Students for Social Action launch new lecture series

Eileen Mellon
Contributing Writer

VCU’s Students for Social Action organization has launched a new Public Knowledge Lecture Series at the university in order to become a more active part of the ever-changing political and cultural landscape in today’s society.

The goal of the group is to raise awareness about various issues within the community while developing ways to combat the issues and initiate change. The group’s message is one of unity and collectivism, as their roots are centered around the idea that social action is based upon understanding.

The organization works collaboratively with other groups in the area such as the Virginia Alliance for Student Activism, NAACP at VCU, Men Against Violence, Young Democrats and Students for a Democratic Society.

Alexandria Vasquez, a sociology graduate student and president of SSA, said she believes that the fundamental role of the lecture series is to bridge together the concerns and ideas about society with academics, while providing resources for people to utilize their degrees and diverse backgrounds to work together.

“Most students know something’s wrong and don’t know how to articulate how they feel,” Vasquez said. “But the most powerful form of knowing something and doing something about it, is first and foremost being able to articulate why something is wrong. The whole point of the series is to provide that information.”

Phil Cunningham, an urban studies and geography double major, is the chair for SSA and has played a key role in organizing the Public Knowledge Lecture Series. Even though it wasn’t always an easy task, Cunningham said he understands the importance of raising awareness.

“Organizing and activism can be stressful and a lot of work, but in the end I feel like I made a difference or helped in some way,” Cunningham said, “even if it’s just hearing that a speech or an event made someone think differently and more critically about how they perceive the world.”

Vasquez said she believes that the discourse for the issues should happen in the context of academia, while research on the topics should be done by professors and different organizations that are authorities on those topics and then made available to everyone.

“We want to bring these people, not to boost them up or make our university look cool, but to make other people start talking and thinking about it, and the whole point is to engage the community,” Vasquez said.

The launch of the lecture series is the first step in engaging the community as a whole. The group has a documentary film in the works about regional disparities in the Richmond area. The film would demonstrate how infrastructure funding for schools works and how different areas in Richmond influence the outcome of the children.

In addition to the lecture series, SSA holds forums on student and campus issues. The next forum will focus on Human Rights for Women and will be held March 28. It will also consider continuing problems with factors of race, class and women in relation to incarceration.

This forum comes at a pivotal time for Virginia. In the past two weeks, the state has gained national attention for various bills that would change women’s access to abortions, among other health services. House Bill 1, sponsored by Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, would have redefined an embryo as a person. The bill has been tabled until next year’s session.

On Tuesday, the General Assembly also passed a controversial ultrasound bill requiring women to get an ultrasound before consenting to an abortion. Originally, the bill would have required an invasive ultrasound but was amended at the request of Gov. Bob McDonnell who said the original bill overstepped the state’s boundaries.