A small group of students met Friday in Haldeman Hall to launch a Dartmouth chapter of a nascent organization called the Student Movement for Real Change. The group, which targets poverty-related issues around the world, was founded three years ago and has chapters at over 30 universities.
The national organization seeks to call attention to what founder and Executive Director Saul Garlick called "neglected regions" at the meeting -- areas of the world that have no media attention and which Garlick said encompass at least three billion of those people living on less than $2 a day. The organization supports efforts from school-building to water sanitation and other poverty-related problems.
"It's almost like people value those lives less and it's disgusting," said Garlick, a 2007 graduate of Johns Hopkins University.
The national organization was born when Garlick, then a high school student, collaborated with two friends who wanted to know what would happen if they got kids their age to pitch into solving the world's most pressing issues. After 9/11, the high school juniors began to collect money for Afghan children.
The following February, Garlick, on a trip to Africa, came upon an unfinished school and was told that $10,000 was needed to finish building it. He took up the challenge under the banner of the Student Movement for Real Change and realized that he wanted to "engage [his] peers to do something more than just throw money at a cause."
Once Garlick went on to Johns Hopkins, he started calling his friends at other colleges for support and chapters began springing up all over the country.
SMRC's board of advisors is largely based out of Johns Hopkins and includes preeminent political scientist Francis Fukuyama, and the groups board of directors is comprised mostly of students and recent college graduates, and the oldest member is 26.
The SMRC was brought to Dartmouth by Tami Martin '08, who learned about the organization last Spring from a Dartmouth alumni who is friends with Garlick.
Martin said that the organization appealed to her because, in her mind, Dartmouth didn't have a student-driven organization which dealt with international issues on a large scale. Because the organization is still new, students have a unique amount of contact with executives like Garlick.
Among the national organization's current undertakings is the Kenya Water Project, which will result in the building of 28 kilometer pipeline to supply clean water to 38,000 people in Kenya. The group has also started a "Pen Pal Exchange," which links students in America to students in impoverished nations.
Projects for Dartmouth's group will be dictated by the national organization, though some local projects will likely also be planned as the group becomes more established.
The next step for Dartmouth's chapter is to apply for recognition from the Council on Student Organizations. The group's petition to COSO is due on Nov. 7.
Dartmouth's chapter will focus on fundraising campaigns, as well as advocacy and awareness for global poverty issues. At Friday's meeting, Garlick stressed innovation in fundraising, offering the example of an "anything but clothes" fundraiser, in which students at another chapter ran a 3K race wearing items such as duct tape.
Martin, who was originally pursuing a pre-medical track before switching to a government major, said that she herself is "still becoming passionate" about the group's causes. Still, Martin is optimistic about the group's success.
"This whole process has been really worthwhile," she said.
The group will use Blitzmail and posters to foster interest among students. Martin said she is worried about the longevity of the program after her graduation this Spring, so underclassmen involvement is particularly crucial.
The organization meetings, once the college officially recognizes the club in November, will be held on a weekly basis.
At the Dartmouth chapter's meeting on Friday, Garlick patience in attaining the group's goals.
"Real understanding of people requires real amounts of time," Garlick said.
