Taking A Stand
Activist Rush Week Gives Student Groups Chance to Reach Out to New Members

Christine Clark | January 22, 2008

UC San Diego students took a stand against apathy during Activist Rush Week (ARW) from Jan. 14 to 18. The weeklong annual event is the largest outreach effort by UCSD’s activist community to recruit new members.

Campus activist clubs got together to hand out free Ben and Jerry's "Fair Trade" ice cream Jan. 16 and Jan. 18 as part of Activism Rush Week.

The event was organized by students, with several of UCSD’s largest student organizations participating, including Green Campus, Social and Environmental Sustainability Committee, Justice Corps, One Earth One Justice and the Arusha Project. Representatives of the groups met with students in the Price Center Plaza each day to attract new members. The student groups support various causes, such as Fair Trade, gender and racial equality, freedom of speech and sustainability. The groups handed out flyers, pamphlets and free Ben and Jerry’s "Fair Trade" ice cream to help raise awareness about Fair Trade products, which are produced using socially and environmentally conscious methods.

Activist Rush Week is important for activist groups on campus because it helps strengthen the activist community, said organizer June Reyes. "It promotes awareness for the variety of work done on campus as well as awareness for some of the pressing issues going on," she said. "ARW also gives activists the opportunity to connect with each other to build up a network of support."

Yuki Murakami is a sophomore at Thurgood Marshall College who participated in Activist Rush Week last year and helped organize the event this year. "We are more unified now," Murakami said. "This year a lot of the organizations collaborated with each other to put this week together."

“Every single person
is valuable and being
able to meet and talk
to new people makes
it very worthwhile.”

Tabling was the core of the recruitment during the event. About ten groups rushed at the Price Center Plaza each day during the week, according to organizer Polina Osipova, a student who also tabled throughout the week. "I tabled for the organic farm cooperative one day and we got nine new people signed up," she said. "Every single person is valuable and being able to meet and talk to new people makes it very worthwhile." In addition to tabling, several student organizations hosted free film screenings of politically-charged films, such as "Sicko," "Yesterday" and "Modern Slavery in America Cross Cultural."

The week was capped off with the "Party with a Purpose" celebration at Porter’s Pub. At the event, several of the Activist Rush Week organizers got together from 7 to 11 p.m., Jan. 18.  John Muir College junior and ARW organizer Jessica Wall rushed throughout the week and she attended the "Party with a Purpose." She said the week was a great opportunity for her to promote the causes she feels passionately about and to work with other students with similar values. "The people involved are so passionate about making the world better," Wall said. "They renew my faith in the students of UCSD and what they can accomplish through dedication and hard work."