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Show Tuesday September 26, 2000Wcstminster College of Salt Lake City Volume XXXIIWssue 3 By Melissa Albrecht Forum Staff Writer If you could change any law in the United Sates, what would you change? Maybe campaign finance, same sex benefit rights, or social security funding? These questions are what GenerationNet.org, a it organization, is asking young adults. This new campaign, founded by Peter Schurman, uses the Internet to help young people voice their opinions in shaping the laws that affect paign to hold politicians throughout the country accountable for progress on its top issues. their lives. non-prof- . GenerationNet.org is offering Westminster students a chance to give their opinion, and lead the campaign in the 2nd district of Utah, which is where congressional candidates are the most likely to respond positively to students priorities this election. GenerationNet.org combines online organizing with offline activism. It accomplishes these tasks by first, allowing students to vote online for laws they would like to see changed, and second, by holding an offline advocacy cam GenerationNet.org achieves its goals by following in footsteps that founders have set before it. For example: In 1992, many young adults were concerned with the growing deficit. One of GenerationNet.orgs founders asked candidates for Congress to pledge to cut the U.S. budget deficit in half in four years or leave office. The young adults gained the attention of candidates by pouring out 4,200 pennies, each representing $1 billion, at the candidates feet while the TV news cameras rolled. Nationwide, 106 candidates signed the pledge. In 1993, the California Desert Protection Act was held up by then Senator Bennett Johnston. A Louisiana high school student began a g campaign in her school lunchroom with only paper, pens, boom boxes, and cookies. Within three weeks, she generated thousands of n ' letters to Johnston. He approved the letter-writin- hand-writte- California Desert Protection Act; the full Senate followed, and the bill became law. In 1994, the House of Representatives passed regulatory reform bills that threatened to cripple most national environmental laws, unless moderate US senators stopped them. Around the country, student volunteers wore blindfolds with the name of their representative and smashed See GenerationNet.org Page 2 Volunteer Coordinator Kteady to Serve By Amanda Shiner Forum Staff Writer Julie Menefee is the new Volunteer Center coordinator. Menefee wants to continue the programs that have been established at Westminster as well as implement new programs and activities. She hopes to organize a service-learnin- g program. Students involved in the service learning would volunteer in the community and do the work as part of classroom credit. They would then return to the classroom and discuss the process and what they learned. Currently, Menefee and Volunteer Center students are organizing and working on programs like Habitat for Humanity, a hunger program that will include the Oxfam Hunger Banquet, healthcare issues that will include an AIDS and safe sex week and environmental issues. Menefee looks forward to helping students and their friends get interested in volunteering. She wants to help create a chain. She would also like to see students get passionate about volunteering and becoming project leaders for old or new issues. Menefee believes the best way to create interest is by especialstudents. feels between that She the ly most impact on student involvement comes when students tell other students about their experiences and upcoming activities. She plans on creating interest by posting many signs around campus, sending going into classrooms and attending school functions like freshman orientation and club rush. She said she hopes involved students will learn a sense of responsibility to give back to the community. Terhaps students will find a passion or interest they didnt know word-of-mout- h, ils, about Through the Volunteer Center, Menefee hopes to gain further ties with the community. Before coming to Westminster, Menefee joined Americorps VISTA, which is another volunteer program, in Maryland. She stayed there for 6 months and then transferred to the attorney generals office in Utah. She worked there for years and had gained extensive volunteering experience when she saw the opportunity to join the staff at Westminster. According to Menefee, her former boss told her to apply at Westminster. Both one-and-a-h- Menefee and her boss felt the position would work well with Menefees past experiences and interest in the community. Menefee was bom in south Colorado. She decided to work in Utah because it is like Colorado in many ways. She said that Utah is a way to get away from home without getting too far away. Menefee agreed with Gail Jessen, a student leader in the Volunteer Center, when she said, It is easier to find volunteers in Utah. Menefee received her bachelor of arts in social work and her bachelor of science in psychology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She is thinking about pursuing a masters degree in education. She feels this is a good area and a good way to get her foot in the door. 5fliE(? llflgftitar alf o E i :i iKV ! te tiBil J l33isEEJ,2) |