Gunnar Ingólfsson, whose group led the Paint for Peace display last year, said he hopes students will join his organization which promotes peace in the face of discrimination.
On Thursday night, students will have an opportunity to join this 15-member group Ingólfsson has deemed the Social Justice League.
Ingólfsson, the president and first-year doctorate student in Counseling Psychology, said the goal of SJL is to fight injustice at Ball State University by helping individuals that are being mistreated or discriminated against. He said the group uses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to determine if people are being mistreated.
Since its creation, SJL has participated in various events on campus to promote social justice such as Paint for Peace, Hope for the Holidays, Oath of Beneficence and an international panel discussion. Ingólfsson said that SJL would like to work with other groups on campus for events in order to make students aware of injustices on Ball State's campus.
SJL plans get more involved this semester. Publicity officer John McConnell said the group expects to continue its ongoing projects such as the Community Needs Assessment on BSU Campus, a survey that asks how prevalent discrimination is on campus, and Social Justice Is ... Social Injustice Is, a public display with contributions from the public on their views of social injustice.
Other plans include participating in Week of Action and events put on by the Center of Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as working to get every one of its members to commit in some way to the organization's cause.
The group, which had only fifteen members last semester, looks to gain more membership in the future. It consists mostly of graduate students. Ingólfsson said that it's difficult at times to recruit new members, however, if only one person joins the organization after attending an SJL event or meeting, it's a good thing.
"It's hard to get people to stop by booths," he said. "It's hard to find a way to interact successfully with the students. It's a rather complicated system and set of rules with the university. We talk about things that people may not even think about, or think applies to them. We appear like sales people; they don't even look at you and walk right past you."
McConnell also said that recruitment has been the organization's biggest struggle. So far, the organization has used e-mail and events around campus to try to tell students about SJL.
"We have struggled with recruitment in the past," he said, "But we are also gaining some new committed members lately."
McConnell said everyone has a duty to address discrimination and everyone is created equal, so no one deserves to be treated unfairly.
If you are interested in joining SJL, the organization's next meeting will be Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies on McKinley Avenue.
For more information about SJL, e-mail sjl@bsu.edu or Ingólfsson at goingolfsson@gmail.com.
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