Students want OU to commit to opposing Congo bloodbath

Ohio University's STAND Against Genocide group hosted a viewing of the "Blood in the Mobile" documentary last Thursday, raising awareness on how cell phones are linked to the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the "deadliest war since World War II," according to Project Congo.

The DRC's rich natural resources are mined and used in cell-phone manufacturing, but STAND president Ellie Hamrick added, "It's not just cell phones, but other electronics as well."

Hamrick said she founded the organization after seeing a need for more awareness of the issue. "My freshman year anthropology professor had us pick an item that we own and research where it comes from," she explained. "I had heard about conflict minerals before, so I wanted to know more and picked my cell phone… I felt really shocked because I thought I knew the basics, but the problem was a lot bigger than I thought."

Hamrick explained how the everyday products we buy, such as our cell phones, are financing the violence in the DRC. "These products are fueling the violence; $183 million every year goes to armed groups operating Congo," she said. Though a strong alternative has yet to find its way on the market, Hamrick said there are ways to support conflict-free products, starting by spreading awareness.

"When we started doing this, no one really knew," she said. "But I do see consumer awareness increasing among students, and there were a lot of students approaching us after the film on Thursday — four or five seemed really serious about coming to our meetings."

Hamrick said that STAND also began a local campaign, known as Bobcats for a Conflict-Free Campus, in support of the nationwide Conflict-Free Campus Initiative. The initiative's site explains the importance of student activism: "By encouraging your university to publicly support the conflict-free movement, you will not only send a message that you as an individual consumer demand that your electronics products are conflict-free, but also demonstrate that demand through a collective, institutional voice. Universities are also a large client for most electronics companies and represent a large section of the buyers' market for consumer electronics."

Despite strong student activism here at OU, Hamrick said the group has faced what she described as an unresponsive administration. "When coming up with this campaign, clearly we cannot ask OU to boycott electronics, but we're asking for really easy changes to benefit both the university as well as Congo," she said.

For starters, Hamrick has asked OU to make a public statement acknowledging the crisis and calling for conflict-free support, but she feels that the university has been slow to jump on board.

Hamrick noted that it's been 17 months since Student Senate unanimously supported the cause, but communication remains difficult with the OU Board of Trustees, stifling progress. "It does not take this long; other schools have done it faster," she added. "We've received letters of support from faculty, alumni and student organizations, and we created a visual petition with photos of 1,100 members of our community holding signs saying they want a conflict-free campus."

Hamrick added that they even delivered OU President Roderick McDavis a Valentine's Day message with a paper petition for the cause, as well as an invitation to last Thursday's documentary viewing. He didn't respond, she said.

ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY, assistant to the president Becky Watts confirmed that becoming a conflict-free campus is something the university is actively pursuing at this time. "President McDavis is very pleased that the students have brought this to his attention, and he is so committed that he wants to be sure we do this right, which takes longer," she said.

Watts explained the university's shared governance process, which requires that the president receive input from all official shared bodies, including the senate bodies and related committees, prior to making a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. This ensures that multiple perspectives are involved and that the proposed change is deeply researched. Watts said this is important regarding conflict minerals because they're such a complex issue.

Watts acknowledged Hamrick's contention that other schools have already released public statements, but emphasized that the OU president wants to take a more meaningful stance. "We want to assure that whatever policy the university adopts, it is one that is achievable and one that we are confident we can be held accountable for," she said. "We are extending invitations this week to form a committee that will deeply research the issue."

The committee will include senate bodies and experts in procurement, to research and advise a well-thought course of action, according to Watts. She added that university legal services will also get involved. "If we make a promise, we have a legal obligation to fulfill it; otherwise we could get sued," she said. "Also, we have to look at federal laws. Are there good filters on imported goods?"

Ensuring a conflict-free contract with the university's vendors will take time, and Watts pointed out that while there may be ways to ensure where products originate, determining if they come from legitimate miners in the DRC, as opposed to terrorist groups, is a huge task. Not to mention, Watts said there's no way to be sure that this transition won't cost the university any money.

Watts confirmed that Hamrick is using the right channel of communication, and any concern of unresponsiveness from the Board of Trustees is due to the fact that a conflict-free course of action is under-developed at this time. Watts confirmed that students seeking change are more than welcome to visit the president's office hours, and the trustee board will weigh in when a proposal is fully developed. "We love the passion, energy and commitment, but we want to do this right," Watts said.

In the meantime, Hamrick said that students can help by donating their old cell phones. "We set up boxes around campus and uptown to collect them, and we get about $3 to $4 for each phone," she said. Once recycled, all money goes to Project Congo, an organization founded by an OU alumnus that brings medical assistance to the war-stricken area.