Why is activism important on a college campus, or anywhere for that matter? For decades, and perhaps most prominently in the 1960s, outspoken support for causes in which we believe has been the accepted norm. Individuals and college students around the globe speak out passionately for and against issues that hit home in personal, meaningful ways.

In 2002, responsible activism reached a new level at Wells. The president of the Collegiate Association (the student government) wanted to promote activism on campus in general, and specifically desired to encourage the Wells community to further explore the many ways that we are all actively engaged in social change. Thus, she organized the first Activism in the Academy Symposium. That year's theme was “It's About Time!” Since then, Wells has hosted a symposium every spring to investigate the links between activism and academia.

Students have whole-heartedly embraced the symposium, turning it into a learning experience by coordinating and managing the busy day. Under the direction of Assistant Professor of Sociology Laura McClusky, a student-run committee is completely responsible for managing the entire event from beginning to end: soliciting proposals for symposium presentations and workshops; organizing classroom space, meals and receptions, printed materials, and timing of programs; manning the registration desk and greeting attendees; hosting special guest speakers; and meeting presenters#, and participants#, needs throughout the day.

As the day-long symposium has taken shape over the last five years, it has grown into an impressive array of keynote addresses, luncheon speakers, and more than 20 presentations, workshops and demonstrations. These sessions are presented by both Wells and non-Wells individuals and groups; topics covered have ranged from the war in Iraq to prisoners#, literacy programs and warrant-less wiretaps by the government, to renewable fuel options, alternative radio and media activism, animal rights, and activism and the Internet.

This year's fifth annual event, presented on March 10, was titled “Food for Thought, Fuel for Action.” The ambitious program kicked off with “breakfast” #- two songs with global themes by Wells' a cappella group, The Whirligigs, followed by an opening address by food activist and author Anna Lappe, who spoke about “Fat, Famine, and Froot Loops: What's Democracy Got To Do With It?” Her talk explored ideas about hunger and its counterpart, obesity, and the paradox of why there are as many underfed people in the world as there are overfed ones.

Lappe and her mother, activist Frances Moore Lappe, are founders of Small Planet Institute (www.smallplanetinstitute.org). The Lappes have traveled the globe learning about world hunger and the plight of poverty-stricken populations while researching their 2002 book, “Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet.” Having Anna on campus gave Wells students a chance to connect with a young woman activist who utilizes her education and personal interests to assist those less fortunate, both here in the United States and abroad.

After Lappe's talk, participants had the option of partaking in the “first and second courses” of the day #- two of 11 concurrent morning sessions which included such topics as “Indigenous Food & Diabetes,” “Jazzing Up Fair Trade,” “Free Speech in an Age of Terror,” “Electoral Politics as a Strategy for Social Action” and “Sex, Lies and the Religious Right.”

A special “lunch combo” program consisted of a workshop on veganism's relationship to the global economy, accompanied by vegan dishes provided by Greenstar Co-op of Ithaca. Following the meal, Gyude Moore from Liberia, West Africa, spoke about fleeing his homeland due to civil war and graduating from high school as a refugee in the Ivory Coast. Now a student at Berea College in Kentucky, Moore decided as a child that if he ever grew up, he would take a stand and create a world in which other children would not have to suffer as he did.

The “third and fourth courses” were served in the afternoon and featured such tantalizing entrees as “The Story of Upstate [NY] Poverty,” “Are We Becoming a Theocracy?,” “Images of Peace #- Anti-War Activist Art” and “Chiapas [Mexico]: From Coca-Cola to Zapatista.”

“Dessert” wrapped up the day with an informal discussion with Anne Lappe and closing songs by The Whirligigs.

So why is activism important on the Wells College campus? In the true spirit of a liberal arts education, it gives us the opportunity to responsibly stand up for what is important to us.

It links classroom learning to real world issues, to things that truly matter in our global village. It gives a voice to alternative viewpoints that are often drowned out.

It teaches our community to not only speak out but also to listen. Only in these respectful ways will we be able to change the world.

Kelly Tehan is communications director at Wells College in Aurora