Global Leadership Summit:
Eliminating Violence, Empowering Women
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Brown University
Providence, RI

CHOICES Campus Leadership Program's Global Leadership Summit : Eliminating Violence, Empowering Women attracts student delegations from 23 campuses

The Feminist Majority Foundation's CHOICES Campus Leadership Program hosted the Global Leadership Summit : Eliminating Violence, Empowering Women at the Brown University campus in Providence , Rhode Island on Saturday, October 20. Conference participants learned about a plethora of issues, including reproductive rights, violence, militarization, development, elected office, and the interconnections between each.

Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation kicked off the event during the opening plenary. After viewing Global Majority . . . Again , Smeal elaborated on the themes of the film, drawing connections between environmental degradation, reproductive rights and current US policies. She called upon the audience to educate themselves and their campuses, and take action to reverse the atrocities of the Bush administration.

During the closing plenary, Luz Rodriguez , Co-founder and Board Treasurer of SisterSong, focused the conversation on women of color, especially Native American women. Feminist Majority Foundation National Campus Organizers, Kassidy Johnson and Kate Nielson , along with Brown FMLA member Alison Cohen, contributed their ideas for actions on campus. Conference participants engaged in a lively Q&A session with the panelists to conclude the conference and send students off feeling energized.

Delegations of activists flocked to the conference from 23 campuses across the northeast, and as far away as Oregon . Participants networked with one another during lunch and a reception following the conference. Groups were energized by the ideas and actions discussed during the day. The Vassar FMLA students are launching a campaign to expose the Crisis Pregnancy Centers plaguing their campus community. Members of Quinnipiac's WAVE group are undertaking the task of raising $3,000 to train an Afghan midwife.

Ms. magazine hosted a post-conference reception Saturday evening following the conference. Attendees spoke with each other and conversed with panelists in a fitting end to an informative and inspiring day.

The Feminist Majority Foundation plans to hold additional Global Leadership Summits in the future to continue with the edification and activation of students across the country.