Amnesty International at Shenandoah University

This is my final news story for my Media Writing class. Its about the Amnesty International chapter that two of my friends started here at Shenandoah. I'm really excited how this last one turned out. I didnt think I was going to be able to get it to the 500 words I need but it ended up being almost 100 over. Oops! Hope you dont hate my writing but more importanly, I hope you are inspired to check out Amnesty International. Its a good organization that actually gets things done. I tend to support a lot of crazy causes (especially awesome bands, why thank ewe) but Amnesty is a little nearer to my heart because I think we should all care about human rights, no? Anyways, thanks for reading!



Amnesty International at Shenandoah University



With more than 2.2 million members from 150 countries Amnesty International now has its foot in the door at ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Shenandoah University. When R.T. Good, Dean of Global Education, contacted fifth year senior Dustin Brandt to take on the leadership role of a university chapter of AI, Brandt was ready to accept the position.

After recruiting the help of fellow student Liz Crawford and registering with the International website at www.amnesty.org, Brandt and Crawford set out to spread news of the Shenandoah University chapter of Amnesty International. They printed out fliers, distributed them around campus, and even made a group on Facebook to get students talking about the first upcoming meeting for the group.

"We've done mission trips, bagged lunches for the homeless. That sort of thing.

For me this all started when I went to a screening of 'Invisible Children' and there were like three people there. I felt like it was a really important film and it changed my life. I was surprised that there were hardly any people there and I realized that this school is very unlearned," Brandt said of his interest in leading the group.

Since the first meeting in early October, the group's numbers have been steadily growing. Each meeting, a human rights topic is discussed, videos are watched, and members discuss various ways of contributing to different causes as well as ways to get more student involvement to non-members.

"I was really excited to get this all started because I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now. Every week we grow. It's very exciting to see how dedicated everyone in the group is," Crawford said.

Currently SU's Amnesty International chapter is focusing on the subject of Habeas Corpus which protects a person against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. The right to petition for the writ of Habeas Corpus is being practiced in the infamous Guantanamo Bay located off the coast of Cuba, where hundreds of enemy combatants are being held prisoner from the War On Terror. Of the nearly four hundred jailed at Guantanamo Bay, it has been reported that more than a fifth of those prisoners are cleared for release but must wait months to years before being sent anywhere "according to Bush administration officials."

The controversy surrounding this camp is not only when the free prisoners will get to leave and where they will be sent but how the free and guilty are being treated while being detained at the camp. According to Guantanmo Bay detention camp's Wikipedia page, "Red Cross inspectors and released detainees have alleged acts of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, and locking in confined and cold cells. Human rights groups argue that indefinite detention constitutes torture."

Amnesty International is an independent organization made up of volunteers from around the world that fights to protect human rights.

The organization, which has helped to free many prisoners of conscience, has a history of getting this done through letting writing. With so many members across the world, when Amnesty decides to jump on a controversial topic, 2 million letters are hard to ignore. SU's Amnesty chapter is holding a Write-A-Thon next Thursday December 6 at 9:00 p.m. Members are invited to choose a prisoner of conscious or a political leader to write one or more letters to in the hopes of igniting a positive change.

More information on Amnesty International may be found at the organization's website at www.amnesty.org. Also a Facebook group was created by Dustin Brandt and Liz Crawford for those interested in the chapter at Shenandoah.



A huge thank you to Basshunter for keeping me motivated to finish this after a long ass night of drinking the night before I had to finish this. LISTEN TO BASSHUNTER!



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