FiveUniversity of Notre Dame students will be representing the University at the 22nd annual Campus Outreach Opportunity League (C.O.O.L.) Idealist National Conference March 3 to 5 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
Kamaria Porter, a senior history major, will deliver one of two student keynote addresses at the conference and speak on the power to enact change. Porter has been active in many projects at Notre Dame, including the founding of the Campus Labor Action Project in 2005 to advocate for workers’ rights and the living wage for campus employees. She also helped to build a young adults’ organization in her native Chicago called Public Action for Change Today.
Four students also will lead workshops during the conference. Sarah Liu, a senior from Taiwan, will present “Provoking Hope: AIDS Epidemic in Cambodia,” based upon her summer service project experiences there.
Lupe Gomez, a senior from East Chicago, Indiana, will lead “Farmworker Solidarity after Taco Bell,” detailing the story of the Coalition of Imakolee Workers’ victory over the fast food chain and highlighting the importance of student involvement.
Sara Snider, a sophomore from Waddington, New York, will present “Remixing Leadership” on ways leaders can use diversity to create a new generation of change-agents. Katie McHugh, a sophomore from Elmhurst, Illinois, will lead “Living Wage on Your Campus” to discuss how and why campuses should adopt a living wage.
The students’ trip is sponsored by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, Arts and Letters Undergraduate Intellectual Initiative, and Institute for Latino Studies.
The C.O.O.L. Idealist National Conference annually draws over 1,500 students and is the country’s largest meeting of campus community members involved in service, activism, politics and socially responsible work.
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on February 24, 2006.