Students affect change with letters
Left to right, Comparative cultures and politics senior and MSU Amnesty International member Christina Field encouraged passers-by such as journalism sophomore Erin O’Connor and comparative cultures and politics sophomore Laura Klinger to sign petitions asking for the release of political prisoners all over the world Tuesday afternoon in Case Hall.
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Karin Bashir said students often talk and don’t take action, which is one of the reasons she participated in signing letters Tuesday at Case Hall as part of a week-long write-a-thon.
Bashir, a James Madison College freshman, signed letters for the Global Write-a-thon held by MSU Amnesty International. The write-a-thon gives students the opportunity to send letters to world leaders requesting the protection and release of victims of human rights abuse. The group will have a table set up from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m. today in Case Hall and at other on-campus locations during the week.
“It’s important to do the things you can where you are,” Bashir said.
The group has collected about 400 letters from campuswide stations on Monday and Tuesday. Christina Field, a comparative cultures and politics senior and the vice president of MSU Amnesty International, said letter writing is more efficient because e-mails aren’t as personal.
“This is a kind of a tangible way officials can see how many people are concerned,” Field said.
Ken Harrow, an English professor and the group’s adviser, said the letter campaign is part of a large global concern to take action.
“We’re all aware of how other people have suffered in countries from unjust incarceration and have been beaten for their views,” Harrow said.
Field said students have the opportunity to sign 10 different letters requesting the release of those imprisoned and abused for speaking out against their government.
“In a lot of our cases, governments are perpetuating or not upholding human rights issues,” Field said.
Nehal Amer, an international relations sophomore and president of MSU Amnesty International, said the goal for the week is to pressure authority figures to release detained individuals.
“We hope to apply enough pressure, and even if we don’t see progress on all these cases, we want to see progress in at least one,” Amer said.
One of the cases for which students can sign letters is a Guantanamo Bay case in which prisoners have been detained without having first gone to trial. Harrow said it’s an important topic for citizens in the U.S. to notice.
“It’s the core of our democracy that we follow the rules of law and respect human rights, and that hasn’t been done,” Harrow said.
Commentary
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Hypercorrection
(12/09/09 3:48pm)Report
Krystie, your headline is a hyper-correction. Whereas a good high school English student would write affect, an even more intelligent university student would realize that in this instance effect is the correct word to use.
HAHAHAHA
(12/09/09 8:02pm)Report
OK, say the word effect was used.
How to you effect change? That statement doesn’t make sense, whether it’s affect or effect. This title is bogus. It should be “Students promote change” or “Students work towards change” or “Students hope for change”… ANYTHING but what it is now.
I realize that most kids will focus on the word “CHANGE” and not even see the rest of the title, but there are 4 more words there, and the combination doesn’t make sense!
No matter, though. This article and the cause it speaks of are both pointless and misdirected. No one cares either way.