Former Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards will launch his Opportunity Rocks program at Dartmouth with a speech in Collis Commonground on Friday morning.
Edward's visit to Dartmouth will be the fifth stop of his Opportunity Rocks College Tour, a whirlwind tour through 10 college campuses across America intended to inspire student activism in the fight against poverty.
The tour represents a milestone and a takeoff point for student groups at the 10 schools that have and will continue to work with the former senator in organizing student volunteering and activism in their local communities.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Edwards described the importance and the potential of a student-led movement against poverty.
"We have a window of opportunity after Katrina where people are paying attention to poverty, but that won't stay open unless we keep it open, unless we drive it open. And students can do that," Edwards said.
While promising to continue working with Opportunity Rocks, Edwards said that the program would develop under student leadership.
"Whatever I do, the bottom line is that it's the students that have to be heard," he said. "When students are speaking out and showing out in large numbers with enthusiasm and passion, the media can't not pay attention. And when the media pays attention, then the country pays attention."
Edwards' Opportunity Rocks tour began at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Oct. 16 and will finish on Oct. 28 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It included stops at Yale University on Wednesday and at Harvard University Thursday.
Edwards said that when deciding on the places at which to launch Opportunity Rocks, he looked for colleges where students were already involved with local poverty issues.
"We wanted schools where there was a core group of students who were engaged in fighting poverty and who had an idea for a project in their community that we could be involved in," Edwards said.
Edwards also emphasized the importance geographic diversity played in his selection of schools.
The last time Edwards came to Dartmouth was in 2003 when he spoke to a large crowd at the Top of the Hop, an event that impressed him with the College's participation, he said.
"I've been at Dartmouth a couple times, and I've seen the kind of energy and intellectual firepower that is there, and we need that now," Edwards said.
Edwards challenged Dartmouth students to meet the level of enthusiasm and participation he has seen so far.
"We've had incredible turnouts so far, and we expect huge crowds at Yale and Harvard. I know there's some competition between those schools and Dartmouth, so I'd like to see a great crowd at Dartmouth too," Edwards said.
Although certain pundits have speculated that Edwards may be a presidential candidate in 2008, Edwards denied having any political motivations behind his work with Opportunity Rocks or in his choice of Dartmouth as a site for the program.
Dartmouth is historically a popular destination for presidential candidates because of its importance to the early New Hampshire primary.
Edwards pointed to his long involvement with poverty issues and to his campaign focus in 2004 on the economic divide in America as evidence of his commitment.
"I was involved with poverty before I was involved with politics," Edwards said. "This is the thing that is closest to my heart. This has been a continuous theme in my life. Whatever I do in politics, this will be central."