Students Organize Around Human Rights

When a small group of students realized there were others on campus sharing their passion for international humanitarian issues, they sprang into action, creating an outlet for students to get involved. Launched this semester, the Global Service League has already begun to make its mark promoting human welfare.

Global Service League, a new student organization at Tulane, raises awareness about human rights issues at a recent Concert for the Congo, held on the uptown campus. (Photo by Tricia Travis)

“The goal of this organization is to raise awareness and provide service opportunities for the Tulane campus to respond to international humanitarian issues,” says Claire Galley, who serves as the organization's president. “I found that there were so many people interested in these issues, but no place for them to act on them.”

Galley shares administrative duties with committee chairs Vita Vivek, Jesse Seng, Arianna Spiros, Emma Mattesky and Lauren Pyle.

Since becoming recognized as a student organization in August, the Global Service League has attracted dozens of members who have an active interest in at least one of four categories addressed by the organization: world health, global education, economic opportunities and human rights in crisis.

The human rights crisis arm of the Global Service League kicked off the group's inaugural year with a screening of Invisible Children, a film that follows the plight of children in northern Uganda who are abducted and forced to fight as soldiers. Most recently, the group held the Concert for the Congo, which raised awareness about “conflict minerals,” prized natural resources used in electronic devices and controlled by lawless militia groups.

“Consumer demands for cheap electronics open a window for these minerals to make their way into U.S. technology markets,” says Galley. “These minerals are essentially fueling rebel groups in the Congo that commit gross human rights atrocities.”

For more information about the Global Service League at Tulane, contact Claire Galley.