After this week, Bowdoin students will no longer be able to claim ignorance about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. By stuffing mailboxes, putting up posters, and sponsoring lectures and documentaries, the Darfur Coalition is making sure students are informed about the genocide.
Liz Leiwant '08, the head of the Darfur Coalition, the multi-organizational group that planned the week's events, said that the coalition had two primary goals for the week: education and fundraising.
"If you don't know what's going on, you can't work to change it," she said. "People are still largely uneducated about the genocide."
In order to best educate the student body, the coalition held a variety of different events intended to appeal to a diverse audience.
On Monday, students could see an exhibition of children's artwork from Darfur and Chad.
Meredith Segal '08, a member of the coalition and head of Bowdoin Students for Peace, said that she hoped the suffering in the children's pictures would affect those students unmoved by facts and statistics.
On Wednesday, the coalition encouraged students to donate their meals and fast. Money from students' board transfers will go to the Genocide Intervention Network (GIN), an organization that strives to "empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide," according to the group's Web site.
In addition to transferring board, students can donate up to 10 polar points to the GIN. Dining Service has pledged to match 30 percent of the total donations.
Segal encouraged students to donate as much as they felt comfortable and to try fasting on Wednesday. She believes that fasting is "a small way to show solidarity with people in Darfur."
Leiwant agreed, saying that fasting is "a constant reminder of what it is you're trying to work towards."
On Thursday, the coalition screened the film "Darfur Diaries," a documentary that "seeks to provide space for the marginalized victims of atrocities [in Darfur] to speak and engage with the world," according to the film's Web site.
Today, there will be a vigil in Portland sponsored by Fur Cultural Revival of New England, a Portland-based organization composed of immigrants from the Fur tribe of Darfur.
At 7:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium, there will be a town hall panel discussing armed intervention in the crisis. The panel features Professor Alan Kuperman from the University of Texas and Professor Jon Western of Mount Holyoke College.
Katie Auth '08, the coalition representative for students who do not belong to political organizations, said she hoped the week would inspire students to take further action on their own.
Leiwant agreed, saying that one intended outcome of the week is the creation of a permanent Darfur group that would provide ways for interested students to become further involved.
"Once people know what's going on, the majority of people want to do something," she said.
Leiwant also said she strongly believes that because the College is committed to the common good, it has a moral obligation to become involved in situations like Darfur.
"Any school that professes to train the next generation has an obligation to train people morally as well," she said. "Part of that is educating the student body about issues in the world."
Segal hopes that the week will kick off a higher level of activism surrounding Darfur.
"This week is not the end of the actions of the Darfur campaign. It's just the beginning," she said.