Political activist Ben Brandzel '03 encouraged first-year students to embrace the Brandeis legacy of social activism by calling on them to defy the odds and make the world a better place last Tuesday in Spingold. Brandzel, a former Student Union president, helped create the Oxfam Collegiate Click Drive, a national fund-raising initiative to combat poverty and hunger, in 2002. In 2004 he launched Student Action, the student arm of MoveOn.org, a liberal Internet-driven political group. He was the advocacy director for MoveOn.org from 2004 to 2007. He also served on the presidential campaigns of Howard Dean and John Edwards.

The establishment of Brandeis was not an academic initiative, he said, but a response to a "problem of justice," referring to the quota systems in place at other universities at the time of Brandeis' establishment that limited attendance by Jewish students and members of other minorities. Other universities, such as Harvard, he pointed out, are named after wealthy donors. "Brandeis is different," he said, because it was named after an individual "whose ideals the founders admired."

The most basic goal of social activism, he said, is to bring the world closer "to how it ought to be." Ultimately, activists strive to create "wall-breaking change," tearing down divisions between classes and ethnicities, he said. "That's the kind of legacy that Brandeis can hand to you."

During Brandzel's time at Brandeis, he said, students confronted administrators about wage disparities affecting janitors working with companies in contract with Brandeis, who also did not have full benefits.

As a result, Brandeis became the first in-sourced university in the country, Brandzel said. At the time, Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins, who helped make that decision, told [Brandzel] that "you can't fight social justice at Brandeis."

A majority of attendees raised their hands in response to his opening question, affirming that Brandeis' social justice reputation influenced their decision to come to Brandeis. "The founders of Brandeis would have raised their hands as well," Brandzel replied.

"You gotta have chutzpah," Brandzel said. "If you're not scared, you're not trying hard enough."

Not all campaigns are successful right away, Brandzel warned. While at Brandeis, students launched a campaign for the University to boycott Kraft Foods because its parent company, Philip Morris, was engaging in dishonest marketing practices in developing countries. A student referendum failed by 11 votes, he recalled. "That taught me what it feels like to lose," he said.

Soon after, Philip Morris stopped the dishonest practices because of strong international pressure, Brandzel explained. "Our little effort didn't win, but it made a difference," he said, noting the contribution of campus media coverage to the effort.

Brandzel emphasized that successful social activism is impossible alone and encouraged incoming students to make friends. At Brandeis, he and his friend Joshua Peck '02 "stayed up all night writing a resolution to establish the Social Justice Committee in the Senate." Today, he pointed out, Peck is the Internet director for the ONE campaign, which organized a campus challenge to help fight poverty. Brandeis came in second place last year.

"The people that you find [at Brandeis], these are the people who are going to be your partners in the social justice world," Brandzel said.

Students interviewed after the event seemed ready to follow in his footsteps.

"It inspires me to want to join more proactive political groups on campus," Stacey Leonard '12 said. "I've actually gotten myself involved in Triskelion, and I hope to continue to work towards trying to make a change in the world."

Brandzel is currently working for Amnesty International UK in London and plans to work as online engagement advisor to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in October.