Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: KATIE S. ALPIZAR, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY Justine Ouano, a senior sociology major, met friends to set up tents at the Smith-Carlos Statue for the National Campus Sleepout.

Students, activists and community members set up camp in front of SJSU's Smith-Carlos Statue Wednesday evening to raise awareness for a national cause with local roots.

The event was held by the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, a movement started at SJSU to create 100,000 living-wage jobs for hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors to rebuild their own communities.

The night of camping, titled "A National Campus Sleep Out: A New Deal for the Gulf Coast," began at 7 p.m., and involved speakers as well as video presentations highlighting the current situation in the Gulf Coast, where many residents are still living in trailers provided by the federal government.

Students were encouraged to spend the night on campus in tents in support of displaced hurricane survivors.

"We have strayed far off course," said Marcus Kilgore, a junior sociology major, to the crowd. "When people are hurting, we help each other out; we don't sit and think about it."

Kilgore said that had witnessed the devastation of New Orleans firsthand when he and other members of the project traveled to the Gulf Coast in January.

About 150 people participated in the events Wednesday evening, 50 of whom spent the night, said Scott Myers-Lipton, a sociology professor and an originator of the project.

"The support warms my heart," said Rochelle Jackson-Smarr, one of the student leaders of the project.

The event attracted attention from students passing by, and several of them stopped to watch and listen.

"This is really awesome," said Krishna Yerrapragada, a graduate software engineering major, after learning the purpose of the event. "I just got out of class and wanted to see what was happening."

Among the speakers at the sleep out was hurricane survivor C.C. Campbell-Rock, a journalist and advocate for Gulf Coast residents.

"This is the greatest civil rights injustice of my lifetime," said Campbell-Rock. "We still are a people without a home."

Campbell-Rock said many of the New Orleans areas still looked like "a nuclear holocaust" and were still deemed unlivable.

The idea for the works project came during a campus sleep out last November to raise awareness for local poverty, Myers-Lipton said.

Students watched Spike Lee's documentary "When the Levees Broke" and were inspired to help hurricane victims.

Myers-Lipton said the models for the project were the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed millions during World War II to build public projects, such as bridges and schools.

Since its foundation, the project has gained national recognition with support from college campuses across the nation, and now, a Congresswoman.

Earlier this month, a Gulf Coast Civic Works bill was introduced to a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). If the bill makes it through a series of committees, it will eventually go to the House floor for a vote.

Media Credit: KATIE S. ALPIZAR, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY Maribel Martinez, program coordinator for the Cesar Chavez Community Action Center, and Justine Ouano, a senior sociology major, set up tents in front of the Smith-Carlos Statue.

Victoria Chavez, a senior sociology major and student leader of the project, said the project is inviting students to travel to the Gulf Coast again this January for "Louisiana Winter 2." She said they will help build houses, restore greenery and talk to residents and officials about the project.

Myers-Lipton said he felt it was important for students to be aware of SJSU's rich history of activism. From advocating for civil rights to protesting sweatshops, SJSU students have been extremely vocal in the community over the years, he said.

"When you go to SJSU, you're a part of that community," he said.

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