Georgetown’s chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur will host a three-day conference this weekend with the U.S. Holocaust Museum’s Committee on Conscience to share ideas for raising awareness and funds and to encourage political action against the genocide that took place in Sudan’s Darfur region in 2004.
400 conference participants representing 85 universities across the nation will come together in Washington during the conference.
Georgetown was selected to host conference attendees and events due to its proximity to the Holocaust Museum, as well as its active STAND chapter.
This is the first time the Holocaust Museum’s COC has sought the participation of college students in such an event.
“The student response to this event has been incredible,” said Lisa Rogroff, the STAND conference coordinator at the COC. “We definitely hope to use this conference as a stepping-off point for future engagement of college students.”
The conference will open tomorrow with an interfaith Shabbat service in the ICC Galleria. The weekend continues with speakers and panels at the Holocaust Museum and a screening of a documentary on the Darfur crisis, co-directed by Adam Shapiro (GRD ‘97).
“This is about having the courage and power to act,” conference coordinator Chiaki Ota (SFS ‘07) said. “We know what’s happening and what needs to get done.”
