2008 Woodie Awards
ISU student interest in Human Rights Week
With low participation in previous years, will this years' Human Rights Week spark more student interest?
Brandy Egertson
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News
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According to U.S. News, the ISU undergraduate student body of 2008 is listed at 10,640, while Boise State University was reported to have around 17,042 undergraduate students. Due to the difference in enrollment of a little over 6,000, it would make sense that the universities would vary in their activities and speakers for the Human Rights Week. But how different are they?
Two major differences are the large amount of education sessions offered and the keynote speakers each university decided to host. Boise State offers 11 educational sessions, while ISU offers only one. BSU does not have as many speakers, with only three, while ISU offers five. Both universities' speaker lineups include Leobardo Morales, who spoke regarding immigration at ISU on Jan. 22.
Rose Beal, a holocaust survivor, will speak in the Rendezvous Suite on Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7p.m.
Harry Wu, ISU's keynote speaker for Human Rights Week, is scheduled to speak on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Wu survived his incarceration in the "Bamboo Gulag" and is now living in the United States documenting slavery and human rights violations.
Both universities filled the week with speakers, movies and a Martin Luther King Jr. march. BSU, however, offered a few events that ISU did not. For example, they offered a complimentary breakfast, which gave their diverse student body an opportunity to come together on the preceding Saturday.
The MLK march at ISU has the potential to be a huge community event. Last year I attended the ISU MLK march and I could not believe the lack of participation by the student body. There were less than a hundred people and it seemed that about half of the attendees were professors.
ISU held another MLK march on Monday, Jan. 21, marching from Holt Arena to the Pond Student Union Building, which seemed to have more support than the previous year. This gives hope that student interest in human rights is on the rise.
BSU extends their Human Rights Celebration not only throughout the week, but throughout the entire month with free educational sessions taught by noteworthy people. Maybe ISU should take a lesson from BSU and extend the Human Rights Celebration. We could actually extend the celebration all the way from MLK Day through the entire month of February; after all, February is Black History Month and the sentiments of the MLK celebration could tie in nicely with this.
Human rights are a hot button issue in American. Idaho has many human rights issues that should be at the forefront of conversation among students, but many will watch the Human Rights Week go by, not really even understanding or truly appreciating the reason why we had Monday off and why the Student Activity Board created countless fliers to advertise the events.
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