Yet the most remarkable surge in student activism can be seen through organizations created exclusively in protest of the genocide occurring in Darfur. Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, or STAND, is a national student-run organization that has been leading the charge against the genocide. STAND has a three-pronged mission: to educate others about the crisis in Darfur, to raise money for relief and to advocate for political action. STAND serves as an umbrella organization for 150 college chapters nationwide, providing group leaders with educational resources and plans for activism.

Students across the country have been taking action. At the University of North Carolina, students from a group called SUDAN (Students United for Darfur Awareness Now) have been spotted living in a makeshift refugee camp on the quad for three days. At the University of Wisconsin, students from Action in Sudan! have been screening documentaries and hosting benefit concerts to spread the word about Darfur. At the University of Kansas, kids from FIGHT (Fighting Ignorance of Global Humanitarian Threats) “play dead” on the lawn to make people wonder about war and genocide around the world. At Ithaca College, STAND members and supporters went hungry for a day on October 5, 2006, wearing t-shirts saying “Ask me why I’m not eating” in order to provoke dialogue between students and group members. Students across the country are making lots of noise and lots of sacrifices to do what they can to help stop the genocide.

Tiffany McDole, a leader from SUDAN at the University of North Carolina, sees much of the power behind the movement for Darfur being provided by students.

“I’ve had many conversations with notable people on campus who have compared the movement for Darfur with the anti-Apartheid movement in the early 90s,” she said, referring to the famous South African revolution in which students were active. “It’s been really empowering and really amazing to see that courage and that initiative in students.”

Rallies have been held in cities all over the globe with great student attendance. SUDAN sent 35 members from North Carolina to New York City for the Global Day for Darfur on Sept. 17, 2006. Looking out over the crowd that day, many of the faces were those of college students. Those who attended the rally were seen wearing t-shirts from their alma maters. Colgate University, Harvard University, Sacred Heart University, New York University and many other schools were proudly represented in Central Park that day.

The YU Society for Social Justice from Yeshiva University in New York City brought about 250 students to the rally – a full quarter of the student population at the school.

“When I look at all the faces here, I only recognize some of them,” said group leader Cindy Bernstein. “We’ve really been getting the word out.”