has an especially active cluster of STAND chapters, and like MASSPIRG, it offers support and guidance in running student activist events. We've worked with STAND to hold conferences and rallies, with tangible results. For example, STAND arranged 600 phone calls to the White House in a single day, all asking Obama to appoint a high-level special envoy for the Sudan. The very next week, the administration announced that it was going to appoint such an envoy, and soon retired general Scott Gration was announced as the pick. By working with STAND, we've been able to achieve incredible results on a national level.

The chief difference between MASSPIRG and STAND is the focus of each organization as a whole. STAND works exclusively on the international issue of genocide, while MASSPIRG works on more local and national issues like global warming and hunger and homelessness. Both are great examples of how student activism can affect change on a much larger scale.

The Transition

While we've gained incredible resources and support from both, STAND is much more focused on our work in human rights. As a result, STAND is able to offer more lobbying power and better educational resources. This is a distinction that's openly acknowledged within the MASSPIRG leadership, because MASSPIRG does not have any lobbyists for Darfur or any international rights issues. Therefore, it makes sense that we will be able to do more work to stop genocide if we become a separate STAND chapter.

We don't want this transition to be misconstrued in any negative light; on the contrary, both STAND and MASSPIRG have been incredibly supportive in this process. We may no longer be an official MASSPIRG campaign next semester, but we still share the common passion for student activism. As a result, we strongly encourage our members to stay involved in the other MASSPIRG campaigns.

Looking Ahead

Next semester, the UMass STAND chapter would still function much the same way as we did as a MASSPIRG campaign, with two co-coordinators, a secretary, a treasurer, a campus relations liason, and conflict specialists for Darfur, the Congo, and Burma. There are always challenges in serving as an independent RSO, especially in the first two years, but ultimately, this will make the campaign stronger and more efficient.