Not yet official, but active
Amnesty International’s voice to be heard on campus

March 19, 2004
by Carolyn Widman
Staff Reporter

This year, Sara Ellena, Lisle, Ill. first-year, has started a new chapter of Amnesty International at Albion College that will focus on the protection of human rights around the world.

Amnesty International is a large international organization that researches worldwide human rights abuses. They publish reports and suggest ways for members to take action to help rectify these abuses.

Ellena said she enjoys the satisfaction that comes from reversing injustices.

“I want to make others concerned about very serious issues that face our world today,” Ellena said. “They will be confronted with many of the things that are wrong in this world and realize that they have the ability to right them.”

Amnesty International is in its 43rd year; it began as a grass roots activist’s campaign and became a Nobel Prize-winning group with over one million members.

The main goals of the group include abolishing the death penalty, supporting fair trials for political prisoners, ending torture and political killings, liberating prisoners of conscience, defending the rights of children and the homosexual community, and protecting the The student chapter in Albion will respond to “Urgent Action” reports by writing letters to government officials.

“It sounds simple, but it works,” Ellena said.

Amnesty International is nonpartisan and is not aligned with any government affiliation.

“Amnesty is a group devoted to the well-being of the entire human race, not just a select group,” said Matthew Milligan, Ortonville first-year and member of the new Amnesty International chapter. “That means conservatives, liberals, moderates, and everyone else should be, and can be, involved in bettering human society through the direct action Amnesty provides.”

Ellena said Amnesty will be co-sponsoring activities with Peace Action and promoting awareness of human rights issues around the world and in the United States.

“We will host teach-ins, sponsor speakers, and put on benefits for various causes,” Ellena said.

Ross O’Hara, Canton sophomore, is co-president of Peace Action and a member of the new Amnesty International chapter.

“When Amnesty International becomes recognized by CPO, they will be a great asset on this campus in educating about world problems,” O’Hara said in an email response.

The constitution has to be turned into Kristi Brierly, senior associate director of student organizations, and then the group will need to go through student senate before they are recognized, Ellena said.

Even without CPO recognition, the group has taken part in Amnesty International’s “Week of Student Activism,” in which they worked to raise awareness of child executions here and abroad and got many students to sign petitions against such acts.

“With more funding, their influence will be even greater and help make Albion College students more diverse in their awareness of our global society,” O’Hara said.

Until the college officially recognizes the group, they do not have a budget and therefore cannot receive any school funds. The group paid out of pocket for the last activity, but does not want to continue doing so. The group has no definite plans yet for raising money.

“We hope to possibly sell t-shirts, buttons, bracelets, etc from Amnesty,” Ellena said in an email. “The best things would incorporate messages from Amnesty, but we might do a car wash or something like that.”

Four committees have been organized for the Albion chapter. Women/GLBT/Children’s Rights, Race/Ethnicity/Religion, Environment/Economics, and Political Dissidents.

“The human race is not perfect, and because every member of the human race [should be] each others’ friend and partner in this small globe, sometimes the human race needs a gentle push in the right direction,” Milligan said. “That is where groups like Amnesty come in. They are there to help the human race better itself by becoming more moral, sincere, and openly just.”

Amnesty International meets Thursday nights at 8 p.m. in the alumni conference room in the Kellogg Center, and is open to anyone.