General management sophomore Michael Ueberroth said it was a “drunk dial” that changed his perspective on the world, in particular, Africa.
“A friend called me up, drunk, at 3 a.m. and told me he wanted to do something that made a difference,” he said. “And something about the crisis in Darfur was on the television at the time.”
Ueberroth said it wasn’t long before he joined the Michigan Darfur Coalition, and the “keggers” he had hosted on weekends became cocktail parties to benefit war-torn Darfur.
“We were donating proceeds to a charitable cause, rather than just partying for no reason because there was nothing else to do,” he said.
While Dubai might be the focus of MSU’s current international endeavors, Africa has been and remains one of MSU’s first and most important international projects, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said.
“MSU has been in Africa for a very, very long time,” Simon said. “We worked in South Africa and were active in anti-apartheid movement there. Our African Studies Center really dates back as one of the first in the country.”
The African Studies Center was created in 1960 after a large number of African countries began gaining independence from European colonial powers, said David Wiley, director of MSU’s African Studies Center.
Wiley said Nigeria’s first civilian president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, asked MSU to help build the country’s first land-grant university.
Former MSU President John Hannah accepted the invitation, partnering with Azikiwe to found the University of Nigeria Nsukka. MSU remained involved in the university until 1969, when the Nigerian Civil War forced MSU to cut ties with the university, he said.
Still, Wiley said the experience in Nigeria created strong ties with Africa.
“We came back with the commitment to help Africans search for better lives,” he said.
That commitment has been carried on by students today, including Ueberroth and international relations senior Tom Choske, president of Spartans for Progressive Divestment.
Choske said his group is concerned with the $160 million the state has invested in foreign companies that support the genocide through their funds.
“We want to stop (the genocide) or have an impact by taking our money out of companies that support it so there’s no money to kill people,” Choske said.
There have been 24 states that have pledged to withdraw funds from those foreign companies, Choske said, and he thinks they can convince the government in Michigan to follow suit.
“We can collectively make a big impact,” he said.
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