Activists hold first Radical Rush Week

Activist groups are hosting the first Radical Rush Week to highlight the social scene of politically active students on the campus.

Sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society, the week hopes to build up the existing activist community and draw in freshmen and transfer students through a series of educational events and entertainment. The organizers hope to echo the sense of community associated with Greek life, but without bids or membership dues, said SDS member and sophomore American studies and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies major Josef Parker.

Students and Workers Unite! president Carter Thomas, a junior American studies major, said the groups involved want to offset the impression that activists are "boring, political people." Other schools, such as American University, XXXXXXXXXX have held rush weeks for activists before, and the idea is a step up from other informal summits that have been held in the past, said junior American studies major and Pride Alliance president Jenna Brager.

"The focus on things being fun was something we took from Greek life, like having a radio show, so it's not just like, 'Hey, come listen to some lectures,'" Thomas said.

"It's a recruiting tool, with different activist groups working together to provide an alternative social scene," added SDS member and sophomore American studies major Jon Berger. "One of our goals was to show that being politically engaged doesn't mean you have to be at a rally all the time."

The planning process was helped by the fact that many student activists are involved with more than one group. Building relationships and a sense of community could help with pulling off future campaigns, Berger said.

Brager said that a single-issue focus is "limiting" because "when you look at one injustice or social concern, you find immediately that it's wrapped up in every other kind of concern."

"For example, when you look at environmentalism, which is very popular on this campus, you're also looking at poverty and racism because you have to look at who is the most affected," she added.

Activist groups such as Community Roots and Clean Energy for UMD will be sponsoring some of the events. Talks with titles such as "Who Owns this University?" and "Student Activism at Maryland: A History" seek to show the tangible results of students who've been involved in the past.

"We're going to have people who were involved in SDS and other activist groups at Maryland in the '60s and '70s, and I think it will be really amazing to see that we have that tradition," Brager said.

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