STAND

Photo: mock refugee camp

STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition is an international organization of over 600 college and high school chapters committed to ending genocide. It was formed specifically to target the ongoing genocide in the Western region of Sudan, Darfur. Since the beginning of the genocide in 2003 it is estimated that 400,000 Darfurians have been killed and 2.5 million have become displaced.

Rhodes’ STAND chapter was formed in the spring of 2005 and has since become one of the most active student organizations on campus. Each year, students build and staff a mock-refugee camp to raise awareness of the conditions Darfurian refugees endure on a daily basis. In January of 2007 STAND brought acclaimed developmental economist William Easterly in conjunction with the Economic Honor Society. STAND members have also become very active within the Sudanese refugee community in Memphis through volunteering with tutoring programs as well as a student-run mentoring program for local Sudanese teenagers.