LANSING - Michigan college students involved with activism and advocacy attended a summit at the state Capitol on Saturday.
About 50 students attended the American Civil Liberties Union’s second annual Michigan summit - a gathering to inform students of the ACLU’s purpose and establish networks between members.
“Much more important than the quantity of students there was the broad contacts made,” said Aaron Allen, president of the MSU ACLU chapter. “By the end of the day, I was excited and energized with good ideas for MSU.”
The ACLU is a national nonpartisan group that focuses on constitutional rights.
“Students are very important to the ACLU, and that is part of the reason that we work (to encourage) campus involvement,” said Kevin Sproles, the national campus organizer for the ACLU in Washington, D.C. “They are important not only to the future, but to the present of the ACLU.”
With the presidential election Tuesday, some concerns were addressed at the meeting, but candidate endorsements were not on the agenda.
“ACLU is a nonpartisan and nonpolitical group,” said Heather Bendure, temporary field organizer for the ACLU. “While we do have a political aspect, we only want students to know what their rights are.
“Not everyone does.”
Allen looks forward to increasing campus involvement with the ACLU, he said.
“One thing I have noticed here at MSU is that people are not apathetic, regardless of the perception,” he said. “They are passionate, bright and care about what is going on.”
The summit, which featured state Rep. Lynne Martinez, D-Lansing, and other ACLU representatives, had accomplished its goal of being informative and inspiring, Allen said.
“The ACLU is not a philosophically oriented organization,” Allen said. “More than that, it is a vehicle for change to actually occur concerning the issues and problems that every citizen faces.”
There are 150 ACLU campus groups nationwide and similar summits across the county, Sproles said.
“There were a lot of networking opportunities,” Allen said. “We don’t have to work exclusively, because we have links now to other groups all over the state and all over the country.
“The summit accomplished its goal.”
