The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) is planning to send 141 Brandeis students to the pro-choice "March for Women's Lives" on April 25 in Washington. FMLA is currently running a massive fundraising campaign to acquire the remaining funding necessary to subsidize students' tickets for three chartered buses.Women's rights leaders across the country are calling this march one of the most important ever. Though event organizers are reluctant to release an estimate of the number of people that will attend, FMLA officers say many are expecting around one million people to descend upon the nation's capital. In addition, an aggressive college outreach program hopes to bring around a third of participants from educational institutions across the country.

The last time FMLA helped send students to a pro-choice march in Washington was three years ago.

All of FMLA's available 141 round-trip tickets to Washington, which were priced at $15, sold in less than a day on Feb. 3 according to-FMLA President Maggie Frye '04. The price was set low because FMLA received a Hewlett Pluralism Alliance Grant for $1,025, stipulating that the trip had to be affordable for people in any economic situation. Ticket sales grossed $2,115, but the cost of sending three buses was $9,915.

Since its fundraising campaign was launched immediately after all tickets were sold, FMLA has received funds from various academic departments, the Women's Studies Research Center, last semester's coffeehouse and a few private donors.

Another form of aid came from Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett, who advanced FMLA $1,500 for the bus deposit before tickets were even sold. She said she expects FMLA to reimburse the full amount.

"I am a patient person," Bennett said. "I know these girls are exhausted from raising almost all of the $7,000 needed after ticket sales. This is a good club with a good track record, and I know that if they do not pay the deposit back this semester, they will do it some time next year."

Still approximately $4,000 in debt as of Feb. 29, FMLA went before the Union Senate and requested up to $2,000 in financial aid.

Though some members of the Senate said they had reservations about giving such a large sum of money to subsidize only 141 students, others said they felt it was important for Brandeis to have a presence at such an important event.

"The 141 students going on this trip are representative of the entire student body," Senator for Massell Quad Annie Rosenberg '07 said in response to why she voted yes. "They represent what Brandeis was founded upon-a campus full of social justice and activism."

After much debate, the Senate voted unanimously to grant the club up to $1,750. Upon hearing the vote, Frye said, "Right now, in this country, reproductive rights are seriously being threatened by the current administration. It is great that the Senate gave this money because this is something that a lot of people care about on campus. Last time there was a march only one bus went. Now, we have three. Hopefully, at another event of this importance we can send even more buses."

Bennett also said she was pleased that the Senate was so generous in its funding.

"I know that this issue can be very controversial, but the truth is, we are sending people to Washington to fight for what is already the law of the land," she said. "As a feminist who grew up in a time when the option to terminate a pregnancy was not available, I have seen the terrible things that can happen to people and families who lack the freedom to make this choice. It is good for the Senate to fund activities of such importance."

In addition, FMLA Finance Chair Kate Pouillard '06, who spearheaded the fundraising campaign, said, "We needed this money because this is a chance for Brandeis students to be part of history. This is the largest pro-choice march ever, and it is very important for students here to show they want to leave a legacy."

"This legacy is one the goes back to the Supreme Court Justice after which this school was named," FMLA Events Chair Marissa Collins '06 said. "Justice Brandeis was the first to write about Americans unwritten 'right to privacy.' It was on this precedent that the decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973, was based."

Pouillard said that three major events in March hope to bring in the necessary funds to acquire the remaining $1,083.

The largest event planned will take place on March 25, when singer and songwriter Kate Schutt plays at Cholmondeley's. Schutt has been compared to Ani DiFranco and Melissa Etheridge, and plans to debut a number of new songs when she plays here. She is performing for free, but donations will be requested at the concert.

Comedian Jennifer Blaine will perform on campus Mar. 13. According to Collins, she is a very funny and talented performer with loads of characters and accents.

FMLA will host another coffeehouse on Mar. 15 featuring Voices of the Soul, False Advertising, Shanna Zell and Avi the roller King.

According to Liz Petersen, an FMLA Campus Organizer who works with colleges around the nation, Brandeis has more successful in fundraising than any other school she has seen.

"While some school are charging the full price of tickets, which can range up to $300 or more dollars from California, Brandeis has manages to raise the necessary funds to keep a $70 ticket priced at merely $15," Peterson said.

Petersen also said that college students could constitute the expected one-third of the total attendance for the march. She said that some schools closer to Washington are sending more than 30 buses.