Hey GES,

Although we are only months away from GES 2010, we felt that it was extremely important to talk about the crisis occurring in Haiti right now and tell you what we’ve been doing to respond.

• Thursday afternoon, a number of students contacted Northwestern’s President Schapiro to encourage him to “articulate a university response in reaction to the earthquake.” President Schapiro responded by posting a link on the university’s homepage with information on organizations assisting with relief efforts.
• On Wednesday night, a bill was passed in Associated Student Government (ASG) Senate stating that “ASG’s Public Relations committee or a committee of dedicated ASG senators/students will help…to coordinate a school-wide fundraiser to collect anything that might be of help to those struggling in Haiti.” We’ve reached out to the Senator leading the committee and will be a part of the organizing efforts. In particular, the committee will be planning a week of events intended to raise funds and awareness of the crisis in Haiti. GES will be spearheading a panel discussion intended to provide students with the historical and social context they need to fully understand why Haiti has been so devastated by last week’s earthquake.

The bottom line is that this is an important moment for GES as an organization and, more importantly, a community, to demonstrate its ability to respond thoughtfully to an international crisis that is unprecedented in GES’s short history. This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate what being “globally engaged” really means.

To be honest, we are both struggling to find an appropriate way to respond as a community that prides itself on engaging with global problems beyond writing a check or watching the news. Does fundraising for Haiti fit GES’s values? Should we work with other groups on campus, such as ASG or GlobeMed? How should GES mobilize its remarkable passion and commitment to respond to the catastrophe in a way that sets an example for the rest of the Northwestern community?

CommDev facilitated an activity addressing some of these questions on Tuesday with our staff, but we invite all of you, as our extended GES community, to contribute to the discussion. We encourage all of you to get informed and think critically about what’s happening right now in Haiti. There is no doubt that GES will take tangible action, and we want your help in figuring out what this will be. As always, feel free to email us or post below.

Thanks for reading, M & A