CU-Boulder becomes Campus of ONE

Last night the University of Colorado Student Union passed a proclamation declaring the campus to be a Campus of ONE. The unanimous decision reflects the University’s commitment to being a leader on social justice issues and standing up against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. What’s even more significant is that the committee is determined to be more than a quiet statement of faith, but to make it public with a signing event and active promotion of ONE on campus throughout the next school year.

The sponsor of the bill, Dan Omasta, described the bill as unique because in this election cycle we are constantly hearing about all the things we can’t agree on, it’s nice to talk about what we do share as common values. The passage of this proclamation makes the University of Colorado one of the largest school to become a Campus of ONE.

I’m very proud of my University and look forward to the work we have to do over the summer and next year.

-Matthew McAllister, Colorado ONE member and CU Sophomore

Congratulations Western Kentucky U!

Since September, more than 1,400 college campuses have been battling it out in the ONE Campus Challenge. In the end, one school was unstoppable.

Western Kentucky University beat out the competition by recruiting almost 3,000 students to ONE, writing letters and placing calls to members of Congress and effectively reaching out to the Bowling Green community to join the movement.

On Tuesday night, ONE brought the bands Army of Me and Georgie James to the campus for a free concert. Lots of local news, like the WKU Herald and local TV station WBKO covered the event.

The WKU Herald quotes ONE student organizer Matt Vaughan:

“Way to go, Hilltoppers,” Vaughan said. “3,000 people at Western are now signed up (for the ONE Campaign). That’s an accomplishment no other university could match.” Vaughan said he was happy to sit back and enjoy the concert, but there was still work to be done to end world poverty.

“The spirit of change is alive and well here at WKU,” he said. “For years to come we’re going to have to keep rocking the movement. We can do this and we will do it.”

And WBKO ran this interview with Vaughan Tuesday night.

Note his quote:

“We beat out schools like Princeton and George Washington, all these schools that are known for being globally engaged and active. We showed that you don’t have to go to a rich and elite school in the East Coast to make a difference in this world, everyone can make a difference,” said Matt Vaughan, WKU student organizer.

Congratulations WKU! We can’t wait to see what you guys do next.

Vote for the ONE Campus Challenge Winner

Since October, colleges and universities around the U.S. have been competing in the ONE Campus Challenge – a friendly competition to see which campus has the best poverty advocates around.

After months of open competition, an amazing summit in Washington, DC, and some adorable pets put into ONE gear, the Top 10 schools received stipends to create their own poverty advocacy projects.

The projects are all done, and I’m proud to show you the results and ask for your input on pick in the winner.

Voting runs until midnight Pacific Time Friday!

We’ll let you know who won next week.

Menendez Monday

Great report back from Ross of SetonHall University of ONE students and members lobbying Senator Robert Menendez last Monday.

“Last week the luck of the Irish was with the ONE Campaign. New Jersey members of ONE and our partner organization CARE met with Senator Robert Menendez to discuss his support for several anti-poverty bills going through Congress. For my part in the meeting I thanked the senator for co-sponsoring and voting for the Biden/Lugar amendment to the FY09 international affairs budget which, as many of you might know, restored $4.1 billion dollars…”

Read the rest on the ONE Campus Challenge Blog.

Libertyville becomes 1st ONE High School Today

Compassion has flooded the hallways of Libertyville High School in Illinois. I and my fellow students are taking action for the fight against disease and poverty and today, on March 19, our school will become the first official “ONE High School” at the same time Libertyville becomes an official “ONE City.”

Next month, we’re organizing a massive community benefit concert that will take place on April 18, 2008 at the high school’s field house. Just like the roots of the ONE Campaign, this started as just a few students’ idea and has grown into a movement.

What inspires me the most is how quick more students are to join. Our group continues to grow and we’ve already signed up more than 580 new members in just two days of tabling. Between our school and town, the Libertyville community is truly taking on to the idea that we all can come together as ONE community to change the world.

