BY LANI SEELINGER

GES has played a big part in NU Stands with Haiti, the Northwestern community’s response to the earthquake in Haiti. So far, the community as a whole (undergrads and grad students combined) have raised well over $12,000. And where has the money come from? Canning, bracelet sales, yoga classes, and, well, keggers.

We’ve spent a good amount of time at GES meetings discussing the way things are going here. It’s been a huge success in terms of fundraising, and a large part of Northwestern has contributed their time or money to help the hundreds of thousands of Haitians affected by the earthquake. And one of the best parts is that this extends way past the usual boundaries of engagement at Northwestern — there are easy ways for everyone, literally everyone, to get involved, even if it’s only by giving $5 and assuming that whoever you’re giving it to will get it to the right place.

I think we can all agree that the more money we can send to Haiti, the better. But are there any problems with the way we’re doing it? Is raising awareness by changing your facebook status or paying an extra couple of bucks for a party (I believe the term is “slacktivism”) the right way to go about it? Is there a right way to go about it? NU Stands with Haiti has also been arranging panels and discussions to actually educate the community, but on a college campus, it’s a certainty that the parties will be better attended than the panels, no matter which experts they bring it.

I think if we at GES had our way, everyone would know about the specific organizations they were supporting, and they would know exactly what was going on in Haiti, where their money was going, why it’s imperative to help this country, and why now. But the reality is that not everyone cares enough, and that anything that we as a community can do to help is better than not doing anything at all, even if it is just blindly donating. Right now, what Haiti needs is numbers, and if we can do that through appealing to Northwestern’s cravings for beer and baked goods, then that’s the way we’ll do it.