The Brandeis chapter of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition drew approximately 200 attendees from high schools and colleges across New England as well as New York and New Jersey as a first-time host of STAND's annual Northeast Regional Conference last weekend. The conference is "a way for people to learn in a more in-depth way about the conflict," said Daniel Millenson '09, president of STAND Brandeis and national advocacy director for the Sudan Divestment Taskforce.

Saturday's and Sunday's events included speakers, workshops and movies about the Sudanese genocide, and the conflict in Burma, as well as the announcement of the spring 2008 STAND campaign goals by Director of STAND National Scott Warren and STAND Advocacy Coordinator Isaac Rowlett.

"The speakers are more educational, and the workshops are more advocacy," said Shulie Eisen '08, one of the event's organizers, adding that "the workshops are kind of training sessions for" lobbying and other ways in which students can best affect what is happening in Darfur.

STAND member Matt Rogers '08 said the conference was also a good way to make connections with other members of the organization.

The four spring campaign goals for STAND call on President George Bush to stick to his promises, including enforcing UNAMID, a joint African Union and United Nations operation authorized by the U.N. Security Council in July 2007 to take steps to implement the Darfur Peace Agreement, applying an all-Sudan Solution rather than solely focusing on Darfur, and lobbying China to engage with the Sudanese government about the genocide there.

"This whole campaign was born out of frustration, of all of us wanting to do more," Warren said.

Rowlett said the campaign is also born of "wonderful comments and feedback, . not only from students, but also from experts," which were taken into account when creating the campaign, he said.

"We can already see that this is starting to gain traction," Warren said, evidencing Resolution 455, currently before the Senate, which calls for full deployment of a hybrid AU/U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Speakers included Jens Meierhenrich, assistant professor of government and of social studies at Harvard University, Dr. Ashis Brahma, director of Chadian NGO Africa Vision, who works across the globe, including refugee camps and hospitals in Chad and Sudan, and Gayle Smith, Co-Chair of the Enough Project, which works to end genocide and crimes against humanity.

"Through the speakers, I hope that [participants] gained an acute knowledge of what is going on in Sudan," Warren said.

"What I talk about is the resilience and the sense of humor and the dignity of the refugees," Brahma said.

Brahma, who spoke at the last STAND national conference, said that working with the refugees and those affected by the conflict in the Sudanese region inspired him to travel to the United States and speak to students in order to raise awareness and knowledge about the issue.

Brahma said he enjoyed the conference and felt that those leading it were able to articulate their goals for the future well, and influence their peers attending the event. "Leadership comes from the grassroots," Brahma, and "the leadership of the STAND people is exceptional."

Eisen, who said she has been involved in STAND for the past four years, said she is very happy with how the conference went. "I think people are really engaged and really interested," she said.

Those who attended the event said they were impressed with the conference and learned a lot about how they could take action to speak out against the genocide. Jeff Howell, a teacher at Dennis-Yarmouth High School in Cape Cod who attended the conference with students from his school, said he was extremely impressed with how full-time college students have mobilized to organize such a strong conference.

"I can't think of another group that could put 250 people together for a weekend to instruct them on the practices and methods to achieve our goal," said Howell, who is a member of the Massachusetts Coalition, a group that is a part of the Save Darfur organization.

Rohini Bhaumik, a junior on the board of the Amnesty International chapter at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, said she learned ways in which she can improve her chapter from the conference. "They give you the tools to work with," she said, and "they're big goals that I really feel that the community can get to."

"It's just nice to know that there are still people who do care," said Jasmine Reid, a junior involved in the Save Darfur Coalition at Milton Academy in Massachusetts.

Reid and Bhaumik said they felt the conference was inspiring and reinforced the need to take action. Student leaders at the conference presented "ideas which are formed on a very local level," Bhaumik said. "When push comes to shove, we actually have to do something," Reid said.



Editor's note - News Editor Anya Bergman is the treasurer of the Brandeis chapter of STAND.