-Ryan Steel, ONE member and LHS senior, Libertyville, IL

Our Top Ten List

Since September, campuses across the country have been creating ONE chapters and spurring global poverty action as part of the ONE Campus Challenge (OCC).

In just 12 hours after launching OCC, 1000 ONE Chapters were formed. Today, there are now more than 1,400 student-led ONE groups covering all 50 states.

Throughout the competition, colleges earned points for actions - like hosting speaking events, creating public displays on campus that raise awareness, contacting members of Congress and overall recruitment. All in all, these students made more than 10,000 calls to Congress, 2,000 calls to presidential candidates, provided needed support for the Jubilee Act, and successfully helped urge the IMF to honor their promise to provide debt relief to Liberia.

Finally, late last week Erin and Weldon announced the top ten point-earning schools:

Brandeis University; Campbellsville University; George Washington University; Hofstra University; Kansas State University; Princeton University; Sacred Heart University; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Western Kentucky University; and Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio.

Each of these schools are receiving a $1,000 grant from ONE to craft their own poverty advocacy project.

I’m looking forward to learning how they use them - and will let you know when I do.

-Virginia Simmons

Full Summit Coverage

Last week, 100 top ONE student organizers came to DC for the Power 100 Summit. Check out all of their coverage of their experience on the OCC Blog.

-Virginia Simmons

Summ(it)ing it up

Seven days ago, a group of 100 student activists and I met in our nation’s capital for the ONE Campus Challenge Power 100 Summit to focus on the challenge of eliminating extreme poverty within their generation’s time. In attendance were some highly influential and key Washington figures that delivered some motivational speeches that gave the student activists some incite on how truly influential the student movement is.

The group met in Washington DC on January 2nd and enjoyed an array of speakers which included public health specialists, senior fellows, CEO’s, government officials and White House aids. The list of speakers in attendance is much too long to share in its entirety but some in attendance included; former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich; former Senate Majority Leader, William Frist M.D.; Author and First Daughter, Jenna Bush.

The summit built enthusiasm for many. The purpose of ONE is not to raise money to feed poor people but to change the way the US and others do business and set policies in the world. ONE is a movement to build awareness of what it means to exist in extreme poverty and what it takes to break out of the cycle. It became clear that ONE is an advocacy not a charity. Many of the speakers made mention that the honor was more theirs not ours to attend. As many historical events have shown in the past – what government will not do – college student will take upon themselves to do.

The summit attendees took pride in sharing efforts which have already been achieved in the recent past, for example, the successful debt relief effort in Liberia. In addition, attendees look forward to upcoming efforts to push for legislative action of the Jubilee Bill and further work toward the Millennium Development Goals.

The attendees of the Power 100 Summit are participants in the ONE Campus Challenge - a student movement to eradicate extreme poverty and address global health issues.

-Rebecca Hoffer - UNLV student rep.

ONE Power 100 Summit - Day 3

I’m here at the Power 100 Summit for the ONE Campus Challenge again today. This morning we heard a session on talking to the media, right now I’m at a group discussion on student organizing strategies.

We should have a ton of photos and hopefully some web video to follow next week. Hoping to get some of these phenomenal student organizers to send in some posts too;)

-Virginia Simmons

Non-Trivial Cross-Post

Josh Peck’s second post from the Power 100 Summit (cross-posted from the ONE Campus Challenge Blog.)

Anything But Trivial
Posted on January 2nd, 2008 at 7:40 pm by Josh

Power 100 attendees got their first opportunity to show their stuff with a little trivia. Weldon and Erin asked some serious questions about the number of phone calls made and the countries affected by our actions, but I am going to focus on the some of the more important questions.

First, what is the sign-off Erin and Weldon use on OCC TV?
After dozens of people stood to answer earlier questions, only one brave student dared to stand up and answer this question.

“Huzzah” Of course, that answer was not suffient, Erin demanded that they “do the whole thing.” Link to see what that means.

Second, they asked what state had the most schools represented at the Power 100 Summit?

It took eight wrong guesses (at the end I think it was more akin to deductive reasoning): Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, California, Iowa… Nope, the correct answer: Pennsylvania.