Social Justice

USA Today changed the phrase “illegal students” in the title of an article from last week after over 500 concerned readers wrote letters condemning the language. Change.org and DreamActivist.org organized the letter writers, and the article now refers to “illegal immigrant students.” The article, “Groups try to delay deportations of illegal immigrant students,” was about several recent incidents in which undocumented students were threatened with deportation. Letter-writers argued that no people should be considered “illegal,” and that the use of the phrase promotes a hostile an

Over 200 people took to the Boise State campus on Dec. 11 in response to what protesters saw as racist and homophobic fliers that were illegally inserted in copies of school's student newspaper, the Arbiter. A coalition of faculty, staff and students participated in the Hands Across Campus Rally (HACR) following the distribution of the fliers. Participants stated that they wanted to combat hate, oppression, and intolerance. They also wanted to show acceptance and support to those targeted by the fliers. The rally was organized in just 24 hours, and within 30 minutes HACR was

Several students at the University of Kentucky are filing a lawsuit against a Lexington landlord who failed to return a $1,500 security deposit. The landlord, Mike Haley, is withholding at least part of the security deposit because of broken blinds.  The renters, including UK Senior Keegan Bakus, argue that Haley failed to do a walk through at the end of the lease as required by Kentucky law.  This is not the first problem the students have had in the two years they’ve lived in the house.  Two days before Bakus and his roommates moved into the house to plan future furnitur

Hundreds of NYC students assembled their bodies to spell out D-O-W on Dec. 3 in protest of the chemical company's refusal to face trial.   Roughly 25 years ago, 27 tons of lethal gases leaked from Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, killing 8,000 people and poisoning thousands of others. Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide in 1999, and officials claim the company isn't responsible for Union Carbide’s spill.   Students from Parsons the New School formed the die-in protest, while other participants held up signs spelling out "Clean Up Bhopal."   "It's no surpri

Over 30 student groups and 12 nonprofit organizations held a crafts bazaar in the Tufts University campus center on Dec. 4 to raise awareness for impoverished women around the globe. The proceeds from the bazaar will be donated to Aadhar, a microfinance program under the non-governmental organization Women for Human Rights, which strives to empower Nepalese women.   OneWorld, the student group which hosted the event, offered everything from free local and foreign food to performances from a Ghanaian drumming group and Colombian musicians. According to OneWorld founder Moises Cohen, b

The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico (ASUNM) passed a resolution in favor of the DREAM Act with near-unanimous support, following a long chain of nation-wide student activism around the issue. The legislation would allow illegal immigrant students a path to citizenship after graduating with a high school diploma and completing two years either in college or the U.S. military.   According to Senator Zoila Alvarez who had sponsored the resolution, the decision of the Senate to endorse the DREAM Act is not an umbrella immigration policy for all students who were attendin

From flash mobs in Indiana to jazz concerts in Minnesota, students used everything they could think of to raise awareness for the deadly AIDS epidemic on Dec. 1. Thousands around the globe recognized World AIDS Day, and students in the U.S. took a lead in organizing awareness, medical testing, and fundraising projects. More than 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS, according to the Iowa Center for AIDS Research and Education. “I think a lot of people know what AIDS is but not how to help the cause,” said University of Illinois Sophomore Melissa Peyton. Peyton was part

Brothers Jesus and Guillermo Reyes were released from an immigration detention center Friday in Miami after the Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER) helped get the support of politicians, lawyers, and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. Jesus, 21, is a student and former student body president at Miami Dade College. His brother Guillermo, 25, is a recent graduate. They are the children of Venezuelan immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for nine years. On Nov. 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrived at the brothers’ parents’ home, informing them that they woul