Students from Marquette's Darfur Action Coalition met with Barrett McCormick, professor of political science, and Sachin Chheda of the Darfur Action Coalition of Wisconsin Wednesday night to contribute to a worldwide effort to help end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan – one that includes becoming an official student organization.
The group, which vocally opposes the mass killing, rape, displacement, starvation and disease currently ravaging Darfur, voted to pursue recognition as an official Marquette student organization. Members hope approval may give them more credibility with other student groups, the administration and MUSG.
Other ideas for next semester included hosting movie nights, showcasing guest speakers, eliciting extra publicity, fundraising and creating a noticeable visual display in the city in hopes of attracting more students to the cause.
"We need to get the people who didn't care last year to realize that they have to care this time around," said Liliana Zarnowiecki, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Everyone in attendance made it clear that there is an array of actions students can take to stop the genocide in Darfur.
"Young people can perform mass call-ins, write their congressmen and educate both friends and politicians about what's happening there," said Sarah Skea, a sophomore in the College of Nursing and co-coordinator for the presentation.
Neal Styka, a senior in the College of Engineering and one of the gathering's coordinators, said in an e-mail, "We need to draw more attention to the genocide in Darfur and develop a plan of action for next semester."
Last semester, Marquette's Darfur Action Coalition, an unofficial student group, received approximately 4,500 signatures on a petition requesting that the U.S. legislature take action in Darfur. Congresswoman Gwen Moore took the students' petition to Washington, D.C. where she peacefully protested the genocide on the Sudanese Embassy's steps.
McCormick said that as officials arrested Moore on an unlawful assembly charge, she said it was Marquette students who inspired her to protest the atrocities taking place thousands of miles away.
Through Marquette and Wisconsin's DACs and McCormick's support, students attended a Washington, D.C. rally last spring also aimed at ending the Darfur violence. A month later, a peace agreement was reached in Darfur. Though the agreement didn't end the violence, students in Marquette's DAC are committed to making a difference in the genocide.
"The question for all of us now is, 'What will we say 10 or 20 years from now when our children ask us what we did to stop such atrocities?'" McCormick said.
Chheda added, ""It is all of our responsibility, as members of the human family, to work to end violence and brutality wherever it is occurring."