About 150 Ball State University students endured 40-degree temperatures and strong winds as they slept under duct-taped boxes on University Green to promote awareness of poor living conditions in other regions of the world.
Senior Ngofeen Mputubwele, a political science major, said he organized the "Displace Me" event for his senior thesis.
According to invisiblechildren.com, "Displace Me" overnight poverty simulations have been hosted in 15 cities nationwide. The events intend to inform the public about the plight of displaced people in Northern Uganda.
Some of Mputubwele's friends attended "Displace Me" in Chicago last year, he said. After hearing about his friends' experiences, he said he thought having "Displace Me" in Muncie would be an effective way of mixing politics and advocacy with a physical activity.
The group met Friday evening to break down boxes and duct-tape them into small shelters, he said. Plastic bags were provided in case it rained overnight, he said. Some students combined their supplies to create a larger shelter to fit up to five or six people, but others chose to face the chilly weather alone, he said.
Students spent the early part of the evening calling and leaving messages for senators and writing letters to congressmen asking for action, Mputubwele said.
Planning for the all-night event began in early February, Mputubwele said, and one of the first obstacles was a lack of money. He reached out to other organizations on campus, including Sigma Chi and Phi Gamma Delta fraternities and Student Government Association, for co-sponsorship, he said.
He said his goal for the overnight protest was two-fold: to raise awareness of internally displaced people around the world and to spur students into action.
More than 26 million people around the world are displaced, he said, and almost 1,000 die each week of AIDS and malnutrition.
"It's surprising how much has happened, and no one's really heard about it," he said.
News of the event reached beyond the Ball State community.
Audrey McReynolds, a junior at Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, said she learned about "Displace Me" from her older sister and Ball State student Eleanor McReynolds.
"I got involved in this because we're really interested in this at our high school," she said.
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