Dartmouth's nascent chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held its first meeting Monday night in the basement of Carson Hall. A predominantly black group of 40 students gathered for the information session.
The new chapter will organize service projects and forums that affect people of all races, according to members of the executive committee, who called the meeting to recruit new members and inform the community about their goals.
"The primary goal is basically to have a forum where students could talk about issues of race," Erica Jones '08, the group's secretary, said.
Participants will likely discuss issues that include the racial fallout from Hurricane Katrina, Jones said.
Lamar Moss '07, the club's vice president, offered a slightly different perspective on the group's mission.
"Race has always been an issue on the Dartmouth campus," he said. "We don't aim to specifically address issues of race. We want to bring races together to talk about their different experiences."
NAACP members will also try to bring affinity groups on campus together and get involved in the Upper Valley through clothing, food and voting drives to further the organization's goals.
The NAACP was founded in 1909 to work for political, educational, social and economic equality for all races. The Dartmouth chapter hopes to continue this fight.
"We must not let their struggles be in vain," Buchanan said of the NAACP's legacy.
Buchanan said the organization will strive to "develop an intelligent and militant youth leadership" on campus to reach this goal.
Although the NAACP is nearly 100 years old, the idea to bring a chapter to the Dartmouth campus is a relatively new one, according to Mike Simoni '08, the group's treasurer.
"No one really thought about it before," Simoni said.
The national organization has not yet recognized Dartmouth's NAACP chapter, but the local organization's executive board said it is in the process of doing so.
The chapter plans to fund itself through a mix of funds from the Council on Student Organizations, which recognized the group in August, and membership dues, which have yet to be decided, executives said. The group also plans to seek co-sponsors for many of its events. Possible named participants include Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority.
The second NAACP chapter in the Ivy League, Dartmouth follows Cornell in bringing the organization to its campus. Nationally, NAACP college and youth chapters claim about 70,000 members.
Members stressed the group's efforts to branch out beyond traditional racial barriers.
"I feel like when people hear the name NAACP they immediately think African Americans," Moss said. "Today, that's not really the issue. We're reaching out to all races."
